大智度論 等學品Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Equal Training
等學品：須菩提問何等是菩薩等法，佛答內空乃至自相空與色相空乃至菩提相空是等法、住是等法得菩提；為色盡離滅不生故學即是學薩婆若，佛反問諸如可盡滅斷不，須菩提答不也，佛說學如即學六度四念處乃至十八不共法、為盡諸學邊、魔不能壞、直到阿鞞跋致地乃至欲示無為性，下劣不能作是學、如是學者不墮三惡道不生邊地栴陀羅家、不攝惡人破戒者、以方便力不生長壽天、於一切法中得清淨；須菩提問一切法本性清淨云何更得清淨，佛答心通達不沒即是般若，凡夫不知不見故行六度，並出大地少所處出金銀珍寶喻與少所人受行轉輪聖王業喻；復次學般若時不生慳貪等心、不生取相心，深般若總攝諸波羅蜜，出我見攝六十二見喻與人死命根滅餘根隨滅喻；三千大千世界眾生格量供養之福不如學般若如說行，欲出一切眾生上乃至欲斷一切眾生疑當學深般若，聲聞辟支佛功德皆能得而不於中住，如是學為天人阿修羅福田、當知是不退轉；末出三種作是念之辨。論主釋二種等忍與如稱兩頭停等、觀色無常得不生法、如不可盡滅斷、盡諸學邊與大慈大悲因果鏈、下劣者三種邪見與大人籌量實相、四番問答〔眾生空復何所度／何以不攝惡人／我見云何攝諸見／何以復有第三說〕、九種離惡道因緣、惡人破戒之三重界說、淨名捨離無所有畢竟空、金銀轉輪聖王業喻之意、抑制煩惱故言不生、直行中道、我見為本生五十七見、三種作是念之邪正與第三說實相（經＋論）
本品從一個很短的問題起頭。須菩提問：「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」——什麼是菩薩的「等法」，是菩薩該學的？佛的回答沒有添一個新名目，只把十八空搬過來：「內空是菩薩等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩等法。」隨即把話收在一句上：「是名菩薩摩訶薩等法。住是等法，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」所謂「等」，不是把萬法看成一個模樣，是諸法各自差別而空一照便齊。論主怕人把「等」當成一件可以抓住的東西，先拿秤來比：「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」秤的兩頭本來就有輕重，所謂停等不是把兩頭削平，是輕重相當；再補一句說明它怎麼齊的：「如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法」。差別不必先除掉，空一照，差別自平。
第二問問得更細：為色盡故學、為色離故學、為色滅故學、為色不生故學，這算不算學薩婆若？佛先可其問——「如須菩提所說，為色盡、離、滅、不生故學，為學薩婆若」；可完之後立刻一個反問把路堵住：「是諸如盡、滅、斷不？」須菩提只能答：「不也！世尊！」於是佛出全品最緊的一句：「菩薩摩訶薩如是學如，為學薩婆若。是如，不作證、不滅、不斷。」論主替這一轉說明白：「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡？本來不生，云何有滅？」，「是法本來虛誑，無有定相，云何可斷？」所以前面說的盡、離、斷都只是對治——「是如，常、不可證、不可滅、不可斷；是盡、離、斷，除顛倒故行，非是究竟。」除顛倒是手段，不是終點；到了「如」上，連自己正在除的那一念也要放下。
接著佛把「如是學」一路排開：如是學，魔與魔天壞不了；如是學，直到阿鞞跋致地；如是學，為學佛所行道、為學大慈大悲、為學淨佛世界成就眾生、為學度眾生、為學不斷佛種、為學開甘露門，一直排到「如是學，為學欲示無為性。」這一長串在論主手裡接成一條因果鏈：「能起大慈大悲；大慈大悲故，能教化眾生；眾生心清淨故，佛界清淨」，「以大乘度眾生故，不斷佛種；不斷佛種故，於世間常開甘露法門，常示眾生無為性。」末了把最難懂的那個名目拆開給人看：「無為性者，所謂如、法性、實際、涅槃。甘露者，無為性；門者，三解脫門。」而全段的樞語是「為盡諸學邊」四字——這四字在整部論裡只出現在本品。它不是說學完了，是說學到沒有剩下的邊：一面是「若學薩婆若，即是學六波羅蜜等；若能學六波羅蜜等，是為盡諸學邊。」，一面是「得是功德故，三世十方一切眾生心心數法，心所行起種種業因緣悉能遍知」。前者說學之全，後者說學之用。
然後佛說了一件不好聽的事實：能這樣學的人很少。「譬如大地，少所處出金銀珍寶」，「少所人能學般若波羅蜜，多墮聲聞、辟支佛地。」；又換一面說：「譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業，多受行小王業」，所指的是「少有如說行，多住聲聞、辟支佛地」。兩個譬喻的用意不在責備多數，在告訴行人：希有本來就是常態——金銀本來只出於少處，輪王業本來只少人受行。論主收得更直：「少有能如是學，是人難得！」與此相對的，是所謂下劣人的三種自我安頓：我身與親屬才是我該護的；「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」；「佛說一切法空、不生不滅，我復何所度？求佛道、不求佛道，同如幻夢。」論主一句斷之：「此是下劣人所說，何足以之為證？」並指其病根——「皆是六十二邪見所攝。」大人的樣子則只有一句：「譬如大人但以施心施與他財，而不取價。」反面是「譬如小人市易，求利乃與。」下劣與大人之分，從來不在能力大小，在心裡有沒有所求。
同一段裡還藏著一件不容易接受的事：「不攝惡人及破戒者」。有人設難——菩薩本來就是為度惡人而出世的，「譬如良醫療諸疾病」，何以反不攝惡人？論主的答法不是改口，是分別：「惡人、破戒者，有可化、有不可化，此中但說不可化者。」不可化而強攝，「譬如救溺，自不能浮而欲濟彼，二俱不免。」良醫之喻立於能療，救溺之喻立於未能浮；兩喻的勝負不在譬本身，在行人自己的分量。所以這不是教人挑揀，是教人先量自己。
全品收在一個更難的地方。經末出三種「作是念」：第一種是「是般若波羅蜜，我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智。」——佛直斷「若如是念，不名行般若波羅蜜。」；第二種是不作這樣的念，是名行般若；而竟還有第三種——「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜」也叫行般若，理由是「一切法如、法性、實際常住故。」論主自己設問：「作是念、不作是念，事已盡，何以復有第三說？」自答兩重：「初者是邪行相，第二遮邪行；未說正行相，是故第三說正行相。」，「復次，初是著心取相；第二破是著相，不說云何是諸法相；第三中破邪著，亦說實相。」何以第一念就算邪？論主剖得極細：「五眾和合假名菩薩；菩薩隨逐假名字計以為我，以是般若有所作。」，「般若是無著相，而是人說有相般若是第一義」，「般若是無作相，而是人欲用般若有所作」——般若本無著、無作，而人偏要拿它來「有所作」，那一念裡的「我」就又立起來了。所以末後一句說得極輕：「於一切處，不顯示般若波羅蜜相」，「但知一切法常住如、法性、實際中，於如、法性、實際中不諍。」不諍二字是全品的結。等學之等，學到最後不是等出一個什麼，是連跟空爭一句的心都沒有了——論主早在前段已把般若的界說在這裡：「通達，不與空諍，是名般若波羅蜜。」
This chapter starts from a very short question. Subhūti asks: ‘What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality, in which the bodhisattva should train?’—what is the bodhisattva's ‘dharma of equality’, the one in which the bodhisattva ought to train? The Buddha's answer adds not one new heading; it simply brings the eighteen emptinesses over: ‘Inner emptiness is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality; outer emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality.’ And at once he gathers the words into one sentence: ‘This is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality. Abiding in this dharma of equality, he obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.’ What is called ‘equal’ is not looking on the ten thousand dharmas as of one appearance; it is that dharmas each have their differences, and once emptiness shines on them they are level. The treatise-author, fearing that people will take ‘equal’ for a thing that can be laid hold of, first brings a scale for comparison: ‘As the two ends of a scale come to rest level, so inner emptiness and the other emptinesses are equal among all dharmas.’ The two ends of a scale have light and heavy to begin with; what is called coming to rest level is not planing the two ends flat, it is that light and heavy match; and he adds one more sentence to explain how it is made level: ‘As inner dharmas have all kinds of differences, on obtaining inner emptiness they are all equal and without dharmas’. The differences need not first be removed; once emptiness shines, the differences level of themselves.
The second question is asked more finely: to train for the sake of the exhaustion of form, to train for the sake of the separation of form, to train for the sake of the cessation of form, to train for the sake of the non-arising of form—does this count as training in sarvajñā or not? The Buddha first approves his question—‘As Subhūti has said, to train for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of form is to train in sarvajñā’; and having approved, he at once blocks the road with a counter-question: ‘Are these suchnesses exhausted, ceased, severed, or not?’ Subhūti can only answer: ‘No, World-Honored One!’ Thereupon the Buddha brings out the tightest sentence of the whole chapter: ‘The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in suchness in this way trains in sarvajñā. This suchness is not realised, does not cease, is not severed.’ The treatise-author makes this turn plain: ‘This suchness from the beginning has not been gathered, has not come together; how could there be exhaustion? From the beginning it has not arisen; how could there be cessation?’, ‘This dharma from the beginning is false and deceptive and has no fixed mark; how could it be severed?’ So the exhaustion, separation, and severing spoken of before are all only counteractions—‘This suchness is permanent, cannot be realised, cannot be made to cease, cannot be severed; this exhaustion, separation, and severing are practised in order to remove the inversions; they are not the ultimate.’ Removing the inversions is a means, not the end-point; having arrived at ‘suchness’, even the single thought that is just then doing the removing has to be put down.
Next the Buddha sets out ‘training in this way’ all along the line: training in this way, Māra and the gods of Māra cannot break him; training in this way, he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika; training in this way is training in the path the Buddha practises, is training in great kindness and great compassion, is training in purifying buddha-worlds and bringing beings to accomplishment, is training in delivering beings, is training in not cutting off the seed of the Buddha, is training in opening the gate of ambrosia, all the way to ‘training in this way is training in wishing to show the unconditioned nature.’ In the treatise-author's hands this long string is joined into one chain of cause and effect: ‘He can give rise to great kindness and great compassion; because of great kindness and great compassion he can teach and transform beings; because beings' minds are pure, the Buddha's realm is pure’, ‘because he delivers beings by the Great Vehicle, he does not cut off the seed of the Buddha; because he does not cut off the seed of the Buddha, in the world he constantly opens the Dharma-gate of ambrosia and constantly shows beings the unconditioned nature.’ At the end he takes apart the heading that is hardest to understand and shows it to people: ‘The unconditioned nature is what is called suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, nirvāṇa. Ambrosia is the unconditioned nature; the gate is the three gates of liberation.’ And the pivot phrase of the whole passage is the four Chinese characters rendered here as ‘exhausts the limits of all training’—in the entire treatise these four Chinese characters appear only in this chapter. It does not say that the training is finished; it says that the training has gone until no limit is left over: on one side, ‘If he trains in sarvajñā, this is training in the six perfections and the rest; if he can train in the six perfections and the rest, this is exhausting the limits of all training.’, on the other side, ‘Because he obtains this merit, of all beings of the three times and the ten directions he can know completely their minds and mental-factor dharmas, and the causes and conditions of the various deeds to which the workings of their minds give rise’. The former speaks of the wholeness of the training, the latter of the function of the training.
Then the Buddha states a fact that is not pleasant to hear: those who can train in this way are very few. ‘As on the great earth, few are the places that yield gold, silver, and precious things’, ‘few are the people who can train in prajñāpāramitā; most fall to the śrāvaka ground or the pratyekabuddha ground.’; and turning it another way he says: ‘As few are the people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king, and most take up and practise the work of a minor king’, where what is pointed to is ‘few practise as taught; most abide in the śrāvaka ground or the pratyekabuddha ground’. The purpose of the two similes lies not in reproaching the many but in telling the practitioner: rarity has always been the normal state—gold and silver have always come only from few places; the work of the wheel-turning king has always been taken up by few. The treatise-author closes more bluntly: ‘Few can train in this way; such a person is hard to find!’ Set against this are the three ways in which the so-called inferior person settles himself: my own body and my kin are what I ought to protect; ‘beings are immeasurable and boundless and cannot be delivered to the last; if they could be delivered to the last, they would be measurable and bounded, and a single Buddha could deliver them all.’; ‘the Buddha says all dharmas are empty, not arising and not ceasing; what then is there for me to deliver? Seeking the Buddha path and not seeking the Buddha path are alike like an illusion and a dream.’ The treatise-author settles it in one sentence: ‘This is what inferior people say; how is it worth taking as proof?’ and points to the root of the illness—‘All are included within the sixty-two wrong views.’ The pattern of the great person is only one sentence: ‘As a great person gives wealth to others simply with a giving mind and does not take a price.’ The reverse is ‘as a petty person trades in the market, and gives only when he seeks a profit.’ The division between the inferior and the great person never lay in the size of ability; it lies in whether there is anything sought in the mind.
In the same passage there is also hidden a matter not easy to accept: ‘does not take in evil people and those who break the precepts’. Someone raises the difficulty—the bodhisattva appeared in the world precisely in order to deliver evil people, ‘as a good physician cures the various illnesses’; why on the contrary does he not take in evil people? The treatise-author's way of answering is not to change the words but to distinguish: ‘Of evil people and those who break the precepts, there are those who can be transformed and those who cannot be transformed; here only those who cannot be transformed are spoken of.’ To force the taking in of one who cannot be transformed is ‘as in rescuing the drowning: one who cannot himself float and yet wishes to bring the other across—neither of the two escapes.’ The simile of the good physician stands on being able to cure; the simile of rescuing the drowning stands on not yet being able to float; which of the two similes prevails lies not in the similes themselves but in the practitioner's own weight. So this is not teaching people to pick and choose; it is teaching people first to measure themselves.
The whole chapter closes in a harder place still. At the end of the sūtra three kinds of ‘having this thought’ come out: the first is ‘This is prajñāpāramitā; by this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds.’—the Buddha rules directly, ‘If he has such a thought, it is not called practising prajñāpāramitā.’; the second is not having such a thought, which is called practising prajñā; and yet there is even a third—‘There is no such prajñāpāramitā; no person has this prajñāpāramitā’ is also called practising prajñā, the reason being ‘because all dharmas constantly abide in suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality.’ The treatise-author himself sets the question: ‘Having this thought and not having this thought—the matter is already exhausted; why is there further a third statement?’ and himself answers in two layers: ‘The first is the mark of wrong practice; the second blocks wrong practice; the mark of right practice has not yet been spoken, and therefore the third speaks the mark of right practice.’, ‘Again, the first is a clinging mind grasping at marks; the second refutes this mark of clinging but does not say what the marks of dharmas are; in the third, wrong clinging is refuted and the real mark is also spoken.’ Why does the first thought already count as wrong? The treatise-author dissects it most finely: ‘The coming together of the five aggregates is provisionally named bodhisattva; the bodhisattva, following after the provisional name, reckons it to be a self, and by this prajñā has something that is done.’, ‘prajñā is the mark of non-clinging, and yet this person says that a prajñā possessed of marks is the highest meaning’, ‘prajñā is the mark of non-action, and yet this person wishes to use prajñā to have something done’—prajñā is by origin without clinging and without action, and yet the person insists on taking it to ‘have something done’, and the ‘self’ within that single thought is set up once more. So the last sentence is spoken most lightly: ‘In all places he does not display the mark of prajñāpāramitā’, ‘he only knows that all dharmas constantly abide in suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality, and within suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality he does not contend.’ The two Chinese characters rendered here as ‘does not contend’ are the knot of the whole chapter. The equality of Equal Training, when the training reaches its end, is not levelling out some thing; it is that not even the mind to dispute one sentence with emptiness remains—the treatise-author, already in the earlier passage, set the definition of prajñā here: ‘Penetrating, not contending with emptiness: this is called prajñāpāramitā.’
卷77 〔T25 0604c02〕
大智度論釋等學品第六十三 【經】 須菩提白佛言：「世尊！何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」 「須菩提！內空是菩薩等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩等法。須菩提！色，色相空；受、想、行、識，識相空；乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，阿耨多羅三藐三菩提相空。須菩提！是名菩薩摩訶薩等法。住是等法，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 須菩提白佛言：「世尊！若菩薩摩訶薩為色盡故學，為學薩婆若？為色離故學、為色滅故學，為學薩婆若？為色不生故學，為學薩婆若？受、想、行、識亦如是。修行四念處乃至十八不共法盡、離、滅、不生故學，為學薩婆若？」 佛告須菩提：「如須菩提所說，為色盡、離、滅、不生故學，為學薩婆若；受、想、行、識乃至十八不共法盡、離、滅、不生故學，為學薩婆若。」 佛告須菩提：「於汝意云何？色如，受、想、行、識如，乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提如、佛如，是諸如盡、滅、斷不？」 須菩提言：「不也！世尊！」 佛告須菩提：「菩薩摩訶薩如是學如，為學薩婆若。是如，不作證、不滅、不斷。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩如是學如，為學薩婆若。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩如是學，為學六波羅蜜，為學四念處乃至十八不共法。若學六波羅蜜乃至十八不共法，為學薩婆若。須菩提！如是學，為盡諸學邊。如是學，魔、若魔天所不能壞；如是學，直到阿鞞跋致地；如是學，為學佛所行道；如是學，為得擁護，為學大慈大悲，為學淨佛世界、成就眾生。須菩提！如是學，為學三〔T25 0605a〕轉十二行法輪轉故；如是學，為學度眾生；如是學，為學不斷佛種；如是學，為學開甘露門；如是學，為學欲示無為性。須菩提！下劣之人不能作是學；如是學者，為欲拔出沈沒生死眾生。菩薩摩訶薩如是學，終不墮地獄、餓鬼、畜生中，終不生邊地，終不生栴陀羅家；終不聾盲、瘖瘂、拘癖，諸根不缺；眷屬成就，終不孤窮。菩薩如是學，終不殺生乃至終不邪見；如是學，不作邪命活，不攝惡人及破戒者。如是學，以方便力故，不生長壽天。何等是方便力？如〈般若波羅蜜品〉中所說。菩薩摩訶薩以方便力故，入四禪、四無量心、四無色定，不隨禪、無量、無色定生。須菩提！菩薩如是學，一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」 須菩提白佛言：「世尊！一切法本性清淨，云何言菩薩一切法中得清淨？」 佛告須菩提：「如是！如是！一切諸法本性清淨，若菩薩摩訶薩於是法中心通達、不沒，即是般若波羅蜜。如是諸法，一切凡夫不知不見。菩薩摩訶薩為是眾生故，行檀波羅蜜乃至般若波羅蜜，行四念處乃至一切種智。須菩提！菩薩如是學，於一切法中得智、力、無所畏；如是學，為了知一切眾生心所趣向。譬如大地，少所處出金銀珍寶；須菩提！眾生亦如是，少所人能學般若波羅蜜，多墮聲聞、辟支佛地。須菩提！譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業，多受行小王業；如是，須菩提！少所眾生行般若波羅蜜、求一切智，多行聲聞、辟支佛道。須菩提！諸菩薩摩訶薩發心求阿耨多羅三藐〔T25 0605b〕三菩提中，少有如說行，多住聲聞、辟支佛地；多有菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜無方便力故，少所人住阿鞞跋致地。須菩提！以是故，菩薩摩訶薩欲住阿鞞跋致地、欲在阿鞞跋致數中，應當學是深般若波羅蜜。 「復次，須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩學是般若波羅蜜時，不生慳貪心，不生破戒、瞋恚、懈怠、散亂、愚癡心，不生諸餘過失心。不生取色相、取受想行識相心，不生取四念處相心，乃至不生取阿耨多羅三藐三菩提相心。何以故？是菩薩摩訶薩行是深般若波羅蜜，無有法可得；以不可得故，於諸法不生心取相。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩如是學深般若波羅蜜，總攝諸波羅蜜，令諸波羅蜜增長，諸波羅蜜悉隨從。何以故？須菩提！是深般若波羅蜜，諸波羅蜜悉入中。須菩提！譬如我見中悉攝六十二見；如是，須菩提！是深般若波羅蜜悉攝諸波羅蜜。須菩提！譬如人死，命根滅故，餘根悉隨滅；如是，須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩行深般若波羅蜜時，諸波羅蜜悉隨從。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩欲令諸波羅蜜度彼岸，應學深般若波羅蜜。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩學是深般若波羅蜜者，出一切眾生之上。須菩提！於汝意云何？三千大千世界中眾生多不？」 須菩提言：「一閻浮提中眾生尚多，何況三千大千世界！」 佛告須菩提：「若三千大千世界中眾生一時皆得人身，悉得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；若有菩薩盡形壽供養爾所佛衣服、飲食、臥具、湯藥、資生所須。須菩提！於汝意云何？是人以是因緣故，〔T25 0605c〕得福德多不？」 須菩提言：「甚多！甚多！」 佛言：「不如是善男子、善女人學般若波羅蜜如說行、正憶念，得福多。何以故？般若波羅蜜有勢力，能令菩薩摩訶薩得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。須菩提！以是故，菩薩摩訶薩欲出一切眾生之上，當學般若波羅蜜。欲為無救護眾生作救護，欲與無歸依眾生作歸依，欲與無究竟道眾生作究竟道，欲為盲者作目，欲得佛功德，欲作諸佛自在遊戲，欲作佛師子吼，欲撞擊佛鍾鼓，欲吹佛唄，欲昇佛高座說法，欲斷一切眾生疑，當學深般若波羅蜜。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩若學深般若波羅蜜，諸善功德無事不得。」 須菩提白佛言：「世尊！寧復得聲聞、辟支佛功德不？」 佛言：「聲聞、辟支佛功德皆能得，但不於中住；以智觀已，直過，入菩薩位中。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩如是學，近薩婆若，疾得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩如是學，為一切世間天、人、阿修羅作福田。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩如是學，過諸聲聞、辟支佛福田之上，疾近薩婆若。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩如是學，是名不捨不離般若波羅蜜，常行般若波羅蜜。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩如是學深般若波羅蜜，當知是不退轉菩薩，疾近薩婆若，遠離聲聞、辟支佛，近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜時，若作是念：『是般若波羅蜜，我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智。』若如是念，不名行般若波羅蜜。須菩提！若不作是念：『是般若波羅蜜，是人有般若波羅〔T25 0606a〕蜜；是般若波羅蜜法，是人行般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。』是名行般若波羅蜜。須菩提！若菩薩作是念：『無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜；無有行是般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。』何以故？一切法如、法性、實際常住故。如是行，是為菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜。」 【論】 釋曰： 上阿難問「鬪諍」，佛答「同學清淨」。今須菩提問佛：「甚深同心等法，是菩薩所學處？」佛答：「內空乃至自相空，是名等法。」 有二種等忍：上品末說眾生等忍，此品說法等忍。如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法；乃至自相空，一切法相皆自空，是時心則平等。菩薩住是等中，能得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。 須菩提復問：「為色等盡故，為學薩婆若？」觀色等無常、念念滅不住，若得是觀，心則離色；心離色故，諸煩惱滅；煩惱滅故，得不生法。 須菩提問：「如是學為學薩婆若？」 佛反問須菩提：「於汝意云何？色等諸法如及如來如，是如為盡、滅、斷不？」 須菩提言：「不！」 是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡？本來不生，云何有滅？是法本來虛誑，無有定相，云何可斷？ 「須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩能如是學如，為學薩婆若。」是如，常、不可證、不可滅、不可斷；是盡、離、斷，除顛倒故行，非是究竟。 此中說究竟事，於是佛讚歎：「如是學，雖不定為一法故學而學薩婆若。」 若學薩婆若，即是學六波羅蜜等；若能學六波羅蜜〔T25 0606b〕等，是為盡諸學邊。若盡諸學邊，是人無量福德、智慧具足故，魔、若魔民無能降伏。如是正學故，直到阿鞞跋致地。如是學，為學佛所行道。如是學，皆為十方諸佛及大菩薩、諸天、善人所守護。能如是學，是人無有邪見、心無所著，於一切眾生，能起大慈大悲；大慈大悲故，能教化眾生；眾生心清淨故，佛界清淨；佛界清淨已，得佛道，三轉十二行法輪，以三乘度無量眾生。以大乘度眾生故，不斷佛種；不斷佛種故，於世間常開甘露法門，常示眾生無為性。無為性者，所謂如、法性、實際、涅槃。甘露者，無為性；門者，三解脫門。下劣者，名懈怠、放逸，不樂佛法，不一心行道，罪福雜行。如是等，不能學是法。何以故？是下劣者作是念：「我身及親屬是我所應護，諸餘眾生何豫我事，而以頭目髓腦施之，令其得樂？一切人皆方便求樂，我今何為捨樂求苦？」或生邪見，復作是念：「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」或作是念：「佛說一切法空、不生不滅，我復何所度？求佛道、不求佛道，同如幻夢。」如是等下劣人，以種種邪見、貪欲因緣故，不能學此大法。 或時有大人出世，籌量、思惟諸法實相，所謂非常非無常，非有邊非無邊，非有非無等；行如是道，破顛倒見；還捨此道，直入法性，常住是清淨法性中。以一切眾生不知是事故，生大悲心，然後修集六波羅蜜等諸功德、佛神通、智慧、無礙解脫，得阿耨多羅三藐三〔T25 0606c〕菩提；以種種方便門，廣度眾生。如是人為希有。 問曰： 如先說「眾生無量無邊」，又言：「眾生空，復何所度？」如是云何可有所度？ 答曰： 此是下劣人所說，何足以之為證？ 復次，先所說：以邪見、貪欲因緣故，下劣之人作是念言「眾生有邊、無邊」、「一切法空無所有、一切法常實」——皆是六十二邪見所攝。 大人無欲，思惟、籌量，離如是過罪，住於法性，生大悲心。譬如大人但以施心施與他財，而不取價。貪欲之人，求因緣而與；邪見之人，依有邊、無邊等，無有能無利事而有所作。譬如小人市易，求利乃與。 又復大人菩薩無所求欲，能以頭、目等施與眾生，所得果報，亦以施與；一切法心無所依，而能集諸功德。是故佛說：「欲拔一切眾生沈沒生死者，能如是學。」 復次，菩薩如是學者，常有慈悲憐愍心，不惱眾生故，不墮地獄；常觀因緣諸法實相，不生愚癡故，不墮畜生；常行布施，破慳貪心故，不生餓鬼中。佛所說十二部經、八萬四千法聚，常不悋惜故，不生邊地。常供養尊長、善人，破憍慢故，不生旃陀羅等下賤人中。深心愛眾生，具足行利益事故，受身完具。以善法多化眾生故，眷屬成就，終不孤窮。深愛樂尸羅波羅蜜故，不行十惡道及以邪命。無有我心，但利益眾生、不自為身故，不攝惡人及破戒者。惡人名心惡，破戒者名身、口惡。 復次，行三不善道名惡人，行七不善道名破戒。 復次，菩薩，若在家攝惡人名惡人，出家攝惡人名破〔T25 0607a〕戒。 問曰： 菩薩為度惡人故出現於世，譬如良醫療諸疾病，何以故不攝惡人？ 答曰： 惡人、破戒者，有可化、有不可化，此中但說不可化者。若攝取共住，則自壞其道，於彼無益；譬如救溺，自不能浮而欲濟彼，二俱不免。是故說遠離惡人。 以欲界多惡，生憐愍心故，生欲界中；雖行禪，心調柔軟，以方便力故，命終時不隨禪生，如經中廣說。 「須菩提！菩薩如是學，於一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」淨名捨離、無所有、畢竟空。 須菩提白佛言：「若一切法從本已來空、清淨，云何言『菩薩如是學，得一切法中清淨』？」 佛可須菩提言，為說因緣：「若菩薩知一切法從本已來空、清淨，於是中心不沒、不却。不沒名不疑、不生邪見。通達，不與空諍，是名般若波羅蜜。一切凡夫人不知不見如是清淨法，為是人故，行六波羅蜜等諸助道法。」菩薩法應教化是眾生，是名菩薩一切法中得清淨，所謂捨三界顛倒，過聲聞、辟支佛地，一切法中得清淨智慧力；得是功德故，三世十方一切眾生心心數法，心所行起種種業因緣悉能遍知；知已，隨其所應，為說法開化。如是等利益，皆是學般若故得，是故言盡諸學邊。 少有能如是學，是人難得！佛欲令此義明了，故說譬喻，金銀及轉輪聖王業等。 復次，菩薩學是般若時，不生慳等心。不生慳等心者，菩薩學般若波羅蜜故，抑制諸煩惱；煩惱雖未盡，無所能作，是故言不生。 菩薩行般若，知一切諸法〔T25 0607b〕相皆虛誑不實故，是以不取色乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提相。何以故？不欲令墮有無見中故，直行中道，集菩薩行。 此中佛自說因緣：「菩薩行般若，於一切法無所得，無所得故，無有法可取相——若善、若不善等。」 菩薩若能如是學，總攝諸波羅蜜。檀等諸波羅蜜不離般若波羅蜜，般若波羅蜜力故，令餘波羅蜜離諸邪見、貪著，各得增長。 佛欲令此義明了故，說譬喻：如我見及命根等。 問曰： 我見、諸見各有別相，云何攝入我見中？ 答曰： 雖有別相，我見是本。人以無明因緣故，空五眾中生我見；生我見故，言「是身死，如去、不如去」。若如去，則是常見；若不如去，則是斷見。若謂斷滅，現今受樂、著五欲，以惡法為最，則生見取。若謂常，出家學道，持戒、苦行，則生戒取。或時見斷、常俱有過故，便言無因緣果報，則生邪見。住是五見中，世間常無常、前際後際等，生五十七見。是故說「身見攝六十二見」，無咎。 如是等種種因緣譬喻故，知般若波羅蜜諸法中最第一；般若波羅蜜諸法中最第一故，菩薩學是般若故，於眾生中第一。佛欲以是事善化眾生故，說譬喻：「須菩提！於汝意云何？三千大千世界中眾生多不？」如是等，乃至「菩薩如是學，當知是不退轉，遠離二乘，近佛乘。」 復次，佛告須菩提：「若菩薩作是念：『是般若波羅蜜。』」 是般若波羅蜜者，示般若波羅蜜相若有、若無等，見般若、得般若、著般若等。我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智者，五眾和〔T25 0607c〕合假名菩薩；菩薩隨逐假名字計以為我，以是般若有所作。般若是無著相，而是人說有相般若是第一義，是人隨假名而生我心。般若是無作相，而是人欲用般若有所作，所謂我用是般若得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。是故佛言：「作如是念者，不名行般若。」若不如是念，名為行般若波羅蜜。 問曰： 作是念、不作是念，事已盡，何以復有第三說？ 答曰： 初者是邪行相，第二遮邪行；未說正行相，是故第三說正行相。 復次，初是著心取相；第二破是著相，不說云何是諸法相；第三中破邪著，亦說實相。 菩薩作是念：「於一切處，不顯示般若波羅蜜相；亦不生我心、我用般若波羅蜜有所作；但知一切法常住如、法性、實際中，於如、法性、實際中不諍。」是故說第三，無咎。 大智度論卷第七十七
《大智度論》卷77 · T25n1509 0604c02–0607c20
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〈等學品〉第六十三，聖者龍樹所造，後秦龜茲國三藏鳩摩羅什所譯，在卷七十七。
經①：須菩提問菩薩等法，佛答內空乃至自相空、諸法相空是等法而住是等法得菩提——為色盡離滅不生故學即學薩婆若、學如為盡諸學邊、如是學之諸利與諸離、一切法中得清淨、金銀與轉輪聖王業二喻、學般若不生慳等心與取相心、深般若總攝諸波羅蜜與我見命根二喻、三千大千世界眾生福德格量、聲聞辟支佛功德皆能得而不住、三種「作是念」之辨
須菩提向佛稟白：『世尊！什麼是菩薩摩訶薩的等法，是菩薩所應當學的？』
『須菩提！內空是菩薩的等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩的等法。須菩提！色，色相是空；受、想、行、識，識相是空；乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，阿耨多羅三藐三菩提相是空。須菩提！這就叫作菩薩摩訶薩的等法。安住在這等法之中，便得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。』
須菩提向佛稟白：『世尊！若菩薩摩訶薩為了色的盡而學，這是學薩婆若嗎？為了色的離而學、為了色的滅而學，這是學薩婆若嗎？為了色的不生而學，這是學薩婆若嗎？受、想、行、識也是這樣。修行四念處乃至十八不共法，為了它們的盡、離、滅、不生而學，這是學薩婆若嗎？』
佛告訴須菩提：『如須菩提所說，為了色的盡、離、滅、不生而學，這是學薩婆若；為了受、想、行、識乃至十八不共法的盡、離、滅、不生而學，這是學薩婆若。』
佛告訴須菩提：『你意下如何？色如，受、想、行、識如，乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提如、佛如，這些如可以盡、可以滅、可以斷嗎？』
須菩提說：『不是的！世尊！』
佛告訴須菩提：『菩薩摩訶薩這樣學如，就是學薩婆若。這個如，不作證、不滅、不斷。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩這樣學如，就是學薩婆若。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩這樣學，就是學六波羅蜜，就是學四念處乃至十八不共法。若學六波羅蜜乃至十八不共法，就是學薩婆若。須菩提！這樣學，是為窮盡諸學的邊際。這樣學，魔和魔天都不能破壞；這樣學，直到阿鞞跋致地；這樣學，是學佛所行的道；這樣學，是得到擁護，是學大慈大悲，是學清淨佛世界、成就眾生。須菩提！這樣學，是為了學三轉十二行的法輪能夠轉起的緣故；這樣學，是學度眾生；這樣學，是學不斷絕佛的種姓；這樣學，是學開啟甘露之門；這樣學，是學欲示無為之性。須菩提！下劣的人不能作這樣的學；這樣學的人，是為了要拔出沈沒在生死中的眾生。菩薩摩訶薩這樣學，終究不墮地獄、餓鬼、畜生之中，終究不生在邊地，終究不生在栴陀羅家；終究不聾、不盲、不瘖瘂、不拘癖，諸根不缺；眷屬成就，終究不孤獨貧窮。菩薩這樣學，終究不殺生乃至終究不起邪見；這樣學，不作邪命而活，不攝受惡人以及破戒的人。這樣學，因為方便力的緣故，不生在長壽天。什麼是方便力？如〈般若波羅蜜品〉中所說的。菩薩摩訶薩因為方便力的緣故，入四禪、四無量心、四無色定，而不隨著禪、無量、無色定受生。須菩提！菩薩這樣學，在一切法中得清淨，就是所謂的淨聲聞、辟支佛之心。』
須菩提向佛稟白：『世尊！一切法本性清淨，為什麼說菩薩在一切法中得清淨？』
佛告訴須菩提：『是這樣！是這樣！一切諸法本性清淨，若菩薩摩訶薩在這法中心能通達、不沈沒，就是般若波羅蜜。這樣的諸法，一切凡夫不知不見。菩薩摩訶薩為了這些眾生的緣故，行檀波羅蜜乃至般若波羅蜜，行四念處乃至一切種智。須菩提！菩薩這樣學，在一切法中得智、得力、得無所畏；這樣學，是為了了知一切眾生心所趣向。譬如大地，只有少數地方出產金銀珍寶；須菩提！眾生也是這樣，只有少數人能學般若波羅蜜，多數墮在聲聞、辟支佛地。須菩提！譬如只有少數人受行轉輪聖王的事業，多數人受行小王的事業；就是這樣，須菩提！只有少數眾生行般若波羅蜜、求一切智，多數行聲聞、辟支佛道。須菩提！諸菩薩摩訶薩發心求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提的人之中，少有依所說而行的，多數住在聲聞、辟支佛地；多有菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜而沒有方便力的緣故，只有少數人住在阿鞞跋致地。須菩提！因為這個緣故，菩薩摩訶薩想要住在阿鞞跋致地、想要在阿鞞跋致之數中，應當學這甚深的般若波羅蜜。
『再者，須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩學這般若波羅蜜的時候，不生慳貪的心，不生破戒、瞋恚、懈怠、散亂、愚癡的心，不生其餘種種過失的心。不生取色相、取受想行識相的心，不生取四念處相的心，乃至不生取阿耨多羅三藐三菩提相的心。為什麼呢？這菩薩摩訶薩行這甚深般若波羅蜜，沒有法可得；因為不可得的緣故，於諸法不生心去取相。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩這樣學甚深般若波羅蜜，總攝諸波羅蜜，令諸波羅蜜增長，諸波羅蜜全都隨從。為什麼呢？須菩提！這甚深般若波羅蜜，諸波羅蜜全都入在其中。須菩提！譬如我見中全都攝了六十二見；就是這樣，須菩提！這甚深般若波羅蜜全都攝了諸波羅蜜。須菩提！譬如人死，命根滅的緣故，其餘諸根全都隨之而滅；就是這樣，須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩行甚深般若波羅蜜的時候，諸波羅蜜全都隨從。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩想要令諸波羅蜜度到彼岸，應當學甚深般若波羅蜜。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩學這甚深般若波羅蜜的人，超出一切眾生之上。須菩提！你意下如何？三千大千世界中的眾生多不多？』
須菩提說：『一個閻浮提中的眾生尚且眾多，何況三千大千世界！』
佛告訴須菩提：『若三千大千世界中的眾生一時都得人身，全都得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；若有菩薩盡形壽供養這麼多佛，供以衣服、飲食、臥具、湯藥以及資生所須之物。須菩提！你意下如何？這人以這因緣的緣故，得福德多不多？』
須菩提說：『很多！很多！』
佛說：『不如這善男子、善女人學般若波羅蜜、依所說而行、正憶念所得的福多。為什麼呢？般若波羅蜜有勢力，能令菩薩摩訶薩得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。須菩提！因為這個緣故，菩薩摩訶薩想要超出一切眾生之上，當學般若波羅蜜。想要為沒有救護的眾生作救護，想要為沒有歸依的眾生作歸依，想要為沒有究竟道的眾生作究竟道，想要為盲者作眼目，想要得佛的功德，想要作諸佛的自在遊戲，想要作佛的師子吼，想要撞擊佛的鍾鼓，想要吹佛的法唄，想要昇佛的高座說法，想要斷一切眾生的疑，當學甚深般若波羅蜜。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩若學甚深般若波羅蜜，諸善功德沒有一事不得。』
須菩提向佛稟白：『世尊！豈能又得聲聞、辟支佛的功德嗎？』
佛說：『聲聞、辟支佛的功德都能得，只是不在其中安住；以智慧觀察之後，逕直越過，入在菩薩位中。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩這樣學，親近薩婆若，迅速得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩這樣學，為一切世間的天、人、阿修羅作福田。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩這樣學，超過諸聲聞、辟支佛福田之上，迅速親近薩婆若。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩這樣學，這就叫作不捨不離般若波羅蜜，常行般若波羅蜜。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩這樣學甚深般若波羅蜜，當知這是不退轉菩薩，迅速親近薩婆若，遠離聲聞、辟支佛，親近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜的時候，若作這樣的念：「是般若波羅蜜，我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智。」若這樣念，不名為行般若波羅蜜。須菩提！若不作這樣的念：「是般若波羅蜜，是人有般若波羅蜜；是般若波羅蜜法，是人行般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」這就叫作行般若波羅蜜。須菩提！若菩薩作這樣的念：「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜；無有行是般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」為什麼呢？因為一切法如、法性、實際常住的緣故。這樣行，這就是菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜。』
論①：釋曰承上同學而問等法、二種等忍與如稱兩頭停等、觀色無常心離色而得不生法、如之不可盡滅斷、盡諸學邊、大慈大悲之因果鏈與甘露門三解脫、下劣之三種邪見、大人籌量實相而入法性、四番問答、九種離惡道因緣、惡人破戒之三重界說、淨名捨離無所有畢竟空、金銀與轉輪聖王業喻之意、抑制煩惱故言不生與直行中道、我見為本而生五十七見、三種「作是念」之邪正與第三說實相
論主解釋說：
上文阿難問『鬪諍』，佛答以『同學清淨』。如今須菩提問佛：「甚深同心等法，是菩薩所學處？」佛答：「內空乃至自相空，是名等法。」
有兩種等忍：上一品末說眾生等忍，這一品說法等忍。如同秤的兩頭停穩相等，這樣，內空等諸空在諸法之中平等。如內法有種種差別，得內空就都平等而無法；乃至自相空，一切法相都是自空，這時心就平等。菩薩住在這等之中，能得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。
須菩提再問：「為色等盡故，為學薩婆若？」觀色等無常、念念滅而不住，若得這樣的觀，心就離色；心離色的緣故，諸煩惱滅；煩惱滅的緣故，得不生之法。
須菩提問：「如是學為學薩婆若？」
佛反問須菩提：「於汝意云何？色等諸法如及如來如，是如為盡、滅、斷不？」
須菩提說：「不！」
這個如從本以來，不集、不和合，哪裡會有盡呢？本來不生，哪裡會有滅呢？這法本來虛誑，沒有定相，哪裡可斷呢？
「須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩能如是學如，為學薩婆若。」這個如，是常、不可證、不可滅、不可斷；那盡、離、斷，是為除顛倒的緣故而行，不是究竟。
這裡面說的是究竟之事，於是佛讚歎說：「如是學，雖不定為一法故學而學薩婆若。」
若學薩婆若，就是學六波羅蜜等；若能學六波羅蜜等，這就是窮盡諸學的邊際。若窮盡諸學的邊際，這人無量福德、智慧具足的緣故，魔和魔民都不能降伏他。這樣正學的緣故，直到阿鞞跋致地。這樣學，是學佛所行的道。這樣學，都為十方諸佛以及大菩薩、諸天、善人所守護。能這樣學，這人沒有邪見、心無所著，對一切眾生能生起大慈大悲；因為大慈大悲的緣故，能教化眾生；眾生心清淨的緣故，佛的國界清淨；佛的國界清淨之後，得佛道，三轉十二行的法輪，以三乘度無量眾生。因為以大乘度眾生的緣故，不斷絕佛的種姓；不斷絕佛種姓的緣故，在世間常開甘露的法門，常示眾生無為之性。無為性，就是所謂的如、法性、實際、涅槃。甘露，就是無為性；門，就是三解脫門。所謂下劣，是說懈怠、放逸，不樂佛法，不一心行道，罪福雜行。這樣的人，不能學這個法。為什麼呢？這下劣的人作這樣的念：「我身及親屬是我所應護，諸餘眾生何豫我事，而以頭目髓腦施之，令其得樂？一切人皆方便求樂，我今何為捨樂求苦？」或生起邪見，又作這樣的念：「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」或作這樣的念：「佛說一切法空、不生不滅，我復何所度？求佛道、不求佛道，同如幻夢。」這樣的下劣之人，因為種種邪見、貪欲因緣的緣故，不能學這大法。
有時有大人出世，籌量、思惟諸法實相，就是所謂的非常非無常，非有邊非無邊，非有非無等；行這樣的道，破顛倒之見；又捨去此道，逕直入於法性，常住在這清淨法性之中。因為一切眾生不知道這件事的緣故，生起大悲之心，然後修集六波羅蜜等諸功德、佛的神通、智慧、無礙解脫，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；以種種方便之門，廣度眾生。這樣的人是希有的。
論主問道：
如先前所說「眾生無量無邊」，又說：「眾生空，復何所度？」這樣，為什麼可以有所度呢？
論主答道：
這是下劣之人所說的，哪裡足以拿它作證據？
再者，先前所說的：因為邪見、貪欲因緣的緣故，下劣的人作這樣的念說「眾生有邊、無邊」、「一切法空無所有、一切法常實」——都是六十二邪見所攝。
大人沒有貪欲，思惟、籌量，離開這樣的過罪，住在法性之中，生起大悲之心。譬如大人只以布施之心把財物施與他人，而不索取代價。貪欲的人，求取因緣然後纔給；邪見的人，依著有邊、無邊等，沒有能夠作無利之事而有所給予的。譬如小人作買賣，求得利益纔給。
又再者，大人菩薩無所求欲，能以頭、目等施與眾生，所得的果報也拿來施與；一切法上心無所依，而能積集諸功德。所以佛說：「欲拔一切眾生沈沒生死者，能如是學。」
再者，菩薩這樣學的人，常有慈悲憐愍之心，不惱害眾生的緣故，不墮地獄；常觀因緣諸法實相，不生愚癡的緣故，不墮畜生；常行布施，破慳貪心的緣故，不生在餓鬼之中。佛所說的十二部經、八萬四千法聚，常常不吝惜的緣故，不生在邊地。常供養尊長、善人，破憍慢的緣故，不生在旃陀羅等下賤人之中。深心愛護眾生，具足行利益之事的緣故，所受之身完具。因為以善法多化眾生的緣故，眷屬成就，終究不孤獨貧窮。深愛樂尸羅波羅蜜的緣故，不行十惡道以及邪命。沒有我心，只利益眾生、不為自身的緣故，不攝受惡人以及破戒的人。所謂惡人，是說心惡；所謂破戒的人，是說身、口惡。
再者，行三不善道叫作惡人，行七不善道叫作破戒。
再者，菩薩，若在家而攝惡人叫作惡人，出家而攝惡人叫作破戒。
論主問道：
菩薩為了度惡人的緣故出現於世，譬如良醫療治諸病，為什麼不攝受惡人呢？
論主答道：
惡人、破戒的人，有可度化的，有不可度化的，這裡面只說不可度化的。若攝取而與之共住，就自己壞了自己的道，對他也沒有利益；譬如救溺水的人，自己不能浮而想要救濟他，兩人都不免於溺。所以說遠離惡人。
因為欲界多惡，生起憐愍之心的緣故，生在欲界之中；雖然行禪，心調和柔軟，因為方便力的緣故，命終的時候不隨著禪受生，如經中廣說。
「須菩提！菩薩如是學，於一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」所謂淨，是捨離、無所有、畢竟空。
須菩提向佛稟白：「若一切法從本已來空、清淨，云何言『菩薩如是學，得一切法中清淨』？」
佛印可須菩提的話，為他說出因緣：「若菩薩知一切法從本已來空、清淨，於是中心不沒、不却。不沒名不疑、不生邪見。通達，不與空諍，是名般若波羅蜜。一切凡夫人不知不見如是清淨法，為是人故，行六波羅蜜等諸助道法。」菩薩之法應當教化這些眾生，這就叫作菩薩在一切法中得清淨，就是所謂的捨三界顛倒，越過聲聞、辟支佛地，在一切法中得清淨的智慧力；得到這功德的緣故，三世十方一切眾生的心與心數法、心所行起種種業的因緣，全都能夠遍知；知道之後，隨其所應，為他們說法開化。這樣的種種利益，都是因為學般若而得，所以說是窮盡諸學的邊際。
少有能這樣學的，這樣的人難得！佛想要令這義理明了，所以說譬喻，就是金銀以及轉輪聖王業等。
再者，菩薩學這般若的時候，不生慳等之心。所謂不生慳等之心，是說菩薩因為學般若波羅蜜的緣故，抑制諸煩惱；煩惱雖然未盡，卻無所能作，所以說不生。
菩薩行般若，因為知道一切諸法之相都虛誑不實的緣故，所以不取色乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提之相。為什麼呢？因為不想令他墮在有無之見中的緣故，逕直行於中道，積集菩薩之行。
這裡面佛自己說出因緣：「菩薩行般若，於一切法無所得，無所得故，無有法可取相——若善、若不善等。」
菩薩若能這樣學，總攝諸波羅蜜。檀等諸波羅蜜不離般若波羅蜜，因為般若波羅蜜之力的緣故，令其餘波羅蜜離開諸邪見、貪著，各各得以增長。
佛想要令這義理明了的緣故，說譬喻：就是我見以及命根等。
論主問道：
我見、諸見各有別相，為什麼說攝入我見之中？
論主答道：
雖然各有別相，我見是根本。人因為無明因緣的緣故，於空的五眾之中生起我見；生起我見的緣故，說「是身死，如去、不如去」。若是如去，那就是常見；若是不如去，那就是斷見。若說斷滅，現今受樂、貪著五欲，以惡法為最，就生起見取。若說是常，出家學道，持戒、苦行，就生起戒取。或有時見到斷、常都有過失的緣故，便說沒有因緣果報，就生起邪見。住在這五見之中，世間常無常、前際後際等，生出五十七見。所以說「身見攝六十二見」，並無過咎。
以這樣種種因緣譬喻的緣故，知道般若波羅蜜在諸法之中最為第一；因為般若波羅蜜在諸法中最為第一的緣故，菩薩學這般若的緣故，在眾生之中第一。佛想要以這件事善巧教化眾生的緣故，說譬喻：「須菩提！於汝意云何？三千大千世界中眾生多不？」這樣等等，乃至「菩薩如是學，當知是不退轉，遠離二乘，近佛乘。」
再者，佛告訴須菩提：「若菩薩作是念：『是般若波羅蜜。』」
所謂是般若波羅蜜，是顯示般若波羅蜜之相若有、若無等，見般若、得般若、著般若等。所謂我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智，是說五眾和合假名為菩薩；菩薩隨逐假名字而計以為我，以這般若有所作為。般若是無著之相，而這人說有相的般若是第一義，這人隨著假名而生起我心。般若是無作之相，而這人想要用般若有所作為，就是所謂的我用這般若得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。所以佛說：「作如是念者，不名行般若。」若不這樣念，就叫作行般若波羅蜜。
論主問道：
作是念、不作是念，事情已經說盡了，為什麼又有第三說？
論主答道：
初者是邪行之相，第二遮止邪行；未說正行之相，所以第三說正行之相。
再者，初是著心取相；第二破這著相，不說什麼是諸法之相；第三之中破邪著，也說實相。
菩薩作這樣的念：「於一切處，不顯示般若波羅蜜相；亦不生我心、我用般若波羅蜜有所作；但知一切法常住如、法性、實際中，於如、法性、實際中不諍。」所以說第三，並無過咎。
《大智度論》卷第七十七。
This chapter is titled the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa's commentary on the sixty-third chapter, "Equal Training", 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-seventh fascicle.
Sūtra ①: Subhūti Asks about the Bodhisattva's Dharma of Equality, and the Buddha Answers That Inner Emptiness and so on up to the Emptiness of Specific Marks, and the Emptiness of the Marks of All Dharmas, Are the Dharma of Equality, and That Abiding in This Dharma of Equality One Obtains Awakening—Training for the Sake of the Exhaustion, Separation, Cessation, and Non-arising of Form Is Training in Sarvajñā; Training in Suchness Exhausts the Limits of All Training; the Benefits and the Avoidances of Training in This Way; Obtaining Purity within All Dharmas; the Two Similes of Gold and Silver and of the Work of a Wheel-Turning Sage King; Training in Prajñā without Giving Rise to Stinginess and the Other Minds or to the Mind That Grasps at Marks; the Deep Prajñā Gathering In All the Perfections, and the Two Similes of the View of Self and of the Life-Faculty; the Weighing of Merit against the Beings of the Three-Thousand Great-Thousand World; the Merits of the Śrāvaka and the Pratyekabuddha All Obtained and yet Not Abided In; the Distinction of the Three Kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "Having This Thought"
Subhūti said to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality, in which the bodhisattva should train?’
‘Subhūti! Inner emptiness is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality; outer emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality. Subhūti! Form—the mark of form is empty; feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness—the mark of consciousness is empty; and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi—the mark of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi is empty. Subhūti! This is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality. Abiding in this dharma of equality, he obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.’
Subhūti said to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! If the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains for the sake of the exhaustion of form, is this training in sarvajñā? If he trains for the sake of the separation of form, trains for the sake of the cessation of form, is this training in sarvajñā? If he trains for the sake of the non-arising of form, is this training in sarvajñā? Feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness are also like this. If, practising the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, he trains for the sake of their exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising, is this training in sarvajñā?’
The Buddha told Subhūti: ‘As Subhūti has said, to train for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of form is training in sarvajñā; to train for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, is training in sarvajñā.’
The Buddha told Subhūti: ‘What do you think? The suchness of form, the suchness of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, and so on up to the suchness of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi and the suchness of the Buddha—can these suchnesses be exhausted, can they be made to cease, can they be severed?’
Subhūti said: ‘No, World-Honored One!’
The Buddha told Subhūti: ‘The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in suchness in this way is training in sarvajñā. This suchness is not realised, does not cease, is not severed. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in suchness in this way is training in sarvajñā. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in this way is training in the six perfections, is training in the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas. If he trains in the six perfections and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, this is training in sarvajñā. Subhūti! Training in this way is for exhausting the limits of all training. Training in this way, Māra and the gods of Māra cannot break him; training in this way, he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika; training in this way is training in the path the Buddha practises; training in this way is obtaining protection, is training in great kindness and great compassion, is training in purifying buddha-worlds and bringing beings to accomplishment. Subhūti! Training in this way is for the sake of training so that the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects can be turned; training in this way is training in delivering beings; training in this way is training in not cutting off the seed of the Buddha; training in this way is training in opening the gate of ambrosia; training in this way is training in wishing to show the unconditioned nature. Subhūti! The inferior person cannot do this training; the one who trains in this way does so in order to pull out the beings sunk in birth and death. The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in this way never falls among the hells, the hungry ghosts, or the animals, is never born in a border land, is never born in a caṇḍāla household; he is never deaf, never blind, never mute, never crippled, and his faculties are not deficient; his retinue is accomplished, and he is never alone or poor. The bodhisattva who trains in this way never kills living beings, and so on up to never gives rise to wrong view; training in this way, he does not live by wrong livelihood, and does not take in evil people or those who break the precepts. Training in this way, because of the power of skilful means, he is not born in the heavens of long life. What is the power of skilful means? It is as spoken of in the "Prajñāpāramitā" chapter. Because of the power of skilful means, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva enters the four dhyānas, the four immeasurable minds, and the four formless absorptions, and yet is not born according to the dhyānas, the immeasurables, or the formless absorptions. Subhūti! The bodhisattva who trains in this way obtains purity within all dharmas—namely, purifying the mind of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha.’
Subhūti said to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! All dharmas are pure in their original nature; why is it said that the bodhisattva obtains purity within all dharmas?’
The Buddha told Subhūti: ‘Just so! Just so! All dharmas are pure in their original nature; if the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's mind within this dharma can penetrate and does not sink, this is prajñāpāramitā. Such dharmas all ordinary people do not know and do not see. For the sake of these beings the bodhisattva-mahāsattva practises dānapāramitā and so on up to prajñāpāramitā, practises the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds. Subhūti! The bodhisattva who trains in this way obtains knowledge, obtains power, and obtains fearlessness within all dharmas; training in this way is for knowing where the minds of all beings tend. It is like the great earth, where only a few places yield gold, silver, and precious things; Subhūti! beings are also like this: only a few people can train in prajñāpāramitā; most fall to the śrāvaka ground or the pratyekabuddha ground. Subhūti! It is like how only a few people take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king, and most take up and practise the work of a minor king; just so, Subhūti! only a few beings practise prajñāpāramitā and seek omniscience; most practise the śrāvaka path or the pratyekabuddha path. Subhūti! Among the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who arouse the mind to seek anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, few practise as taught; most abide in the śrāvaka ground or the pratyekabuddha ground; many bodhisattva-mahāsattvas practise prajñāpāramitā without the power of skilful means, and therefore only a few abide in the ground of the avaivartika. Subhūti! For this reason, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva who wishes to abide in the ground of the avaivartika, who wishes to be within the number of the avaivartika, should train in this very deep prajñāpāramitā.
‘Furthermore, Subhūti! When the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains in this prajñāpāramitā, he does not give rise to the mind of stinginess and greed, does not give rise to the mind of precept-breaking, hatred, laziness, distraction, or delusion, does not give rise to the minds of any of the other kinds of fault. He does not give rise to the mind that grasps at the mark of form or grasps at the marks of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, does not give rise to the mind that grasps at the mark of the four foundations of mindfulness, and so on up to does not give rise to the mind that grasps at the mark of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Why? This bodhisattva-mahāsattva, practising this very deep prajñāpāramitā, has no dharma to be found; because it is unfindable, toward dharmas he does not give rise to the mind to grasp at marks. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in the very deep prajñāpāramitā in this way gathers in all the perfections, makes all the perfections increase, and all the perfections follow along. Why? Subhūti! Within this very deep prajñāpāramitā all the perfections are entirely contained. Subhūti! It is like how within the view of self the sixty-two wrong views are all included; just so, Subhūti! this very deep prajñāpāramitā includes all the perfections. Subhūti! It is like a man who dies: because the life-faculty ceases, all his other faculties cease along with it; just so, Subhūti! when the bodhisattva-mahāsattva practises the very deep prajñāpāramitā, all the perfections follow along. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who wishes to bring all the perfections across to the further shore should train in the very deep prajñāpāramitā. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in this very deep prajñāpāramitā goes above all beings. Subhūti! What do you think? Are the beings in the three-thousand great-thousand world many or not?’
Subhūti said: ‘Even the beings in a single Jambudvīpa are very many—how much more those of the three-thousand great-thousand world!’
The Buddha told Subhūti: ‘Suppose the beings in the three-thousand great-thousand world all at once obtained human bodies and all obtained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; and suppose there were a bodhisattva who for the whole of his life made offerings to that many buddhas, offering them robes, food and drink, bedding, medicine, and whatever is needed to sustain life. Subhūti! What do you think? Because of this cause and condition, is the merit this person obtains much or not?’
Subhūti said: ‘Very much! Very much!’
The Buddha said: ‘It is not as much as the merit obtained by this good man or good woman who trains in prajñāpāramitā, practises as taught, and rightly recollects. Why? Prajñāpāramitā has power; it can bring the bodhisattva-mahāsattva to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Subhūti! For this reason, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva who wishes to go above all beings should train in prajñāpāramitā. Wishing to be rescue and protection for beings who have no rescue and protection, wishing to be a refuge for beings who have no refuge, wishing to be the ultimate path for beings who have no ultimate path, wishing to be eyes for the blind, wishing to obtain the merits of the Buddha, wishing to do the sovereign play of the buddhas, wishing to make the Buddha's lion's roar, wishing to strike the Buddha's bell and drum, wishing to blow the Buddha's Dharma conch, wishing to ascend the Buddha's high seat and teach the Dharma, wishing to sever the doubts of all beings—he should train in the very deep prajñāpāramitā. Subhūti! If the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains in the very deep prajñāpāramitā, there is not a single one of the wholesome merits that he does not obtain.’
Subhūti said to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One! Can he also obtain the merits of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha?’
The Buddha said: ‘The merits of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha he can all obtain, only he does not abide in them; having observed them with wisdom, he passes straight beyond them and enters the bodhisattva position. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in this way draws near to sarvajñā and quickly obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in this way is a field of merit for the gods, humans, and asuras of all the world. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in this way passes above the fields of merit of all the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and quickly draws near to sarvajñā. Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in this way—this is called not abandoning and not parting from prajñāpāramitā, and constantly practising prajñāpāramitā. Subhūti! When the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains in the very deep prajñāpāramitā in this way, know that this is a non-retrogressing bodhisattva, who quickly draws near to sarvajñā, is far from the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, and draws near to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Subhūti! When the bodhisattva-mahāsattva practises prajñāpāramitā, if he has this thought: 「是般若波羅蜜，我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智。」 tr. "This is prajñāpāramitā; by this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds." If he thinks in this way, it is not called practising prajñāpāramitā. Subhūti! If he does not have this thought: 「是般若波羅蜜，是人有般若波羅蜜；是般若波羅蜜法，是人行般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "This is prajñāpāramitā; this person has prajñāpāramitā; this is the dharma of prajñāpāramitā; this person, practising prajñāpāramitā, obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." this is called practising prajñāpāramitā. Subhūti! If the bodhisattva has this thought: 「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜；無有行是般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "There is no such prajñāpāramitā; no person has this prajñāpāramitā; there is none who, practising this prajñāpāramitā, obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." Why? Because all dharmas—suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality—constantly abide. Practising in this way, this is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva practising prajñāpāramitā.’
Treatise ①: The Explanation—Following on from Training Alike, the Dharma of Equality Is Asked About; the Two Kinds of Acceptance of Equality, and As the Two Ends of a Scale Come to Rest Level; Contemplating Form as Impermanent, the Mind Is Separated from Form and Obtains the Dharma of Non-arising; That Suchness Cannot Be Exhausted, Made to Cease, or Severed; Exhausting the Limits of All Training; the Chain of Cause and Effect of Great Kindness and Great Compassion, and the Gate of Ambrosia as the Three Gates of Liberation; the Three Kinds of Wrong View of the Inferior; the Great Person Reckoning the Real Mark and Entering the Nature of Dharmas; Four Rounds of Question and Answer; the Nine Causes and Conditions for Keeping Clear of the Evil Destinies; the Threefold Definition of Evil People and Those Who Break the Precepts; Purity Named as Abandonment, Nothing Whatsoever, and Ultimate Emptiness; the Point of the Similes of Gold and Silver and of the Work of a Wheel-Turning Sage King; Saying ‘Does Not Arise’ Because the Afflictions Are Restrained, and Going Straight along the Middle Way; the View of Self as the Root from Which the Fifty-seven Views Arise; the Wrong and the Right of the Three Kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "Having This Thought", and the Third Statement Speaking the Real Mark
The treatise-author explains:
Above, Ānanda asked about ‘fighting and contention’, and the Buddha answered with ‘the purity of training alike’. Now Subhūti asks the Buddha: 「甚深同心等法，是菩薩所學處？」 tr. "The very deep dharma of equality of one mind—is this where the bodhisattva trains?" The Buddha answers: 「內空乃至自相空，是名等法。」 tr. "Inner emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks—this is called the dharma of equality."
There are two kinds of acceptance of equality: at the end of the previous chapter the acceptance of the equality of beings was spoken of; this chapter speaks of the acceptance of the equality of dharmas. As the two ends of a scale come to rest level, so inner emptiness and the other emptinesses are equal among all dharmas. As inner dharmas have all kinds of differences, on obtaining inner emptiness they are all equal and without dharmas; and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks: the marks of all dharmas are each empty of themselves, and at this time the mind is equal. The bodhisattva, abiding in this equality, can obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi.
Subhūti asks again: 「為色等盡故，為學薩婆若？」 tr. "Training for the sake of the exhaustion of form and the rest—is this training in sarvajñā?" One contemplates form and the rest as impermanent, ceasing thought by thought and not abiding; if one obtains such a contemplation, the mind is separated from form; because the mind is separated from form, the afflictions cease; because the afflictions cease, one obtains the dharma of non-arising.
Subhūti asks: 「如是學為學薩婆若？」 tr. "Is training in this way training in sarvajñā?"
The Buddha asks Subhūti in return: 「於汝意云何？色等諸法如及如來如，是如為盡、滅、斷不？」 tr. "What do you think? The suchness of form and the other dharmas, and the suchness of the Tathāgata—are these suchnesses exhausted, ceased, severed, or not?"
Subhūti says: 「不！」 tr. "No!"
This suchness, from the beginning, has not been gathered and has not come together; how could there be exhaustion? From the beginning it has not arisen; how could there be cessation? This dharma from the beginning is false and deceptive and has no fixed mark; how could it be severed?
「須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩能如是學如，為學薩婆若。」 tr. "Subhūti! The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who can train in suchness in this way is training in sarvajñā." This suchness is permanent, cannot be realised, cannot be made to cease, cannot be severed; that exhaustion, separation, and severing are practised in order to remove the inversions; they are not the ultimate.
What is spoken of here is the matter of the ultimate, and so the Buddha praises it, saying: 「如是學，雖不定為一法故學而學薩婆若。」 tr. "Training in this way, though not training fixedly for the sake of any one dharma, is training in sarvajñā."
If he trains in sarvajñā, this is training in the six perfections and the rest; if he can train in the six perfections and the rest, this is exhausting the limits of all training. If he exhausts the limits of all training, then because this person's immeasurable merit and wisdom are complete, Māra and Māra's people cannot subdue him. Because he trains rightly in this way, he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika. Training in this way is training in the path the Buddha practises. Training in this way, he is protected by the buddhas of the ten directions and by the great bodhisattvas, the gods, and good people. One who can train in this way has no wrong views, his mind clings to nothing, and toward all beings he can give rise to great kindness and great compassion; because of great kindness and great compassion, he can teach and transform beings; because beings' minds are pure, the Buddha's realm is pure; when the Buddha's realm is pure, he obtains the Buddha path, turns the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects, and by the three vehicles delivers immeasurable beings. Because he delivers beings by the Great Vehicle, he does not cut off the seed of the Buddha; because he does not cut off the seed of the Buddha, in the world he constantly opens the Dharma-gate of ambrosia and constantly shows beings the unconditioned nature. The unconditioned nature is what is called suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, nirvāṇa. Ambrosia is the unconditioned nature; the gate is the three gates of liberation. What is called inferior means lazy and heedless, not delighting in the Buddha-Dharma, not practising the path single-mindedly, practising sin and merit mixedly. Such a person cannot train in this dharma. Why? This inferior person has this thought: 「我身及親屬是我所應護，諸餘眾生何豫我事，而以頭目髓腦施之，令其得樂？一切人皆方便求樂，我今何為捨樂求苦？」 tr. "My own body and my kin are what I ought to protect; what have all the other beings to do with me, that I should give them my head, eyes, marrow, and brain to bring them happiness? All people seek happiness by whatever means; why should I now give up happiness and seek suffering?" Or he gives rise to wrong view and again has this thought: 「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」 tr. "Beings are immeasurable and boundless and cannot be delivered to the last; if they could be delivered to the last, they would be measurable and bounded, and a single Buddha could deliver them all." Or he has this thought: 「佛說一切法空、不生不滅，我復何所度？求佛道、不求佛道，同如幻夢。」 tr. "The Buddha says all dharmas are empty, not arising and not ceasing; what then is there for me to deliver? Seeking the Buddha path and not seeking the Buddha path are alike like an illusion and a dream." Such inferior people, because of the causes and conditions of all kinds of wrong views and of greed, cannot train in this great Dharma.
At times a great person appears in the world who reckons and considers the real mark of all dharmas—namely, neither permanent nor impermanent, neither bounded nor boundless, neither existent nor non-existent, and so on; he practises such a path and breaks the inverted views; and again, abandoning this path, he enters straight into the nature of dharmas and constantly abides in this pure nature of dharmas. Because all beings do not know this matter, he gives rise to the mind of great compassion, and thereafter cultivates and gathers the six perfections and the other merits, the Buddha's supernormal powers, wisdom, and unobstructed liberation, and obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; by all kinds of gates of skilful means he widely delivers beings. Such a person is rare.
The treatise-author asks:
As said before, 「眾生無量無邊」 tr. "beings are immeasurable and boundless", and it was also said: 「眾生空，復何所度？」 tr. "Beings are empty; what then is there to deliver?" This being so, how can there be anyone delivered?
The treatise-author answers:
These are the words of inferior people; how are they worth taking as proof?
Furthermore, as said before: because of the causes and conditions of wrong views and of greed, the inferior person has this thought and says 「眾生有邊、無邊」 tr. "beings are bounded, are boundless", 「一切法空無所有、一切法常實」 tr. "all dharmas are empty and without anything existent; all dharmas are permanent and real"—all are included within the sixty-two wrong views.
The great person has no greed; he considers and reckons, separates from such faults, abides in the nature of dharmas, and gives rise to the mind of great compassion. As a great person gives wealth to others simply with a giving mind and does not take a price. The greedy person gives only after seeking causes and conditions; the person of wrong views relies on bounded, boundless, and the like, and none of them can do something without profit and give anything. As a petty person trades in the market, and gives only when he seeks a profit.
And furthermore, the great person, the bodhisattva, has nothing he seeks or desires; he can give his head, eyes, and the rest to beings, and the fruit of retribution he obtains he also gives away; toward all dharmas his mind relies on nothing, and yet he can gather all merits. Therefore the Buddha says: 「欲拔一切眾生沈沒生死者，能如是學。」 tr. "One who wishes to pull out all the beings sunk in birth and death can train in this way."
Furthermore, the bodhisattva who trains in this way constantly has a mind of kindness, compassion, and pity; because he does not trouble or harm beings, he does not fall into the hells; because he constantly contemplates the real mark of dharmas arising from causes and conditions and does not give rise to delusion, he does not fall among the animals; because he constantly practises giving and breaks the mind of stinginess and greed, he is not born among the hungry ghosts. Because he is never sparing of the twelve divisions of the scriptures and the eighty-four thousand heaps of Dharma spoken by the Buddha, he is not born in a border land. Because he constantly makes offerings to elders and good people and breaks pride, he is not born among the caṇḍāla and other lowly people. Because he loves and protects beings with a deep mind and fully practises the work of benefiting them, the body he receives is whole and complete. Because he transforms many beings with wholesome dharmas, his retinue is accomplished and he is never alone or poor. Because he deeply loves and delights in śīlapāramitā, he does not practise the ten evil paths or wrong livelihood. Because he has no mind of self and only benefits beings, not acting for his own sake, he does not take in evil people or those who break the precepts. What is called an evil person means one whose mind is evil; what is called one who breaks the precepts means one whose body and speech are evil.
Furthermore, one who practises the three unwholesome paths is called an evil person; one who practises the seven unwholesome paths is called one who breaks the precepts.
Furthermore, as for the bodhisattva: if, as a householder, he takes in evil people, this is called an evil person; if, having gone forth, he takes in evil people, this is called breaking the precepts.
The treatise-author asks:
The bodhisattva appears in the world in order to deliver evil people, as a good physician cures the various illnesses; why does he not take in evil people?
The treatise-author answers:
Of evil people and those who break the precepts, there are those who can be transformed and those who cannot be transformed; here only those who cannot be transformed are spoken of. If he takes them in and dwells together with them, he ruins his own path himself, and brings no benefit to them either; as in rescuing the drowning: one who cannot himself float and yet wishes to bring the other across—neither of the two escapes drowning. Therefore it is said that he keeps far from evil people.
Because the desire realm has much evil, and because he gives rise to a mind of pity, he is born within the desire realm; though he practises dhyāna and his mind is harmonised and supple, because of the power of skilful means, at the time of death he is not born according to the dhyāna, as the sūtra explains at length.
「須菩提！菩薩如是學，於一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」 tr. "Subhūti! The bodhisattva who trains in this way obtains purity within all dharmas—namely, purifying the mind of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha." What is called purity is abandonment, nothing whatsoever, ultimate emptiness.
Subhūti said to the Buddha: 「若一切法從本已來空、清淨，云何言『菩薩如是學，得一切法中清淨』？」 tr. "If all dharmas from the beginning have been empty and pure, why is it said, ‘The bodhisattva who trains in this way obtains purity within all dharmas’?"
The Buddha approved Subhūti's words and stated the causes and conditions for him: 「若菩薩知一切法從本已來空、清淨，於是中心不沒、不却。不沒名不疑、不生邪見。通達，不與空諍，是名般若波羅蜜。一切凡夫人不知不見如是清淨法，為是人故，行六波羅蜜等諸助道法。」 tr. "If the bodhisattva knows that all dharmas from the beginning have been empty and pure, within this his mind does not sink and does not shrink back. Not sinking means not doubting and not giving rise to wrong views. Penetrating, not contending with emptiness: this is called prajñāpāramitā. All ordinary people do not know and do not see such pure dharmas; for the sake of these people he practises the six perfections and the other dharmas that aid the path." The bodhisattva's Dharma should teach and transform these beings; this is called the bodhisattva obtaining purity within all dharmas—namely, abandoning the inversions of the three realms, passing beyond the ground of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, and obtaining within all dharmas the power of pure wisdom; because he obtains this merit, of all beings of the three times and the ten directions he can know completely their minds and mental-factor dharmas, and the causes and conditions of the various deeds to which the workings of their minds give rise; having known them, according to what is fitting for each, he teaches them the Dharma and opens and transforms them. All such kinds of benefit are obtained through training in prajñā; therefore it is said to be exhausting the limits of all training.
Few can train in this way; such a person is hard to find! Wishing to make this meaning clear, the Buddha spoke similes—namely, gold and silver, and the work of a wheel-turning sage king, and the rest.
Furthermore, when the bodhisattva trains in this prajñā, he does not give rise to the mind of stinginess and the rest. What is called not giving rise to the mind of stinginess and the rest means that, because the bodhisattva trains in prajñāpāramitā, he restrains the afflictions; though the afflictions are not yet exhausted, they can do nothing, and therefore it is said that they do not arise.
The bodhisattva practising prajñā, because he knows that the marks of all dharmas are false, deceptive, and not real, therefore does not grasp at the marks of form and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Why? Because he does not wish to let it fall into views of existence and non-existence, he goes straight along the middle way and gathers the practices of the bodhisattva.
Here the Buddha himself states the causes and conditions: 「菩薩行般若，於一切法無所得，無所得故，無有法可取相——若善、若不善等。」 tr. "The bodhisattva practising prajñā has nothing to be attained in all dharmas; because there is nothing to be attained, there is no dharma whose mark can be grasped—whether wholesome, or unwholesome, and so on."
If the bodhisattva can train in this way, he gathers in all the perfections. Dāna and the other perfections are not apart from prajñāpāramitā; because of the power of prajñāpāramitā, it makes the other perfections separate from wrong views and greedy clinging, and each is able to increase.
Because the Buddha wished to make this meaning clear, he spoke similes: namely, the view of self, and the life-faculty, and the rest.
The treatise-author asks:
The view of self and the other views each have their distinct marks; why is it said that they are included within the view of self?
The treatise-author answers:
Though each has its distinct mark, the view of self is the root. Because of the cause and condition of ignorance, people give rise to the view of self within the empty five aggregates; because they give rise to the view of self, they say 「是身死，如去、不如去」 tr. "when this body dies, it goes thus, or it does not go thus". If it goes thus, that is the view of permanence; if it does not go thus, that is the view of annihilation. If one speaks of annihilation, then now enjoying pleasure and clinging to the five desires, and taking evil dharmas as supreme, one gives rise to grasping at views. If one says it is permanent, then going forth to train in the path, keeping the precepts and practising austerities, one gives rise to grasping at precepts. Or at times, seeing that both annihilation and permanence have faults, one then says there are no causes and conditions and no fruits of retribution, and gives rise to wrong view. Abiding within these five views, concerning whether the world is permanent or impermanent, the prior limit and the later limit, and the like, one gives rise to the fifty-seven views. Therefore to say 「身見攝六十二見」 tr. "the view of a body includes the sixty-two wrong views" is without fault.
Because of such various causes, conditions, and similes, it is known that prajñāpāramitā is the foremost among all dharmas; because prajñāpāramitā is the foremost among all dharmas, the bodhisattva, because he trains in this prajñā, is foremost among beings. Because the Buddha wished to use this matter to teach and transform beings skilfully, he spoke a simile: 「須菩提！於汝意云何？三千大千世界中眾生多不？」 tr. "Subhūti! What do you think? Are the beings in the three-thousand great-thousand world many or not?" and so on, up to 「菩薩如是學，當知是不退轉，遠離二乘，近佛乘。」 tr. "The bodhisattva who trains in this way—know that he is non-retrogressing, far from the two vehicles, and near the Buddha vehicle."
Furthermore, the Buddha told Subhūti: 「若菩薩作是念：『是般若波羅蜜。』」 tr. "If the bodhisattva has this thought: ‘This is prajñāpāramitā.’"
What is called ‘this is prajñāpāramitā’ displays the mark of prajñāpāramitā as existent or non-existent and so on, seeing prajñā, attaining prajñā, clinging to prajñā, and so on. What is called ‘by this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds’ means that the coming together of the five aggregates is provisionally named bodhisattva; the bodhisattva, following after the provisional name, reckons it to be a self, and by this prajñā has something that is done. Prajñā is the mark of non-clinging, and yet this person says that a prajñā possessed of marks is the highest meaning; this person, following the provisional name, gives rise to the mind of self. Prajñā is the mark of non-action, and yet this person wishes to use prajñā to have something done—namely, ‘I use this prajñā to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi’. Therefore the Buddha says: 「作如是念者，不名行般若。」 tr. "One who has such a thought is not called practising prajñā." If he does not think in this way, it is called practising prajñāpāramitā.
The treatise-author asks:
Having this thought and not having this thought—the matter has already been fully spoken; why is there further a third statement?
The treatise-author answers:
The first is the mark of wrong practice; the second blocks wrong practice; the mark of right practice has not yet been spoken, and therefore the third speaks the mark of right practice.
Furthermore, the first is a clinging mind grasping at marks; the second refutes this mark of clinging but does not say what the marks of dharmas are; in the third, wrong clinging is refuted and the real mark is also spoken.
The bodhisattva has this thought: 「於一切處，不顯示般若波羅蜜相；亦不生我心、我用般若波羅蜜有所作；但知一切法常住如、法性、實際中，於如、法性、實際中不諍。」 tr. "In all places he does not display the mark of prajñāpāramitā; nor does he give rise to the mind of self, ‘I use prajñāpāramitā to have something done’; he only knows that all dharmas constantly abide in suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality, and within suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality he does not contend." Therefore the third is spoken, and it is without fault.
Fascicle seventy-seven of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa ends here.
等學品：等法何以就是內空乃至自相空，為色盡離滅不生而學何以竟是學薩婆若，佛何以要反問諸如可盡滅斷不，學如何以能盡諸學邊，如是學的功德何以一路排到欲示無為性，下劣之人何以不能作是學，不攝惡人破戒者何以不違菩薩度惡人之本願，一切法本性清淨何以還說菩薩得清淨，大地少所處出金銀何以是說少不是說貴，深般若總攝諸波羅蜜何以要用我見與命根兩喻，供養無量佛之福何以不如學般若如說行，聲聞辟支佛功德皆能得而不住何以是不退轉相，三種作是念何以初邪次遮末乃說正，論主二種等忍何以如稱兩頭停等，下劣者三種邪見何以條條都在度不度上打轉，大人何以要先破顛倒又捨此道，離惡之九因何以逐條都落在自心，我見何以是六十二見之本
在問什麼
這一品問的是「學」字。上一品說同行的人彼此怎麼相待，結在「同學」二字；這一品接著問：同學的人所同學的那個法，究竟是什麼？須菩提第一句就問得極直——「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」全品自此展開，末了仍收在學上，故品名作等學。
佛的答語出人意表地短：內空、外空乃至自相空是等法；色的色相空，受想行識的識相空，乃至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提的菩提相空，這叫等法。所謂「等」，不是把諸法排成一列而說它們地位相同，是說諸法各自的相一旦見其自空，差別無所著落，心在其中便平等。論主用一個秤的比方把這意思說盡：如稱兩頭停等。上一品末說的是眾生等忍，這一品說的是法等忍——同是一個「等」字，一個落在人上，一個落在法上。
接著的一問更難：既然學是為色的盡、離、滅、不生，那不就是求斷滅嗎？佛先順須菩提的話說「如須菩提所說」，轉身卻反問一句：色如乃至佛如，這些如可盡、可滅、可斷嗎？須菩提只答兩個字：不也。這一反問是全品的樞紐——盡離滅不生是對治顛倒的行法，不是所學的究竟；究竟處是如，而如不可盡不可滅不可斷。論主在論段把這兩層分得更清：那盡、離、斷，是為除顛倒故行，非是究竟。
其後經文一路鋪陳「如是學」的功德：學如即是學六波羅蜜乃至十八不共法，為盡諸學邊，魔不能壞，直到阿鞞跋致地，乃至學開甘露門、學欲示無為性；反面則是下劣之人不能作是學，以及這樣學的人所離的種種惡處。中間插入兩組譬喻——大地少所處出金銀珍寶、少所人受行轉輪聖王業——所說的不是般若之貴，是能學者之少。後半轉入福德格量與三種「作是念」之辨：供養無量諸佛之福，不如學般若如說行正憶念；而行般若的人若作念「我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智」，反倒不名行般若。全品最後三句念，初者邪、次者遮、第三乃說實相，論主為此特設一問，是本品收梢處最要看清的一節。
論段的走法與經段相應而更細。論主先對位上下兩品，出二種等忍；次隨文釋盡離滅不生與如之不可斷；次釋盡諸學邊、大慈大悲之因果鏈、甘露與三解脫門之訓；次釋下劣者之三種邪見與大人之籌量實相，並設四番問答——眾生空復何所度、何以不攝惡人、我見何以攝諸見、何以復有第三說。四問所在之處，正是全品四個最易讀岔的關口。
逐段解明
一、須菩提問何等是菩薩等法。 品首是須菩提白佛。他問的是「等法」二字，而且加了一句限定：「菩薩所應學」。讀此一問先要看清所問的是法不是行——他不問菩薩如何學，問的是所學之法是哪一個。上一品結在同學，所同者未曾指名；此問正是把那個未指名的東西追出來。凡經中前品結語留下未定之詞，次品開端往往即以此為問，這是本經常見的接法。
二、佛答內空乃至自相空是等法、住是等法得菩提。 佛不從行門答，逕以十八空中之目答之：內空是等法，外空乃至自相空是等法；並更推一層——色的色相空，受想行識的識相空，乃至菩提的菩提相空。末句最要緊：「住是等法，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」讀此段易生一誤，以為「等」是說諸法彼此相同；其實所等者在相空，不在法體。諸法之相各各不同，而各各自空，於是心不得著落處，這纔叫平等。經文自身給了判準——凡說等處，皆繫一「空」字。
三、須菩提問為色盡離滅不生故學是否即學薩婆若。 第二問轉到行上。須菩提把「盡、離、滅、不生」四個行相一一列出，於色如是問，於受想行識如是問，乃至修行四念處以至十八不共法亦如是問。這一問問得極有分量：盡離滅不生四字，聽來與二乘所趣的寂滅無別，故須菩提要問明白——這樣學，算不算學薩婆若。讀者此處不必急著判他多疑；他是替後世讀經的人把疑先問出來。
四、佛答如須菩提所說。 佛的第一層答語是全盤承認：如須菩提所說，為色乃至十八不共法的盡、離、滅、不生而學，就是學薩婆若。此答若只讀到這裡，便會斷定般若之學與斷滅之行無二。但經文並未停在這裡——下一段佛立刻反問。故讀經遇見『如汝所說』之類的印可語，須看它後面有沒有轉語；本段正是一個現成的例。
五、佛反問諸如可盡滅斷不、須菩提答不也。 佛問：「於汝意云何？」次列色如、受想行識如、乃至菩提如、佛如，問這些如「盡、滅、斷不」。須菩提只答：「不也！世尊！」一問一答，字數極少而分量極重。所以要反問，是要把上一段的印可安在一個正確的位置上：盡離滅不生所盡所滅的是顛倒之取，不是如。此節是本品讀法的分水嶺——上承第四段之印可，下開第六段之學如。
六、佛說學如為學薩婆若、如不作證不滅不斷、即是學六度乃至十八不共法、為盡諸學邊。 反問既畢，佛正面立義：菩薩如是學如，為學薩婆若；並三句遮定——「是如，不作證、不滅、不斷」。次推而廣之：如是學即是學六波羅蜜、學四念處乃至十八不共法；若學六波羅蜜乃至十八不共法，即是學薩婆若。末出本品第一個要語：「如是學，為盡諸學邊。」所謂盡諸學邊，不是學盡了所有科目，是所學者已至邊際，更無可外求。讀此句須連上文看：能盡邊者，正因所學是如。
七、如是學之諸利，自魔不能壞排至欲示無為性。 經文接連十餘個「如是學」，一句一利：魔若魔天所不能壞、直到阿鞞跋致地、為學佛所行道、為得擁護、為學大慈大悲、為學淨佛世界成就眾生、為學三轉十二行法輪轉故、為學度眾生、為學不斷佛種、為學開甘露門、為學欲示無為性。此段讀法有二要：其一、不可壓成『種種功德』一語略過，經文一句一事，所指各別，後文論段亦逐條有釋；其二、要看它的次第——自不為魔壞起，中經自行與化他，末歸於示無為性。功德的終點不是得什麼，是能示人以無為。
八、下劣之人不能作是學、如是學者為欲拔出沈沒生死眾生。 經文忽然一轉，說「下劣之人不能作是學」，並反面點出能學者之心量：「如是學者，為欲拔出沈沒生死眾生。」下劣二字在此處只是點到，其義界在論段纔開。讀此段先接住一個分判：同樣一個法門，有人學得，有人學不得，所差者不在智力，在心量之大小。這是下文一切離惡處之所以然。
九、如是學者所離諸處，自三惡道至不攝惡人破戒者。 經文歷數這樣學的人終究不至之處：不墮地獄餓鬼畜生，不生邊地，不生栴陀羅家，不聾盲瘖瘂拘癖而諸根不缺，眷屬成就終不孤窮，不殺生乃至不邪見，不作邪命活，不攝惡人及破戒者。此段須逐條記下，因為論段對每一條都給了因——這是本品最整齊的一段因果對列。其中末一條「不攝惡人及破戒者」最易生疑：菩薩豈有不攝人者？此疑論段設專問而答，此處先存之。
十、以方便力入四禪四無量四無色而不隨禪生、於一切法中得清淨。 經文續說方便力之用：因方便力故不生長壽天；至於方便力是什麼，經文自己指路——「如〈般若波羅蜜品〉中所說。」次說菩薩以方便力入四禪、四無量心、四無色定而不隨禪、無量、無色定受生。末句收在清淨上：「菩薩如是學，一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」讀此段要看住「不隨」二字：入定而不隨定受生，正是方便力的實指；所謂淨二乘心，不是排斥二乘之法，是不於彼受生受果。
十一、須菩提問一切法本性清淨云何言得清淨。 須菩提抓住上句末字發問：「一切法本性清淨，云何言菩薩一切法中得清淨？」這一問極準——若法本清淨，清淨便不待得；若清淨可得，法就不是本淨。凡遇經中說『本來如此』而又說『修得如此』，此問都用得上。須菩提在此替讀者立了一個通用的疑式。
十二、佛答心通達不沒即是般若、凡夫不知不見故菩薩為之行六度。 佛先兩句印可：「如是！如是！」承認一切諸法本性清淨；隨即給出「得」之所在——「若菩薩摩訶薩於是法中心通達、不沒，即是般若波羅蜜。」所得者不是清淨，是心於清淨法中通達而不沈沒。次說一切凡夫不知不見，菩薩為是眾生故行檀波羅蜜乃至般若波羅蜜、行四念處乃至一切種智；並說如是學者於一切法中得智、力、無所畏，能了知一切眾生心所趣向。此段解了第十一段之疑：本淨是法邊事，得清淨是心邊事，兩不相礙。
十三、大地少所處出金銀珍寶喻與少所人受行轉輪聖王業喻。 經文連出兩喻。其一、譬如大地，只有少所處出金銀珍寶；眾生亦如是，少所人能學般若，多墮二乘地。其二、譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業，多受行小王業；眾生亦如是，少所行般若求一切智，多行二乘道。次更就菩薩內部說：發心求菩提者中，少有如說行；多有行般若而無方便力故，少所人住阿鞞跋致地。兩喻所比的是『少』不是『貴』——所以要看清這一點，是因為讀成貴賤便生高下之想，讀成多少纔生自策之心。經文末句自出用意：以是故欲住阿鞞跋致地者，應當學是深般若波羅蜜。
十四、復次學般若時不生慳貪等心、不生取相心。 經文另起一段，說學深般若時心上的兩重不生：其一、不生慳貪、破戒、瞋恚、懈怠、散亂、愚癡以及諸餘過失之心——此六者正是六波羅蜜之反；其二、不生取色相乃至取菩提相之心。並自出所以然：「是菩薩摩訶薩行是深般若波羅蜜，無有法可得；以不可得故，於諸法不生心取相。」讀此段勿誤以為般若之力能把煩惱一時斷盡——論段後文自有分寸語，此處先記住經文只說『不生』，未說『已斷』。
十五、深般若總攝諸波羅蜜、我見攝六十二見喻與人死命根滅喻。 經文說深般若總攝諸波羅蜜、令諸波羅蜜增長、諸波羅蜜悉隨從，並自釋其故：「是深般若波羅蜜，諸波羅蜜悉入中。」次出二喻。其一、譬如我見中悉攝六十二見，喻總攝；其二、譬如人死命根滅故餘根悉隨滅，喻隨從。兩喻分工極清楚：前喻說「攝」，後喻說「隨」。讀者於此可學一個看喻的法子——一段之中連出兩喻，多半不是重複，是各承前文之一義。
十六、佛問三千大千世界中眾生多不、須菩提答一閻浮提尚多。 經文自義理轉入格量。佛先問：「三千大千世界中眾生多不？」須菩提答：「一閻浮提中眾生尚多，何況三千大千世界！」此一問一答是下段格量的張本。凡經中設大格量，必先坐實所格之量，此即其法；讀者不必嫌其迂，量不坐實則格量無力。
十七、佛設福德格量、須菩提答甚多甚多。 佛設一個極大的假設：三千大千世界中眾生一時皆得人身、悉得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，若有菩薩盡形壽以衣服飲食臥具湯藥資生所須供養爾所佛，得福德多不？須菩提答：「甚多！甚多！」此處所設之福已至世間所能想像之極——所供者是佛，所供之數是三千大千世界之眾生數，所供之時是盡形壽。所比者越大，下段的判語纔越有力。
十八、佛判不如學般若如說行正憶念得福多。 佛的判語極斷然：「不如是善男子、善女人學般若波羅蜜如說行、正憶念，得福多。」並自出因由——般若波羅蜜有勢力，能令菩薩得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。此判之根據不在供養之福有何不是，而在般若能令人成佛。讀格量段當守此法：看它所舉的因，不看它所比的量。前者是義，後者只是器。
十九、欲出一切眾生上乃至欲斷一切眾生疑當學深般若。 經文接連十餘句「欲」——欲出一切眾生之上、欲為無救護眾生作救護、欲與無歸依眾生作歸依、欲與無究竟道眾生作究竟道、欲為盲者作目、欲得佛功德、欲作諸佛自在遊戲、欲作佛師子吼、欲撞擊佛鍾鼓、欲吹佛唄、欲昇佛高座說法、欲斷一切眾生疑——一律歸結到「當學深般若波羅蜜」。此段與第七段的十餘個「如是學」正相呼應：彼段自果說因，此段自願說學。末句一總：「菩薩摩訶薩若學深般若波羅蜜，諸善功德無事不得。」
二十、須菩提問寧復得聲聞辟支佛功德不、佛答皆能得但不於中住。 須菩提問得極細：學般若的人，難道連聲聞辟支佛的功德也得嗎？佛答分三節：皆能得、但不於中住、以智觀已直過入菩薩位中。此答是本品對二乘態度最明白的一處——不是不得，是得而不住。前第十段所謂「淨聲聞、辟支佛心」，義即在此。讀者若把大乘經中一切簡別二乘之語都讀成排斥，便會與此節相違。
廿一、如是學者近薩婆若、為天人阿修羅福田、是名不捨不離般若、當知是不退轉。 經文續出五句「如是學」：近薩婆若疾得菩提、為一切世間天人阿修羅作福田、過諸二乘福田之上、是名不捨不離般若波羅蜜常行般若波羅蜜、當知是不退轉菩薩。此五句自利他兩面合說，末歸於不退轉。讀此段當與第九段合看：前段說如是學所離之難，此段說如是學所至之位；兩段一頭一尾，中間隔著格量與譬喻，而所稱的「如是學」始終是同一件事——學如。
廿二、三種「作是念」之辨。 經文末節設三句念。其一、若作是念「是般若波羅蜜，我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智」，不名行般若。其二、若不作是念「是般若波羅蜜，是人有般若波羅蜜；是般若波羅蜜法，是人行般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」，是名行般若。其三、若作是念「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜；無有行是般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」，亦名行般若，並出所以然——「一切法如、法性、實際常住故。」三句初讀似有重複，論主後文設專問而分之，此處先把三句的差別記住：初句有能有所，次句遮其有，第三句更遮其無而歸於常住。
廿三、釋曰：對位上下兩品，出二種等忍與如稱兩頭停等。 論段起於「釋曰」。論主先對位：上文阿難問鬪諍，佛答同學清淨；今須菩提問甚深同心等法，佛答內空乃至自相空是名等法。次立二種等忍——上品末說眾生等忍，此品說法等忍——並出喻：「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」次釋其相：如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法；乃至自相空，一切法相皆自空，是時心則平等。末句收在得果上：菩薩住是等中，能得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。此段一開口就把兩品綰成一事，讀論段者宜先讀此段而後回看經文。
廿四、釋觀色無常心離色而得不生法、如不集不和合故無盡無滅無斷。 論主隨須菩提第二問而釋：觀色等無常、念念滅不住，若得是觀，心則離色；心離色故諸煩惱滅；煩惱滅故得不生法。此是順盡離滅不生一路說下。次轉到如上：「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡？本來不生，云何有滅？是法本來虛誑，無有定相，云何可斷？」三問一氣而下，正對經文佛之反問。讀此段要看住論主換了立足點——前半自行人之觀智說，後半自法之本相說；經文之所以先印可後反問，理由就在這裡。
廿五、釋如之常與不可證滅斷、盡離斷為除顛倒非究竟、究竟義在雖不定為一法故學。 論主判語極分明：「是如，常、不可證、不可滅、不可斷；是盡、離、斷，除顛倒故行，非是究竟。」次引論中之語以釋究竟：「如是學，雖不定為一法故學而學薩婆若。」所謂不定為一法故學，是說所學不落在任何一個定法上，而學仍不廢。此一句是全品最難措辭處，也是最要緊處：若無此句，前文的盡離滅不生便成究竟，後文的三種作是念亦無從分別。
廿六、釋盡諸學邊：學薩婆若即學六度等、福慧具足故魔無能降伏、直到阿鞞跋致地。 論主釋經中「為盡諸學邊」一語：若學薩婆若，即是學六波羅蜜等；若能學六波羅蜜等，是為盡諸學邊。次接因果：若盡諸學邊，是人無量福德智慧具足故，魔若魔民無能降伏；如是正學故，直到阿鞞跋致地；如是學，為學佛所行道；如是學，皆為十方諸佛及大菩薩、諸天、善人所守護。讀此段可見論主的釋法——經文並列的諸句，論主把它們串成一條因果鏈，前句為因後句為果。
廿七、釋大慈大悲之因果鏈與甘露門三解脫之訓。 論主續串：能如是學者無有邪見、心無所著，於一切眾生能起大慈大悲；大慈大悲故能教化眾生；眾生心清淨故佛界清淨；佛界清淨已得佛道，三轉十二行法輪，以三乘度無量眾生；以大乘度眾生故不斷佛種；不斷佛種故於世間常開甘露法門，常示眾生無為性。末出三訓：「無為性者，所謂如、法性、實際、涅槃。甘露者，無為性；門者，三解脫門。」此段最可學者是那條鏈的走向——起於學者自心之無著，經眾生心淨而至佛界淨，再由佛界淨而至轉法輪度眾生；自淨其心與淨佛國土在論主筆下不是兩件事。
廿八、釋下劣之義界與下劣者之三種邪見。 論主為經文「下劣」二字立界：「下劣者，名懈怠、放逸，不樂佛法，不一心行道，罪福雜行。」次出下劣者所作之念，凡三。其一、「我身及親屬是我所應護，諸餘眾生何豫我事」，以至於「我今何為捨樂求苦」。其二、「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」其三、「佛說一切法空、不生不滅，我復何所度？求佛道、不求佛道，同如幻夢。」三念條條都在度與不度上打轉：初念是不肯度，次念是以無盡為由而不度，第三念是以法空為由而不度。後二念尤可注意——它們借的都是佛法之語。讀此段當知邪見不必外於佛法之詞，能借佛語而自免於行者，正是論主所斥。
廿九、釋大人之義：籌量實相、破顛倒見、還捨此道、直入法性而生大悲。 與下劣相對，論主說「或時有大人出世」。其行有四節：一、籌量思惟諸法實相，所謂非常非無常、非有邊非無邊、非有非無等；二、行如是道而破顛倒見；三、還捨此道，直入法性，常住是清淨法性中；四、以一切眾生不知是事故生大悲心，然後修集六波羅蜜等諸功德、佛神通、智慧、無礙解脫，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，以種種方便門廣度眾生。第三節最要緊——破顛倒之道亦須捨，否則所破雖去而能破仍在。此正是第廿五段「非是究竟」之義在行門上的落實。
三十、問答一：眾生無量無邊又言眾生空，云何可有所度。 論主設第一問，問的正是第廿八段第二、第三念留下的難：如先說「眾生無量無邊」，又言「眾生空，復何所度？」如是云何可有所度？答語極短：「此是下劣人所說，何足以之為證？」此答看似不答，實則是最切要的一著——論主不與邪見辯其理，先辨其所出之口。凡一句話的過失不在文義而在存心，辯理無益，須先判其來處。
卅一、復次釋下劣人之邪見皆六十二見所攝、大人無欲而住法性、施心不取價喻與小人市易喻。 論主更進一層：下劣之人以邪見貪欲因緣，作是念言「眾生有邊、無邊」、「一切法空無所有、一切法常實」——皆是六十二邪見所攝。次說大人：無欲，思惟籌量，離如是過罪，住於法性，生大悲心。次出喻：「譬如大人但以施心施與他財，而不取價。」而貪欲之人求因緣而與，邪見之人依有邊無邊等，無有能無利事而有所作，「譬如小人市易，求利乃與。」末更說大人菩薩無所求欲，能以頭目等施與眾生，所得果報亦以施與；一切法心無所依而能集諸功德。故佛說：「欲拔一切眾生沈沒生死者，能如是學。」兩喻對照極鮮明：所差者不在施與不施，在取價與不取價。
卅二、復次釋離諸惡道之因，自不墮地獄至不攝惡人破戒者。 論主逐條為第九段的果配因，條列於下。其一、常有慈悲憐愍心不惱眾生故，不墮地獄。其二、常觀因緣諸法實相不生愚癡故，不墮畜生。其三、常行布施破慳貪心故，不生餓鬼中。其四、於十二部經、八萬四千法聚常不悋惜故，不生邊地。其五、常供養尊長善人破憍慢故，不生旃陀羅等下賤人中。其六、深心愛眾生具足行利益事故，受身完具。其七、以善法多化眾生故，眷屬成就終不孤窮。其八、深愛樂尸羅波羅蜜故，不行十惡道及以邪命。其九、無有我心但利益眾生不自為身故，不攝惡人及破戒者。此一段是本品因果最整齊處，逐條不可壓縮：每一條的因都落在自心的一個具體行相上，沒有一條是求來的。讀者可逐條回看自身，所得的是一張現成的檢查表。
卅三、釋惡人與破戒之三重界說。 論主為「惡人」「破戒」立界，凡三重。其一、「惡人名心惡，破戒者名身、口惡。」其二、「行三不善道名惡人，行七不善道名破戒。」其三、「若在家攝惡人名惡人，出家攝惡人名破戒。」三重由內而外：初約心與身口，次約所行之業道，末約在家出家之分位。讀此段勿只取一重而棄其二——論主連下三說而不判，正是要人知此二名隨處立義，不是一個固定的人品標籤。
卅四、問答二：菩薩為度惡人出世，何以不攝惡人。 論主設第二問，問得極正：「菩薩為度惡人故出現於世，譬如良醫療諸疾病，何以故不攝惡人？」答分三節：一、惡人破戒者有可化有不可化，此中但說不可化者；二、若攝取共住則自壞其道，於彼無益；三、出喻——「譬如救溺，自不能浮而欲濟彼，二俱不免。」末句收：「是故說遠離惡人。」此答解了第九段留下的疑，也給了一個通用的分寸：捨的不是人，是共住；所量的不是他的惡，是自己的力。
卅五、釋以欲界多惡生憐愍故生欲界、行禪而不隨禪生。 論主釋經中不生長壽天與不隨禪生之義：以欲界多惡，生憐愍心故，生欲界中；雖行禪，心調柔軟，以方便力故，命終時不隨禪生。此段之要在「生憐愍心故」五字——不隨禪受生不是禪力不足，是方便力所持。讀者於此可分兩種不生：一種是入不了，一種是入而不住；經論所稱者恆是後者。
卅六、釋淨名捨離無所有畢竟空、須菩提之問與佛可其言為說因緣。 論主牒經文「菩薩如是學，於一切法中得清淨」一語，先訓「淨」字：「淨名捨離、無所有、畢竟空。」次牒須菩提之問，次牒佛之答而標其體例——「佛可須菩提言，為說因緣」所說因緣即經文「於是中心不沒、不却」一節，論主更為「不沒」加訓：「不沒名不疑、不生邪見。」次釋通達：不與空諍，是名般若波羅蜜。此段所加的兩訓最可寶——不沒不是不動搖，是不疑不起邪見；通達不是能說空，是不與空諍。
卅七、釋菩薩一切法中得清淨之相、遍知眾生心心數法、是故言盡諸學邊，並引出金銀轉輪聖王業二喻。 論主續釋：菩薩法應教化是眾生，是名菩薩一切法中得清淨，所謂捨三界顛倒，過聲聞辟支佛地，一切法中得清淨智慧力；得是功德故，三世十方一切眾生心心數法、心所行起種種業因緣悉能遍知；知已，隨其所應為說法開化。末歸：「如是等利益，皆是學般若故得，是故言盡諸學邊。」次接一句轉語：「少有能如是學，是人難得！」佛欲令此義明了故說譬喻，金銀及轉輪聖王業等。此段把第六段的「盡諸學邊」與第十三段的兩喻接成一條線——所以說少，是因為所學者已至邊際；至邊際者自然少。
卅八、復次釋不生慳等心者是抑制非已斷、不取相是為不墮有無而直行中道。 論主為經文「不生慳等心」加一個極重要的分寸語：菩薩學般若波羅蜜故抑制諸煩惱；「煩惱雖未盡，無所能作，是故言不生。」次釋不取相：菩薩行般若，知一切諸法相皆虛誑不實故，不取色乃至菩提相；所以然者，「不欲令墮有無見中故，直行中道，集菩薩行。」此段解了第十四段所存之疑：經說不生，論說未盡——不生是無所能作，不是煩惱已盡。學人於此可免兩失：既不因煩惱未盡而疑經語，亦不因經語而自以為已斷。
卅九、釋佛自說因緣之無所得、總攝諸波羅蜜之義與我見命根二喻之所以說。 論主牒佛自說之因緣：「菩薩行般若，於一切法無所得，無所得故，無有法可取相——若善、若不善等。」次釋總攝：菩薩若能如是學，總攝諸波羅蜜；檀等諸波羅蜜不離般若波羅蜜，般若波羅蜜力故，令餘波羅蜜離諸邪見貪著，各得增長。末指二喻之所由：佛欲令此義明了故，說譬喻，如我見及命根等。此段所加者是「離諸邪見、貪著」六字——總攝不是把五度收進般若裡，是般若使五度各自離著而增長。
四十、問答三：我見諸見各有別相云何攝入我見中、答我見是本而生五十七見。 論主設第三問：「我見、諸見各有別相，云何攝入我見中？」答語先立宗：「雖有別相，我見是本。」次說其生起次第——人以無明因緣故，空五眾中生我見；生我見故言「是身死，如去、不如去」；若如去則是常見，若不如去則是斷見；若謂斷滅而現今受樂著五欲、以惡法為最，則生見取；若謂常而出家學道持戒苦行，則生戒取；或時見斷常俱有過故便言無因緣果報，則生邪見。次總收：住是五見中，世間常無常、前際後際等，生五十七見。故說「身見攝六十二見」，無咎。此段是全品最見論主功力處：五見之生逐一有由，而其由皆自我見一念展轉而出。讀者於此當看清「本」之義——本不是包含，是能生。
四一、釋般若諸法中最第一、菩薩學是故於眾生中第一，佛以三千大千世界眾生喻善化眾生乃至當知是不退轉。 論主一總前文：「如是等種種因緣譬喻故，知般若波羅蜜諸法中最第一」；般若最第一故，菩薩學是般若故，於眾生中第一。次牒經文格量之設：佛欲以是事善化眾生故說譬喻——「須菩提！於汝意云何？三千大千世界中眾生多不？」如是等，乃至「菩薩如是學，當知是不退轉，遠離二乘，近佛乘。」此段以「第一」二字綰住兩頭：法之第一與人之第一，人之第一由學法而得，非由人自有。格量一大段的用意，論主只用這一句便收盡。
四二、復次釋初念之邪：示般若相若有若無、五眾和合假名菩薩而隨逐假名計我、般若無著無作而欲有所作。 論主釋第一種作是念。先分二支：「是般若波羅蜜」者，是示般若波羅蜜相若有若無等，見般若、得般若、著般若等；「我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智」者，五眾和合假名菩薩，菩薩隨逐假名字計以為我，以是般若有所作。次出兩重相違：般若是無著相，而是人說有相般若是第一義，是人隨假名而生我心；般若是無作相，而是人欲用般若有所作。故佛言：「作如是念者，不名行般若。」末一句帶出第二念：「若不如是念，名為行般若波羅蜜。」此段把初念之病拆成人法兩邊——於法生有相之見，於人生假名之我；兩病合成一句念。
四三、問答四：作是念不作是念事已盡何以復有第三說、答初邪次遮末說正行相。 論主設第四問，問得極尖：「作是念、不作是念，事已盡，何以復有第三說？」答有二解。其一、「初者是邪行相，第二遮邪行；未說正行相，是故第三說正行相。」其二、以復次更說：「初是著心取相；第二破是著相，不說云何是諸法相；第三中破邪著，亦說實相。」兩解所別，在第二句之功能——一解說它只是遮，一解說它破著而未說相；而兩解同歸一義：第二句是遮，第三句纔說實相。讀此段可得一個通用的讀法：經中連下三句而似重複者，當問各句是遮、是說實相。
四四、復次結歸第三念：於一切處不顯示般若相、不生我心我用、但知一切法常住而不諍，故說第三無咎。 論主末段結歸，牒菩薩作是念「於一切處，不顯示般若波羅蜜相；亦不生我心、我用般若波羅蜜有所作；但知一切法常住如、法性、實際中，於如、法性、實際中不諍。」而斷之曰是故說第三，無咎。三句所遮者，正對第四二段所拆的兩病並加一層：不顯示相，遮法邊之有相；不生我心我用，遮人邊之假名；但知常住而不諍，纔是說實相。末二字「無咎」與第四十段釋六十二見之末二字相同——本品兩處以「無咎」收筆，都是先有一個看似說不通的經語，經論主分別之後說通了。全品自須菩提問等法起，至第三念之無咎結：所學者是等，能學者是如，而學至於不顯示所學，纔算盡諸學邊。
不要讀錯
不要把「等法」讀成諸法地位相同。經文所舉的等法是內空乃至自相空，並自出其相——色的色相空、受想行識的識相空、乃至菩提的菩提相空。所等者在相空，不在法體；論主釋得更明白：如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法。若讀成諸法本來一樣，則第廿三段「如稱兩頭停等」之喻無所安著——秤所以停等，是兩頭各有其物而不偏，不是兩頭空無一物。
不要把「為色盡、離、滅、不生故學」讀成斷滅之學。經文佛先印可此語，隨即反問諸如可盡滅斷不，須菩提答不也；論主更判：是盡、離、斷，除顛倒故行，非是究竟。可見盡離滅不生是對治位上的行相，其所盡所滅者是顛倒之取，不是如。若只讀佛印可的那一段而不讀其後的反問，便會把一個對治之行當成所趣之果——這是本品最大的一個讀岔處。
不要把「盡諸學邊」讀成學完了一切法門。論主自出其義：學薩婆若即是學六波羅蜜等，若能學六波羅蜜等是為盡諸學邊；後文更說得是功德故能遍知三世十方眾生心心數法，是故言盡諸學邊。所盡者是「邊」——所學已至邊際更無外求，不是科目已畢。故此語是深度之辭，不是數量之辭；讀成數量，便與同段「少有能如是學」一語相違。
不要把「不攝惡人及破戒者」讀成菩薩棄人。論主設專問而答：惡人破戒者有可化有不可化，此中但說不可化者；若攝取共住則自壞其道，於彼無益，譬如救溺自不能浮而欲濟彼二俱不免。所簡別的是共住之力，不是度人之願；且論主為惡人破戒立了三重界說而不判定於一，正是不欲人執一名以斥人。若讀成菩薩可以擇人而棄，則與本論他處廣說的大悲相違。
不要把「一切法本性清淨」與『菩薩得清淨』讀成相違。須菩提正以此為問，佛的答語把「得」安在心上——於是法中心通達不沒，即是般若波羅蜜；論主更訓不沒為不疑不生邪見，訓通達為不與空諍。本淨是法邊事，得淨是心邊事。若因本淨而謂修行無用，則落在第廿八段所斥的第三種下劣念——以法空為由而不度。
不要把「不生慳等心」讀成煩惱已斷。論主在此處特加一語：煩惱雖未盡，無所能作，是故言不生。經文說的是不生，論文說的是雖未盡而無所能作。讀成已斷，則行人於自身煩惱一動便疑經語不實，或反以為自己已斷而生增上慢；兩失皆由不讀論主這一句分寸語而起。
不要把三種「作是念」讀成第三句與第一句相對而已。論主設問而分之：初者是邪行相，第二遮邪行而未說正行相，第三纔說正行相；復次初是著心取相，第二破是著相而不說云何是諸法相，第三破邪著亦說實相。故三句不是有無之對，是邪、遮、正之次第。若把第三句讀成『說般若無』，便又落在有無二見之中——而論主前文正說「不欲令墮有無見中故，直行中道」。
修行作用
第一件受用，是把「學如」立作日用的準頭。本品十餘處說「如是學」，所指的都是同一件事——學如。行人於一切所學之上可加一問：我今所學，是學一個定法，還是學如？論主給了判準語：雖不定為一法故學而學薩婆若。若所學繫在一個定法上，學成即止；若所學是如，則學而無盡而亦無可增。此一問可用在讀經、持戒、修定、作務任何一處。
第二件受用，是把兩喻用作自策而不用作自貴。大地少所處出金銀、少所人受行轉輪聖王業，兩喻所說的是「少」。經文自己接下去說：發心求菩提者中少有如說行，多有行般若無方便力者，故少所人住阿鞞跋致地。讀出「少」字之後當生的是策勵不是優越——所少者是如說行的人，而如說行是可以自己去作的事，不是天生的資格。
第三件受用，是第卅二段那張離惡道的檢查表。論主逐條配因：不惱眾生故不墮地獄、觀因緣實相故不墮畜生、行布施破慳故不生餓鬼、不悋法故不生邊地、供養尊長破憍慢故不生下賤、深心愛眾生故受身完具、以善法化眾生故眷屬成就、深愛尸羅故不行十惡與邪命、無我心但利益眾生故不攝惡人破戒者。九條逐一自問，答是者即知其因已具，答否者即知其果未可期。此表的好處在於條條都是現行可作之事，沒有一條要向外求。
第四件受用，是取價與不取價之辨。論主以大人施財不取價、小人市易求利乃與立喻，並說貪欲之人求因緣而與、邪見之人依有邊無邊等。日用中布施、與人方便、為人說法，皆可以此一問自照：我此一與，心中有沒有等一個回報，哪怕只是一句謝、一個名？有則落在市易一邊，所行雖同而心已異。
第五件受用，是「不沒」二字的用法。論主訓不沒為不疑、不生邪見，訓通達為不與空諍。行人聞說一切法本來空淨而心中一沈，那一沈就是沒；沈久生疑，疑久生見。對治之法不在強自振作，在論主所指的通達——不與空諍，即不拿空來否定自己所作的助道之行，亦不拿所作之行來否定空。
第六件受用，是三種念可作三道關。初關：我今行法，心中是否暗有一個『我以此得果』？此念一起，論主判為邪行相。次關：既知此念為病而不作，是否便以為已足？論主說第二句只是遮，未說正行。末關：正行處是不顯示相、不生我心我用，但知一切法常住而不與之諍。三關由粗至細，末關不是空無所作，是作而不立所作之相——這正是全品「盡諸學邊」四字在行門上的落腳處。
承衍
本品的骨幹，是一段經文與一段論釋。經①自須菩提問何等是菩薩等法起，佛答內空乃至自相空與色相空乃至菩提相空是等法、住是等法得菩提；次須菩提問為色盡離滅不生故學是否即學薩婆若，佛先印可而後反問諸如可盡滅斷不，須菩提答不也，佛乃正立學如為學薩婆若、如不作證不滅不斷、即學六波羅蜜四念處乃至十八不共法、為盡諸學邊，並歷說如是學之諸利自魔不能壞排至欲示無為性，次說下劣之人不能作是學而如是學者為欲拔出沈沒生死眾生，次歷說如是學者所離諸處自三惡道至不攝惡人破戒者、以方便力入四禪四無量四無色而不隨禪生、於一切法中得清淨；次須菩提問一切法本性清淨云何言得清淨，佛答心通達不沒即是般若、凡夫不知不見故菩薩為之行六度乃至一切種智，並出大地少所處出金銀珍寶喻與少所人受行轉輪聖王業喻；次復次說學般若時不生慳貪等心與取相心、深般若總攝諸波羅蜜而出我見攝六十二見喻與人死命根滅餘根隨滅喻；次設三千大千世界眾生之格量與盡形壽供養爾所佛之福，判不如學般若如說行正憶念得福多，並歷說欲出一切眾生上乃至欲斷一切眾生疑當學深般若；次須菩提問寧復得聲聞辟支佛功德，佛答皆能得但不於中住而直過入菩薩位，並說如是學者近薩婆若、為天人阿修羅福田、是名不捨不離般若、當知是不退轉；末出三種「作是念」之辨而結於一切法如法性實際常住故。論①以釋曰隨文而釋：先對位上下兩品而出二種等忍與如稱兩頭停等之喻，次釋觀色無常心離色得不生法與如之不集不和合故無盡無滅無斷，次判盡離斷為除顛倒非究竟而引佛讚歎語釋究竟義，次釋盡諸學邊與魔無能降伏、大慈大悲之因果鏈與無為性甘露門三解脫之訓，次為下劣立界而出其三種邪見、與大人之籌量實相破顛倒見還捨此道直入法性相對；其間設四番問答——眾生空復何所度、菩薩何以不攝惡人、我見諸見云何攝入我見中、作是念不作是念何以復有第三說；復次釋下劣之見皆六十二見所攝與大人施心不取價喻及小人市易喻，次逐條釋離諸惡道之因、次立惡人破戒之三重界說，次釋以欲界多惡生憐愍故生欲界而不隨禪生，次釋淨名捨離無所有畢竟空、不沒名不疑不生邪見、通達不與空諍，次釋得清淨之相與遍知眾生心心數法而歸於盡諸學邊並引出二喻，次釋不生慳等心者是抑制非已斷與不取相之直行中道，次釋佛自說無所得之因緣與總攝諸波羅蜜令餘度離著增長，次釋我見是本而生五十七見故身見攝六十二見無咎，次總收般若諸法中最第一而菩薩於眾生中第一，末釋三種作是念之邪遮正次第而結於第三無咎。
本品與前後諸品的義脈，可見者有三線。其一、承前：上品結於「同學」，同者未指其法；本品開端即問「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法」，正是把上品未指之法追出來，故論主起釋第一句便對位上下兩品，出眾生等忍與法等忍之分。其二、品內自成兩轉：前轉自等法之體轉入學如之行，樞紐在佛之反問與須菩提之「不也」；後轉自學如之利轉入所學之不可取相，樞紐在三種「作是念」。其三、垂後：本品結在「不顯示般若波羅蜜相」，而所以不顯示者為「一切法如、法性、實際常住故」；其中如、法性、實際三名為後品所承，讀者可合觀前後以見學與不取之相續。
古德之釋，本品可誌者二家。吉藏科本品於前文之次云：「此第二、憑法忍以近行。」次判其開合云：「品為五：第一、示平等體；二、教平等學；三、明等學利；四、秤歎等學；五、明等學得失。」——以五科判本品，與本論隨文而釋者取徑不同，並錄不判。其釋佛答學如一節云：「佛答學如者，明色本不和合不集，今豈滅耶？」與本論「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡」所取之義相近而措辭各出。其釋等法又云：「非以空破法，法本相；非平等破不等，法本平等也。」是自家立語。其釋下劣則云「下劣有三人」，所列三人與本論三種邪見之數相應；又設問答以辨遍度與平等云：「等此是學平等遍度，遍度而平等乃是學平等也，直學平等而不遍度非學平等也。」其釋不攝惡人一節，與本論之分可化不可化者立意相近而更出人名：「深行之人無不攝也，故善星調達雖惡，如來與之共住」；並繼之云「若惡人破戒可度者則攝之，不可度者則捨之，若不捨則於彼無益於乘有損也」。其釋惡人破戒之界說云：「在家人惡為惡人，出家人惡為破戒人，又起意地三惡為惡人，起身口七惡為破戒也。」——三重之中兩重與本論相近而次第有異，一存之。其釋第五科之得失云：「既聞等學大利，便言有等法可學」——以「便言有等法可學」判三種作是念之初念，與本論「以是般若有所作」之判相發。慧影標本品大意云：「上品明因六和敬等事得於生忍，今明因行平等得於法忍成等學義」，正與本論眾生等忍、法等忍之分相應；其科本品云：「就此品中亦大有二分：第一、明就十八空明法等義；第二、廣明波若之行及校量等義，亦明生等。」其釋稱喻云：「如稱兩頭已下，欲論生法，既各自參差，今得此二等，則生法均平，故云如稱也。」其釋盡諸學邊云：「六波羅蜜既是因性，總攝萬行，故云盡諸學邊也」，又云：「明菩薩觀徹真原，心窮後際，廣大如法界，究竟如虗空，故云爾也。」其釋大人云：「明學大法、行大智慧，如是等故名為大人」；其釋我見攝諸見云：「雖復云云，我見為本，故云攝入也。」其釋三念云：「文意極相似，至論意分別之也」——與本論設問而分邪遮正者同一著眼。慧影又順經中「欲撞擊佛鍾鼓」一語出訓云：「在鍾名撞，在皷名擊」，本論於此無釋，並錄備考。又慧影疏中自稱本品為「第六十二品者，名為等學品。」其品次與本帙底本相差一位；其品目異稱、諸本品題之四造並存與分卷之異，詳考據層。
Equal Training: Why the Dharma of Equality Is Precisely Inner Emptiness and So On up to the Emptiness of Specific Marks; Why Training for the Sake of the Exhaustion, Separation, Cessation, and Non-arising of Form Turns Out to Be Training in Sarvajñā; Why the Buddha Must Ask in Return Whether the Suchnesses Can Be Exhausted, Ceased, or Severed; Why Training in Suchness Can Exhaust the Limits of All Training; Why the Merits of Training in This Way Are Ranged All the Way to Wishing to Show the Unconditioned Nature; Why the Inferior Person Cannot Train in This Way; Why Not Taking In Evil People and Those Who Break the Precepts Does Not Go against the Bodhisattva's Original Vow to Deliver Evil People; Why, When All Dharmas Are Pure in Their Original Nature, It Is Still Said That the Bodhisattva Obtains Purity; Why the Few Places on the Great Earth That Yield Gold and Silver Speak of Fewness and Not of Preciousness; Why Deep Prajñā's Encompassing All the Perfections Needs the Two Similes of the View of Self and the Life-Faculty; Why the Merit of Making Offerings to Immeasurable Buddhas Does Not Equal Training in Prajñā and Practising as Taught; Why Being Able to Obtain All the Merits of the Śrāvaka and the Pratyekabuddha and Not Abiding in Them Is the Mark of Non-retrogression; Why, of the Three Kinds of Having This Thought, the First Is Wrong, the Next Blocks, and Only the Last Speaks the Right; Why the Treatise-Author's Two Kinds of Acceptance of Equality Are as the Two Ends of a Scale Coming to Rest Level; Why the Three Wrong Views of the Inferior Each Turn Round on Delivering or Not Delivering; Why the Great Person Must First Break the Inversions and Then Also Abandon This Path; Why the Nine Causes of Leaving Evil Each Fall upon One's Own Mind; and Why the View of Self Is the Root of the Sixty-two Wrong Views
What Is Being Asked
What this chapter asks about is the word 「學」 tr. "training." The previous chapter spoke of how people who practise together treat one another, and it concluded in the two Chinese characters 「同學」 tr. "training alike"; this chapter goes on to ask: the dharma in which those who train alike train alike—what, in the end, is it? Subhūti's very first sentence asks it with the utmost directness—「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」 tr. "What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality, in which the bodhisattva should train?" The whole chapter unfolds from here, and at the end it still closes on training; therefore the chapter's name is Equal Training.
The Buddha's answer is unexpectedly short: inner emptiness, outer emptiness, and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is the dharma of equality; form's emptiness of the mark of form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness's emptiness of the mark of consciousness, and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi's emptiness of the mark of awakening—this is called the dharma of equality. What is called 「等」 tr. "equal" is not setting the dharmas out in a row and saying that their standing is the same; it says that once the marks of each of the dharmas are seen to be empty of themselves, difference has nowhere to settle, and the mind within them is then equal. The treatise-author uses the comparison of a scale to say this meaning in full: as the two ends of a scale come to rest level. What the end of the previous chapter spoke of was the acceptance of the equality of beings; what this chapter speaks of is the acceptance of the equality of dharmas—it is the same single word 「等」 tr. "equal," the one falling on persons, the other falling on dharmas.
The question that follows is harder still: if training is for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of form, is that not seeking annihilation? The Buddha first goes along with Subhūti's words, saying 「如須菩提所說」 tr. "as Subhūti has said," but, turning round, he asks a question in return: the suchness of form and so on up to the suchness of the Buddha—can these suchnesses be exhausted, can they be made to cease, can they be severed? Subhūti answers with only the two Chinese characters rendered here as ‘no indeed’. This counter-question is the pivot of the whole chapter—exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising are practices that counteract the inversions, not the ultimate of what is trained in; the ultimate place is suchness, and suchness cannot be exhausted, cannot be made to cease, cannot be severed. The treatise-author, in the treatise section, separates these two layers still more clearly: that exhaustion, separation, and severing are practised in order to remove the inversions; they are not the ultimate.
After this the sūtra text sets out, all along the line, the merits of 「如是學」 tr. "training in this way": training in suchness is training in the six perfections and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas; it is for the sake of exhausting the limits of all training; Māra cannot break him; he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika; and so on up to training in opening the gate of ambrosia and training in wishing to show the unconditioned nature; on the reverse side there is the inferior person who cannot train in this way, and there are the various evil places that one who trains in this way leaves behind. In the middle two sets of similes are inserted—few are the places on the great earth that yield gold, silver, and precious things; few are the people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king—and what they speak of is not the preciousness of prajñā but the fewness of those who can train. The latter half turns to the weighing of merit and to the distinguishing of the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought": the merit of making offerings to immeasurable buddhas does not equal training in prajñā, practising as taught, and rightly recollecting; and if one who practises prajñā has the thought 「我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智」 tr. "by this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds," on the contrary he is not called practising prajñā. Of the three thoughts at the very end of the chapter, the first is wrong, the next blocks, and the third then speaks the real mark; the treatise-author sets up a special question for this, and it is the section most needing to be seen clearly where this chapter draws to its close.
The course of the treatise section corresponds to that of the sūtra section, but is finer. The treatise-author first aligns the chapter above and this one and brings out the two kinds of acceptance of equality; next, following the text, he explains exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising, and that suchness cannot be severed; next he explains exhausting the limits of all training, the chain of cause and effect of great kindness and great compassion, and the glosses on ambrosia and the three gates of liberation; next he explains the three kinds of wrong view of the inferior and the great person's weighing of the real mark, and sets up four rounds of question and answer—if beings are empty, what then is there to deliver; why he does not take in evil people; how the view of self includes the views; why there is further a third statement. The places where the four questions stand are precisely the four junctures in the whole chapter where the reading most easily goes astray.
Passage by Passage
1. Subhūti asks what the bodhisattva's dharma of equality is. At the head of the chapter Subhūti addresses the Buddha. What he asks about is the two Chinese characters 「等法」 tr. "dharma of equality," and he adds a qualifying phrase: 「菩薩所應學」 tr. "in which the bodhisattva should train." In reading this question one must first see clearly that what is asked about is a dharma, not a practice—he does not ask how the bodhisattva trains; he asks which dharma it is that is trained in. The previous chapter concluded in training alike, and that in which they are alike was never named; this question is precisely the chasing out of that unnamed thing. Whenever the concluding words of a preceding chapter of the sūtra leave a word undetermined, the opening of the next chapter often takes it as its question; this is a way of joining common in this sūtra.
2. The Buddha answers that inner emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is the dharma of equality, and that abiding in this dharma of equality he obtains awakening. The Buddha does not answer from the gate of practice; he answers directly with headings from among the eighteen emptinesses: inner emptiness is the dharma of equality; outer emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is the dharma of equality; and he pushes one layer further—form's emptiness of the mark of form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness's emptiness of the mark of consciousness, and so on up to awakening's emptiness of the mark of awakening. The last sentence is the most essential: 「住是等法，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "Abiding in this dharma of equality, he obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." In reading this passage one misunderstanding easily arises: taking 「等」 tr. "equal" to say that the dharmas are the same as one another; in fact what is made equal lies in the emptiness of the marks, not in the substance of the dharmas. The marks of the dharmas are each different, and each is empty of itself, so that the mind finds nowhere to settle; only this is called equality. The sūtra text itself gives the criterion—wherever equality is spoken of, it is always tied to the one word 「空」 tr. "empty."
3. Subhūti asks whether training for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of form is training in sarvajñā. The second question turns to practice. Subhūti sets out one by one the four marks of practice 「盡、離、滅、不生」 tr. "exhaustion, separation, cessation, non-arising"; he asks this of form, asks this of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, and so on up to asking this of cultivating the four foundations of mindfulness and on to the eighteen unshared dharmas. This question is asked with great weight: the four Chinese characters rendered here as ‘exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising’ sound no different from the quiescence toward which the two vehicles tend, so Subhūti must ask it clearly—training in this way, does it count as training in sarvajñā? Here the reader need not be quick to judge him over-doubtful; he is asking the doubt out ahead of time on behalf of those who read the sūtra in later ages.
4. The Buddha answers: as Subhūti has said. The Buddha's first layer of answer is a complete acknowledgement: as Subhūti has said, training for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of form and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas is training in sarvajñā. If one read this answer only up to here, one would conclude that the training of prajñā and the practice of annihilation are not two. But the sūtra text does not stop here—in the next passage the Buddha at once asks in return. Therefore, whenever in reading the sūtras one meets words of approval such as ‘as you have said’, one must see whether a turning phrase follows them; this passage is a ready example.
5. The Buddha asks in return whether the suchnesses can be exhausted, ceased, or severed, and Subhūti answers no. The Buddha asks: 「於汝意云何？」 tr. "What do you think?" Next he lists the suchness of form, the suchness of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, and so on up to the suchness of awakening and the suchness of the Buddha, and asks whether these suchnesses are 「盡、滅、斷不」 tr. "exhausted, ceased, severed, or not." Subhūti only answers: 「不也！世尊！」 tr. "No, World-Honored One!" One question and one answer—the words extremely few, the weight extremely heavy. The reason for asking in return is to set the approval of the previous passage in its correct place: what exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising exhaust and make cease is the grasping of the inversions, not suchness. This section is the watershed of how this chapter is read—above, it takes up the approval of the fourth passage; below, it opens the training in suchness of the sixth passage.
6. The Buddha says that training in suchness is training in sarvajñā; that suchness is not realised, does not cease, and is not severed; that this is training in the six perfections and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas; and that it is for the sake of exhausting the limits of all training. The counter-question finished, the Buddha establishes the meaning directly: the bodhisattva who trains in suchness in this way trains in sarvajñā; and with three phrases he blocks and settles it—「是如，不作證、不滅、不斷」 tr. "this suchness is not realised, does not cease, is not severed." Next he extends it more widely: training in this way is training in the six perfections, training in the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas; if one trains in the six perfections and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, this is training in sarvajñā. At the end he brings out the chapter's first key phrase: 「如是學，為盡諸學邊。」 tr. "Training in this way is for the sake of exhausting the limits of all training." What is called exhausting the limits of all training is not having finished learning all the subjects; it is that what is trained in has already reached its limit, and there is nothing further to seek outside. This sentence must be read together with what precedes it: the reason one can exhaust the limits is precisely that what is trained in is suchness.
7. The benefits of training in this way, ranged from Māra's being unable to break him to wishing to show the unconditioned nature. The sūtra text gives a dozen or more instances of 「如是學」 tr. "training in this way" one after another, one sentence, one benefit: Māra and the gods of Māra cannot break him; he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika; it is training in the path the Buddha practises; it is for obtaining protection; it is training in great kindness and great compassion; it is training in purifying buddha-worlds and bringing beings to accomplishment; it is training in the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects, for the sake of turning it; it is training in delivering beings; it is training in not cutting off the seed of the Buddha; it is training in opening the gate of ambrosia; it is training in wishing to show the unconditioned nature. This passage has two essentials for reading: first, it may not be pressed into the single phrase ‘all kinds of merit’ and passed over—the sūtra text gives one matter per sentence, each pointing to something different, and the treatise section later explains each item as well; second, one must see its order—starting from not being broken by Māra, passing in the middle through practising oneself and transforming others, and returning at the end to showing the unconditioned nature. The end-point of the merits is not obtaining something; it is being able to show others the unconditioned.
8. The inferior person cannot train in this way; one who trains in this way does so wishing to pull out beings sunk in birth and death. The sūtra text suddenly turns and says 「下劣之人不能作是學」 tr. "the inferior person cannot train in this way," and on the reverse side points out the measure of mind of one who can train: 「如是學者，為欲拔出沈沒生死眾生。」 tr. "One who trains in this way does so wishing to pull out beings sunk in birth and death." The two Chinese characters rendered here as ‘inferior’ are only touched on at this place; their definition opens only in the treatise section. In reading this passage first catch hold of one distinction: with the very same Dharma-gate, some can train in it and some cannot, and the difference lies not in intelligence but in the size of the measure of the mind. This is the reason for all the leaving of evil below.
9. The places left behind by one who trains in this way, from the three evil destinies to not taking in evil people and those who break the precepts. The sūtra text enumerates the places at which one who trains in this way in the end never arrives: he does not fall into the hells, among the hungry ghosts, or among animals; he is not born in a border land; he is not born in a caṇḍāla family; he is not deaf, blind, mute, or crippled, and his faculties are not lacking; his retinue is accomplished and he is never orphaned and poor; he does not kill living beings, and so on up to not holding wrong views; he does not live by wrong livelihood; he does not take in evil people and those who break the precepts. This passage must be noted down item by item, because the treatise section gives a cause for every item—this is the most orderly paired listing of cause and effect in this chapter. Among them the last item, 「不攝惡人及破戒者」 tr. "does not take in evil people and those who break the precepts," most easily gives rise to doubt: how could a bodhisattva not take someone in? For this doubt the treatise section sets up a special question and answers it; here it is kept in hand for now.
10. By the power of skilful means he enters the four dhyānas, the four immeasurables, and the four formless absorptions, yet is not born according to the dhyānas, and obtains purity within all dharmas. The sūtra text goes on to speak of the use of the power of skilful means: because of the power of skilful means he is not born in the heavens of long life; as to what the power of skilful means is, the sūtra text itself points the way—「如〈般若波羅蜜品〉中所說。」 tr. "As is said in the ‘Prajñāpāramitā’ chapter." Next it says that the bodhisattva, by the power of skilful means, enters the four dhyānas, the four immeasurable minds, and the four formless absorptions, and yet does not receive birth according to the dhyānas, the immeasurables, or the formless absorptions. The last sentence closes on purity: 「菩薩如是學，一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」 tr. "The bodhisattva who trains in this way obtains purity within all dharmas, namely, he purifies the mind of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha." In reading this passage keep your eye on the two Chinese characters 「不隨」 tr. "not according to": to enter absorption and yet not receive birth according to the absorption is exactly the concrete meaning of the power of skilful means; what is called purifying the mind of the two vehicles is not rejecting the dharmas of the two vehicles; it is not receiving birth and not receiving the fruit there.
11. Subhūti asks: if all dharmas are pure in their original nature, how can it be said that he obtains purity? Subhūti seizes on the last word of the sentence above and asks: 「一切法本性清淨，云何言菩薩一切法中得清淨？」 tr. "All dharmas are pure in their original nature; how can it be said that the bodhisattva obtains purity within all dharmas?" This question is extremely precise—if dharmas are originally pure, purity does not wait to be obtained; if purity can be obtained, dharmas are not originally pure. Whenever one meets in the sūtras both ‘it is so from the beginning’ and ‘it is made so by cultivation’, this question can always be used. Subhūti here sets up for the reader a general form of doubt.
12. The Buddha answers that the mind's penetrating and not sinking is prajñā, and that because ordinary people do not know and do not see, the bodhisattva practises the six perfections for them. The Buddha first approves in two phrases: 「如是！如是！」 tr. "Just so! Just so!"—acknowledging that all dharmas are pure in their original nature; and at once he gives where the 「得」 tr. "obtaining" lies—「若菩薩摩訶薩於是法中心通達、不沒，即是般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "If the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's mind within this dharma penetrates and does not sink, this is prajñāpāramitā." What is obtained is not purity; it is that the mind within the pure dharma penetrates and does not sink. Next he says that all ordinary people do not know and do not see, and for the sake of these beings the bodhisattva practises dānapāramitā and so on up to prajñāpāramitā, practises the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds; and he says that one who trains in this way obtains knowledge, the powers, and fearlessness within all dharmas, and can know completely that toward which the minds of all beings tend. This passage resolves the doubt of the eleventh passage: original purity is a matter on the side of dharmas, obtaining purity is a matter on the side of the mind, and the two do not obstruct each other.
13. The simile of the few places on the great earth that yield gold, silver, and precious things, and the simile of the few people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king. The sūtra text gives two similes in a row. First, as on the great earth only few are the places that yield gold, silver, and precious things, so it is with beings too: few are the people who can train in prajñā; most fall to the ground of the two vehicles. Second, as few are the people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king, and most take up and practise the work of a minor king, so it is with beings too: few practise prajñā and seek omniscience; most practise the path of the two vehicles. Next it speaks further of the inside of the bodhisattvas: among those who have aroused the mind and seek awakening, few practise as taught; many practise prajñā but are without the power of skilful means, and therefore few are the people who abide on the ground of the avaivartika. What the two similes compare is ‘few’, not ‘precious’—the reason this must be seen clearly is that reading it as precious and base gives rise to thoughts of high and low, while only reading it as many and few gives rise to a mind that spurs itself on. The last sentence of the sūtra text itself states the intent: therefore, one who wishes to abide on the ground of the avaivartika should train in this deep prajñāpāramitā.
14. Again, when training in prajñā he does not give rise to minds of stinginess and greed and the rest, and does not give rise to a mind that grasps at marks. The sūtra text starts another passage, speaking of two layers of non-arising in the mind when training in deep prajñā: first, he does not give rise to minds of stinginess and greed, of breaking the precepts, of hatred, of laziness, of distraction, of folly, or of the various other faults—these six are exactly the opposites of the six perfections; second, he does not give rise to a mind that grasps at the mark of form and so on up to grasping at the mark of awakening. And it states the reason itself: 「是菩薩摩訶薩行是深般若波羅蜜，無有法可得；以不可得故，於諸法不生心取相。」 tr. "This bodhisattva-mahāsattva, practising this deep prajñāpāramitā, has no dharma to be found; because it is unfindable, he does not give rise to a mind that grasps at the marks of dharmas." Do not, in reading this passage, wrongly take it that the power of prajñā can sever the afflictions entirely at one stroke—the treatise section later has its own words of measure; here first remember that the sūtra text only says ‘does not give rise to’, and does not say ‘has severed’.
15. Deep prajñā encompasses all the perfections; the simile of the view of self including the sixty-two wrong views, and the simile of a person's dying and the life-faculty ceasing. The sūtra text says that deep prajñā encompasses all the perfections, makes all the perfections grow, and that all the perfections follow it, and itself explains why: 「是深般若波羅蜜，諸波羅蜜悉入中。」 tr. "Into this deep prajñāpāramitā all the perfections enter." Next it gives two similes. First, as within the view of self all the sixty-two wrong views are included—a simile of encompassing; second, as when a person dies, because the life-faculty ceases all the other faculties cease along with it—a simile of following. The division of labour between the two similes is very clear: the former simile speaks of 「攝」 tr. "encompassing," the latter of 「隨」 tr. "following." Here the reader can learn a way of looking at similes—when within one passage two similes are given in a row, most often they are not a repetition; each takes up one meaning from what came before.
16. The Buddha asks whether the beings in the three-thousand great-thousand world are many; Subhūti answers that even those of a single Jambudvīpa are many. The sūtra text turns from doctrine to weighing. The Buddha first asks: 「三千大千世界中眾生多不？」 tr. "Are the beings in the three-thousand great-thousand world many?" Subhūti answers: 「一閻浮提中眾生尚多，何況三千大千世界！」 tr. "Even the beings in a single Jambudvīpa are many—how much more those of the three-thousand great-thousand world!" This one question and one answer lays the groundwork for the weighing of the next passage. Whenever the sūtras set up a great weighing, they first make firm the quantity that is weighed; this is that method; the reader need not find it roundabout—if the quantity is not made firm, the weighing has no force.
17. The Buddha sets up the weighing of merit; Subhūti answers: very much, very much. The Buddha sets up an extremely great supposition: if the beings in the three-thousand great-thousand world all at once obtained a human body and all obtained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and a bodhisattva for the whole of his life made offerings to that number of buddhas with robes, food and drink, bedding, medicine, and whatever is needed to sustain life, would the merit he obtains be much or not? Subhūti answers: 「甚多！甚多！」 tr. "Very much! Very much!" The merit set up here has already reached the utmost the world can imagine—those offered to are buddhas, the number offered to is the number of the beings of the three-thousand great-thousand world, the time of offering is the whole of a lifetime. The greater what is compared, the more force the verdict of the next passage has.
18. The Buddha rules that this does not equal the much merit obtained by training in prajñā, practising as taught, and rightly recollecting. The Buddha's verdict is utterly decisive: 「不如是善男子、善女人學般若波羅蜜如說行、正憶念，得福多。」 tr. "It does not equal the much merit obtained by this good man or good woman who trains in prajñāpāramitā, practises as taught, and rightly recollects." And he himself states the cause—prajñāpāramitā has force; it can make the bodhisattva obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The ground of this verdict lies not in there being anything wrong with the merit of making offerings, but in prajñā's being able to make a person become a Buddha. In reading the weighing passages keep to this method: look at the cause it gives, not at the quantity it compares. The former is the meaning; the latter is only the vessel.
19. From wishing to go above all beings to wishing to cut off the doubts of all beings, one should train in deep prajñā. The sūtra text gives a dozen or more sentences of 「欲」 tr. "wishing" one after another—wishing to go above all beings, wishing to be a protection for beings without protection, wishing to be a refuge for beings without refuge, wishing to be the ultimate path for beings without an ultimate path, wishing to be eyes for the blind, wishing to obtain the merits of a Buddha, wishing to do the sovereign play of the buddhas, wishing to make the Buddha's lion's roar, wishing to strike the Buddha's bell and drum, wishing to blow the Buddha's conch, wishing to ascend the Buddha's high seat and teach the Dharma, wishing to cut off the doubts of all beings—all uniformly concluding in 「當學深般若波羅蜜」 tr. "should train in deep prajñāpāramitā." This passage corresponds exactly with the dozen or more instances of 「如是學」 tr. "training in this way" of the seventh passage: that passage speaks of the cause starting from the fruits; this passage speaks of the training starting from the wish. The last sentence sums it all up: 「菩薩摩訶薩若學深般若波羅蜜，諸善功德無事不得。」 tr. "If the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains in deep prajñāpāramitā, of all wholesome merits there is none he does not obtain."
20. Subhūti asks whether he also obtains the merits of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha; the Buddha answers that he can obtain them all but does not abide in them. Subhūti asks very finely: one who trains in prajñā—does he really obtain even the merits of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha? The Buddha's answer falls into three parts: he can obtain them all; but he does not abide in them; having contemplated them with knowledge, he passes straight over and enters the bodhisattva's position. This answer is the place in this chapter where the attitude toward the two vehicles is plainest—it is not that he does not obtain them; it is that he obtains them and does not abide in them. What the tenth passage earlier called 「淨聲聞、辟支佛心」 tr. "purifies the mind of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha" has its meaning precisely here. If the reader reads every word in the Great Vehicle sūtras that sets the two vehicles apart as rejection, he will run against this section.
21. One who trains in this way draws near to sarvajñā and is a field of merit for gods, humans, and asuras; this is called not abandoning and not leaving prajñā; one should know that he is non-retrogressing. The sūtra text goes on to give five sentences of 「如是學」 tr. "training in this way": he draws near to sarvajñā and quickly obtains awakening; he is a field of merit for all the world's gods, humans, and asuras; he surpasses the fields of merit of the two vehicles; this is called not abandoning and not leaving prajñāpāramitā, constantly practising prajñāpāramitā; one should know that this is a non-retrogressing bodhisattva. These five sentences speak together of the two sides, benefiting oneself and benefiting others, and at the end return to non-retrogression. This passage should be read together with the ninth passage—the earlier passage speaks of the difficulties that training in this way leaves behind, this passage of the position that training in this way reaches; the two passages are a head and a tail, separated in the middle by the weighing and the similes, and the 「如是學」 tr. "training in this way" that they name is from first to last one and the same thing—training in suchness.
22. The distinction of the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought" . At its last section the sūtra text sets out three sentences of thought. First, if he has this thought, 「是般若波羅蜜，我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智」 tr. "This is prajñāpāramitā; by this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds," he is not called practising prajñā. Second, if he does not have this thought, 「是般若波羅蜜，是人有般若波羅蜜；是般若波羅蜜法，是人行般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "This is prajñāpāramitā; this person has prajñāpāramitā; this is the dharma of prajñāpāramitā; this person practises prajñāpāramitā and obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi," this is called practising prajñā. Third, if he has this thought, 「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜；無有行是般若波羅蜜得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "There is no such prajñāpāramitā; no person has this prajñāpāramitā; there is none who practises this prajñāpāramitā and obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi," this too is called practising prajñā; and it gives the reason why—「一切法如、法性、實際常住故。」 tr. "Because all dharmas constantly abide in suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality." At a first reading the three sentences seem to repeat one another; the treatise-author later sets up a special question and distinguishes them; here, first remember the difference among the three sentences: the first sentence has an agent and an object; the next blocks their existence; the third further blocks their non-existence and returns to constant abiding.
23. The explanation says: aligning the chapter above and this one, bringing out the two kinds of acceptance of equality and the simile of the two ends of a scale coming to rest level. The treatise section begins with 「釋曰」 tr. "The explanation says." The treatise-author first aligns them: above, Ānanda asked about quarrelling, and the Buddha answered with the purity of training alike; now Subhūti asks about the very deep dharma of equality of one mind, and the Buddha answers that inner emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is called the dharma of equality. Next he establishes two kinds of acceptance of equality—at the end of the previous chapter the acceptance of the equality of beings was spoken of; in this chapter the acceptance of the equality of dharmas is spoken of—and gives the simile: 「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」 tr. "As the two ends of a scale come to rest level, so inner emptiness and the other emptinesses are equal among all dharmas." Next he explains its mark: as inner dharmas have all kinds of differences, on obtaining inner emptiness they are all equal and without dharmas; and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks: the marks of all dharmas are all empty of themselves, and at that time the mind is equal. The last sentence closes on obtaining the fruit: the bodhisattva, abiding in this equality, can obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. This passage, as soon as it opens its mouth, binds the two chapters into one matter; one who reads the treatise section should first read this passage and then look back at the sūtra text.
24. Explaining that, contemplating form as impermanent, the mind leaves form and obtains the dharma of non-arising; and that because suchness is not gathered and does not come together, it has no exhaustion, no cessation, and no severing. Following Subhūti's second question the treatise-author explains: contemplating form and the rest as impermanent, ceasing thought by thought and not abiding—if one obtains this contemplation, the mind leaves form; because the mind leaves form, the afflictions cease; because the afflictions cease, one obtains the dharma of non-arising. This speaks straight down the road of exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising. Next he turns to suchness: 「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡？本來不生，云何有滅？是法本來虛誑，無有定相，云何可斷？」 tr. "This suchness from the beginning has not been gathered, has not come together; how could there be exhaustion? From the beginning it has not arisen; how could there be cessation? This dharma from the beginning is false and deceptive and has no fixed mark; how could it be severed?" The three questions come down in one breath, answering directly to the Buddha's counter-question in the sūtra text. In reading this passage keep your eye on the treatise-author's change of footing—the first half speaks from the contemplative knowledge of the practitioner, the latter half from the original mark of dharmas; the reason why the sūtra text first approves and then asks in return lies right here.
25. Explaining that suchness is permanent and cannot be realised, made to cease, or severed; that exhaustion, separation, and severing are for removing the inversions and are not the ultimate; and that the meaning of the ultimate lies in training while not fixing on one dharma. The treatise-author's verdict is perfectly clear: 「是如，常、不可證、不可滅、不可斷；是盡、離、斷，除顛倒故行，非是究竟。」 tr. "This suchness is permanent, cannot be realised, cannot be made to cease, cannot be severed; this exhaustion, separation, and severing are practised in order to remove the inversions; they are not the ultimate." Next he cites words from within the treatise to explain the ultimate: 「如是學，雖不定為一法故學而學薩婆若。」 tr. "Training in this way, although he does not train for the sake of fixing on one dharma, he trains in sarvajñā." What is called not training for the sake of fixing on one dharma says that what is trained in does not fall on any single fixed dharma, and yet the training is not abandoned. This sentence is the hardest place in the whole chapter to put into words, and also the most essential place: without this sentence, the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of the preceding text would become the ultimate, and the three kinds of having this thought of the later text would also have no way of being distinguished.
26. Explaining exhausting the limits of all training: training in sarvajñā is training in the six perfections and the rest; because merit and wisdom are complete, Māra cannot subdue him; he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika. The treatise-author explains the phrase in the sūtra 「為盡諸學邊」 tr. "for the sake of exhausting the limits of all training": if he trains in sarvajñā, this is training in the six perfections and the rest; if he can train in the six perfections and the rest, this is exhausting the limits of all training. Next he joins cause and effect: if he exhausts the limits of all training, because this person's immeasurable merit and wisdom are complete, Māra and Māra's people cannot subdue him; because he trains rightly in this way, he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika; training in this way is training in the path the Buddha practises; training in this way, he is protected by all the buddhas and great bodhisattvas of the ten directions, by the gods, and by good people. In reading this passage one can see the treatise-author's way of explaining—the sentences that the sūtra text sets side by side, the treatise-author strings into one chain of cause and effect, the former sentence the cause, the latter the effect.
27. Explaining the chain of cause and effect of great kindness and great compassion, and the glosses on the gate of ambrosia and the three liberations. The treatise-author continues the string: one who can train in this way has no wrong views, and his mind has nothing it clings to; toward all beings he can give rise to great kindness and great compassion; because of great kindness and great compassion he can teach and transform beings; because beings' minds are pure, the Buddha's realm is pure; the Buddha's realm having been purified, he obtains the Buddha path, turns the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects, and delivers immeasurable beings by the three vehicles; because he delivers beings by the Great Vehicle, he does not cut off the seed of the Buddha; because he does not cut off the seed of the Buddha, in the world he constantly opens the Dharma-gate of ambrosia and constantly shows beings the unconditioned nature. At the end he gives three glosses: 「無為性者，所謂如、法性、實際、涅槃。甘露者，無為性；門者，三解脫門。」 tr. "The unconditioned nature is what is called suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, nirvāṇa. Ambrosia is the unconditioned nature; the gate is the three gates of liberation." What is most to be learned in this passage is the direction in which the chain runs—it starts from the non-clinging of the trainee's own mind, passes through the purity of beings' minds to the purity of the Buddha's realm, and again from the purity of the Buddha's realm to turning the wheel of the Dharma and delivering beings; purifying one's own mind and purifying the buddha-land are, under the treatise-author's brush, not two matters.
28. Explaining the definition of the inferior and the three kinds of wrong view of the inferior. The treatise-author sets a boundary for the two Chinese characters 「下劣」 tr. "inferior" in the sūtra text: 「下劣者，名懈怠、放逸，不樂佛法，不一心行道，罪福雜行。」 tr. "The inferior are called lazy and heedless; they do not delight in the Buddha's Dharma, do not practise the path single-mindedly, and practise sin and merit mixedly." Next he gives the thoughts that the inferior have—three in all. First, 「我身及親屬是我所應護，諸餘眾生何豫我事」 tr. "My own body and my kin are what I ought to protect; what have all the other beings to do with me?", reaching as far as 「我今何為捨樂求苦」 tr. "Why should I now give up pleasure and seek suffering?" Second, 「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」 tr. "Beings are immeasurable and boundless and cannot be delivered to the last; if they could be delivered to the last, they would be measurable and bounded, and a single Buddha could deliver them all." Third, 「佛說一切法空、不生不滅，我復何所度？求佛道、不求佛道，同如幻夢。」 tr. "The Buddha says all dharmas are empty, not arising and not ceasing; what then is there for me to deliver? Seeking the Buddha path and not seeking the Buddha path are alike like an illusion and a dream." The three thoughts each turn round on delivering or not delivering: the first thought is unwillingness to deliver; the next thought does not deliver on the grounds that beings are endless; the third thought does not deliver on the grounds that dharmas are empty. The latter two thoughts deserve special attention—what they borrow are both words of the Buddha's Dharma. In reading this passage, know that wrong views need not lie outside the words of the Buddha's Dharma; to be able to borrow the Buddha's words so as to excuse oneself from practice is exactly what the treatise-author rebukes.
29. Explaining the meaning of the great person: weighing the real mark, breaking inverted views, turning back and abandoning this path, entering straight into the nature of dharmas, and giving rise to great compassion. Over against the inferior, the treatise-author says 「或時有大人出世」 tr. "at times a great person appears in the world." His practice has four stages: first, he weighs and reflects on the real mark of all dharmas, namely neither permanent nor impermanent, neither bounded nor unbounded, neither existent nor non-existent, and so on; second, he practises such a path and breaks inverted views; third, he turns back and abandons this path, enters straight into the nature of dharmas, and constantly abides in this pure nature of dharmas; fourth, because all beings do not know this matter, he gives rise to the mind of great compassion, and afterwards cultivates and gathers the six perfections and the other merits, the Buddha's supernormal powers, wisdom, and unobstructed liberation, obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and delivers beings widely by all kinds of gates of skilful means. The third stage is the most essential—the path that breaks the inversions must also be abandoned; otherwise, though what is broken is gone, what does the breaking is still there. This is exactly the concrete working-out, in the gate of practice, of the meaning of 「非是究竟」 tr. "they are not the ultimate" in the twenty-fifth passage.
30. Question and answer one: beings are immeasurable and boundless, and it is also said that beings are empty—how can there be anyone to deliver? The treatise-author sets the first question, and what it asks is precisely the difficulty left by the second and third thoughts of the twenty-eighth passage: as was said earlier, 「眾生無量無邊」 tr. "beings are immeasurable and boundless," and it is also said, 「眾生空，復何所度？」 tr. "beings are empty; what then is there to deliver?"—this being so, how can there be anyone to deliver? The answer is extremely short: 「此是下劣人所說，何足以之為證？」 tr. "This is what inferior people say; how is it worth taking as proof?" This answer seems not to answer, but in fact it is the most essential move—the treatise-author does not dispute the reasoning of the wrong view with it; he first discerns the mouth it comes out of. Whenever the fault of a statement lies not in its wording but in the intent behind it, disputing the reasoning is of no benefit; one must first judge where it comes from.
31. Again, explaining that the wrong views of the inferior are all included in the sixty-two views; that the great person is without desire and abides in the nature of dharmas; and the simile of giving with a giving mind without taking a price, and the simile of the petty person trading in the market. The treatise-author goes a layer further: the inferior person, from causes and conditions of wrong view and greed, has thoughts and says 「眾生有邊、無邊」 tr. "beings are bounded, unbounded," 「一切法空無所有、一切法常實」 tr. "all dharmas are empty and without anything existent; all dharmas are permanent and real"—all of these are included in the sixty-two wrong views. Next he speaks of the great person: without desire, reflecting and weighing, he leaves such faults and offences behind, abides in the nature of dharmas, and gives rise to the mind of great compassion. Next he gives the simile: 「譬如大人但以施心施與他財，而不取價。」 tr. "As a great person gives wealth to others simply with a giving mind and does not take a price." Whereas the greedy person gives seeking causes and conditions, and the person of wrong view relies on bounded, unbounded, and the like; none of them can act without some benefit in it—「譬如小人市易，求利乃與。」 tr. "As a petty person trades in the market, and gives only when he seeks a profit." At the end he says further that the great person, the bodhisattva, has nothing he seeks or desires, can give his head, eyes, and the rest to beings, and gives away as well the reward he obtains; his mind relies on nothing among all dharmas, and yet he can gather all merits. Therefore the Buddha says: 「欲拔一切眾生沈沒生死者，能如是學。」 tr. "One who wishes to pull out all beings sunk in birth and death can train in this way." The contrast of the two similes is very vivid: the difference lies not in giving or not giving, but in taking a price or not taking a price.
32. Again, explaining the causes of leaving the evil destinies, from not falling into the hells to not taking in evil people and those who break the precepts. The treatise-author, item by item, matches a cause to the fruits of the ninth passage; they are listed below. First, because he always has a mind of kindness, compassion, and pity and does not vex beings, he does not fall into the hells. Second, because he always contemplates causes and conditions and the real mark of all dharmas and does not give rise to folly, he does not fall among animals. Third, because he always practises giving and breaks the mind of stinginess and greed, he is not born among the hungry ghosts. Fourth, because toward the twelve divisions of the scriptures and the eighty-four thousand heaps of Dharma he is never begrudging, he is not born in a border land. Fifth, because he always makes offerings to elders and good people and breaks arrogance, he is not born among the low and base, such as the caṇḍāla. Sixth, because with a deep mind he loves beings and fully carries out beneficial deeds, the body he receives is whole and complete. Seventh, because he transforms many beings by wholesome dharmas, his retinue is accomplished and he is never orphaned and poor. Eighth, because he deeply loves and delights in śīlapāramitā, he does not practise the ten evil paths or wrong livelihood. Ninth, because he has no mind of self and only benefits beings and does not act for himself, he does not take in evil people and those who break the precepts. This passage is the place in this chapter where cause and effect are most orderly, and no item may be compressed: the cause of each item falls on one concrete mark of practice of one's own mind; not one of them is something sought for. The reader can look back on himself item by item; what he gets is a ready-made checklist.
33. Explaining the threefold definition of evil people and breaking the precepts. The treatise-author sets boundaries for 「惡人」 tr. "evil people" and 「破戒」 tr. "breaking the precepts," in three layers. First, 「惡人名心惡，破戒者名身、口惡。」 tr. "Evil people means evil of mind; those who break the precepts means evil of body and speech." Second, 「行三不善道名惡人，行七不善道名破戒。」 tr. "Practising the three unwholesome paths is called being an evil person; practising the seven unwholesome paths is called breaking the precepts." Third, 「若在家攝惡人名惡人，出家攝惡人名破戒。」 tr. "Evil people included among householders are called evil people; evil people included among those who have gone forth are called those who break the precepts." The three layers go from inside to outside: the first in terms of mind and of body and speech, the next in terms of the paths of deeds that are practised, the last in terms of the stations of the householder and of one who has gone forth. In reading this passage do not take only one layer and discard the other two—the treatise-author gives three statements in a row and does not decide among them, precisely so that people will know that these two names are given their meaning according to the place, and are not a fixed label for a person's character.
34. Question and answer two: the bodhisattva appears in the world in order to deliver evil people—why does he not take in evil people? The treatise-author sets the second question, and asks it very squarely: 「菩薩為度惡人故出現於世，譬如良醫療諸疾病，何以故不攝惡人？」 tr. "The bodhisattva appears in the world in order to deliver evil people, as a good physician cures the various illnesses; why does he not take in evil people?" The answer falls into three parts: first, of evil people and those who break the precepts, there are those who can be transformed and those who cannot be transformed; here only those who cannot be transformed are spoken of; second, if he takes them in and dwells together with them, he ruins his own path and is of no benefit to them; third, he gives a simile—「譬如救溺，自不能浮而欲濟彼，二俱不免。」 tr. "As in rescuing the drowning: one who cannot himself float and yet wishes to bring the other across—neither of the two escapes." The last sentence closes: 「是故說遠離惡人。」 tr. "Therefore it is said: keep far from evil people." This answer resolves the doubt left by the ninth passage, and also gives a general measure: what is given up is not the person but the dwelling together; what is measured is not his evil but one's own strength.
35. Explaining that because the desire realm has much evil he gives rise to pity and is therefore born in the desire realm, and that he practises the dhyānas yet is not born according to the dhyānas. The treatise-author explains the meaning, in the sūtra, of not being born in the heavens of long life and not being born according to the dhyānas: because the desire realm has much evil, he gives rise to a mind of pity, and therefore is born within the desire realm; though he practises the dhyānas and his mind is tamed and soft, by the power of skilful means, at the end of life, he is not born according to the dhyānas. The essential of this passage lies in the five Chinese characters 「生憐愍心故」 tr. "because he gives rise to a mind of pity"—not receiving birth according to the dhyānas is not a lack of the power of dhyāna; it is upheld by the power of skilful means. Here the reader can distinguish two kinds of not being born: one is being unable to enter; one is entering and not abiding; what the sūtra and the treatise speak of is always the latter.
36. Explaining that purity means relinquishment, being without anything existent, and ultimate emptiness; Subhūti's question; and the Buddha's approving his words and stating the causes and conditions for him. The treatise-author takes up the sūtra phrase 「菩薩如是學，於一切法中得清淨」 tr. "the bodhisattva who trains in this way obtains purity within all dharmas," and first glosses the word 「淨」 tr. "pure": 「淨名捨離、無所有、畢竟空。」 tr. "Pure means relinquished, without anything existent, ultimately empty." Next he takes up Subhūti's question; next he takes up the Buddha's answer and marks its pattern—「佛可須菩提言，為說因緣」 tr. "the Buddha approves Subhūti's words and states the causes and conditions for him"; the causes and conditions stated are the section of the sūtra text 「於是中心不沒、不却」 tr. "the mind within this does not sink and does not shrink back," and the treatise-author further adds a gloss for 「不沒」 tr. "does not sink": 「不沒名不疑、不生邪見。」 tr. "Not sinking means not doubting and not giving rise to wrong views." Next he explains penetration: not contending with emptiness—this is called prajñāpāramitā. The two glosses added in this passage are the most to be treasured—not sinking is not the same as being unshaken; it is not doubting and not giving rise to wrong views; penetration is not the ability to speak of emptiness; it is not contending with emptiness.
37. Explaining the mark of the bodhisattva's obtaining purity within all dharmas, his knowing completely the minds and mental-factor dharmas of beings, and that therefore it is said he exhausts the limits of all training; and bringing in the two similes of gold and silver and of the work of a wheel-turning sage king. The treatise-author continues explaining: the bodhisattva's dharma is that he should teach and transform these beings; this is called the bodhisattva's obtaining purity within all dharmas, namely abandoning the inversions of the three realms, passing beyond the ground of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, and within all dharmas obtaining the power of pure wisdom; because he obtains this merit, of all beings of the three times and the ten directions he can know completely their minds and mental-factor dharmas, and the causes and conditions of the various deeds to which the workings of their minds give rise; having known them, he teaches the Dharma and opens and transforms them as each befits. At the end it returns: 「如是等利益，皆是學般若故得，是故言盡諸學邊。」 tr. "Such benefits as these are all obtained through training in prajñā; therefore it is said that he exhausts the limits of all training." Next follows a turning sentence: 「少有能如是學，是人難得！」 tr. "Few can train in this way; such a person is hard to find!" Because the Buddha wished to make this meaning clear, he spoke similes—gold and silver, the work of a wheel-turning sage king, and the rest. This passage joins the 「盡諸學邊」 tr. "exhausting the limits of all training" of the sixth passage and the two similes of the thirteenth passage into one line—the reason for speaking of few is that what is trained in has already reached its limit; those who reach the limit are naturally few.
38. Again, explaining that not giving rise to minds of stinginess and the rest is restraint and not having already severed them, and that not grasping at marks is so as not to fall into existence and non-existence but to practise straight along the middle way. The treatise-author adds, for the sūtra phrase 「不生慳等心」 tr. "does not give rise to minds of stinginess and the rest," a most important word of measure: because the bodhisattva trains in prajñāpāramitā, he restrains the afflictions; 「煩惱雖未盡，無所能作，是故言不生。」 tr. "Although the afflictions are not yet exhausted, they can do nothing; therefore it is said that they do not arise." Next he explains not grasping at marks: the bodhisattva practising prajñā knows that the marks of all dharmas are all false and deceptive and unreal, and therefore does not grasp at the mark of form and so on up to the mark of awakening; the reason for this is 「不欲令墮有無見中故，直行中道，集菩薩行。」 tr. "because he does not wish to fall into the views of existence and non-existence, he practises straight along the middle way and gathers the bodhisattva's practices." This passage resolves the doubt kept in hand in the fourteenth passage: the sūtra says they do not arise; the treatise says they are not yet exhausted—not arising means they can do nothing, not that the afflictions are already exhausted. The student here can avoid two losses: he neither doubts the sūtra's words because the afflictions are not yet exhausted, nor, on account of the sūtra's words, takes himself to have already severed them.
39. Explaining the causes and conditions of nothing to be attained stated by the Buddha himself, the meaning of encompassing all the perfections, and why the two similes of the view of self and the life-faculty are spoken. The treatise-author takes up the causes and conditions stated by the Buddha himself: 「菩薩行般若，於一切法無所得，無所得故，無有法可取相——若善、若不善等。」 tr. "The bodhisattva practising prajñā has nothing to be attained in all dharmas; because there is nothing to be attained, there is no dharma whose mark can be grasped—whether wholesome, whether unwholesome, and so on." Next he explains encompassing: if the bodhisattva can train in this way, he encompasses all the perfections; giving and the other perfections are not apart from prajñāpāramitā; by the power of prajñāpāramitā the other perfections are made to leave all wrong views and greedy clinging, and each obtains growth. At the end he points to where the two similes come from: because the Buddha wished to make this meaning clear, he spoke similes, such as the view of self and the life-faculty. What this passage adds is the six Chinese characters 「離諸邪見、貪著」 tr. "leave all wrong views and greedy clinging"—encompassing is not gathering the five perfections into prajñā; it is that prajñā makes the five perfections each leave clinging and grow.
40. Question and answer three: the view of self and the other views each have distinct marks—how are they included within the view of self? The answer: the view of self is the root and gives rise to the fifty-seven views. The treatise-author sets the third question: 「我見、諸見各有別相，云何攝入我見中？」 tr. "The view of self and the other views each have distinct marks; how are they included within the view of self?" The answer first establishes the thesis: 「雖有別相，我見是本。」 tr. "Though they have distinct marks, the view of self is the root." Next it speaks of the order of their arising—a person, from causes and conditions of ignorance, gives rise to the view of self within the empty five aggregates; because he gives rise to the view of self, he says 「是身死，如去、不如去」 tr. "when this body dies, it goes thus, or it does not go thus"; if it goes thus, this is the view of permanence; if it does not go thus, this is the view of annihilation; if, holding annihilation, he at present takes pleasure in and clings to the five desires and takes evil dharmas as the highest, then he gives rise to grasping at views; if, holding permanence, he goes forth to train in the path, keeps the precepts, and practises austerities, then he gives rise to grasping at precepts; or at times, seeing that both annihilation and permanence have faults, he then says there are no causes and conditions and no recompense, and then he gives rise to wrong view. Next the whole is gathered up: abiding within these five views, regarding the world as permanent or impermanent, the prior limit and the later limit, and so on, he gives rise to the fifty-seven views. Therefore to say 「身見攝六十二見」 tr. "the view of a body includes the sixty-two wrong views" is without fault. This passage is the place in the whole chapter where the treatise-author's power is most seen: the arising of the five views each has its source, and their sources all unfold out of the single thought of the view of self. Here the reader should see clearly the meaning of 「本」 tr. "root"—root does not mean containing; it means being able to give rise to.
41. Explaining that prajñā is the very foremost among all dharmas and that the bodhisattva, training in it, is therefore foremost among beings; that the Buddha uses the beings of the three-thousand great-thousand world as a simile to transform beings well; and so on up to: one should know that he is non-retrogressing. The treatise-author sums up the preceding text: 「如是等種種因緣譬喻故，知般若波羅蜜諸法中最第一」 tr. "Because of all these kinds of causes and conditions and similes, one knows that prajñāpāramitā is the very foremost among all dharmas"; because prajñā is the very foremost, and because the bodhisattva trains in this prajñā, he is foremost among beings. Next he takes up the weighing set up in the sūtra text: because the Buddha wished by this matter to transform beings well, he spoke a simile—「須菩提！於汝意云何？三千大千世界中眾生多不？」 tr. "Subhūti! What do you think? Are the beings in the three-thousand great-thousand world many?"—and so on, up to 「菩薩如是學，當知是不退轉，遠離二乘，近佛乘。」 tr. "The bodhisattva who trains in this way—one should know that he is non-retrogressing, far from the two vehicles, near to the Buddha Vehicle." This passage binds the two ends together with the two Chinese characters 「第一」 tr. "foremost": the foremost of the Dharma and the foremost of persons; the foremost of persons is obtained through training in the Dharma, not possessed by the person of himself. The intent of the whole long passage of weighing, the treatise-author gathers up completely with just this one sentence.
42. Again, explaining the wrongness of the first thought: displaying the mark of prajñā as existent or non-existent; the coming together of the five aggregates is provisionally named bodhisattva, and, following after the provisional name, he reckons it a self; prajñā is without clinging and without action, and yet he wishes to have something done. The treatise-author explains the first kind of having this thought. First he divides it into two branches: 「是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "This is prajñāpāramitā" is displaying the mark of prajñāpāramitā as existent or non-existent and the like, seeing prajñā, obtaining prajñā, clinging to prajñā, and the like; 「我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智」 tr. "by this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds" is this: the coming together of the five aggregates is provisionally named bodhisattva; the bodhisattva, following after the provisional name, reckons it to be a self, and by this prajñā has something that is done. Next he brings out two layers of contradiction: prajñā is the mark of non-clinging, and yet this person says that a prajñā possessed of marks is the highest meaning—this person, following the provisional name, gives rise to a mind of self; prajñā is the mark of non-action, and yet this person wishes to use prajñā to have something done. Therefore the Buddha says: 「作如是念者，不名行般若。」 tr. "One who has such a thought is not called practising prajñā." The last sentence brings in the second thought: 「若不如是念，名為行般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "If he does not have such a thought, he is called practising prajñāpāramitā." This passage takes the illness of the first thought apart into the two sides of the person and of dharmas—toward dharmas giving rise to a view that has marks, toward the person giving rise to a self of the provisional name; the two illnesses together make up one sentence of thought.
43. Question and answer four: having this thought and not having this thought—the matter is already exhausted; why is there further a third statement? The answer: the first is wrong, the next blocks, and the last speaks the mark of right practice. The treatise-author sets the fourth question, and asks it most sharply: 「作是念、不作是念，事已盡，何以復有第三說？」 tr. "Having this thought and not having this thought—the matter is already exhausted; why is there further a third statement?" The answer has two explanations. First, 「初者是邪行相，第二遮邪行；未說正行相，是故第三說正行相。」 tr. "The first is the mark of wrong practice; the second blocks wrong practice; the mark of right practice has not yet been spoken, and therefore the third speaks the mark of right practice." Second, with a furthermore he says more: 「初是著心取相；第二破是著相，不說云何是諸法相；第三中破邪著，亦說實相。」 tr. "The first is a clinging mind grasping at marks; the second refutes this mark of clinging but does not say what the marks of dharmas are; in the third, wrong clinging is refuted and the real mark is also spoken." Where the two explanations differ is in the function of the second sentence—one explanation says it only blocks; the other says it refutes clinging but has not spoken the mark; and yet the two explanations return to one meaning: the second sentence blocks, and only the third sentence speaks the real mark. From reading this passage one can obtain a general way of reading: where the sūtras give three sentences in a row that seem repetitive, one should ask whether each sentence blocks or speaks the real mark.
44. Again, returning to the third thought as the conclusion: in all places he does not display the mark of prajñā, does not give rise to a mind of self or to the notion that he uses it, but only knows that all dharmas constantly abide, and does not contend; therefore stating the third is without fault. In his last passage the treatise-author returns to the conclusion, taking up the bodhisattva's having this thought: 「於一切處，不顯示般若波羅蜜相；亦不生我心、我用般若波羅蜜有所作；但知一切法常住如、法性、實際中，於如、法性、實際中不諍。」 tr. "In all places he does not display the mark of prajñāpāramitā; nor does he give rise to a mind of self, or to the thought that I use prajñāpāramitā to have something done; he only knows that all dharmas constantly abide in suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality, and within suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality he does not contend." And he settles it by saying: therefore the third is stated, and it is without fault. What the three sentences block answers precisely to the two illnesses taken apart in the forty-second passage, with one layer more: not displaying the mark blocks the having of marks on the side of dharmas; not giving rise to a mind of self or to the notion that he uses it blocks the provisional name on the side of the person; only knowing constant abiding and not contending—this at last is speaking the real mark. The last two Chinese characters, 「無咎」 tr. "without fault," are the same as the last two Chinese characters of the fortieth passage explaining the sixty-two views—in two places this chapter closes its brush with 「無咎」 tr. "without fault," both being cases where first there is a sūtra phrase that seems not to make sense, and after the treatise-author has distinguished it, it makes sense. The whole chapter, beginning from Subhūti's question about the dharma of equality, concludes in the faultlessness of the third thought: what is trained in is equality, what is able to train is suchness, and only when the training reaches the point of not displaying what is trained in does it count as exhausting the limits of all training.
Do Not Misread
Do not read 「等法」 tr. "the dharma of equality" as the dharmas being of the same standing. The dharma of equality that the sūtra text names is inner emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks, and it itself states its mark—form's emptiness of the mark of form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness's emptiness of the mark of consciousness, and so on up to awakening's emptiness of the mark of awakening. What is made equal lies in the emptiness of the marks, not in the substance of the dharmas; the treatise-author explains it more plainly: as inner dharmas have all kinds of differences, on obtaining inner emptiness they are all equal and without dharmas. If it is read as the dharmas being originally all the same, then the simile 「如稱兩頭停等」 tr. "as the two ends of a scale come to rest level" of the twenty-third passage has nowhere to rest—the reason a scale comes to rest level is that each of its two ends has its thing and neither tilts, not that both ends are empty of anything.
Do not read 「為色盡、離、滅、不生故學」 tr. "training for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of form" as a training of annihilation. In the sūtra text the Buddha first approves these words, then at once asks in return whether the suchnesses can be exhausted, made to cease, or severed, and Subhūti answers no; the treatise-author further rules: this exhaustion, separation, and severing are practised in order to remove the inversions; they are not the ultimate. It can be seen that exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising are marks of practice at the position of counteraction; what they exhaust and make cease is the grasping of the inversions, not suchness. If one reads only the passage of the Buddha's approval and does not read the counter-question after it, one will take a practice of counteraction for the fruit toward which one tends—this is the greatest place in this chapter where the reading goes astray.
Do not read 「盡諸學邊」 tr. "exhausting the limits of all training" as having finished learning all the Dharma-gates. The treatise-author himself states its meaning: training in sarvajñā is training in the six perfections and the rest; if one can train in the six perfections and the rest, this is exhausting the limits of all training; the later text says further that because one obtains this merit one can know completely the minds and mental-factor dharmas of the beings of the three times and the ten directions, and therefore it is said that one exhausts the limits of all training. What is exhausted is the 「邊」 tr. "limit"—what is trained in has reached its limit and there is nothing further to seek outside; it is not that the subjects are finished. Therefore this phrase is a word of depth, not a word of number; read as number, it would run against the phrase 「少有能如是學」 tr. "few can train in this way" in the same passage.
Do not read 「不攝惡人及破戒者」 tr. "does not take in evil people and those who break the precepts" as the bodhisattva abandoning people. The treatise-author sets up a special question and answers it: of evil people and those who break the precepts, there are those who can be transformed and those who cannot be transformed; here only those who cannot be transformed are spoken of; if he takes them in and dwells together with them, he ruins his own path and is of no benefit to them—as in rescuing the drowning, one who cannot himself float and yet wishes to bring the other across: neither of the two escapes. What is distinguished is the strength for dwelling together, not the vow to deliver people; moreover, the treatise-author sets up three layers of definition for evil people and breaking the precepts and does not settle on one, precisely because he does not wish people to hold on to one name so as to reject people. If it is read as the bodhisattva being able to choose people and abandon them, it runs against the great compassion spoken of widely elsewhere in this treatise.
Do not read 「一切法本性清淨」 tr. "all dharmas are pure in their original nature" and ‘the bodhisattva obtains purity’ as contradicting each other. Subhūti asks exactly this as his question, and the Buddha's answer places the 「得」 tr. "obtaining" in the mind—the mind within this dharma penetrates and does not sink; this is prajñāpāramitā; the treatise-author further glosses not sinking as not doubting and not giving rise to wrong views, and glosses penetration as not contending with emptiness. Original purity is a matter on the side of dharmas; obtaining purity is a matter on the side of the mind. If, on account of original purity, one says that practice is useless, one falls into the third kind of inferior thought rebuked in the twenty-eighth passage—not delivering on the grounds that dharmas are empty.
Do not read 「不生慳等心」 tr. "does not give rise to minds of stinginess and the rest" as the afflictions having been severed. The treatise-author specially adds a phrase at this point: although the afflictions are not yet exhausted, they can do nothing; therefore it is said that they do not arise. What the sūtra text says is that they do not arise; what the treatise text says is that, although not yet exhausted, they can do nothing. Read as already severed, then either the practitioner, the moment his own afflictions stir, doubts that the sūtra's words are true, or else, on the contrary, takes himself to have already severed them and gives rise to overweening pride; both losses arise from not reading this phrase of measure of the treatise-author.
Do not read the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought" as no more than the third sentence standing against the first. The treatise-author sets up a question and distinguishes them: the first is the mark of wrong practice; the second blocks wrong practice but has not spoken the mark of right practice; only the third speaks the mark of right practice; furthermore, the first is a clinging mind grasping at marks; the second refutes this mark of clinging but does not say what the marks of dharmas are; the third refutes wrong clinging and also speaks the real mark. Therefore the three sentences are not an opposition of existence and non-existence; they are a sequence of wrong, blocking, and right. If the third sentence is read as ‘saying that prajñā does not exist’, one falls again into the two views of existence and non-existence—and the treatise-author, in the earlier text, says precisely 「不欲令墮有無見中故，直行中道」 tr. "because he does not wish to fall into the views of existence and non-existence, he practises straight along the middle way."
Bearing on Practice
The first use is to set up 「學如」 tr. "training in suchness" as the standard for everyday life. In this chapter more than ten places speak of 「如是學」 tr. "training in this way," and what they point to is always the same one thing—training in suchness. Over everything he trains in, the practitioner can add one question: what I now train in—is it training in a fixed dharma, or is it training in suchness? The treatise-author gives the words of the criterion: although he does not train for the sake of fixing on one dharma, he trains in sarvajñā. If what is trained in is tied to a fixed dharma, then when the training is complete it stops; if what is trained in is suchness, then the training is without end, and yet there is nothing that can be added to it. This question can be used anywhere—in reading the sūtras, keeping the precepts, cultivating concentration, or doing work.
The second use is to use the two similes to spur oneself on and not to esteem oneself. Few are the places on the great earth that yield gold and silver; few are the people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king—what the two similes speak of is 「少」 tr. "few." The sūtra text itself goes on to say: among those who have aroused the mind and seek awakening few practise as taught, and many practise prajñā without the power of skilful means; therefore few are the people who abide on the ground of the avaivartika. Having read out the word 「少」 tr. "few," what one should give rise to is encouragement, not superiority—what is few is the people who practise as taught, and practising as taught is something one can go and do oneself, not an inborn qualification.
The third use is the checklist of leaving the evil destinies in the thirty-second passage. The treatise-author matches the causes item by item: because he does not vex beings, he does not fall into the hells; because he contemplates causes and conditions and the real mark, he does not fall among animals; because he practises giving and breaks stinginess, he is not born among the hungry ghosts; because he does not begrudge the Dharma, he is not born in a border land; because he makes offerings to elders and breaks arrogance, he is not born low and base; because with a deep mind he loves beings, the body he receives is whole and complete; because he transforms beings by wholesome dharmas, his retinue is accomplished; because he deeply loves morality, he does not practise the ten evil paths or wrong livelihood; because he has no mind of self and only benefits beings, he does not take in evil people and those who break the precepts. Ask oneself the nine items one by one: where the answer is yes, one knows that the cause is already complete; where the answer is no, one knows that the fruit cannot yet be expected. The merit of this checklist is that every item is something that can be done in present practice; not one item requires seeking outside.
The fourth use is the distinction between taking a price and not taking a price. The treatise-author sets up the simile of the great person giving wealth without taking a price and the petty person trading in the market and giving only when he seeks a profit, and says that the greedy person gives seeking causes and conditions, and the person of wrong view relies on bounded, unbounded, and the like. In daily use—in giving, in doing people a kindness, in teaching the Dharma to people—one can reflect on oneself with this one question: in this one giving of mine, is there in my mind a waiting for a return, even if it is only a word of thanks, or a name? If there is, one has fallen on the side of market trading; though what is done is the same, the mind is already different.
The fifth use is the use of the two Chinese characters 「不沒」 tr. "not sinking." The treatise-author glosses not sinking as not doubting and not giving rise to wrong views, and glosses penetration as not contending with emptiness. When the practitioner hears it said that all dharmas are originally empty and pure and his mind sinks for a moment, that sinking is sinking; when the sinking lasts, doubt arises; when the doubt lasts, a view arises. The remedy lies not in forcibly rousing oneself but in the penetration the treatise-author points to—not contending with emptiness: that is, neither using emptiness to negate the practices aiding the path that one does, nor using the practices one does to negate emptiness.
The sixth use is that the three thoughts can serve as three checkpoints. The first checkpoint: when I now practise the Dharma, is there secretly in my mind an ‘I obtain the fruit by this’? Once this thought arises, the treatise-author rules it the mark of wrong practice. The next checkpoint: having known this thought to be an illness and not having it, does one then take that to be enough? The treatise-author says that the second sentence only blocks and has not spoken right practice. The last checkpoint: the place of right practice is not displaying the mark and not giving rise to a mind of self or to the notion that he uses it, but only knowing that all dharmas constantly abide, and not contending with them. The three checkpoints go from coarse to fine; the last checkpoint is not an empty doing of nothing; it is doing and not setting up the mark of what is done—this is exactly where the four Chinese characters 「盡諸學邊」 tr. "exhausting the limits of all training" of the whole chapter come to rest in the gate of practice.
Further Resonances
The backbone of this chapter is one passage of sūtra text and one passage of treatise explanation. Sūtra ① begins from Subhūti's asking what the bodhisattva's dharma of equality is; the Buddha answers that inner emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks, and form's emptiness of the mark of form and so on up to awakening's emptiness of the mark of awakening, are the dharma of equality, and that abiding in this dharma of equality he obtains awakening; next Subhūti asks whether training for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of form is training in sarvajñā; the Buddha first approves and then asks in return whether the suchnesses can be exhausted, made to cease, or severed; Subhūti answers no; the Buddha then establishes directly that training in suchness is training in sarvajñā, that suchness is not realised, does not cease, and is not severed, that this is training in the six perfections, the four foundations of mindfulness, and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, and that it is for the sake of exhausting the limits of all training; and he goes through the benefits of training in this way, ranged from Māra's being unable to break him to wishing to show the unconditioned nature; next he says that the inferior person cannot train in this way, while one who trains in this way does so wishing to pull out beings sunk in birth and death; next he goes through the places that one who trains in this way leaves behind, from the three evil destinies to not taking in evil people and those who break the precepts, his entering by the power of skilful means the four dhyānas, the four immeasurables, and the four formless absorptions yet not being born according to the dhyānas, and his obtaining purity within all dharmas; next Subhūti asks: if all dharmas are pure in their original nature, how can it be said that he obtains purity? The Buddha answers that the mind's penetrating and not sinking is prajñā, and that because ordinary people do not know and do not see, the bodhisattva practises for them the six perfections and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds; and he gives the simile of the few places on the great earth that yield gold, silver, and precious things and the simile of the few people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king; next, with furthermore, he says that when training in prajñā one does not give rise to minds of stinginess and greed and the rest, or to a mind that grasps at marks, and that deep prajñā encompasses all the perfections, giving the simile of the view of self including the sixty-two wrong views and the simile of a person's dying, the life-faculty ceasing, and the other faculties ceasing along with it; next he sets up the weighing of the beings of the three-thousand great-thousand world and of the merit of making offerings to that number of buddhas for the whole of a lifetime, rules that it does not equal the much merit of training in prajñā, practising as taught, and rightly recollecting, and goes through wishing to go above all beings and so on up to wishing to cut off the doubts of all beings, for which one should train in deep prajñā; next Subhūti asks whether he also obtains the merits of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, and the Buddha answers that he can obtain them all but does not abide in them, and passes straight over and enters the bodhisattva's position; and he says that one who trains in this way draws near to sarvajñā, is a field of merit for gods, humans, and asuras, that this is called not abandoning and not leaving prajñā, and that one should know he is non-retrogressing; at the end he gives the distinction of the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought" and concludes with: because all dharmas constantly abide in suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality. Treatise ① explains following the text, opening with its formula of explanation: first it aligns the chapter above and this one and brings out the two kinds of acceptance of equality and the simile of the two ends of a scale coming to rest level; next it explains that, contemplating form as impermanent, the mind leaves form and obtains the dharma of non-arising, and that because suchness is not gathered and does not come together it has no exhaustion, no cessation, and no severing; next it rules that exhaustion, separation, and severing are for removing the inversions and are not the ultimate, and cites the Buddha's words of praise to explain the meaning of the ultimate; next it explains exhausting the limits of all training and Māra's being unable to subdue him, the chain of cause and effect of great kindness and great compassion, and the glosses on the unconditioned nature, the gate of ambrosia, and the three liberations; next it sets a boundary for the inferior and brings out their three kinds of wrong view, set against the great person's weighing of the real mark, breaking inverted views, turning back and abandoning this path, and entering straight into the nature of dharmas; in between it sets up four rounds of question and answer—if beings are empty, what then is there to deliver; why the bodhisattva does not take in evil people; how the view of self and the other views are included within the view of self; why, when there is having this thought and not having this thought, there is further a third statement; with furthermore it explains that the views of the inferior are all included in the sixty-two views, together with the simile of the great person's giving mind that takes no price and the simile of the petty person trading in the market; next it explains item by item the causes of leaving the evil destinies; next it establishes the threefold definition of evil people and breaking the precepts; next it explains that because the desire realm has much evil he gives rise to pity and is therefore born in the desire realm and not born according to the dhyānas; next it explains that purity means relinquishment, being without anything existent, and ultimate emptiness, that not sinking means not doubting and not giving rise to wrong views, and that penetration is not contending with emptiness; next it explains the mark of obtaining purity and knowing completely the minds and mental-factor dharmas of beings, returning to exhausting the limits of all training and bringing in the two similes; next it explains that not giving rise to minds of stinginess and the rest is restraint and not having already severed them, and that not grasping at marks is practising straight along the middle way; next it explains the causes and conditions of nothing to be attained stated by the Buddha himself, and encompassing all the perfections so that the other perfections leave clinging and grow; next it explains that the view of self is the root and gives rise to the fifty-seven views, so that the view of a body's including the sixty-two views is without fault; next it gathers up that prajñā is the very foremost among all dharmas and the bodhisattva foremost among beings; at the end it explains the sequence of wrong, blocking, and right in the three kinds of having this thought, and concludes that the third is without fault.
The veins of meaning between this chapter and the chapters before and after it can be seen in three lines. First, taking up what went before: the previous chapter concluded in 「同學」 tr. "training alike," and that in which they were alike did not name its dharma; this chapter at its opening asks at once 「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法」 tr. "What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality?", which is precisely the chasing out of the dharma that the previous chapter had not named; therefore the treatise-author, in the very first sentence of his explanation, aligns the chapter above and this one and brings out the distinction between the acceptance of the equality of beings and the acceptance of the equality of dharmas. Second, within the chapter it makes two turns of its own: the first turn goes from the substance of the dharma of equality into the practice of training in suchness, its pivot lying in the Buddha's counter-question and Subhūti's 「不也」 tr. "No"; the latter turn goes from the benefits of training in suchness into the impossibility of grasping at the mark of what is trained in, its pivot lying in the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought." Third, handing down to what comes after: this chapter concludes in 「不顯示般若波羅蜜相」 tr. "does not display the mark of prajñāpāramitā," and the reason for not displaying it is 「一切法如、法性、實際常住故」 tr. "because all dharmas constantly abide in suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality"; among these, the three names suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality are taken up by the following chapter, and the reader can view the chapters before and after together to see the continuity of training and not grasping.
Of the ancient masters' explanations, two schools can be recorded for this chapter. Jizang, in his sectional division of this chapter, says of its place after the preceding text: 「此第二、憑法忍以近行。」 tr. "This is the second: relying on the acceptance of dharmas so as to draw near to practice." Next he rules on its opening and closing, saying: 「品為五：第一、示平等體；二、教平等學；三、明等學利；四、秤歎等學；五、明等學得失。」 tr. "The chapter is in five: first, showing the substance of equality; second, teaching the training in equality; third, making clear the benefits of equal training; fourth, praising equal training; fifth, making clear the gains and losses of equal training."—dividing this chapter under five headings, a route different from this treatise's explaining following the text; recorded side by side without judgement. His explanation of the section in which the Buddha answers with training in suchness says: 「佛答學如者，明色本不和合不集，今豈滅耶？」 tr. "The Buddha's answering with training in suchness makes clear that form originally does not come together and is not gathered; how then could it now cease?"—close in the meaning it takes to this treatise's 「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡」 tr. "this suchness from the beginning has not been gathered, has not come together; how could there be exhaustion?", though each words it in its own way. His explanation of the dharma of equality also says: 「非以空破法，法本相；非平等破不等，法本平等也。」 tr. "It is not that emptiness breaks dharmas—dharmas are their original mark; it is not that equality breaks inequality—dharmas are originally equal."—this is his own school's formulation. On the inferior he says 「下劣有三人」 tr. "there are three kinds of inferior person," and the three persons he lists correspond in number to this treatise's three kinds of wrong view; he also sets up a question and answer to distinguish universal delivering from equality, saying: 「等此是學平等遍度，遍度而平等乃是學平等也，直學平等而不遍度非學平等也。」 tr. "Equality here is training in equality and delivering universally; to deliver universally and be equal is training in equality; merely to train in equality and not deliver universally is not training in equality." His explanation of the section on not taking in evil people is close in intent to this treatise's distinguishing between those who can be transformed and those who cannot, and further brings out the names of persons: 「深行之人無不攝也，故善星調達雖惡，如來與之共住」 tr. "For one of deep practice there is none he does not take in; therefore, although Good Star and Devadatta were evil, the Tathāgata dwelt together with them"; and he continues: 「若惡人破戒可度者則攝之，不可度者則捨之，若不捨則於彼無益於乘有損也」 tr. "If evil people and those who break the precepts can be delivered, then he takes them in; if they cannot be delivered, then he abandons them; if he did not abandon them, it would be of no benefit to them and a harm to the vehicle." His explanation of the definition of evil people and breaking the precepts says: 「在家人惡為惡人，出家人惡為破戒人，又起意地三惡為惡人，起身口七惡為破戒也。」 tr. "The evil of a householder is being an evil person; the evil of one who has gone forth is being one who breaks the precepts; again, giving rise to the three evils of the ground of the mind is being an evil person, and giving rise to the seven evils of body and speech is breaking the precepts."—of the three layers, two are close to this treatise, though the order differs; they are kept here as well. His explanation of the gains and losses of the fifth heading says: 「既聞等學大利，便言有等法可學」 tr. "Having heard of the great benefit of equal training, he then says there is a dharma of equality to be trained in"—judging the first of the three kinds of having this thought by 「便言有等法可學」 tr. "he then says there is a dharma of equality to be trained in," which illuminates this treatise's judgement 「以是般若有所作」 tr. "by this prajñā has something that is done." Huiying marks the general meaning of this chapter, saying: 「上品明因六和敬等事得於生忍，今明因行平等得於法忍成等學義」 tr. "The previous chapter makes clear that through the six harmonious reverences and other matters one obtains the acceptance of beings; now it makes clear that through practising equality one obtains the acceptance of dharmas, completing the meaning of equal training," which corresponds exactly to this treatise's distinction between the acceptance of the equality of beings and the acceptance of the equality of dharmas; his division of this chapter says: 「就此品中亦大有二分：第一、明就十八空明法等義；第二、廣明波若之行及校量等義，亦明生等。」 tr. "Within this chapter there are also broadly two parts: first, making clear the meaning of the equality of dharmas in terms of the eighteen emptinesses; second, making clear at length the practice of prajñā, the weighing, and the rest, and also making clear the equality of beings." His explanation of the scale simile says: 「如稱兩頭已下，欲論生法，既各自參差，今得此二等，則生法均平，故云如稱也。」 tr. "From ‘as the two ends of a scale’ onward, it wishes to discuss beings and dharmas: since each is uneven of itself, now, obtaining these two equalities, beings and dharmas are balanced; therefore it says ‘as a scale’." His explanation of exhausting the limits of all training says: 「六波羅蜜既是因性，總攝萬行，故云盡諸學邊也」 tr. "Since the six perfections are of the nature of cause and encompass the ten thousand practices, therefore it says: exhausts the limits of all training," and also says: 「明菩薩觀徹真原，心窮後際，廣大如法界，究竟如虗空，故云爾也。」 tr. "It makes clear that the bodhisattva's contemplation penetrates to the true source and his mind reaches to the later limit, vast as the Dharma-realm, ultimate as space; therefore it says so." His explanation of the great person says: 「明學大法、行大智慧，如是等故名為大人」 tr. "It makes clear that because he trains in the great Dharma, practises great wisdom, and the like, he is called a great person"; his explanation of the view of self including the views says: 「雖復云云，我見為本，故云攝入也。」 tr. "Though there is this and that, the view of self is the root; therefore it says they are included." His explanation of the three thoughts says: 「文意極相似，至論意分別之也」 tr. "The meaning of the text is extremely similar; the treatise's intent distinguishes them"—the same focus as this treatise's setting up a question and separating wrong, blocking, and right. Huiying further, following the sūtra phrase 「欲撞擊佛鍾鼓」 tr. "wishing to strike the Buddha's bell and drum," gives a gloss: 「在鍾名撞，在皷名擊」 tr. "On a bell it is called ringing; on a drum it is called beating"—this treatise has no explanation here; recorded side by side for reference. Also, in Huiying's commentary he himself calls this chapter 「第六十二品者，名為等學品。」 tr. "The sixty-second chapter is named the Equal Training chapter." Its chapter number differs by one place from the base text of this edition; its variant chapter titles, the four forms of chapter title standing side by side among the editions, and the differences of fascicle division are examined in detail 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，全在卷七十七，單一單元。卷七十七起於〔T25 0598c19〕、訖於〔T25 0607c17〕；其卷首題所繫者猶是品六十一——「大智度論釋夢中不證品第六十一之餘」〔T25 0598c19〕，即卷七十七以品六十一之續題開卷（本論全書「大智度論釋夢中不證品第六十一」之漢字流二見，一在品題〔T25 0594c24〕、一在此續題〔T25 0598c19〕，逐串重掃所得）。本品品題「大智度論釋等學品第六十三」〔T25 0604c02〕逕接前品〈同學品第六十二〉之末而起，品首無卷題、無造署譯署。品身訖於「是故說第三，無咎。」〔T25 0607c16〕一句；其後〔T25 0607c17〕即卷末題「大智度論卷第七十七」，卷七十七於此收（卷界標記在〔T25 0607c17〕）；卷七十八則於〔T25 0607c20〕以次品〈願樂品第六十四〉之續題開卷（卷界標記在此，其卷端夾註作「卷七十八」），造署譯署在〔T25 0607c22〕，次品品身起〔T25 0607c24〕。故本品為居卷末·品尾繫卷尾之型——與前品〈同學品〉之「居卷中·不涉卷界」異，與品四十八〈佛母品〉之跨卷型亦異。本單元之範圍〔T25 0604c02–0607c20〕含卷末題而不含次品續題之品身，卷末題之二條校記（下帳第四十三、四十四條）因此入本帳。
全品純漢字四千四百九十一（另以漢字流自〔T25 0604c02〕至〔T25 0607c17〕獨立重數得四千四百九十四，其差三字即結構目次列之「等學品」三字，非正文，扣之相合）。品內結構一【經】一【論】、單一單元：【經】〔T25 0604c03〕、【論】〔T25 0606a08〕。【經】標記有校記，宋、宮、聖三本無此結構標記（該注並記石本「不分卷及品」，見第八目）；【論】標記無校記——標記存否屬底本傳承層，結構計數仍依底本標籤為準。
說者結構與問答之數：經①全程唯須菩提與佛二者往來，換手處皆有明文（白佛言／佛告須菩提／須菩提言／佛言）——〔T25 0604c03〕須菩提白佛言（問）、〔T25 0604c04〕佛答（此一處無「佛告」重起標記，依文法即發問後緊接之引號答句判為佛語）、〔T25 0604c09〕須菩提白佛言、〔T25 0604c14〕佛告須菩提、〔T25 0604c17〕佛告須菩提（反問）、〔T25 0604c19〕須菩提言「不也！世尊！」、〔T25 0604c19〕佛告須菩提（長段開示至〔T25 0605a15〕）、〔T25 0605a15〕須菩提白佛言、〔T25 0605a16〕佛告須菩提（長段開示，含金銀與轉輪聖王二喻）、〔T25 0605b24〕須菩提言、〔T25 0605b25〕佛告須菩提（福德校量）、〔T25 0605c01〕須菩提言「甚多！甚多！」、〔T25 0605c01〕佛言（長段開示）、〔T25 0605c13〕須菩提白佛言、〔T25 0605c14〕佛言（長段開示至經末〔T25 0606a07〕，含三種「作是念」之辨）。本品無第三說者、無旁白之比丘天人，與前品〈同學品〉之帝釋、比丘、阿難三重人物異。
論①以「釋曰：」〔T25 0606a08〕起論（起論標記，不計入問答對數），正式問答四組：〔T25 0606c02〕問／〔T25 0606c03〕答、〔T25 0607a01〕問／〔T25 0607a02〕答、〔T25 0607b10〕問／〔T25 0607b11〕答、〔T25 0607c07〕問／〔T25 0607c09〕答——工作底本逐字點之，「問曰：」四、「答曰：」四，與漢字流定位之四組 loc 相合。「有人言」於本品全篇零見（逐字掃描；與前品〈同學品〉之五見成對比，如實記，非缺陷——本品論段之並陳唯以「復次」層遞，不以諸師異說並列）。「復次」全品八見：經段一見〔T25 0605b05〕，論段七見〔T25 0606c04〕〔T25 0606c16〕〔T25 0606c27〕〔T25 0606c28〕〔T25 0607a26〕〔T25 0607b26〕〔T25 0607c10〕（漢字流逐一定位；其中〔T25 0607b26〕一見作「復次，佛告須菩提」，居佛語重起之處，易於漏計，故並誌之）。
二、術語考
等法·等學。 全品之總名與其經證。經以須菩提之問發端：「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」〔T25 0604c03〕；佛之答即以十八空當之：「內空是菩薩等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩等法。」〔T25 0604c04〕，收之曰：「是名菩薩摩訶薩等法。住是等法，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」〔T25 0604c08〕——等法者，諸空；學等法者，即住是等而得菩提。須誌者一事：「等學」二字於本品品身零見，唯見於品題。以漢字流於 T25n1509 全論重掃「等學」得四見，其二即本品品題之結構目次列與品題行（皆繫〔T25 0604c02〕），其餘二見〔T25 0191a18〕（「世間第一法等／學智者」）、〔T25 0357c21〕（「是弟子等／學是法作證」）逐字場景核皆為跨詞之假命中，非本論以「等學」為術語之用例——品名之「等學」係就經義立名，非牒經之語，如實誌錄。
二種等忍（法等忍·眾生等忍）。 論主判本品與前品之分位所立。論曰：「有二種等忍：上品末說眾生等忍，此品說法等忍。」〔T25 0606a10〕——「眾生等忍」於本論全書二見（〔T25 0097b22〕〔T25 0606a11〕）、「法等忍」五見（〔T25 0097a26〕〔T25 0097b22〕〔T25 0097b25〕〔T25 0417c03〕〔T25 0606a11〕），本品各一見，漢字流重掃所得。其所以名「等」，論即以秤為喻：「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」〔T25 0606a11〕，並出其致等之理：「如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法」〔T25 0606a13〕。
盡諸學邊。 本品之樞語。經出之於長段開示之首：「如是學，為盡諸學邊。」〔T25 0604c25〕；論兩處釋之：其一就六度收之——「若學薩婆若，即是學六波羅蜜等；若能學六波羅蜜等，是為盡諸學邊。」〔T25 0606a28〕；其二就遍知眾生心行收之——「得是功德故，三世十方一切眾生心心數法，心所行起種種業因緣悉能遍知」〔T25 0607a20〕，「是故言盡諸學邊。」〔T25 0607a24〕。「盡諸學邊」之漢字流於 T25n1509 全論四見（〔T25 0604c25〕〔T25 0606b01〕兩見相疊、〔T25 0607a24〕），盡在本品，重掃所得——此語為本品所專有。
下劣·大人。 本品判人之兩端。經但立其名：「下劣之人不能作是學；如是學者，為欲拔出沈沒生死眾生。」〔T25 0605a03〕；論則兩面詳之——下劣者「名懈怠、放逸，不樂佛法，不一心行道，罪福雜行。」〔T25 0606b13〕，其邪見三：「我身及親屬是我所應護，諸餘眾生何豫我事」〔T25 0606b15〕、「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」〔T25 0606b18〕、「佛說一切法空、不生不滅，我復何所度？求佛道、不求佛道，同如幻夢。」〔T25 0606b20〕；大人者則「或時有大人出世，籌量、思惟諸法實相」〔T25 0606b23〕，「行如是道，破顛倒見；還捨此道，直入法性」〔T25 0606b25〕。破顛倒之道亦須捨，方是大人——論於此不止於破，兼及捨破。
惡人·破戒。 本品訓詁之細目，論以三重界之：「惡人名心惡，破戒者名身、口惡。」〔T25 0606c26〕；「復次，行三不善道名惡人，行七不善道名破戒。」〔T25 0606c27〕；「菩薩，若在家攝惡人名惡人，出家攝惡人名破戒。」〔T25 0606c28〕——三重者，意業與身口業之分、三不善道與七不善道之分、在家與出家之分。吉藏疏所立亦二重（見第六目）。
三種「作是念」。 經末之辨，亦論末之辨。其一為邪：「是般若波羅蜜，我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智。」〔T25 0605c26〕，「若如是念，不名行般若波羅蜜。」〔T25 0605c27〕；其二為正而未盡：若不作是念，「是名行般若波羅蜜」；其三則更破：「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜」〔T25 0606a03〕，其故在「一切法如、法性、實際常住故。」〔T25 0606a05〕。論以邪行相／遮邪行／說正行相三階收之（見第五目），慧影疏以「三飜」名之（見第六目）。
薩婆若·一切種智·阿鞞跋致。 本品梵漢兩名並用。經之判準語用梵音：「如是學，直到阿鞞跋致地」〔T25 0604c26〕、「欲住阿鞞跋致地、欲在阿鞞跋致數中，應當學是深般若波羅蜜。」〔T25 0605b04〕；而所求之果則梵漢並出：「我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智。」〔T25 0605c27〕。所釋經 T223 側於此二名皆作別譯（阿惟越致），見第四目。
三、譬喻與故事
本品要喻七，其四出於經、其三出於論；皆繫於所釋之義，無泛設。本品無引經引事之例（經內唯一之互見為「如〈般若波羅蜜品〉中所說。」〔T25 0605a11〕之自指本經前品，非引他經），如實誌錄。
少所處出金銀珍寶（希有之喻·經）。 經釋何以能學般若者少：「譬如大地，少所處出金銀珍寶」〔T25 0605a23〕，「少所人能學般若波羅蜜，多墮聲聞、辟支佛地。」〔T25 0605a25〕——大地處處是土，出金銀處極少；喻之力不在貶多，在指出希有本是常態，故不以少自疑。
轉輪聖王業（位次之喻·經）。 與上喻同組而換一面：「譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業，多受行小王業」〔T25 0605a26〕，「少所眾生行般若波羅蜜、求一切智，多行聲聞、辟支佛道。」〔T25 0605a27〕——輪王與小王皆是王，非不王也；所別者所行之業。故經下文即以「少有如說行，多住聲聞、辟支佛地」〔T25 0605b01〕收之。論以二喻為一組並提：「少有能如是學，是人難得！佛欲令此義明了，故說譬喻，金銀及轉輪聖王業等。」〔T25 0607a24〕。
我見攝六十二見（總攝之喻·經）。 釋般若總攝諸度之理：「譬如我見中悉攝六十二見」〔T25 0605b16〕——以邪之總攝喻正之總攝，取其結構相似而不取其善惡相類。論設問答第三組專釋此喻之可立（見第五目），其斷語曰「雖有別相，我見是本。」〔T25 0607b11〕。
人死命根滅故餘根悉隨滅（隨從之喻·經）。 與上喻同段並出：「譬如人死，命根滅故，餘根悉隨滅」〔T25 0605b18〕——上喻言攝，此喻言隨；攝者總別之關係，隨者存亡之關係。經以二喻合成一義：「總攝諸波羅蜜，令諸波羅蜜增長，諸波羅蜜悉隨從。」〔T25 0605b13〕。論亦以二喻並提：「佛欲令此義明了故，說譬喻：如我見及命根等。」〔T25 0607b08〕。
如稱兩頭停等（等之喻·論）。 論釋「等」字所立：「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」〔T25 0606a11〕——秤之兩頭本有輕重，停等者非去其兩頭，是輕重相當；喻十八空非滅諸法差別，是於差別中見其平等。慧影疏於此喻另有一解（見第六目）。
大人施財不取價·小人市易求利（大小之喻·論）。 論辨大人與下劣之別，取世間最平近之事：「譬如大人但以施心施與他財，而不取價。」〔T25 0606c09〕；反之則「譬如小人市易，求利乃與。」〔T25 0606c11〕——所別不在所與之物，在與時心中有無所求。
救溺自不能浮（不攝惡人之喻·論）。 論答「菩薩為度惡人故出現於世……何以故不攝惡人？」之問，出一喻：「譬如救溺，自不能浮而欲濟彼，二俱不免。」〔T25 0607a05〕——與同段之「譬如良醫療諸疾病」〔T25 0607a01〕（設問者所執之喻）恰成一對：良醫之喻立於能療，救溺之喻立於未能浮；二喻之勝負不在譬本身，在行人自身之量。
四、所釋經文
品題四造網（並錄不判）。 本品品題四造並存，逐一據底本誌之。底本【大】作「大智度論釋等學品第六十三」（十二字）；【明】作「釋等學品第六十三」（八字·刪「大智度論」）；【宮】作「大智論釋第六十三品等學品」（十二字·「大智論」省一「度」字·品號前置）；【石】作「摩訶般若波羅蜜品第六十二等學」（十四字·經題式·品序 -1·品名後綴）。四造之名皆作「等學」，無異名之爭——與前品〈同學品〉之「同學／魔愁」兩名並立異，本品所異者唯題式與品序，不涉品名，如實分記。品題注之底本全文原樣見第八目。
品次 -1 階（石本續存·三端互證）。 石本品題作「第六十二」，較底本「第六十三」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。本品範圍內 -1 階另見二端：其一，品末「咎」字注，石本作「咎釋第六十二品竟」（下帳第四十二條）——品末「釋某品竟」型夾註與品題兩層互證，皆作「六十二」；其二，慧影疏之自編號亦作「第六十二品」（見第六目），惟彼屬疏家內部編號，非底本異文，性質有別，如實區分。前品〈同學品〉之品末注石本作「學（釋六十一品竟）」〔下帳外·屬前品範圍〕，與本品之「咎（釋第六十二品竟）」（下帳第四十二條）前後相接，石本此型夾註於兩品連續出現，-1 階非孤證。
石本卷次雙軌（卷末題內之卷端記）。 卷末題〔T25 0607c17〕之二注：「論【大】｜經【石】」（下帳第四十三條）與「七【大】｜八【石】」（下帳第四十四條）——石本此處作「大智度經卷第七十八」（書名作「經」不作「論」、卷次作「七十八」不作「七十七」）。配以前品品題注所記「卷第七十八首【石】」（品六十二品題〔T25 0602b26〕注，前品已誌），可見石本之卷七十八起於品六十二之首、訖於本品之末；底本則卷七十七起於〔T25 0598c19〕（品六十一續題）、訖於〔T25 0607c17〕——底本／石本卷品雙軌不疊合，其偏移為一卷，如實誌錄不強解。
所釋經品題（無校記·兩造不成鏡像·如實記）。 所釋經 T223 側本品品題〔T08 0357a08〕作「摩訶般若波羅蜜經等學品第六十三」，其處無任何校記（於 T223 本品範圍逐一掃錨所得，見下）。以之對本論側品題注之四造並存，兩造不成鏡像——與前品〈同學品〉「本論底本讀法正是 T223 異本讀法」之鏡像結構異，本品 T223 側於品題上全無異讀可對，如實誌錄，不以前品之結構推本品。
T223 mulu n 屬性 +1 偏移（續存）。 所釋經 T223 側本品之 mulu 標 n="64" 而顯文標「63 等學品」〔T08 0357a08〕——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）。其前品同款：「62 魔愁品」n="63"〔T08 0355c16〕。
T223 側品界與卷界（本品居卷中）。 所釋經卷第十九起於〔T08 0355c13〕、訖於〔T08 0362a04〕；本品〈等學品第六十三〉起〔T08 0357a08〕、訖〔T08 0358b15〕，次品〈淨願品第六十四〉品題在〔T08 0358b16〕——T223 側本品居卷十九之中段，不涉卷界；本論側則居卷七十七之末而繫卷尾（見第一目）。兩傳承於此品之卷品分劃不合，如實誌錄。又：T223 側次品名作「淨願品」，本論側次品名作「願樂品」〔T25 0607c20〕，次品之名兩藏各異，本帳誌其並見，其考據屬次品之帳，不於此判。
T223 側錨數（全量掃·供對讀之分母）。 本品對讀範圍〔T08 0357a08–0358b15〕內，逐一掃得編號注二十二條、star 錨六枚（beg_466／beg_467／beg_468／beg_469 四枚皆 corresp→note(0356005)，即「阿惟越致／鞞跋」型譯名注之共用；beg_46a／beg_46b 二枚 corresp→note(0358001)，即「世界／國土」型之共用），合二十八錨。
全量牒經對讀（兩側對勘·異文十一處·逐處誌其校記之有無）。 本論經①與所釋經〈等學品〉逐字幾近同文，其異十一處：
- 自相空／無法有法空——本論作「內空是菩薩等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩等法。」〔T25 0604c04〕，T223 作「外空乃至無法有法空，是菩薩等法」〔T08 0357a11〕。T223 側此處有注「無法有法【大】｜自相【宋】」〔T08 0357a11〕——宋本作「自相」，正與本論底本合；本論側此處無校記。十八空之末目兩系各有所傳，如實誌錄，不判孰正。
- 阿鞞跋致／阿惟越致——本論作「如是學，直到阿鞞跋致地」〔T25 0604c26〕，T223 作「如是學，直到阿惟越致地」〔T08 0357b04〕。T223 側此處有 star 注「惟越【大】｜鞞[跳-兆+(乏-之+(犮-、))]【元】【宮】【明】【聖】」〔T08 0357b05〕，同型 star 於本品範圍內四見（〔T08 0357b05〕〔T08 0357c11〕〔T08 0357c12〕×2）——T223 之元宮明聖四本作「鞞跋」型，正與本論底本之譯名合；本論側此處無校記。異體字依 CBETA 組字式原樣錄，不取正規化字形。
- 淨佛世界／淨佛國土——本論作「為得擁護，為學大慈大悲，為學淨佛世界、成就眾生。」〔T25 0604c28〕，T223 作「為學淨佛國土、成就眾生」〔T08 0357b06〕。本論側此「世界」有校記「世界【大】｜國土【石】」〔T25 0604c29〕——石本作「國土」，正與所釋經底本之讀合；T223 側此處無校記。另誌：本論範圍內「世界／國土」之異於石本兩見（下帳第六條〔T25 0604c29〕「世界【大】｜國土【石】」、第二十七／二十八條〔T25 0606b08〕「界【大】｜世界【宮】｜國【石】」），T223 範圍內同組之異於宋本三見（〔T08 0358a03〕及其二 star），兩藏各自皆有此組游移，非一藏之內部單向，如實誌錄。
- 擁護／擁護法——本論作「為得擁護」〔T25 0604c28〕，T223 作「為得擁護法」〔T08 0357b06〕。T223 側此處有注「法【大】｜〔－〕【宋】」〔T08 0357b06〕——宋本無「法」字，所成之讀正是本論底本之讀；本論側此處無校記。
- 法輪轉／法輪——本論作「為學三轉十二行法輪轉故」〔T25 0604c29〕，T223 作「為學三轉十二行法輪故」〔T08 0357b07〕。T223 側此處有注「輪【大】｜輪轉【元】【宮】【明】【聖】【宋】」〔T08 0357b08〕——T223 之五本俱作「輪轉」，正與本論底本合，獨其底本作「輪」；本論側此處無校記。
- 栴陀羅／旃陀羅——本論經段作「終不墮地獄、餓鬼、畜生中，終不生邊地，終不生栴陀羅家」〔T25 0605a05〕，T223 作「終不生旃陀羅家」〔T08 0357b13〕。兩造於此皆無校記；又本論論段自身作「不生旃陀羅等下賤人中」〔T25 0606c21〕（「旃」字），本論經段與論段之用字亦不一，屬底本用字游移，如實誌錄，不代統一。
- 凡夫／凡夫人——本論作「一切凡夫不知不見。」〔T25 0605a19〕，T223 作「一切凡夫人不知不見」〔T08 0357b26〕。T223 側此處有注「人【大】｜〔－〕【宋】」〔T08 0357b26〕——宋本無「人」字，所成之讀正是本論底本之讀；本論側此「夫」亦有校記「夫【大】｜夫人【元】【明】」〔T25 0605a19〕——元、明二本作「夫人」，正與所釋經底本之讀合，兩造恰成鏡像。又本論論段作「一切凡夫人不知不見如是清淨法」〔T25 0607a16〕，論段牒經時反與 T223 底本合，如實分記。
- 檀波羅蜜／檀那波羅蜜——本論作「行檀波羅蜜乃至般若波羅蜜」〔T25 0605a20〕，T223 作「行檀那波羅蜜乃至般若波羅蜜」〔T08 0357b27〕。T223 側「那」字有注「那【大】｜〔－〕【宋】」〔T08 0357b28〕——宋本無「那」字，正與本論底本合；本論側此處無校記。此組之異前品〈同學品〉已誌其為兩藏譯名各自成系（既有常例，不重判），本品續存。
- 鍾鼓·唄／鐘鼓·貝——本論作「欲撞擊佛鍾鼓，欲吹佛唄」〔T25 0605c10〕，T223 作「欲撞擊佛鐘鼓，欲吹佛貝」〔T08 0358a18〕。兩造於此皆有校記：本論側「鍾【大】｜鐘【明】」（下帳第十六條）、「唄【大】｜貝【元】【明】【宮】」（下帳第十七條）；T223 側則無此二字之注而有「諸【大】｜〔－〕【聖】」〔T08 0358a18〕之鄰注。本論之明元宮諸本讀法正是 T223 底本之讀法，兩造互印，如實誌錄。
- 欲為盲者作目／欲與盲者作目——本論作「欲為盲者作目」〔T25 0605c08〕，T223 作「欲與盲者作目」〔T08 0358a17〕。T223 側此處有注「與【大】｜為【元】【宮】【明】【聖】」〔T08 0358a17〕——T223 之元宮明聖四本作「為」，正與本論底本合；本論側此處無校記。
- 是人有般若波羅蜜／是人般若波羅蜜——本論作「是般若波羅蜜，是人有般若波羅蜜」〔T25 0605c29〕（其末字適跨頁欄，底本於「波羅」與「蜜」之間有頁欄轉行，漢字流不受影響），T223 作「是人般若波羅蜜」〔T08 0358b09〕。T223 側此處有注「人【大】｜人有【宮】【明】」〔T08 0358b09〕——宮、明二本作「人有」，正與本論底本合；本論側此「有」亦有校記「有【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】」〔T25 0605c29〕——宋、宮二本刪「有」，所成之讀正是所釋經底本之讀，兩造恰成鏡像（下帳第二十二條）。
對照組（七串·兩藏各自見數誠實記·對位唯一）。 「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」〔T25 0604c03〕／〔T08 0357a09〕；「一切法本性清淨，云何言菩薩一切法中得清淨？」〔T25 0605a15〕／〔T08 0357b22〕；「譬如大地，少所處出金銀珍寶」〔T25 0605a23〕／〔T08 0357c02〕；「少所人能學般若波羅蜜，多墮聲聞、辟支佛地。」〔T25 0605a25〕／〔T08 0357c03〕；「譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業」〔T25 0605a26〕／〔T08 0357c04〕；「譬如我見中悉攝六十二見」〔T25 0605b16〕／〔T08 0357c24〕；「譬如人死，命根滅故，餘根悉隨滅」〔T25 0605b18〕／〔T08 0357c26〕。以上七串之漢字流，於 T25n1509 全論與 T08n0223 全經各唯一見（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。另誌兩串之見數不為一者，以免以估值充數：「為盡諸學邊」於 T25n1509 全論二見（〔T25 0604c25〕經、〔T25 0606b01〕論）、於 T08n0223 全經一見〔T08 0357b03〕；「三千大千世界中眾生多不」於本論本品內二見（〔T25 0605b23〕經、〔T25 0607b23〕論主牒經）、於所釋經內一見〔T08 0357c29〕型（經一問，無論層可牒）。判為「同品同名·逐字幾近同文」（品名四造皆作「等學」，異唯題式與品序，見上）。本論【論】層為論體之結構性擴增，所釋經無此層，非異文。
論主牒經之異（如實分記·非異文）。 論引經之語，與經段自身之文屢有出入，逐處對照，誌其四：其一，論作「甚深同心等法，是菩薩所學處？」〔T25 0606a09〕，經作「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」〔T25 0604c03〕——論主以己語括經問，非逐字牒。其二，論作「菩薩摩訶薩能如是學如，為學薩婆若。」〔T25 0606a24〕，經作「菩薩摩訶薩如是學如，為學薩婆若。」〔T25 0604c20〕——多一「能」字。其三，論作「菩薩如是學，於一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」〔T25 0607a09〕，經作「菩薩如是學，一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」〔T25 0605a13〕——多一「於」字。其四，論作「菩薩如是學，當知是不退轉，遠離二乘，近佛乘。」〔T25 0607b24〕，經作「當知是不退轉菩薩，疾近薩婆若，遠離聲聞、辟支佛，近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」〔T25 0605c23〕——論以「二乘」「佛乘」約之，屬約引。以上皆論主牒經之常態，如實分記，不入異文之帳。另誌：論引前品之語作「上阿難問「鬪諍」，佛答「同學清淨」。」〔T25 0606a08〕——「同學清淨」之漢字流於 T25n1509 全論唯此一見，前品〈同學品〉經論兩段皆無此四字之逐字語（前品之語作「是則名菩薩同學」〔T25 0604b29〕，「鬪諍」則見〔T25 0603b27〕〔T25 0603c01〕）——論主此處之牒為義括，非逐字引前品，如實誌錄。
五、般若義眼
本品之眼，在一「等」字如何落到「學」上——不是把諸法看成一樣，是在諸法的差別上見其平等，而後以這個平等去學。其義可約為五重。
其一，等法即是諸空，非另有一法名等。須菩提一開口問的是「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」〔T25 0604c03〕，佛之答不出一新名目，只把十八空搬過來：「內空是菩薩等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩等法。」〔T25 0604c04〕。論主怕人把「等」讀成一個可執之體，先以秤為喻——「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」〔T25 0606a11〕，再指其致等之理：「如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法」〔T25 0606a13〕。差別不必先除掉，空一照，差別自平。經末即以此收：「住是等法，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」〔T25 0604c08〕。
其二，學如者不作證。須菩提第二問問得極細：為色盡故學、為色離、色滅、色不生故學，這算不算學薩婆若？佛先可其問——「如須菩提所說，為色盡、離、滅、不生故學，為學薩婆若」〔T25 0604c14〕，隨即一個反問把路堵住：「是諸如盡、滅、斷不？」〔T25 0604c19〕須菩提答「不也！世尊！」〔T25 0604c19〕。佛乃出全品最緊之一句：「菩薩摩訶薩如是學如，為學薩婆若。是如，不作證、不滅、不斷。」〔T25 0604c20〕。論主解這一轉：「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡？本來不生，云何有滅？」〔T25 0606a22〕，「是法本來虛誑，無有定相，云何可斷？」〔T25 0606a23〕；所以前面說的盡、離、斷只是對治——「是如，常、不可證、不可滅、不可斷；是盡、離、斷，除顛倒故行，非是究竟。」〔T25 0606a25〕。除顛倒是手段，不是終點；到了如上，連「我在除」也放下。
其三，盡諸學邊不是學完，是學到沒有邊。經一路排開：如是學則魔不能壞、直到阿鞞跋致地、學佛所行道、學大慈大悲、學淨佛世界成就眾生、學三轉十二行法輪、學度眾生、學不斷佛種、學開甘露門，末至「如是學，為學欲示無為性。」〔T25 0605a03〕。論主把這一串接成一條因果鏈：「能起大慈大悲；大慈大悲故，能教化眾生；眾生心清淨故，佛界清淨」〔T25 0606b06〕，「以大乘度眾生故，不斷佛種；不斷佛種故，於世間常開甘露法門，常示眾生無為性。」〔T25 0606b09〕，並把最後一個名目拆給人看：「無為性者，所謂如、法性、實際、涅槃。甘露者，無為性；門者，三解脫門。」〔T25 0606b11〕。所謂「盡諸學邊」，論主兩處給界：一是「若學薩婆若，即是學六波羅蜜等；若能學六波羅蜜等，是為盡諸學邊。」〔T25 0606a28〕；一是「得是功德故，三世十方一切眾生心心數法，心所行起種種業因緣悉能遍知」〔T25 0607a20〕。前者說學之全，後者說學之用；學到能遍知眾生心行而隨應說法，學才算沒有剩下的邊。
其四，少不是敗相。佛連出二喻：「譬如大地，少所處出金銀珍寶」〔T25 0605a23〕、「譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業，多受行小王業」〔T25 0605a26〕，所指的事極不堪——「少有如說行，多住聲聞、辟支佛地」〔T25 0605b01〕。但二喻之立意不在責多，在告訴行人希有本是常態：金銀本來就只出於少處，輪王業本來就只少人受行。論主收得更直：「少有能如是學，是人難得！」〔T25 0607a24〕。與此相對的是下劣人之三種自解——護己親屬、眾生無邊度不可盡、諸法空復何所度，論主一句斷之：「此是下劣人所說，何足以之為證？」〔T25 0606c04〕，並指其病根：「皆是六十二邪見所攝。」〔T25 0606c07〕。而大人之相反在無所求：「譬如大人但以施心施與他財，而不取價。」〔T25 0606c09〕。下劣與大人之分，不在能力大小，在心中有無所求。
其五，三種「作是念」與般若之自破。經末出三念：作是念「我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智」者，「若如是念，不名行般若波羅蜜。」〔T25 0605c27〕；不作是念者，是名行般若；而更有第三——「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜」〔T25 0606a03〕亦名行般若，其故在「一切法如、法性、實際常住故。」〔T25 0606a05〕。論主設第四問曰：「作是念、不作是念，事已盡，何以復有第三說？」〔T25 0607c08〕自答兩重：「初者是邪行相，第二遮邪行；未說正行相，是故第三說正行相。」〔T25 0607c09〕；「復次，初是著心取相；第二破是著相，不說云何是諸法相；第三中破邪著，亦說實相。」〔T25 0607c10〕。何以第一念為邪？論主剖得極細：「五眾和合假名菩薩；菩薩隨逐假名字計以為我，以是般若有所作。」〔T25 0607b29〕；「般若是無著相，而是人說有相般若是第一義」〔T25 0607c02〕；「般若是無作相，而是人欲用般若有所作」〔T25 0607c04〕。全品收在一句上：「於一切處，不顯示般若波羅蜜相」〔T25 0607c12〕，「但知一切法常住如、法性、實際中，於如、法性、實際中不諍。」〔T25 0607c14〕——不諍二字是全品之結：等學之等，最後落在不與空諍上。論於前段亦以此語收般若之界：「通達，不與空諍，是名般若波羅蜜。」〔T25 0607a15〕，前後相扣。
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完整專章，釋本論之慧影疏亦存專章（與前品〈同學品〉同，皆為 X46 有覆帶之例）；均正書零命中，天台系智顗、湛然諸書亦零實命中。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〈等學品〉之逐文疏，起「等學品第六十三」〔X24n0451 0315b17〕，迄〔X24n0451 0316a05〕，次品「淨願品第六十四」〔X24n0451 0316a06〕起前，覆本品經全篇。其可誌者五。
其一，品位與立名之由——「此第二、憑法忍以近行。」〔X24n0451 0315b18〕；其釋品名之語，底本原樣作「而云等學者，佛示學者，佛示諸法平等令其學，又令菩薩學此平等，故言等學也。」〔X24n0451 0315b18〕——「佛示學者，」四字後緊接「佛示諸法平等」，底本此處有重出之跡（本帳依底本原樣錄，不刪其重出之四字）。其立名之義則明白：佛示諸法平等而令其學，又令菩薩學此平等，故名等學。
其二，五科——「品為五：第一、示平等體；二、教平等學；三、明等學利；四、秤歎等學；五、明等學得失。」〔X24n0451 0315b20〕：吉藏以五分科全品，其各科之起處自標：第二科起「白佛：為色盡學下，第二、示等學方。先問，次答。」〔X24n0451 0315c01〕；第三科起「復次須菩提如是學如下，第三、明得學利。」〔X24n0451 0315c07〕；第四科起「譬如大地下，第四、明結歎勸修。」〔X24n0451 0316a01〕；第五科起「須菩提！行般若作是念下，第五、明得失。」〔X24n0451 0316a03〕。四科之起處與本論經文次第（等法之問答→為色盡故學之問答→如是學之廣列利益→金銀與轉輪聖王二喻之結歎→三種「作是念」之得失）逐段相值，屬古德科判與底本經文次第之互見，非義理歧異。惟其科名前後小異（第四科於總目作「秤歎等學」，於起處作「結歎勸修」；第三科於總目作「明等學利」，於起處作「明得學利」），本帳依底本原樣分錄兩式，不代統一。
其三，等空破不等之辨——「初先問，次答。答中，前明等空破不等，次次舉自相空釋平等。」〔X24n0451 0315b22〕，「非以空破法，法本相；非平等破不等，法本平等也。」〔X24n0451 0315b23〕：吉藏於此立「非破」之義——空不是拿來破法的，法本自如此；與本論論段「如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法」〔T25 0606a13〕同指而說法各異，如實分記。其釋佛答學如之意亦同此路：「佛答學如者，明色本不和合不集，今豈滅耶？」〔X24n0451 0315c04〕，與本論「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡？」〔T25 0606a22〕逐字相近，兩家於此相值。
其四，下劣三人——「下劣有三人」〔X24n0451 0315c10〕，其二、三兩人之說自出：「二云、我若遍度眾生盡，後佛復何所度？」〔X24n0451 0315c11〕、「第三、人聞大乘說諸法畢竟空，便言無度不度，我何應度耶？」〔X24n0451 0315c13〕——其數與本論之三種下劣邪見相合，而第二人之內容小異：本論作「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」〔T25 0606b18〕（度不可盡故不度），吉藏作「我若遍度眾生盡，後佛復何所度」（若度盡則後佛無事）——一從度不盡立，一從度盡後無事立，二家立義小異，並錄不判。吉藏並自設問答辨「不攝惡人」與「遍度」之不相違：「答：深行之人無不攝也，故善星調達雖惡，如來與之共住」〔X24n0451 0315c19〕——以行之深淺分攝與不攝，本論則以可化不可化分（「惡人、破戒者，有可化、有不可化，此中但說不可化者。」〔T25 0607a02〕），兩家所據不同，如實分記。
其五，惡人破戒之二重訓——「在家人惡為惡人，出家人惡為破戒人，又起意地三惡為惡人，起身口七惡為破戒也。」〔X24n0451 0315c22〕：其二重（在家出家·意地三惡與身口七惡）與本論三重中之後二重逐字相值（本論另有「惡人名心惡，破戒者名身、口惡。」〔T25 0606c26〕一重），二家之目相合而本論多一重，如實分記。末科之收語——「既聞等學大利，便言有等法可學，有人此學故託其斯令。」〔X24n0451 0316a03〕，「萬法既等，豈有能所之人法耶？」〔X24n0451 0316a04〕——以能所俱泯收三種「作是念」之得失，與本論「五眾和合假名菩薩」〔T25 0607b29〕一段同趣而語簡，並錄不判。
慧影《大智度論疏》（X46n0791）。 為釋本論之唯一古疏，僅殘卷存世；本品有完整專章，起〔X46n0791 0905c20〕，迄〔X46n0791 0907a11〕；次品之結構列「釋願樂品第十四」與其標題「釋第七十八卷論」在〔X46n0791 0907a12〕，次品body起〔X46n0791 0907a13〕（〔X46n0791 0907a12〕一行已屬次品之結構列，故本品專章實迄 0907a11）。另於卷首總目列「釋等學品第六十三」〔X46n0791 0794b21〕。其可誌者五。
其一，自編號 -1 與品位——「第六十二品者，名為等學品。」〔X46n0791 0905c20〕：慧影自稱本品為「第六十二品」，較底本少一，與其於前品自稱「第六十一品」同向；次品同款作「第六十三品者，名為願樂品。」〔X46n0791 0907a13〕——-1 階於三品連續成鏈，係疏家內部編號自成一系，與石本之 -1 階同向而來源有別，如實分記。須誌者：本品章首之「釋等學品第六十三」係 CBETA 之結構目次列（其底據為卍續之欄外標題，原校記作「釋等學品第六十三」），非疏文 body 之語；疏文 body 自第一句起即作「第六十二品」——結構列之數與 body 之數不同源，不可互證（同型），如實分記。
其二，次第之由與二分之科——「何故次同學品後明於此品？」〔X46n0791 0905c20〕，「上品明因六和敬等事得於生忍，今明因行平等得於法忍成等學義，故次此品後明於此品。」〔X46n0791 0905c21〕——以生忍配同學、法忍配等學，與本論「有二種等忍：上品末說眾生等忍，此品說法等忍。」〔T25 0606a10〕之判同指，二家於此相合。其科則作二分：「就此品中亦大有二分：第一、明就十八空明法等義；第二、廣明波若之行及校量等義，亦明生等。」〔X46n0791 0905c24〕，並自釋其序：「此品所以前明法等、後明生等者，將是為欲次第接連前品之意，所以如此。」〔X46n0791 0906a02〕——與吉藏之五分科異（吉藏作五、慧影作二），二家科判各立，並錄不判。
其三，隨文短釋四處——釋盡諸學邊：「為盡諸學邊已下，明菩薩觀徹真原，心窮後際，廣大如法界，究竟如虗空，故云爾也。」〔X46n0791 0906a06〕，又「六波羅蜜既是因性，總攝萬行，故云盡諸學邊也。」〔X46n0791 0906a20〕——後一句與本論「若能學六波羅蜜等，是為盡諸學邊。」〔T25 0606a29〕逐義相值。釋不退地：「上上信之中皆云不退行類相貌，今此中乃始云得到不退地者，當知是列於中下令脩上地也。」〔X46n0791 0906a08〕——以位次之列釋何以此處始言到不退地，本論無此釋，係慧影所獨出；又其牒此句之譯名，底本作組字式 阿[鞥-合+(白-日+田)][跳-兆+(乏-之+友)]致，見〔X46n0791 0906a07–0906a08〕（卍續造字·CBETA 組字式原樣錄，不取正規化字形）。釋撞擊佛鍾鼓：「在鍾名撞，在皷名擊」〔X46n0791 0906a10〕——以撞擊二字分屬鍾皷，本論於此無釋。釋大人：「或時有大人已下，明學大法、行大智慧，如是等故名為大人，所謂思諸實法也。」〔X46n0791 0906a22〕，與本論「或時有大人出世，籌量、思惟諸法實相」〔T25 0606b23〕相值。
其四，三飜之名——「若作是念是般若波羅蜜已下，有三飜云：若作是念，若不作是念，作是念。」〔X46n0791 0906a13〕，「文意極相似，至論意分別之也。」〔X46n0791 0906a14〕；其於論末又收之曰「復次佛告已下，次釋上經文中後之三句，作是念等文句義異之意也。」〔X46n0791 0907a10〕——以「三飜」名經末三念、以「文意極相似」點其難處，本論則以邪行相／遮邪行／說正行相三階分之（〔T25 0607c09〕），一以文相言，一以行相言，二家所重不同，如實分記。
其五，六十二見之難（本品慧影疏之最長段）——慧影於「住是五見中……生五十七見」一段設難極詳，自〔X46n0791 0906b17〕至〔X46n0791 0907a09〕近一頁半。其引師說發端：「師云：若以五見足五十七見為六十二見者，此則為易。」〔X46n0791 0906b17〕，隨即指其不通：「此四十見可解，然餘十七見而不可解也。」〔X46n0791 0906b20〕；反覆推四十見與十七見之數後，出其自解：「既言住是見五中，見世間常無常、前後際等生五十七見，是故說身生六十二見無咎。」〔X46n0791 0906c19〕；末以他經收之：「如大集、阿含經等釋六十二見義，已如佛母品中說也。」〔X46n0791 0907a08〕——其自指前疏〈佛母品〉章，即本論品四十八之慧影疏，係疏內互見，如實誌錄。本論於此但出「雖有別相，我見是本。」〔T25 0607b11〕與「住是五見中，世間常無常、前際後際等，生五十七見。」〔T25 0607b17〕二語，未及慧影所辨之數目難，兩家詳略懸殊，如實分記，不判孰是。
均正《大乘四論玄義》（X46n0784）·零實命中（如實誌）。 於全檔回搜「等學品」「命根滅故餘根悉隨滅」「轉輪聖王業」「少所處出金銀」「我見中悉攝六十二見」「盡諸學邊」六串皆零命中；「等學」三見（〔X46n0784 0010a05〕〔X46n0784 0030a03〕〔X46n0784 0119a16〕）逐字場景核皆為《菩薩瓔珞本業經》「等學地」之通用術語引用（如「金剛心為等學地」），與本品品名、義理無涉，屬字面巧合。均正於本品無具名引，如實誌錄負結果，模式與品四十四以下數品一致。
智顗《摩訶止觀》（T46n1911）·湛然《止觀輔行傳弘決》（T46n1912）·《法華玄義》（T33n1716）·《法華玄義釋籤》（T33n1717）·零實命中（如實誌）。 於四檔全檔獨立回搜上列六串皆零命中；「等學」於 T46n1911 一見〔T46n1911 0007a18〕（「我等學於無作」之「等／學」跨詞）、於 T46n1912 一見〔T46n1912 0442c23〕（「為姓何等／學何等律」之跨詞），於 T33n1716／T33n1717 零見——皆假陽性，非本品之引。與前品〈同學品〉湛然兩處明引「大論八十一」之情形不同：本品於天台系四書無明稱之引，如實誌錄負結果。另誌：天台系尚有 T46n1911／T46n1916／T33n1702 一集，與前品所立之掃描集不同；兩集皆掃，T46n1916 之「等學」一見〔T46n1916 0487a17〕、T33n1702 之「等學」二見〔T33n1702 0175a19〕〔T33n1702 0194a27〕亦皆跨詞假陽性，六串於兩集七檔俱零實命中，結論相同。
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，『同學—等學』之品次承衍（論主自證·硬鏈本論自身）。 論開首即自指前品：「上阿難問「鬪諍」，佛答「同學清淨」。」〔T25 0606a08〕，隨即以二忍判兩品之分位：「有二種等忍：上品末說眾生等忍，此品說法等忍。」〔T25 0606a10〕——前品明眾生等忍（和敬共住之忍），本品明法等忍（諸空平等之忍）；品次相生，誌其承。須誌者：「同學清淨」四字於本論全書唯此一見，前品經論皆無此逐字語（見第四目），論主此處為義括之牒，非逐字引前品，如實分記。慧影疏於此承接處亦自出其配（見第六目），與論主之判同指。
其二，『等學—願樂』之品次前指（兩藏次品異名·誌錄不判）。 本品末句「是故說第三，無咎。」〔T25 0607c16〕之後即卷末題，次品品題「大智度論釋願樂品第六十四」在〔T25 0607c20〕（卷七十八首）。所釋經 T223 側次品則名〈淨願品第六十四〉〔T08 0358b16〕，吉藏疏隨經作「淨願品第六十四」〔X24n0451 0316a06〕，慧影疏隨論作「願樂品」〔X46n0791 0907a13〕——兩藏次品之名各異，古德各隨其所疏之本，如實誌錄，不判孰正，其考據屬次品之帳。本論本品內無前指次品之明文（於本品範圍逐字查「願樂」零命中），如實分記。
其三，『六十二見』之互見（論內·疏內·兩重）。 本品經以「譬如我見中悉攝六十二見」〔T25 0605b16〕為喻，論設第三問答釋其可立，末斷「身見攝六十二見」〔T25 0607b19〕無咎。此一目於本論別品、於慧影疏別章皆有其前文：慧影自陳「如大集、阿含經等釋六十二見義，已如佛母品中說也。」〔X46n0791 0907a08〕——疏家自指其〈佛母品〉章（即本論品四十八），故本品之辨是接著前章說的，非孤起。本論方面，論主於本品但立「我見是本」之綱而不重列六十二之目，其詳目在他品（本帳不以未展開之搜充數，其對位據實誌其未展開）。誌其關聯，不代定讀。
其四，寶庫掛鏈（穩定徵引·軟引）。 本品「等法即諸空」之立、「學如不作證」之轉、「盡諸學邊」之界、「少所處出金銀」與「轉輪聖王業」二喻之慰、與「不與空諍」之收，為後世論平等法門、論行人希有、論般若自破之所本，落穩定徵引〔T25n1509 等學品·卷七十七〕；諸帙引本論處尚未定稿，故軟引，俟其逐字核存。此屬般若義下貫學地之承衍，誌錄不判。
八、校本與版本說明
本品底本為《大智度論》卷七十七〔T25 0604c02–0607c20〕（品身正文自品題〔T25 0604c02〕起，終於「是故說第三，無咎。」句迄〔T25 0607c16〕；卷末題「大智度論卷第七十七」在〔T25 0607c17〕，在本單元範圍之內，其二注入本帳；次品〈願樂品第六十四〉續題〔T25 0607c20〕為卷七十八之首）；所釋經校本為《摩訶般若波羅蜜經》〈等學品〉〔T08 0357a08–0358b15〕；古德疏校本為吉藏《大品經義疏》（X24n0451，覆所釋經〔X24n0451 0315b17–0316a05〕）與慧影《大智度論疏》（X46n0791，覆本論〔X46n0791 0905c20–0907a11〕）；均正《大乘四論玄義》（X46n0784）本品零實命中、智顗與湛然四書零實命中（見第六目）。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——本品四十四條之帳內未見聖乙本、亦未見麗-CB／CB 等現代校訂層入帳；聖本唯一見，在【經】結構標記之 star 注（下帳第二條）。
品題注入帳（與前品之圈錨型異）。 本品品題〔T25 0604c02〕之校記，其錨為 <anchor xml:id="beg0604014">／<anchor xml:id="end0604014"> 之 beg／end 對（直核底本），故入工作底本四十四條之帳，為下帳第一條——與前品〈同學品〉之品題注為 <anchor type="circle"/> 型點錨、不入四十條之帳者型不同，兩品之分母結構因此有別，誌之以免誤以前品體例推本品。其注之底本全文原樣：type=mod 作「（大智…三）十二字【大】，釋等學品第六十三【明】，大智論釋第六十三品等學品【宮】，摩訶般若波羅蜜品第六十二等學【石】」；type=orig 作「（（大智…三））十二字＝（（釋等學品第六十三））八字【明】，（（大智論釋第六十三品等學品））十二字【宮】，（（摩訶般若波羅蜜品第六十二等學））十四字【石】」——此即品題四造與石本 -1 階之底據，如實並錄，不強加調解（析論見第四目）。
點錨／無校勘條之注：本品零（負命題已以結構斷言，非以搜尋斷言）。 於本品範圍〔T25 0604c02–0607c20〕逐一枚舉全部錨：校記錨四十二枚、星記錨二枚，合四十四；錨之起點標記亦四十四枚，一一對應。點錨零枚、夾註零枚——即本品無點錨型注、無夾註、無 CBETA 校訂層條，四十四條即全部，無帳外之注須專列。此為枚舉全集之斷言（分母取自底本之錨集，非取自被驗之物），非「搜不到故無」。
star 二枚·一枚跨品·一枚品內（專列）。 本品範圍內 star anchor 二枚，逐枚解其校勘條之對應目標並定位所屬品：
beg_855〔T25 0604c03〕【經】結構標記——corresp→note(0598011)〔T25 0598c24〕，屬品六十一〈夢中不證品〉範圍，跨品共用。該注底本全文原樣（type=mod）：「【經】【大】＊，〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】＊，不分卷及品【石】」——注層另帶石本「不分卷及品」一語，而 app 層之 rdg 唯 wit1／wit3／wit5（宋宮聖），故下帳第二條依 app 層錄作「〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】」而不含石本一語，兩層之差如實誌錄，並列不判。此與前品〈同學品〉之beg_852共用同一注（前品已誌），即「【經】體例標記於宋宮聖三本俱缺、石本更不分卷品」之通則性說明透過 star 機制掛回單一定義處，非本品特有之義理歧異（既有常例，不重判）。須正一事：該 corresp 目標〔T25 0598c24〕在卷七十七之內（卷七十七起〔T25 0598c19〕），且屬品六十一〈夢中不證品〉（品題〔T25 0594c24〕、續題〔T25 0598c19〕）——非卷七十六之末，亦非品六十二之前一段，誌以正之。beg_856〔T25 0606b08〕「界」字——corresp→note(0606005)，即同段自身之注（下帳第二十七條），品內自共用；其 lem 與 rdg 與 beg0606005 全同（界／世界【宮】／國【石】），故下帳第二十七、二十八兩條逐字相同，非重出之誤，係 star 機制之同位共用，如實分記。
star 目標之注文於底本帶「＊」記（note 0598011 作「【經】【大】＊，〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】＊，不分卷及品【石】」；note 0606005 作「界【大】＊，世界【宮】＊，國【石】＊」），本帳依底本原樣於相關條保留其「＊」記（下帳第二、二十七、二十八條）。
校勘總帳（四十四條全量對帳·底本原樣）。 下依底本出現序全量列之，內含 star 二條，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（四十四·底本出現序·star-corresp 隨條標明）
- 〔T25 0604c02〕大智度論釋等學品第六十三【大】｜釋等學品第六十三【明】｜大智論釋第六十三品等學品【宮】｜摩訶般若波羅蜜品第六十二等學【石】（品題注·beg／end 對型·入本帳為第一條·與前品之圈錨型異·四造並存·石本 -1 階並經題式·見上專列）
- 〔T25 0604c03〕【經】【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】＊（結構標記存否注·star·corresp→note(0598011)＝品六十一〈夢中不證品〉〔T25 0598c24〕注·跨品共用·該注另帶「不分卷及品【石】」一語不在 app 層·見上專列）
- 〔T25 0604c03〕是【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0604c12〕故【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0604c13〕故學【大】｜學故【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0604c29〕世界【大】｜國土【石】（與下第二十七／二十八條同組異讀·所釋經側同組之異在宋本·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0605a01〕輪轉【大】｜轉輪【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0605a04〕出【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0605a07〕癖【大】｜躄【宋】【元】【明】【宮】（所釋經側同位作「癖【大】｜辟【元】【聖】【宋】｜躄【宮】【明】」〔T08 0357b14〕·兩藏皆有此組）
- 〔T25 0605a19〕夫【大】｜夫人【元】【明】（元明二本作「凡夫人」，正與所釋經底本之讀合·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0605a25〕人【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0605b04〕住【大】｜在【宋】【宮】（宋宮二本作「欲在阿鞞跋致地」，正與所釋經底本之讀合·所釋經側同位作「在【大】｜住【宮】【明】」〔T08 0357c12〕·兩造恰成鏡像·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0605c02〕說【大】｜說修【石】
- 〔T25 0605c09〕作【大】｜得【石】
- 〔T25 0605c10〕欲【大】｜欲得【石】
- 〔T25 0605c10〕鍾【大】｜鐘【明】（明本作「鐘」，正與所釋經底本之讀合·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0605c10〕唄【大】｜貝【元】【明】【宮】（元明宮三本作「貝」，正與所釋經底本之讀合·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0605c14〕不【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0605c18〕天【大】｜天及【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【石】（五本俱作「天及人」，正與所釋經底本之讀合〔T08 0358b01〕型·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0605c23〕深【大】｜行【宋】【元】【明】
- 〔T25 0605c25〕菩【大】｜是菩【元】【明】【石】
- 〔T25 0605c29〕有【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】（宋宮二本作「是人般若波羅蜜」，正與所釋經底本之讀合·所釋經側同位作「人【大】｜人有【宮】【明】」〔T08 0358b09〕·兩造恰成鏡像·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0606a01〕行【大】｜行是【元】【明】
- 〔T25 0606a04〕無【大】｜無有【元】【明】【石】
- 〔T25 0606a14〕法【大】｜二【元】【明】【宮】【石】（「得內空則皆平等無法」／「皆平等無二」·義理負載之異讀·四本作「二」·如實並錄不判）
- 〔T25 0606a28〕學【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】
- 〔T25 0606b08〕界【大】＊｜世界【宮】＊｜國【石】＊（star 定義處·note(0606005)·所共用者見下一條）
- 〔T25 0606b08〕界【大】＊｜世界【宮】＊｜國【石】＊（star·corresp→note(0606005)＝本品同段〔T25 0606b08〕注·品內同位共用·lem／rdg 與上條全同·見上專列）
- 〔T25 0606b15〕親【大】｜雜【宮】
- 〔T25 0606c05〕人【大】｜人生【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0606c11〕利【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0606c16〕菩薩【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607a07〕軟【大】｜濡【宋】【元】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607a14〕已【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607a21〕所行【大】｜行所【宋】【元】【明】【宮】（lem 之底本內含換行
<lb n="0607a22">·漢字流作「所行」·loc 依首字所屬行〔T25 0607a21〕） - 〔T25 0607b09〕根【大】｜相【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607b09〕等【大】｜盡【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607b29〕眾【大】｜[阿-可+(企-止+長)]【石】（石本作 CBETA 造字 CB01589·依 CBETA 組字式原樣錄，不取其正規化字形）
- 〔T25 0607c02〕是【大】｜是無得【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【石】（五本增「無得」二字·義理負載之增文·如實誌錄）
- 〔T25 0607c03〕是【大】｜見【石】
- 〔T25 0607c10〕行【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607c16〕咎【大】｜咎釋第六十二品竟【石】（校記附註〔傍註〕原樣保留·石本品末收束記·-1 階第二端證·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0607c17〕論【大】｜經【石】（卷末題·石本作「大智度經」·見第四目）
- 〔T25 0607c17〕七【大】｜八【石】（卷末題·石本作「卷第七十八」·石本卷次雙軌之證·見第四目）
以上四十四條與工作底本錨點校記之數機械相合（工作底本檔末清單四十四條·校勘條四十四·錨枚舉亦四十四），star 之目標已隨條標明。品題注入帳、star 二枚、無點錨無夾註無 CBETA 校訂層之枚舉斷言已於上文專列。
所釋經 witness 對讀（已展開十一處·餘未展開·誌闕待補）。 所釋經 T223 側本品對讀範圍〔T08 0357a08–0358b15〕內，逐條掃得編號注二十二條、star 錨六枚（合二十八錨，見第四目）；其與本論互印之十一處異文（自相空／無法有法空·阿鞞跋致／阿惟越致·淨佛世界／淨佛國土·擁護／擁護法·法輪轉／法輪·栴陀羅／旃陀羅·凡夫／凡夫人·檀波羅蜜／檀那波羅蜜·鍾鼓唄／鐘鼓貝·欲為盲者／欲與盲者·是人有般若／是人般若）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，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 77, as a single unit. Fascicle 77 begins at〔T25 0598c19〕 and ends at〔T25 0607c17〕; the title to which its fascicle head is tied is still that of Chapter 61—「大智度論釋夢中不證品第六十一之餘」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Not Realising It in a Dream, the Sixty-first, the remainder"〔T25 0598c19〕; that is, Fascicle 77 opens with the continuation title of Chapter 61 (in the whole of this treatise the Chinese-character stream of 「大智度論釋夢中不證品第六十一」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Not Realising It in a Dream, the Sixty-first" is seen twice, once in the chapter title〔T25 0594c24〕 and once in this continuation title〔T25 0598c19〕, as found by rescanning string by string). This chapter's title, 「大智度論釋等學品第六十三」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third"〔T25 0604c02〕, arises directly after the end of the preceding chapter, Chapter 62, "Training Alike", and at the head of the chapter there is no fascicle title and no signature of author or translator. The body of the chapter ends with the sentence 「是故說第三，無咎。」 tr. "Therefore the third is spoken, and it is without fault."〔T25 0607c16〕; after it, at〔T25 0607c17〕, comes the fascicle-end title 「大智度論卷第七十七」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Seventy-seven", and Fascicle 77 is closed here (the fascicle-boundary marker is at〔T25 0607c17〕); Fascicle 78 then opens at〔T25 0607c20〕 with the continuation title of the next chapter, Chapter 64, "Aspiration and Delight" (the fascicle-boundary marker is here, and its fascicle-head interlinear note reads 「卷七十八」 tr. "Fascicle Seventy-eight"), the signatures of author and translator are at〔T25 0607c22〕, and the body of the next chapter begins at〔T25 0607c24〕. This chapter is therefore of the type placed at the end of the fascicle · the chapter's end tied to the fascicle's end—it differs from the 「居卷中·不涉卷界」 tr. "placed mid-fascicle · not touching a fascicle boundary" of the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", and differs also from the fascicle-crossing type of Chapter 48, "The Mother of the Buddhas". The range of this unit〔T25 0604c02–0607c20〕 includes the fascicle-end title but not the body of the next chapter's continuation title, and the two collation notes on the fascicle-end title (entries forty-three and forty-four of the ledger below) are therefore entered in this ledger.
The whole chapter has four thousand four hundred and ninety-one pure Chinese characters (a further independent recount of the Chinese-character stream from〔T25 0604c02〕 to〔T25 0607c17〕 gives four thousand four hundred and ninety-four; the difference of three characters is the three characters 「等學品」 tr. "Chapter on Equal Training" of the structural table-of-contents line, which are not main text, and with them deducted the two figures agree). The structure within the chapter is one 【經】 and one 【論】, a single unit: 【經】〔T25 0604c03〕, 【論】〔T25 0606a08〕. The 【經】 marker has a collation note: the Song, Palace, and Shōgozō texts lack this structural marker (that note also records of the Ishiyama text 「不分卷及品」 tr. "no division of fascicle or chapter"; see Section VIII); the 【論】 marker has no collation note—whether a marker is present or absent belongs to the layer of the base text's transmission, and the structural count still follows the labels of the base text.
The speaker structure and the number of questions and answers: throughout Sūtra ① only two go back and forth, Subhūti and the Buddha, and every change of speaker has explicit wording (said to the Buddha / the Buddha told Subhūti / Subhūti said / the Buddha said)—〔T25 0604c03〕 Subhūti said to the Buddha (question); 〔T25 0604c04〕 the Buddha answers (at this one place there is no marker 「佛告」 tr. "the Buddha told" restarting the speech; by the grammar, the quoted answer following directly on the question is judged to be the Buddha's words); 〔T25 0604c09〕 Subhūti said to the Buddha; 〔T25 0604c14〕 the Buddha told Subhūti; 〔T25 0604c17〕 the Buddha told Subhūti (a counter-question); 〔T25 0604c19〕 Subhūti said, 「不也！世尊！」 tr. "No, World-Honored One!"; 〔T25 0604c19〕 the Buddha told Subhūti (a long teaching running to〔T25 0605a15〕); 〔T25 0605a15〕 Subhūti said to the Buddha; 〔T25 0605a16〕 the Buddha told Subhūti (a long teaching, containing the two similes of gold and silver and of the wheel-turning sage king); 〔T25 0605b24〕 Subhūti said; 〔T25 0605b25〕 the Buddha told Subhūti (the weighing of merit); 〔T25 0605c01〕 Subhūti said, 「甚多！甚多！」 tr. "Very much! Very much!"; 〔T25 0605c01〕 the Buddha said (a long teaching); 〔T25 0605c13〕 Subhūti said to the Buddha; 〔T25 0605c14〕 the Buddha said (a long teaching running to the end of the sūtra section〔T25 0606a07〕, containing the distinction of the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought"). In this chapter there is no third speaker and no bhikṣu or god at the side, which differs from the three figures of Śakra, a bhikṣu, and Ānanda in the preceding chapter, "Training Alike".
Treatise ① begins the treatise with 「釋曰：」 tr. "Explanation:"〔T25 0606a08〕 (a marker for beginning the treatise, not counted in the number of question-and-answer pairs), and has four formal groups of questions and answers: 〔T25 0606c02〕 question / 〔T25 0606c03〕 answer, 〔T25 0607a01〕 question / 〔T25 0607a02〕 answer, 〔T25 0607b10〕 question / 〔T25 0607b11〕 answer, 〔T25 0607c07〕 question / 〔T25 0607c09〕 answer—the working base text, marked character by character, has four of 「問曰：」 tr. "Question:" and four of 「答曰：」 tr. "Answer:", agreeing with the loci of the four groups located in the Chinese-character stream. 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" is seen zero times in the whole of this chapter (scanned character by character; set against its five occurrences in the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", it is recorded as it is and is not a defect—the treatise section of this chapter sets things side by side only by the step-by-step 「復次」 tr. "furthermore", not by setting the differing accounts of various masters side by side). 「復次」 tr. "furthermore" is seen eight times in the whole chapter: once in the sūtra section〔T25 0605b05〕, and seven times in the treatise section〔T25 0606c04〕〔T25 0606c16〕〔T25 0606c27〕〔T25 0606c28〕〔T25 0607a26〕〔T25 0607b26〕〔T25 0607c10〕 (located one by one in the Chinese-character stream; of these, the one at〔T25 0607b26〕 reads 「復次，佛告須菩提」 tr. "Furthermore, the Buddha told Subhūti", standing where the Buddha's words restart, and is easily missed in the count, so it is recorded as well).
II. Terms Examined
The dharma of equality · equal training. The general name of the whole chapter and its sūtra evidence. The sūtra begins with Subhūti's question: 「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」 tr. "What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality, in which the bodhisattva should train?"〔T25 0604c03〕; the Buddha's answer takes the eighteen emptinesses as that very thing: 「內空是菩薩等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩等法。」 tr. "Inner emptiness is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality; outer emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality."〔T25 0604c04〕, and gathers it up, saying: 「是名菩薩摩訶薩等法。住是等法，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "This is called the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality. Abiding in this dharma of equality, he obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi."〔T25 0604c08〕—the dharma of equality is the emptinesses; to train in the dharma of equality is to abide in this equality and obtain awakening. One matter must be recorded: the two characters 「等學」 tr. "equal training" are seen zero times in the body of this chapter, and appear only in the chapter title. Rescanning 「等學」 tr. "equal training" in the Chinese-character stream across the whole of T25n1509 gives four occurrences: two of them are the structural table-of-contents line of this chapter's title and the chapter-title line itself (both tied to〔T25 0604c02〕), and the other two, at〔T25 0191a18〕 (「世間第一法等／學智者」 tr. "the highest worldly dharma and the like / those wise in training") and〔T25 0357c21〕 (「是弟子等／學是法作證」 tr. "these disciples and others / train in this dharma and realise it"), a character-by-character check of their scenes shows to be false hits spanning a word boundary, not instances of this treatise using 「等學」 tr. "equal training" as a term—the 「等學」 tr. "equal training" of the chapter name is a name set up from the meaning of the sūtra, not words quoted from the sūtra; recorded as it is.
The two kinds of acceptance of equality (the acceptance of the equality of dharmas · the acceptance of the equality of beings). Set up by the treatise-author to judge the respective places of this chapter and the preceding one. The treatise says: 「有二種等忍：上品末說眾生等忍，此品說法等忍。」 tr. "There are two kinds of acceptance of equality: at the end of the previous chapter the acceptance of the equality of beings was spoken of; this chapter speaks of the acceptance of the equality of dharmas."〔T25 0606a10〕—「眾生等忍」 tr. "the acceptance of the equality of beings" is seen twice in the whole treatise (〔T25 0097b22〕〔T25 0606a11〕), and 「法等忍」 tr. "the acceptance of the equality of dharmas" five times (〔T25 0097a26〕〔T25 0097b22〕〔T25 0097b25〕〔T25 0417c03〕〔T25 0606a11〕), each once in this chapter, as found by rescanning the Chinese-character stream. As for why it is called 「等」 tr. "equal", the treatise at once takes a scale as its simile: 「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」 tr. "As the two ends of a scale come to rest level, so inner emptiness and the other emptinesses are equal among all dharmas."〔T25 0606a11〕, and brings out the principle by which the equality is reached: 「如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法」 tr. "As inner dharmas have all kinds of differences, on obtaining inner emptiness they are all equal and without dharmas"〔T25 0606a13〕.
Exhausting the limits of all training. The pivot phrase of this chapter. The sūtra brings it out at the head of the long teaching: 「如是學，為盡諸學邊。」 tr. "Training in this way is for exhausting the limits of all training."〔T25 0604c25〕; the treatise explains it in two places: first, it gathers it up in terms of the six perfections—「若學薩婆若，即是學六波羅蜜等；若能學六波羅蜜等，是為盡諸學邊。」 tr. "If he trains in sarvajñā, this is training in the six perfections and the rest; if he can train in the six perfections and the rest, this is exhausting the limits of all training."〔T25 0606a28〕; second, it gathers it up in terms of knowing completely the minds and workings of beings—「得是功德故，三世十方一切眾生心心數法，心所行起種種業因緣悉能遍知」 tr. "Because he obtains this merit, of all beings of the three times and the ten directions he can know completely their minds and mental-factor dharmas, and the causes and conditions of the various deeds to which the workings of their minds give rise"〔T25 0607a20〕, 「是故言盡諸學邊。」 tr. "therefore it is said to be exhausting the limits of all training."〔T25 0607a24〕. The Chinese-character stream of 「盡諸學邊」 tr. "exhausting the limits of all training" is seen four times in the whole of T25n1509 (〔T25 0604c25〕;〔T25 0606b01〕, two occurrences one upon the other; and〔T25 0607a24〕), all of them in this chapter, as found by rescanning—this phrase belongs to this chapter alone.
The inferior · the great person. The two ends by which this chapter judges people. The sūtra only sets up the names: 「下劣之人不能作是學；如是學者，為欲拔出沈沒生死眾生。」 tr. "The inferior person cannot do this training; the one who trains in this way does so in order to pull out the beings sunk in birth and death."〔T25 0605a03〕; the treatise details both sides—the inferior 「名懈怠、放逸，不樂佛法，不一心行道，罪福雜行。」 tr. "means lazy and heedless, not delighting in the Buddha-Dharma, not practising the path single-mindedly, practising sin and merit mixedly."〔T25 0606b13〕, and their wrong views are three: 「我身及親屬是我所應護，諸餘眾生何豫我事」 tr. "My own body and my kin are what I ought to protect; what have all the other beings to do with me"〔T25 0606b15〕, 「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」 tr. "Beings are immeasurable and boundless and cannot be delivered to the last; if they could be delivered to the last, they would be measurable and bounded, and a single Buddha could deliver them all."〔T25 0606b18〕, 「佛說一切法空、不生不滅，我復何所度？求佛道、不求佛道，同如幻夢。」 tr. "The Buddha says all dharmas are empty, not arising and not ceasing; what then is there for me to deliver? Seeking the Buddha path and not seeking the Buddha path are alike like an illusion and a dream."〔T25 0606b20〕; of the great person, on the other hand, 「或時有大人出世，籌量、思惟諸法實相」 tr. "at times a great person appears in the world who reckons and considers the real mark of all dharmas"〔T25 0606b23〕, 「行如是道，破顛倒見；還捨此道，直入法性」 tr. "he practises such a path and breaks the inverted views; and again, abandoning this path, he enters straight into the nature of dharmas"〔T25 0606b25〕. The path that breaks the inversions must also be abandoned; only then is he a great person—here the treatise does not stop at breaking, but reaches also to abandoning the breaking.
Evil people · breaking the precepts. A detailed item of glossing in this chapter, which the treatise defines in three layers: 「惡人名心惡，破戒者名身、口惡。」 tr. "What is called an evil person means one whose mind is evil; what is called one who breaks the precepts means one whose body and speech are evil."〔T25 0606c26〕; 「復次，行三不善道名惡人，行七不善道名破戒。」 tr. "Furthermore, one who practises the three unwholesome paths is called an evil person; one who practises the seven unwholesome paths is called one who breaks the precepts."〔T25 0606c27〕; 「菩薩，若在家攝惡人名惡人，出家攝惡人名破戒。」 tr. "As for the bodhisattva: if, as a householder, he takes in evil people, this is called an evil person; if, having gone forth, he takes in evil people, this is called breaking the precepts."〔T25 0606c28〕—the three layers are the division between mental action and bodily and verbal action, the division between the three unwholesome paths and the seven unwholesome paths, and the division between the householder and the one who has gone forth. What Jizang's commentary sets up is likewise two layers (see Section VI).
The three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought". The distinction at the end of the sūtra, and also the distinction at the end of the treatise. The first is wrong: 「是般若波羅蜜，我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智。」 tr. "This is prajñāpāramitā; by this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds."〔T25 0605c26〕, 「若如是念，不名行般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "If he thinks in this way, it is not called practising prajñāpāramitā."〔T25 0605c27〕; the second is right but not yet complete: if he does not have this thought, 「是名行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "this is called practising prajñāpāramitā"; the third refutes further: 「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "There is no such prajñāpāramitā; no person has this prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0606a03〕, its reason lying in 「一切法如、法性、實際常住故。」 tr. "because all dharmas—suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality—constantly abide."〔T25 0606a05〕. The treatise gathers them up in three steps—the mark of wrong practice / blocking wrong practice / speaking the mark of right practice (see Section V); Huiying's commentary names them 「三飜」 tr. "the three reversals" (see Section VI).
Sarvajñā · the omniscience of all kinds · avaivartika. In this chapter the Sanskrit-sound and the Chinese names are used side by side. The sūtra's words of measure use the Sanskrit sound: 「如是學，直到阿鞞跋致地」 tr. "Training in this way, he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika"〔T25 0604c26〕, 「欲住阿鞞跋致地、欲在阿鞞跋致數中，應當學是深般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "One who wishes to abide in the ground of the avaivartika, who wishes to be within the number of the avaivartika, should train in this deep prajñāpāramitā."〔T25 0605b04〕; while the fruit that is sought is given in both Sanskrit sound and Chinese: 「我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智。」 tr. "By this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds."〔T25 0605c27〕. On the T223 side of the sūtra explained, both these names are in another translation here (the transliteration aweiyuezhi, avaivartika); see Section IV.
III. Similes and Stories
This chapter has seven principal similes, four of them from the sūtra and three from the treatise; all are tied to the meaning being explained, none set up at large. This chapter has no instance of citing another sūtra or another event (the only cross-reference within the sūtra is 「如〈般若波羅蜜品〉中所說。」 tr. "It is as spoken of in the "Prajñāpāramitā" chapter."〔T25 0605a11〕, which refers to an earlier chapter of this very sūtra, not to another sūtra); recorded as it is.
Few are the places that yield gold, silver, and precious things (the simile of rarity · sūtra). The sūtra explains why those who can train in prajñā are few: 「譬如大地，少所處出金銀珍寶」 tr. "As on the great earth, few are the places that yield gold, silver, and precious things"〔T25 0605a23〕, 「少所人能學般若波羅蜜，多墮聲聞、辟支佛地。」 tr. "few are the people who can train in prajñāpāramitā; most fall to the śrāvaka ground or the pratyekabuddha ground."〔T25 0605a25〕—the great earth is soil everywhere, and the places that yield gold and silver are extremely few; the force of the simile lies not in belittling the many but in pointing out that rarity has always been the normal state, so that one does not doubt oneself for being among the few.
The work of a wheel-turning sage king (the simile of rank · sūtra). In the same group as the simile above, turned to another face: 「譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業，多受行小王業」 tr. "As few are the people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king, and most take up and practise the work of a minor king"〔T25 0605a26〕, 「少所眾生行般若波羅蜜、求一切智，多行聲聞、辟支佛道。」 tr. "few are the beings who practise prajñāpāramitā and seek omniscience; most practise the śrāvaka path or the pratyekabuddha path."〔T25 0605a27〕—the wheel-turning king and the minor king are both kings; it is not that one is not a king; what divides them is the work that is practised. Therefore the sūtra below at once gathers it up with 「少有如說行，多住聲聞、辟支佛地」 tr. "few practise as taught; most abide in the śrāvaka ground or the pratyekabuddha ground"〔T25 0605b01〕. The treatise raises the two similes together as one group: 「少有能如是學，是人難得！佛欲令此義明了，故說譬喻，金銀及轉輪聖王業等。」 tr. "Few can train in this way; such a person is hard to find! Wishing to make this meaning clear, the Buddha spoke similes—gold and silver, and the work of a wheel-turning sage king, and the rest."〔T25 0607a24〕.
The view of self includes the sixty-two wrong views (the simile of total inclusion · sūtra). It explains the principle by which prajñā gathers in all the perfections: 「譬如我見中悉攝六十二見」 tr. "As within the view of self the sixty-two wrong views are all included"〔T25 0605b16〕—it compares the total inclusion of the right with the total inclusion of the wrong, taking their likeness of structure, not a likeness of good and evil. The treatise sets up its third group of question and answer especially to explain that this simile can stand (see Section V), its verdict being 「雖有別相，我見是本。」 tr. "Though each has its distinct mark, the view of self is the root."〔T25 0607b11〕.
When a man dies, because the life-faculty ceases, all his other faculties cease along with it (the simile of following along · sūtra). It comes out in the same passage as the simile above: 「譬如人死，命根滅故，餘根悉隨滅」 tr. "As when a man dies, because the life-faculty ceases, all his other faculties cease along with it"〔T25 0605b18〕—the simile above speaks of including, this simile speaks of following; including is the relation of whole and part, following is the relation of surviving and perishing. The sūtra joins the two similes into one meaning: 「總攝諸波羅蜜，令諸波羅蜜增長，諸波羅蜜悉隨從。」 tr. "He gathers in all the perfections, makes all the perfections increase, and all the perfections follow along."〔T25 0605b13〕. The treatise too raises the two similes together: 「佛欲令此義明了故，說譬喻：如我見及命根等。」 tr. "Because the Buddha wished to make this meaning clear, he spoke similes: namely, the view of self, and the life-faculty, and the rest."〔T25 0607b08〕.
As the two ends of a scale come to rest level (the simile of equality · treatise). Set up by the treatise to explain the word 「等」 tr. "equal": 「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」 tr. "As the two ends of a scale come to rest level, so inner emptiness and the other emptinesses are equal among all dharmas."〔T25 0606a11〕—the two ends of a scale have light and heavy to begin with; coming to rest level is not removing the two ends, it is light and heavy matching; the simile is that the eighteen emptinesses do not destroy the differences of dharmas, but see their equality within the differences. Huiying's commentary has a further account of this simile (see Section VI).
A great person gives wealth without taking a price · a petty person trades in the market for profit (the simile of great and small · treatise). When the treatise distinguishes the great person from the inferior, it takes the most ordinary and near of worldly matters: 「譬如大人但以施心施與他財，而不取價。」 tr. "As a great person gives wealth to others simply with a giving mind, and does not take a price."〔T25 0606c09〕; and conversely 「譬如小人市易，求利乃與。」 tr. "As a petty person trades in the market, and gives only when he seeks a profit."〔T25 0606c11〕—what divides them is not the thing given, but whether or not there is something sought in the mind at the time of giving.
One who cannot himself float in rescuing the drowning (the simile of not taking in evil people · treatise). Answering the question 「菩薩為度惡人故出現於世……何以故不攝惡人？」 tr. "The bodhisattva appears in the world in order to deliver evil people … why does he not take in evil people?", the treatise brings out one simile: 「譬如救溺，自不能浮而欲濟彼，二俱不免。」 tr. "As in rescuing the drowning: one who cannot himself float and yet wishes to bring the other across—neither of the two escapes."〔T25 0607a05〕—with 「譬如良醫療諸疾病」 tr. "as a good physician cures the various illnesses"〔T25 0607a01〕 in the same passage (the simile held by the one who raises the question) it forms an exact pair: the simile of the good physician stands on being able to cure, the simile of rescuing the drowning stands on not yet being able to float; which of the two similes prevails lies not in the similes themselves but in the practitioner's own measure.
IV. The Sūtra Passage Explained
The network of four forms of the chapter title (recorded side by side without judgement). The chapter title of this chapter exists in four forms side by side; each is recorded according to the base text. The base text 【大】 reads 「大智度論釋等學品第六十三」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third" (twelve characters); 【明】 reads 「釋等學品第六十三」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third" (eight characters · deleting 「大智度論」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa"); 【宮】 reads 「大智論釋第六十三品等學品」 tr. "Treatise on Great Wisdom, Commentary on the Sixty-third Chapter, the Chapter on Equal Training" (twelve characters · 「大智論」 tr. "Treatise on Great Wisdom" omitting the one character 「度」 tr. "crossing" · the chapter number placed before); 【石】 reads 「摩訶般若波羅蜜品第六十二等學」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā, Chapter Sixty-two, Equal Training" (fourteen characters · the sūtra-title form · chapter order -1 · the chapter name as a suffix). All four forms have the name 「等學」 tr. "equal training"; there is no dispute of variant names—this differs from the two names 「同學／魔愁」 tr. "Training Alike / Māra's Grief" standing side by side in the preceding chapter, "Training Alike"; what differs in this chapter is only the form of the title and the chapter order, not the chapter name, and each is recorded separately, as it is. The full text of the base text's note on the chapter title, as it stands, is in Section VIII.
The -1 step of chapter order (continuing in the Ishiyama text · three ends confirming one another). The Ishiyama text's chapter title reads 「第六十二」 tr. "the Sixty-second", one less than the base text's 「第六十三」 tr. "the Sixty-third", in the same direction and by the same amount as reckoned forward chapter by chapter from Chapter 44 onward—the -1 step chain continues in this chapter. Within the range of this chapter the -1 step is seen at two further ends: first, the note on the character 「咎」 tr. "fault" at the end of the chapter, where the Ishiyama text reads 「咎釋第六十二品竟」 tr. "fault. End of the explanation of the sixty-second chapter" (entry forty-two of the ledger below)—the interlinear note of the type 「釋某品竟」 tr. "end of the explanation of such-and-such chapter" at the end of the chapter and the chapter title confirm each other on two layers, both reading 「六十二」 tr. "sixty-two"; second, Huiying's commentary also numbers it for itself as 「第六十二品」 tr. "the sixty-second chapter" (see Section VI), though that belongs to the commentator's own internal numbering, not to a variant reading of the base text, and differs in nature; they are distinguished as they are. The note at the end of the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", in the Ishiyama text reads 「學（釋六十一品竟）」 tr. "training (end of the explanation of the sixty-first chapter)" (outside the ledger below · belonging to the range of the preceding chapter), and it runs on, one after the other, with this chapter's 「咎（釋第六十二品竟）」 tr. "fault (end of the explanation of the sixty-second chapter)" (entry forty-two of the ledger below); the Ishiyama text's interlinear note of this type appears in two consecutive chapters, and the -1 step is not a lone piece of evidence.
The double track of the Ishiyama fascicle numbering (the fascicle-head record within the fascicle-end title). The two notes on the fascicle-end title〔T25 0607c17〕: 「論【大】｜經【石】」 tr. "treatise (Taishō) | sūtra (Ishiyama)" (entry forty-three of the ledger below) and 「七【大】｜八【石】」 tr. "seven (Taishō) | eight (Ishiyama)" (entry forty-four of the ledger below)—here the Ishiyama text reads 「大智度經卷第七十八」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra, Fascicle Seventy-eight" (the book title reads 「經」 tr. "sūtra", not 「論」 tr. "treatise"; the fascicle number reads 「七十八」 tr. "seventy-eight", not 「七十七」 tr. "seventy-seven"). Put together with the 「卷第七十八首【石】」 tr. "head of Fascicle Seventy-eight (Ishiyama)" recorded in the note on the preceding chapter's title (the note on the title of Chapter 62〔T25 0602b26〕, already recorded under the preceding chapter), it can be seen that the Ishiyama text's Fascicle 78 begins at the head of Chapter 62 and ends at the end of this chapter; the base text's Fascicle 77 begins at〔T25 0598c19〕 (the continuation title of Chapter 61) and ends at〔T25 0607c17〕—the double track of fascicle and chapter in the base text / the Ishiyama text does not overlap, the offset being one fascicle; recorded as it is, not forcibly explained.
The chapter title of the sūtra explained (no collation note · the two sides not forming a mirror image · recorded as it is). On the T223 side of the sūtra explained, the title of this chapter〔T08 0357a08〕 reads 「摩訶般若波羅蜜經等學品第六十三」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third", and at that place there is no collation note of any kind (found by scanning the anchors one by one within the range of this chapter on T223; see below). Set against the four forms coexisting in the note on the chapter title on the side of this treatise, the two sides do not form a mirror image—this differs from the mirror-image structure of the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", in which 「本論底本讀法正是 T223 異本讀法」 tr. "the reading of this treatise's base text is precisely the reading of a variant text of T223"; in this chapter the T223 side has no variant reading at all on the chapter title to set against it; recorded as it is, and the structure of the preceding chapter is not used to infer that of this chapter.
The +1 offset of the n attribute of the T223 mulu (continuing). On the T223 side of the sūtra explained, the mulu of this chapter is marked n="64" while the displayed text marks 「63 等學品」 tr. "63 Chapter on Equal Training"〔T08 0357a08〕—the +1 offset of the n attribute has been seen repeatedly since Chapter 41, and continues in this chapter (following the standing convention already recorded at Chapter 48, not judged again). The preceding chapter is of the same kind: 「62 魔愁品」 tr. "62 Chapter on Māra's Grief" n="63"〔T08 0355c16〕.
Chapter boundary and fascicle boundary on the T223 side (this chapter placed mid-fascicle). Fascicle 19 of the sūtra explained begins at〔T08 0355c13〕 and ends at〔T08 0362a04〕; this chapter, "Equal Training", the Sixty-third, begins at〔T08 0357a08〕 and ends at〔T08 0358b15〕, and the title of the next chapter, "Pure Vow", the Sixty-fourth, is at〔T08 0358b16〕—on the T223 side this chapter lies in the middle of Fascicle 19 and does not touch a fascicle boundary; on the side of this treatise it lies at the end of Fascicle 77 and is tied to the fascicle's end (see Section I). The two transmissions do not agree in their division of fascicles and chapters at this chapter; recorded as it is. Further: on the T223 side the next chapter is named 「淨願品」 tr. "Chapter on Pure Vow", while on the side of this treatise the next chapter is named 「願樂品」 tr. "Chapter on Aspiration and Delight"〔T25 0607c20〕; the names of the next chapter differ between the two canons; this ledger records that they are both seen, and their examination belongs to the ledger of the next chapter, not judged here.
The anchor count on the T223 side (a full scan · the denominator for cross-reading). Within the range for cross-reading of this chapter〔T08 0357a08–0358b15〕, a scan one by one finds twenty-two numbered notes and six star anchors (the four beg_466 / beg_467 / beg_468 / beg_469 all corresp→note(0356005), that is, the shared use of the note on the translated name of the type 「阿惟越致／鞞跋」 tr. "avaivartika / pi-pa"; the two beg_46a / beg_46b corresp→note(0358001), that is, the shared use of the type 「世界／國土」 tr. "world / land"), twenty-eight anchors in all.
Comparative reading of the full quoted sūtra (two-sided collation · eleven variant readings · recording at each place whether it has a collation note). Sūtra ① of this treatise and "Equal Training" of the sūtra explained are almost identical word for word; they differ in eleven places:
- The emptiness of specific marks / the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas—this treatise reads 「內空是菩薩等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩等法。」 tr. "Inner emptiness is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality; outer emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality."〔T25 0604c04〕, T223 reads 「外空乃至無法有法空，是菩薩等法」 tr. "outer emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality"〔T08 0357a11〕. On the T223 side there is a note here, 「無法有法【大】｜自相【宋】」 tr. "non-existent and existent dharmas (Taishō) | specific marks (Song)"〔T08 0357a11〕—the Song edition reads 「自相」 tr. "specific marks", agreeing exactly with the base text of this treatise; on the side of this treatise there is no collation note here. The two lines each have their own transmission of the last item of the eighteen emptinesses; recorded as it is, without judging which is correct.
- The transliterations abibazhi / aweiyuezhi (both avaivartika)—this treatise reads 「如是學，直到阿鞞跋致地」 tr. "Training in this way, he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika"〔T25 0604c26〕, T223 reads 「如是學，直到阿惟越致地」 tr. "Training in this way, he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika"〔T08 0357b04〕. On the T223 side there is a star note here, 「惟越【大】｜鞞[跳-兆+(乏-之+(犮-、))]【元】【宮】【明】【聖】」 tr. "wei-yue (Taishō) | pi-pa (Yuan, Palace, Ming, Shōgozō)"〔T08 0357b05〕, and a star of the same type is seen four times within the range of this chapter (〔T08 0357b05〕〔T08 0357c11〕〔T08 0357c12〕×2)—the four texts Yuan, Palace, Ming, and Shōgozō of T223 read the 「鞞跋」 tr. "pi-pa" type, agreeing exactly with the translated name in the base text of this treatise; on the side of this treatise there is no collation note here. The variant character is recorded as it stands in CBETA's composed-character notation, the normalised glyph not taken.
- Purifying buddha-worlds / purifying buddha-lands—this treatise reads 「為得擁護，為學大慈大悲，為學淨佛世界、成就眾生。」 tr. "Training in this way is obtaining protection, is training in great kindness and great compassion, is training in purifying buddha-worlds and bringing beings to accomplishment."〔T25 0604c28〕, T223 reads 「為學淨佛國土、成就眾生」 tr. "is training in purifying buddha-lands and bringing beings to accomplishment"〔T08 0357b06〕. On the side of this treatise this 「世界」 tr. "world" has a collation note, 「世界【大】｜國土【石】」 tr. "world (Taishō) | land (Ishiyama)"〔T25 0604c29〕—the Ishiyama text reads 「國土」 tr. "land", agreeing exactly with the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained; on the T223 side there is no collation note here. Further recorded: within the range of this treatise the variation 「世界／國土」 tr. "world / land" against the Ishiyama text is seen twice (entry six of the ledger below〔T25 0604c29〕 「世界【大】｜國土【石】」 tr. "world (Taishō) | land (Ishiyama)", and entries twenty-seven / twenty-eight〔T25 0606b08〕 「界【大】｜世界【宮】｜國【石】」 tr. "realm (Taishō) | world (Palace) | land (Ishiyama)"), and within the range of T223 the variation of the same group against the Song edition is seen three times (〔T08 0358a03〕 and its two stars); each of the two canons has this group's wavering within itself; it is not one-directional within one canon; recorded as it is.
- Protection / protection of the Dharma—this treatise reads 「為得擁護」 tr. "is obtaining protection"〔T25 0604c28〕, T223 reads 「為得擁護法」 tr. "is obtaining the protection of the Dharma"〔T08 0357b06〕. On the T223 side there is a note here, 「法【大】｜〔－〕【宋】」 tr. "Dharma (Taishō) | omitted (Song)"〔T08 0357b06〕—the Song edition lacks the character 「法」 tr. "Dharma", and the reading it yields is precisely the reading of the base text of this treatise; on the side of this treatise there is no collation note here.
- Turning the wheel of the Dharma / the wheel of the Dharma—this treatise reads 「為學三轉十二行法輪轉故」 tr. "for the sake of training so that the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects can be turned"〔T25 0604c29〕, T223 reads 「為學三轉十二行法輪故」 tr. "for the sake of training in the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects"〔T08 0357b07〕. On the T223 side there is a note here, 「輪【大】｜輪轉【元】【宮】【明】【聖】【宋】」 tr. "wheel (Taishō) | wheel turned (Yuan, Palace, Ming, Shōgozō, Song)"〔T08 0357b08〕—all five texts of T223 read 「輪轉」 tr. "wheel turned", agreeing exactly with the base text of this treatise; only its base text reads 「輪」 tr. "wheel"; on the side of this treatise there is no collation note here.
- The transliteration zhantuoluo in two different first characters (both caṇḍāla)—the sūtra section of this treatise reads 「終不墮地獄、餓鬼、畜生中，終不生邊地，終不生栴陀羅家」 tr. "he never falls among the hells, the hungry ghosts, or the animals, is never born in a border land, is never born in a caṇḍāla household"〔T25 0605a05〕, T223 reads 「終不生旃陀羅家」 tr. "is never born in a caṇḍāla household"〔T08 0357b13〕. Neither side has a collation note here; further, the treatise section of this treatise itself reads 「不生旃陀羅等下賤人中」 tr. "is not born among the caṇḍāla and other lowly people"〔T25 0606c21〕 (with the character 「旃」 tr. "zhan"), so the sūtra section and the treatise section of this treatise also differ in the character used; it belongs to the wavering of characters in the base text, recorded as it is, not unified on its behalf.
- Ordinary people / ordinary persons—this treatise reads 「一切凡夫不知不見。」 tr. "All ordinary people do not know and do not see."〔T25 0605a19〕, T223 reads 「一切凡夫人不知不見」 tr. "all ordinary persons do not know and do not see"〔T08 0357b26〕. On the T223 side there is a note here, 「人【大】｜〔－〕【宋】」 tr. "person (Taishō) | omitted (Song)"〔T08 0357b26〕—the Song edition lacks the character 「人」 tr. "person", and the reading it yields is precisely the reading of the base text of this treatise; on the side of this treatise this 「夫」 tr. "fu (of ordinary people)" also has a collation note, 「夫【大】｜夫人【元】【明】」 tr. "fu (Taishō) | fu-person (Yuan, Ming)"〔T25 0605a19〕—the two editions Yuan and Ming read 「夫人」 tr. "fu-person", agreeing exactly with the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained, and the two sides form an exact mirror image. Further, the treatise section of this treatise reads 「一切凡夫人不知不見如是清淨法」 tr. "all ordinary persons do not know and do not see such pure dharmas"〔T25 0607a16〕; when the treatise quotes the sūtra it agrees, on the contrary, with the base text of T223; distinguished as it is.
- The transliterations tan / tanna in dānapāramitā (both dāna)—this treatise reads 「行檀波羅蜜乃至般若波羅蜜」 tr. "practises dānapāramitā and so on up to prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0605a20〕, T223 reads 「行檀那波羅蜜乃至般若波羅蜜」 tr. "practises dānapāramitā and so on up to prajñāpāramitā"〔T08 0357b27〕. On the T223 side the character 「那」 tr. "na" has a note, 「那【大】｜〔－〕【宋】」 tr. "na (Taishō) | omitted (Song)"〔T08 0357b28〕—the Song edition lacks the character 「那」 tr. "na", agreeing exactly with the base text of this treatise; on the side of this treatise there is no collation note here. This group's difference was already recorded in the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", as the translated names of the two canons each forming their own line (an existing convention, not judged again), and it continues in this chapter.
- Bell and drum (zhong / zhong, two forms of ‘bell’) · chant / conch (bai / bei)—this treatise reads 「欲撞擊佛鍾鼓，欲吹佛唄」 tr. "wishing to strike the Buddha's bell and drum, wishing to blow the Buddha's conch"〔T25 0605c10〕, T223 reads 「欲撞擊佛鐘鼓，欲吹佛貝」 tr. "wishing to strike the Buddha's bell and drum, wishing to blow the Buddha's conch"〔T08 0358a18〕. Both sides have collation notes here: on the side of this treatise 「鍾【大】｜鐘【明】」 tr. "bell, zhong (Taishō) | bell, zhong in the metal form (Ming)" (entry sixteen of the ledger below) and 「唄【大】｜貝【元】【明】【宮】」 tr. "chant (Taishō) | conch-shell (Yuan, Ming, Palace)" (entry seventeen of the ledger below); the T223 side has no note on these two characters, but has the neighbouring note 「諸【大】｜〔－〕【聖】」 tr. "all (Taishō) | omitted (Shōgozō)"〔T08 0358a18〕. The readings of the Ming, Yuan, and Palace texts of this treatise are precisely the reading of the base text of T223; the two sides confirm each other; recorded as it is.
- Wishing to be eyes for the blind / wishing to give eyes to the blind—this treatise reads 「欲為盲者作目」 tr. "wishing to be eyes for the blind"〔T25 0605c08〕, T223 reads 「欲與盲者作目」 tr. "wishing to give eyes to the blind"〔T08 0358a17〕. On the T223 side there is a note here, 「與【大】｜為【元】【宮】【明】【聖】」 tr. "give (Taishō) | be for (Yuan, Palace, Ming, Shōgozō)"〔T08 0358a17〕—the four texts Yuan, Palace, Ming, and Shōgozō of T223 read 「為」 tr. "be for", agreeing exactly with the base text of this treatise; on the side of this treatise there is no collation note here.
- This person has prajñāpāramitā / this person's prajñāpāramitā—this treatise reads 「是般若波羅蜜，是人有般若波羅蜜」 tr. "This is prajñāpāramitā; this person has prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0605c29〕 (its last character happens to cross a page-column; in the base text there is a page-column line break between 「波羅」 tr. "pāra" and 「蜜」 tr. "mitā", which does not affect the Chinese-character stream), T223 reads 「是人般若波羅蜜」 tr. "this person's prajñāpāramitā"〔T08 0358b09〕. On the T223 side there is a note here, 「人【大】｜人有【宮】【明】」 tr. "person (Taishō) | person has (Palace, Ming)"〔T08 0358b09〕—the two editions Palace and Ming read 「人有」 tr. "person has", agreeing exactly with the base text of this treatise; on the side of this treatise this 「有」 tr. "has" also has a collation note, 「有【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】」 tr. "has (Taishō) | omitted (Song, Palace)"〔T25 0605c29〕—the two editions Song and Palace delete 「有」 tr. "has", and the reading they yield is precisely the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained; the two sides form an exact mirror image (entry twenty-two of the ledger below).
The comparison group (seven strings · the number of occurrences in each of the two canons honestly recorded · uniquely aligned). 「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」 tr. "What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality, in which the bodhisattva should train?"〔T25 0604c03〕 / 〔T08 0357a09〕; 「一切法本性清淨，云何言菩薩一切法中得清淨？」 tr. "All dharmas are pure in their original nature; why is it said that the bodhisattva obtains purity within all dharmas?"〔T25 0605a15〕 / 〔T08 0357b22〕; 「譬如大地，少所處出金銀珍寶」 tr. "As on the great earth, few are the places that yield gold, silver, and precious things"〔T25 0605a23〕 / 〔T08 0357c02〕; 「少所人能學般若波羅蜜，多墮聲聞、辟支佛地。」 tr. "Few are the people who can train in prajñāpāramitā; most fall to the śrāvaka ground or the pratyekabuddha ground."〔T25 0605a25〕 / 〔T08 0357c03〕; 「譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業」 tr. "As few are the people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king"〔T25 0605a26〕 / 〔T08 0357c04〕; 「譬如我見中悉攝六十二見」 tr. "As within the view of self the sixty-two wrong views are all included"〔T25 0605b16〕 / 〔T08 0357c24〕; 「譬如人死，命根滅故，餘根悉隨滅」 tr. "As when a man dies, because the life-faculty ceases, all his other faculties cease along with it"〔T25 0605b18〕 / 〔T08 0357c26〕. The Chinese-character streams of the seven strings above are each seen only once in the whole of the treatise T25n1509 and in the whole of the sūtra T08n0223 (each string independently rescanned in the base texts of both canons by the full-text method, not transcribed), with unique alignment of position and no other chapter with which they could be confused. Two further strings whose number of occurrences is not one are recorded, so that no estimate is made to fill the count: 「為盡諸學邊」 tr. "is for exhausting the limits of all training" is seen twice in the whole of the treatise T25n1509 (〔T25 0604c25〕 sūtra,〔T25 0606b01〕 treatise) and once in the whole of the sūtra T08n0223〔T08 0357b03〕; 「三千大千世界中眾生多不」 tr. "are the beings in the three-thousand great-thousand world many or not" is seen twice within this chapter of this treatise (〔T25 0605b23〕 sūtra,〔T25 0607b23〕 the treatise-author quoting the sūtra) and once within the sūtra explained, of the〔T08 0357c29〕 type (one question in the sūtra, with no treatise layer that could quote it). The verdict is 「同品同名·逐字幾近同文」 tr. "same name, same chapter · almost identical word for word" (all four forms of the chapter name read 「等學」 tr. "equal training"; they differ only in the form of the title and the chapter order; see above). The 【論】 layer of this treatise is a structural expansion belonging to the treatise form; the sūtra explained has no such layer; it is not a variant reading.
Differences in the treatise-author's quotation of the sūtra (distinguished as they are · not variant readings). The words by which the treatise cites the sūtra repeatedly differ from the text of the sūtra section itself; compared place by place, four of them are recorded. First, the treatise reads 「甚深同心等法，是菩薩所學處？」 tr. "The very deep dharma of equality of one mind—is this where the bodhisattva trains?"〔T25 0606a09〕, the sūtra reads 「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」 tr. "What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality, in which the bodhisattva should train?"〔T25 0604c03〕—the treatise-author sums up the sūtra's question in his own words, not quoting it word for word. Second, the treatise reads 「菩薩摩訶薩能如是學如，為學薩婆若。」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who can train in suchness in this way is training in sarvajñā."〔T25 0606a24〕, the sūtra reads 「菩薩摩訶薩如是學如，為學薩婆若。」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in suchness in this way is training in sarvajñā."〔T25 0604c20〕—one character more, 「能」 tr. "can". Third, the treatise reads 「菩薩如是學，於一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」 tr. "The bodhisattva who trains in this way obtains purity within all dharmas—namely, purifying the mind of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha."〔T25 0607a09〕, the sūtra reads 「菩薩如是學，一切法中得清淨，所謂淨聲聞、辟支佛心。」 tr. "The bodhisattva who trains in this way obtains purity within all dharmas—namely, purifying the mind of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha."〔T25 0605a13〕—one character more, 「於」 tr. "within". Fourth, the treatise reads 「菩薩如是學，當知是不退轉，遠離二乘，近佛乘。」 tr. "The bodhisattva who trains in this way—know that he is non-retrogressing, far from the two vehicles, and near the Buddha vehicle."〔T25 0607b24〕, the sūtra reads 「當知是不退轉菩薩，疾近薩婆若，遠離聲聞、辟支佛，近阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "Know that this is a non-retrogressing bodhisattva, who quickly draws near to sarvajñā, is far from the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, and draws near to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi."〔T25 0605c23〕—the treatise condenses it with 「二乘」 tr. "the two vehicles" and 「佛乘」 tr. "the Buddha vehicle", which belongs to abridged citation. All the above are the ordinary state of the treatise-author's quotation of the sūtra, distinguished as they are and not entered in the ledger of variant readings. Further recorded: the words by which the treatise cites the preceding chapter read 「上阿難問「鬪諍」，佛答「同學清淨」。」 tr. "Above, Ānanda asked about ‘fighting and contention’, and the Buddha answered with ‘the purity of training alike’."〔T25 0606a08〕—the Chinese-character stream of 「同學清淨」 tr. "the purity of training alike" is seen only this once in the whole of T25n1509, and neither the sūtra section nor the treatise section of the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", has these four characters word for word (the preceding chapter's words read 「是則名菩薩同學」 tr. "this then is called the bodhisattvas' training alike"〔T25 0604b29〕, while 「鬪諍」 tr. "fighting and contention" is seen at〔T25 0603b27〕〔T25 0603c01〕)—the treatise-author's quotation here is a summing-up of the meaning, not a word-for-word citation of the preceding chapter; recorded as it is.
V. The Prajñā Eye
The eye of this chapter lies in how the one word 「等」 tr. "equal" comes to rest on 「學」 tr. "training"—it is not looking on all dharmas as one and the same; it is seeing their equality upon the differences of dharmas, and then training by means of this equality. Its meaning can be summed up in five layers.
First, the dharma of equality is precisely the emptinesses; it is not that there is some other dharma named ‘equal’. What Subhūti asks as soon as he opens his mouth is 「何等是菩薩摩訶薩等法，菩薩所應學？」 tr. "What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's dharma of equality, in which the bodhisattva should train?"〔T25 0604c03〕; the Buddha's answer brings out no new heading, but simply brings the eighteen emptinesses over: 「內空是菩薩等法，外空乃至自相空是菩薩等法。」 tr. "Inner emptiness is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality; outer emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of specific marks is the bodhisattva's dharma of equality."〔T25 0604c04〕. The treatise-author, fearing that people will read 「等」 tr. "equal" as a substance that can be clung to, first takes a scale as his simile—「如稱兩頭停等，如是內空等諸空於諸法中平等。」 tr. "As the two ends of a scale come to rest level, so inner emptiness and the other emptinesses are equal among all dharmas."〔T25 0606a11〕, and then points to the principle by which the equality is reached: 「如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法」 tr. "As inner dharmas have all kinds of differences, on obtaining inner emptiness they are all equal and without dharmas"〔T25 0606a13〕. The differences need not first be removed; once emptiness shines on them, the differences level of themselves. The sūtra gathers it up with this at the close: 「住是等法，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "Abiding in this dharma of equality, he obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi."〔T25 0604c08〕.
Second, the one who trains in suchness does not realise it. Subhūti's second question is asked most finely: to train for the sake of the exhaustion of form, for the sake of the separation of form, the cessation of form, the non-arising of form—does this count as training in sarvajñā? The Buddha first approves his question—「如須菩提所說，為色盡、離、滅、不生故學，為學薩婆若」 tr. "As Subhūti has said, to train for the sake of the exhaustion, separation, cessation, and non-arising of form is training in sarvajñā"〔T25 0604c14〕, and at once blocks the road with a counter-question: 「是諸如盡、滅、斷不？」 tr. "Are these suchnesses exhausted, ceased, severed, or not?"〔T25 0604c19〕 Subhūti answers, 「不也！世尊！」 tr. "No, World-Honored One!"〔T25 0604c19〕. The Buddha then brings out the tightest sentence of the whole chapter: 「菩薩摩訶薩如是學如，為學薩婆若。是如，不作證、不滅、不斷。」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who trains in suchness in this way is training in sarvajñā. This suchness is not realised, does not cease, is not severed."〔T25 0604c20〕. The treatise-author explains this turn: 「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡？本來不生，云何有滅？」 tr. "This suchness from the beginning has not been gathered and has not come together; how could there be exhaustion? From the beginning it has not arisen; how could there be cessation?"〔T25 0606a22〕, 「是法本來虛誑，無有定相，云何可斷？」 tr. "This dharma from the beginning is false and deceptive and has no fixed mark; how could it be severed?"〔T25 0606a23〕; so the exhaustion, separation, and severing spoken of before are only counteractions—「是如，常、不可證、不可滅、不可斷；是盡、離、斷，除顛倒故行，非是究竟。」 tr. "This suchness is permanent, cannot be realised, cannot be made to cease, cannot be severed; this exhaustion, separation, and severing are practised in order to remove the inversions; they are not the ultimate."〔T25 0606a25〕. Removing the inversions is a means, not the end-point; having arrived at suchness, even 「我在除」 tr. "I am removing" is put down.
Third, exhausting the limits of all training is not finishing the training; it is training until there is no limit. The sūtra sets it out all along the line: training in this way, Māra cannot break him; he goes straight to the ground of the avaivartika; he trains in the path the Buddha practises; he trains in great kindness and great compassion; he trains in purifying buddha-worlds and bringing beings to accomplishment; he trains in the wheel of the Dharma of three turnings and twelve aspects; he trains in delivering beings; he trains in not cutting off the seed of the Buddha; he trains in opening the gate of ambrosia; and at the last, 「如是學，為學欲示無為性。」 tr. "Training in this way is training in wishing to show the unconditioned nature."〔T25 0605a03〕. The treatise-author joins this string into one chain of cause and effect: 「能起大慈大悲；大慈大悲故，能教化眾生；眾生心清淨故，佛界清淨」 tr. "He can give rise to great kindness and great compassion; because of great kindness and great compassion he can teach and transform beings; because beings' minds are pure, the Buddha's realm is pure"〔T25 0606b06〕, 「以大乘度眾生故，不斷佛種；不斷佛種故，於世間常開甘露法門，常示眾生無為性。」 tr. "Because he delivers beings by the Great Vehicle, he does not cut off the seed of the Buddha; because he does not cut off the seed of the Buddha, in the world he constantly opens the Dharma-gate of ambrosia and constantly shows beings the unconditioned nature."〔T25 0606b09〕, and takes apart the last heading for people to see: 「無為性者，所謂如、法性、實際、涅槃。甘露者，無為性；門者，三解脫門。」 tr. "The unconditioned nature is what is called suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, nirvāṇa. Ambrosia is the unconditioned nature; the gate is the three gates of liberation."〔T25 0606b11〕. For what is called 「盡諸學邊」 tr. "exhausting the limits of all training", the treatise-author gives its bounds in two places: one is 「若學薩婆若，即是學六波羅蜜等；若能學六波羅蜜等，是為盡諸學邊。」 tr. "If he trains in sarvajñā, this is training in the six perfections and the rest; if he can train in the six perfections and the rest, this is exhausting the limits of all training."〔T25 0606a28〕; the other is 「得是功德故，三世十方一切眾生心心數法，心所行起種種業因緣悉能遍知」 tr. "Because he obtains this merit, of all beings of the three times and the ten directions he can know completely their minds and mental-factor dharmas, and the causes and conditions of the various deeds to which the workings of their minds give rise"〔T25 0607a20〕. The former speaks of the wholeness of the training, the latter of the function of the training; only when the training reaches the point of knowing completely the minds and workings of beings and teaching the Dharma according to what fits does the training count as having no limit left over.
Fourth, fewness is not a sign of defeat. The Buddha brings out two similes in a row: 「譬如大地，少所處出金銀珍寶」 tr. "As on the great earth, few are the places that yield gold, silver, and precious things"〔T25 0605a23〕, 「譬如少所人受行轉輪聖王業，多受行小王業」 tr. "As few are the people who take up and practise the work of a wheel-turning sage king, and most take up and practise the work of a minor king"〔T25 0605a26〕, and what they point to is a matter most hard to bear—「少有如說行，多住聲聞、辟支佛地」 tr. "few practise as taught; most abide in the śrāvaka ground or the pratyekabuddha ground"〔T25 0605b01〕. But the intent of the two similes lies not in reproaching the many; it lies in telling the practitioner that rarity has always been the normal state: gold and silver have always come only from few places, and the work of the wheel-turning king has always been taken up and practised by few. The treatise-author closes more directly: 「少有能如是學，是人難得！」 tr. "Few can train in this way; such a person is hard to find!"〔T25 0607a24〕. Set against this are the three ways in which the inferior person explains himself—protecting himself and his kin, beings being boundless and impossible to deliver to the last, and all dharmas being empty so that there is nothing to deliver; the treatise-author settles them in one sentence: 「此是下劣人所說，何足以之為證？」 tr. "These are the words of inferior people; how are they worth taking as proof?"〔T25 0606c04〕, and points to the root of the illness: 「皆是六十二邪見所攝。」 tr. "All are included within the sixty-two wrong views."〔T25 0606c07〕. The great person, conversely, lies in seeking nothing: 「譬如大人但以施心施與他財，而不取價。」 tr. "As a great person gives wealth to others simply with a giving mind, and does not take a price."〔T25 0606c09〕. The division between the inferior and the great person lies not in the size of ability, but in whether there is anything sought in the mind.
Fifth, the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought" and the self-refutation of prajñā. The end of the sūtra brings out three thoughts: of the one who has the thought 「我以是般若波羅蜜得一切種智」 tr. "by this prajñāpāramitā I obtain the omniscience of all kinds", 「若如是念，不名行般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "If he thinks in this way, it is not called practising prajñāpāramitā."〔T25 0605c27〕; the one who does not have this thought is called practising prajñā; and there is further a third—「無是般若波羅蜜，無人有是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "There is no such prajñāpāramitā; no person has this prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0606a03〕 is also called practising prajñā, its reason lying in 「一切法如、法性、實際常住故。」 tr. "because all dharmas—suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality—constantly abide."〔T25 0606a05〕. The treatise-author sets up his fourth question: 「作是念、不作是念，事已盡，何以復有第三說？」 tr. "Having this thought and not having this thought—the matter has already been fully spoken; why is there further a third statement?"〔T25 0607c08〕, and answers it himself in two layers: 「初者是邪行相，第二遮邪行；未說正行相，是故第三說正行相。」 tr. "The first is the mark of wrong practice; the second blocks wrong practice; the mark of right practice has not yet been spoken, and therefore the third speaks the mark of right practice."〔T25 0607c09〕; 「復次，初是著心取相；第二破是著相，不說云何是諸法相；第三中破邪著，亦說實相。」 tr. "Furthermore, the first is a clinging mind grasping at marks; the second refutes this mark of clinging but does not say what the marks of dharmas are; in the third, wrong clinging is refuted and the real mark is also spoken."〔T25 0607c10〕. Why is the first thought wrong? The treatise-author dissects it most finely: 「五眾和合假名菩薩；菩薩隨逐假名字計以為我，以是般若有所作。」 tr. "The coming together of the five aggregates is provisionally named bodhisattva; the bodhisattva, following after the provisional name, reckons it to be a self, and by this prajñā has something that is done."〔T25 0607b29〕; 「般若是無著相，而是人說有相般若是第一義」 tr. "Prajñā is the mark of non-clinging, and yet this person says that a prajñā possessed of marks is the highest meaning"〔T25 0607c02〕; 「般若是無作相，而是人欲用般若有所作」 tr. "Prajñā is the mark of non-action, and yet this person wishes to use prajñā to have something done"〔T25 0607c04〕. The whole chapter closes on one sentence: 「於一切處，不顯示般若波羅蜜相」 tr. "In all places he does not display the mark of prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0607c12〕, 「但知一切法常住如、法性、實際中，於如、法性、實際中不諍。」 tr. "he only knows that all dharmas constantly abide in suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality, and within suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality he does not contend."〔T25 0607c14〕—the two Chinese characters rendered here as ‘does not contend’ are the knot of the whole chapter: the equality of equal training comes to rest, at the last, on not contending with emptiness. In the earlier passage the treatise also closes the bounds of prajñā with these words: 「通達，不與空諍，是名般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "Penetrating, not contending with emptiness: this is called prajñāpāramitā."〔T25 0607a15〕; the earlier and the later clasp each other.
VI. Divergent Readings of the Masters
The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa has no tradition of a complete line-by-line commentary, and the ancient masters' citations and explanations are, as a matter of fact, partial and uneven. For this chapter two ancient masters are read again: Jizang's commentary, which explains the sūtra explained, preserves a complete dedicated chapter, and Huiying's commentary, which explains this treatise, also preserves a dedicated chapter (as with the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", both are instances where X46 has coverage); Junzheng's book has zero hits, and the books of Zhiyi, Zhanran, and others of the Tiantai line also have zero real hits. This section records the correspondence of what they comment on and cite with this chapter, without judging the relative merit of the masters' interpretations.
Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra (X24n0451). His line-by-line commentary on "Equal Training" of the sūtra explained begins at 「等學品第六十三」 tr. "Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third"〔X24n0451 0315b17〕 and runs to〔X24n0451 0316a05〕, before the next chapter, 「淨願品第六十四」 tr. "Chapter on Pure Vow, the Sixty-fourth"〔X24n0451 0316a06〕, begins, covering the whole of the sūtra of this chapter. Five things in it can be recorded.
First, the place of the chapter and the reason for its name—「此第二、憑法忍以近行。」 tr. "This is the second: relying on the acceptance of dharmas in order to draw near to practice."〔X24n0451 0315b18〕; his words explaining the chapter name, as they stand in the base text, read 「而云等學者，佛示學者，佛示諸法平等令其學，又令菩薩學此平等，故言等學也。」 tr. "And as for its being called equal training: the Buddha shows the trainee, the Buddha shows that all dharmas are equal and has him train in it, and further has the bodhisattva train in this equality; therefore it is called equal training."〔X24n0451 0315b18〕—the four characters 「佛示學者，」 tr. "the Buddha shows the trainee," are followed directly by 「佛示諸法平等」 tr. "the Buddha shows that all dharmas are equal", and the base text here has the trace of a repetition (this ledger records it as it stands in the base text, not deleting the four repeated characters). The meaning of his naming is plain: the Buddha shows that all dharmas are equal and has him train in it, and further has the bodhisattva train in this equality; hence the name equal training.
Second, the five divisions—「品為五：第一、示平等體；二、教平等學；三、明等學利；四、秤歎等學；五、明等學得失。」 tr. "The chapter is in five: first, showing the substance of equality; second, teaching the training in equality; third, making clear the benefit of equal training; fourth, praising equal training; fifth, making clear the gain and loss of equal training."〔X24n0451 0315b20〕: Jizang divides the whole chapter into five parts, and marks for himself where each division begins: the second division begins 「白佛：為色盡學下，第二、示等學方。先問，次答。」 tr. "From ‘said to the Buddha: trains for the sake of the exhaustion of form’ downward is the second: showing the method of equal training. First the question, then the answer."〔X24n0451 0315c01〕; the third division begins 「復次須菩提如是學如下，第三、明得學利。」 tr. "From ‘Furthermore, Subhūti, trains in suchness in this way’ downward is the third: making clear the benefit of obtaining the training."〔X24n0451 0315c07〕; the fourth division begins 「譬如大地下，第四、明結歎勸修。」 tr. "From ‘as on the great earth’ downward is the fourth: making clear the concluding praise and the exhortation to cultivate."〔X24n0451 0316a01〕; the fifth division begins 「須菩提！行般若作是念下，第五、明得失。」 tr. "From ‘Subhūti! practising prajñā, he has this thought’ downward is the fifth: making clear gain and loss."〔X24n0451 0316a03〕. The beginnings of the four divisions correspond passage by passage to the sequence of the sūtra text of this treatise (the question and answer on the dharma of equality → the question and answer on training for the sake of the exhaustion of form → the broad listing of the benefits of training in this way → the concluding praise of the two similes of gold and silver and of the wheel-turning sage king → the gain and loss of the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought"); this belongs to the mutual appearance of an ancient master's sectional division and the sequence of the base text's sūtra, not to a divergence of doctrine. But the names of his divisions differ slightly from one place to another (the fourth division reads 「秤歎等學」 tr. "praising equal training" in the general outline and 「結歎勸修」 tr. "the concluding praise and the exhortation to cultivate" where it begins; the third division reads 「明等學利」 tr. "making clear the benefit of equal training" in the general outline and 「明得學利」 tr. "making clear the benefit of obtaining the training" where it begins); this ledger records the two forms separately as they stand in the base text, not unified on its behalf.
Third, the distinction of equal emptiness refuting inequality—「初先問，次答。答中，前明等空破不等，次次舉自相空釋平等。」 tr. "At first there is the question, then the answer. Within the answer, first it makes clear that equal emptiness refutes inequality; next, next it raises the emptiness of specific marks to explain equality."〔X24n0451 0315b22〕, 「非以空破法，法本相；非平等破不等，法本平等也。」 tr. "It is not that emptiness is used to refute dharmas: dharmas are originally of that mark; it is not that equality refutes inequality: dharmas are originally equal."〔X24n0451 0315b23〕: here Jizang sets up the meaning of 「非破」 tr. "not refuting"—emptiness is not something taken up to refute dharmas; dharmas are originally thus of themselves; it points to the same thing as the treatise section's 「如內法有種種差別，得內空則皆平等無法」 tr. "As inner dharmas have all kinds of differences, on obtaining inner emptiness they are all equal and without dharmas"〔T25 0606a13〕, though the manner of speaking differs; distinguished as it is. His explanation of the intent of the Buddha's answer on training in suchness follows the same road: 「佛答學如者，明色本不和合不集，今豈滅耶？」 tr. "As for the Buddha's answer on training in suchness: it makes clear that form originally has not come together and has not been gathered; how could it now cease?"〔X24n0451 0315c04〕, which is close word for word to this treatise's 「是如從本已來，不集、不和合，云何有盡？」 tr. "This suchness from the beginning has not been gathered and has not come together; how could there be exhaustion?"〔T25 0606a22〕; the two masters meet here.
Fourth, the three inferior people—「下劣有三人」 tr. "Of the inferior there are three kinds of people"〔X24n0451 0315c10〕; the accounts of the second and third people come out: 「二云、我若遍度眾生盡，後佛復何所度？」 tr. "The second says: if I deliver all beings to the last, what then will later buddhas deliver?"〔X24n0451 0315c11〕, 「第三、人聞大乘說諸法畢竟空，便言無度不度，我何應度耶？」 tr. "The third: a person hears the Great Vehicle say that all dharmas are ultimately empty, and then says there is neither delivering nor not delivering; why should I deliver?"〔X24n0451 0315c13〕—their number agrees with this treatise's three kinds of wrong view of the inferior, but the content of the second person differs slightly: this treatise reads 「眾生無量無邊，度不可盡；若可度盡，即是有量有邊，一佛便可度盡。」 tr. "Beings are immeasurable and boundless and cannot be delivered to the last; if they could be delivered to the last, they would be measurable and bounded, and a single Buddha could deliver them all."〔T25 0606b18〕 (because they cannot be delivered to the last, he does not deliver), while Jizang reads 「我若遍度眾生盡，後佛復何所度」 tr. "if I deliver all beings to the last, what then will later buddhas deliver" (if they are delivered to the last, later buddhas have nothing to do)—one is set up from delivery being impossible to finish, the other from there being nothing to do after delivery is finished; the two masters' setting up of the meaning differs slightly; recorded side by side without judgement. Jizang also sets up his own question and answer to show that 「不攝惡人」 tr. "not taking in evil people" and 「遍度」 tr. "delivering all" are not in contradiction: 「答：深行之人無不攝也，故善星調達雖惡，如來與之共住」 tr. "Answer: for a person of deep practice there is none he does not take in; therefore, though Good Star and Devadatta were evil, the Tathāgata dwelt together with them"〔X24n0451 0315c19〕—he divides taking in and not taking in by the depth or shallowness of practice, while this treatise divides them by whether one can be transformed or cannot be transformed (「惡人、破戒者，有可化、有不可化，此中但說不可化者。」 tr. "Of evil people and those who break the precepts, there are those who can be transformed and those who cannot be transformed; here only those who cannot be transformed are spoken of."〔T25 0607a02〕); the two masters rest on different grounds, distinguished as they are.
Fifth, the two-layer gloss of evil people and breaking the precepts—「在家人惡為惡人，出家人惡為破戒人，又起意地三惡為惡人，起身口七惡為破戒也。」 tr. "A householder who is evil is an evil person; one who has gone forth who is evil is a precept-breaker; further, giving rise to the three evils of the ground of the mind is being an evil person, and giving rise to the seven evils of body and speech is breaking the precepts."〔X24n0451 0315c22〕: its two layers (householder and one who has gone forth · the three evils of the ground of the mind and the seven evils of body and speech) correspond word for word to the latter two of this treatise's three layers (this treatise has one further layer, 「惡人名心惡，破戒者名身、口惡。」 tr. "What is called an evil person means one whose mind is evil; what is called one who breaks the precepts means one whose body and speech are evil."〔T25 0606c26〕); the headings of the two masters agree and this treatise has one layer more; distinguished as it is. The closing words of his last division—「既聞等學大利，便言有等法可學，有人此學故託其斯令。」 tr. "Having heard of the great benefit of equal training, he then says there is a dharma of equality that can be trained in, and that there is a person who trains in it, and therefore relies on this command."〔X24n0451 0316a03〕, 「萬法既等，豈有能所之人法耶？」 tr. "Since the ten thousand dharmas are equal, how could there be persons and dharmas of subject and object?"〔X24n0451 0316a04〕—gather up the gain and loss of the three kinds of 「作是念」 tr. "having this thought" by the vanishing together of subject and object, which tends the same way as this treatise's passage 「五眾和合假名菩薩」 tr. "the coming together of the five aggregates is provisionally named bodhisattva"〔T25 0607b29〕 but in briefer words; recorded side by side without judgement.
Huiying's Commentary (X46n0791). The sole ancient commentary on this treatise, surviving only in fragmentary fascicles; for this chapter it has a complete dedicated chapter, beginning at〔X46n0791 0905c20〕 and ending at〔X46n0791 0907a11〕; the structural line of the next chapter, 「釋願樂品第十四」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Aspiration and Delight, the Fourteenth", with its heading 「釋第七十八卷論」 tr. "Commentary on the treatise of Fascicle Seventy-eight", is at〔X46n0791 0907a12〕, and the body of the next chapter begins at〔X46n0791 0907a13〕 (the one line〔X46n0791 0907a12〕 already belongs to the structural line of the next chapter, so this chapter's dedicated chapter in fact ends at 0907a11). Further, in the general table of contents at the head of the fascicle it lists 「釋等學品第六十三」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third"〔X46n0791 0794b21〕. Five things in it can be recorded.
First, his own numbering at -1 and the place of the chapter—「第六十二品者，名為等學品。」 tr. "The sixty-second chapter is named the Chapter on Equal Training."〔X46n0791 0905c20〕: Huiying calls this chapter 「第六十二品」 tr. "the sixty-second chapter", one less than the base text, in the same direction as his calling the preceding chapter 「第六十一品」 tr. "the sixty-first chapter"; the next chapter is of the same kind, reading 「第六十三品者，名為願樂品。」 tr. "The sixty-third chapter is named the Chapter on Aspiration and Delight."〔X46n0791 0907a13〕—the -1 step forms a chain across three consecutive chapters and is the commentator's own internal numbering forming its own line, in the same direction as the Ishiyama text's -1 step but from a different source; distinguished as it is. It must be recorded that the 「釋等學品第六十三」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third" at the head of this chapter is CBETA's structural table-of-contents line (its basis being the marginal heading of the Man'ji-zokuzō, the original collation note reading 「釋等學品第六十三」 tr. "Commentary on the Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third"), not words of the commentary's body; from its very first sentence the body of the commentary reads 「第六十二品」 tr. "the sixty-second chapter"—the number of the structural line and the number of the body do not come from the same source and cannot confirm each other (the same type); distinguished as it is.
Second, the reason for the sequence and the division into two parts—「何故次同學品後明於此品？」 tr. "Why is this chapter made clear next, after the Chapter on Training Alike?"〔X46n0791 0905c20〕, 「上品明因六和敬等事得於生忍，今明因行平等得於法忍成等學義，故次此品後明於此品。」 tr. "The previous chapter made clear the obtaining of the acceptance of beings through the six harmonious reverences and such matters; now it makes clear the obtaining of the acceptance of dharmas through practising equality, accomplishing the meaning of equal training; therefore this chapter is made clear next, after that chapter."〔X46n0791 0905c21〕—he pairs the acceptance of beings with training alike and the acceptance of dharmas with equal training, which points to the same thing as this treatise's judgement, 「有二種等忍：上品末說眾生等忍，此品說法等忍。」 tr. "There are two kinds of acceptance of equality: at the end of the previous chapter the acceptance of the equality of beings was spoken of; this chapter speaks of the acceptance of the equality of dharmas."〔T25 0606a10〕; the two masters agree here. His division is in two parts: 「就此品中亦大有二分：第一、明就十八空明法等義；第二、廣明波若之行及校量等義，亦明生等。」 tr. "Within this chapter there are likewise broadly two parts: first, making clear the meaning of the equality of dharmas in terms of the eighteen emptinesses; second, making clear at length the practice of prajñā and the meaning of the weighing and so on, and also making clear the equality of beings."〔X46n0791 0905c24〕, and he explains his order himself: 「此品所以前明法等、後明生等者，將是為欲次第接連前品之意，所以如此。」 tr. "The reason this chapter first makes clear the equality of dharmas and afterwards the equality of beings is, presumably, the intent of joining in sequence with the previous chapter; that is why it is so."〔X46n0791 0906a02〕—this differs from Jizang's division into five (Jizang makes five, Huiying two); the two masters' sectional divisions each stand on their own, recorded side by side without judgement.
Third, four short explanations following the text—explaining exhausting the limits of all training: 「為盡諸學邊已下，明菩薩觀徹真原，心窮後際，廣大如法界，究竟如虗空，故云爾也。」 tr. "From ‘for exhausting the limits of all training’ downward, it makes clear that the bodhisattva's contemplation penetrates to the true source, his mind reaches to the later limit, vast as the Dharma-realm, ultimate as space; therefore it says so."〔X46n0791 0906a06〕, and further 「六波羅蜜既是因性，總攝萬行，故云盡諸學邊也。」 tr. "Since the six perfections are of the nature of cause and gather in all the ten thousand practices, it says exhausting the limits of all training."〔X46n0791 0906a20〕—the latter sentence corresponds in meaning to this treatise's 「若能學六波羅蜜等，是為盡諸學邊。」 tr. "If he can train in the six perfections and the rest, this is exhausting the limits of all training."〔T25 0606a29〕. Explaining the ground of non-retrogression: 「上上信之中皆云不退行類相貌，今此中乃始云得到不退地者，當知是列於中下令脩上地也。」 tr. "Within the higher and higher faith above, all spoke of the kinds and features of non-retrogressing practice; that only here does it first speak of arriving at the non-retrogressing ground—know that it lists the middle and lower to have them cultivate the higher ground."〔X46n0791 0906a08〕—he explains by the listing of stages why it is only here that arrival at the non-retrogressing ground is spoken of; this treatise has no such explanation, and it is Huiying's alone; further, the translated name in his citation of this sentence is written in the base text with the CBETA composed characters CB16014 and CB02494, a transliteration of avaivartika, see〔X46n0791 0906a07–0906a08〕 (a character created for the Man'ji-zokuzō · recorded as it stands in CBETA's composed-character notation, the normalised glyph not taken). Explaining striking the Buddha's bell and drum: 「在鍾名撞，在皷名擊」 tr. "For the bell it is called ‘strike’, for the drum it is called ‘beat’"〔X46n0791 0906a10〕—he assigns the two characters for striking and beating to bell and drum respectively; this treatise has no explanation here. Explaining the great person: 「或時有大人已下，明學大法、行大智慧，如是等故名為大人，所謂思諸實法也。」 tr. "From ‘at times there is a great person’ downward, it makes clear that he trains in the great Dharma and practises great wisdom; because of such things he is called a great person—namely, he considers the real dharmas."〔X46n0791 0906a22〕, which corresponds to this treatise's 「或時有大人出世，籌量、思惟諸法實相」 tr. "at times a great person appears in the world who reckons and considers the real mark of all dharmas"〔T25 0606b23〕.
Fourth, the name ‘three reversals’—「若作是念是般若波羅蜜已下，有三飜云：若作是念，若不作是念，作是念。」 tr. "From ‘if he has this thought: this is prajñāpāramitā’ downward there are three reversals, which say: if he has this thought; if he does not have this thought; he has this thought."〔X46n0791 0906a13〕, 「文意極相似，至論意分別之也。」 tr. "The meaning of the text is extremely similar; when it comes to the treatise, its intent distinguishes them."〔X46n0791 0906a14〕; at the end of the treatise he gathers it up again, saying 「復次佛告已下，次釋上經文中後之三句，作是念等文句義異之意也。」 tr. "From ‘Furthermore, the Buddha told’ downward, it next explains the last three sentences in the sūtra text above—the intent that the phrases ‘has this thought’ and the rest differ in meaning."〔X46n0791 0907a10〕—he names the three thoughts at the end of the sūtra 「三飜」 tr. "the three reversals", and points out their difficulty with 「文意極相似」 tr. "the meaning of the text is extremely similar", while this treatise divides them in three steps as the mark of wrong practice / blocking wrong practice / speaking the mark of right practice (〔T25 0607c09〕); one speaks in terms of the marks of the text, the other in terms of the marks of practice; what the two masters stress differs; distinguished as it is.
Fifth, the difficulty of the sixty-two views (the longest passage of Huiying's commentary on this chapter)—on the passage 「住是五見中……生五十七見」 tr. "abiding within these five views … gives rise to the fifty-seven views", Huiying sets up the difficulty in great detail, from〔X46n0791 0906b17〕 to〔X46n0791 0907a09〕, nearly a page and a half. He opens by citing his teacher's account: 「師云：若以五見足五十七見為六十二見者，此則為易。」 tr. "My teacher says: if the five views are added to the fifty-seven views to make the sixty-two views, this is easy."〔X46n0791 0906b17〕, and at once points out where it does not go through: 「此四十見可解，然餘十七見而不可解也。」 tr. "These forty views can be understood, but the remaining seventeen views cannot be understood."〔X46n0791 0906b20〕; after reckoning back and forth the numbers of the forty views and the seventeen views, he brings out his own solution: 「既言住是見五中，見世間常無常、前後際等生五十七見，是故說身生六十二見無咎。」 tr. "Since it says that, abiding within these five views, seeing the world as permanent or impermanent, the prior and later limits and so on, one gives rise to the fifty-seven views, therefore to say that the body gives rise to the sixty-two views is without fault."〔X46n0791 0906c19〕; at the end he gathers it up with other sūtras: 「如大集、阿含經等釋六十二見義，已如佛母品中說也。」 tr. "As the Great Collection, the Āgama sūtras, and others explain the meaning of the sixty-two views, it has already been spoken of in the Chapter on the Mother of the Buddhas."〔X46n0791 0907a08〕—his self-reference to his earlier commentary's chapter on "The Mother of the Buddhas", that is, Huiying's commentary on Chapter 48 of this treatise, is a cross-reference within the commentary; recorded as it is. This treatise here gives only the two sentences 「雖有別相，我見是本。」 tr. "Though each has its distinct mark, the view of self is the root."〔T25 0607b11〕 and 「住是五見中，世間常無常、前際後際等，生五十七見。」 tr. "Abiding within these five views, concerning whether the world is permanent or impermanent, the prior limit and the later limit, and the like, one gives rise to the fifty-seven views."〔T25 0607b17〕, not reaching the difficulty of the numbers that Huiying discusses; the fullness and brevity of the two masters are far apart; distinguished as they are, without judging which is right.
Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises (X46n0784) · zero real hits (recorded as fact). Searching back through the whole file, the six strings 「等學品」 tr. "Chapter on Equal Training", 「命根滅故餘根悉隨滅」 tr. "because the life-faculty ceases, all the other faculties cease along with it", 「轉輪聖王業」 tr. "the work of a wheel-turning sage king", 「少所處出金銀」 tr. "few are the places that yield gold and silver", 「我見中悉攝六十二見」 tr. "within the view of self the sixty-two wrong views are all included", and 「盡諸學邊」 tr. "exhausting the limits of all training" all have zero hits; 「等學」 tr. "equal training" is seen three times (〔X46n0784 0010a05〕〔X46n0784 0030a03〕〔X46n0784 0119a16〕), and a character-by-character check of their scenes shows all to be citations of the general term 「等學地」 tr. "the ground of equal training" of the Sūtra of the Original Deeds of the Bodhisattva's Jewelled Necklace (as in 「金剛心為等學地」 tr. "the vajra mind is the ground of equal training"), with no bearing on this chapter's name or meaning, belonging to a coincidence of the letter. Junzheng has no named citation for this chapter; the negative result is recorded as it is, the pattern being the same as for several chapters from Chapter 44 onward.
Zhiyi's Great Calming and Contemplation (T46n1911) · Zhanran's Supporting Practice and Broad Resolution of Calming and Contemplation (T46n1912) · the Profound Meaning of the Lotus (T33n1716) · the Annotations on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus (T33n1717) · zero real hits (recorded as fact). Independently searching back through the whole of the four files, the six strings listed above all have zero hits; 「等學」 tr. "equal training" is seen once in T46n1911〔T46n1911 0007a18〕 (the 「我等學於無作」 tr. "we train in non-action", whose 「等／學」 tr. "and others / train" spans a word boundary) and once in T46n1912〔T46n1912 0442c23〕 (spanning a word boundary in 「為姓何等／學何等律」 tr. "of what clan / trains in what discipline"), and zero times in T33n1716 / T33n1717—all false positives, not citations of this chapter. This differs from the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", where Zhanran twice explicitly cites 「大論八十一」 tr. "the Great Treatise, Eighty-one": in the four books of the Tiantai line there is no explicitly named citation of this chapter; the negative result is recorded as it is. Further recorded: the Tiantai line also has a set T46n1911 / T46n1916 / T33n1702, which differs from the scanning set established for the preceding chapter; both sets were scanned, and the one occurrence of 「等學」 tr. "equal training" in T46n1916〔T46n1916 0487a17〕 and the two occurrences of 「等學」 tr. "equal training" in T33n1702〔T33n1702 0175a19〕〔T33n1702 0194a27〕 are likewise false positives spanning a word boundary; the six strings have zero real hits in all seven files of the two sets, and the conclusion is the same.
VII. Cross-reading and Further Resonances
Of this chapter's line of meaning, four things carry on before and after; all are recorded in this section, not fixing a reading on anyone's behalf.
First, the succession in chapter order of ‘training alike—equal training’ (the treatise-author's own testimony · a hard link within this treatise itself). At its opening the treatise refers to the preceding chapter itself: 「上阿難問「鬪諍」，佛答「同學清淨」。」 tr. "Above, Ānanda asked about ‘fighting and contention’, and the Buddha answered with ‘the purity of training alike’."〔T25 0606a08〕, and at once judges the respective places of the two chapters by the two acceptances: 「有二種等忍：上品末說眾生等忍，此品說法等忍。」 tr. "There are two kinds of acceptance of equality: at the end of the previous chapter the acceptance of the equality of beings was spoken of; this chapter speaks of the acceptance of the equality of dharmas."〔T25 0606a10〕—the preceding chapter makes clear the acceptance of the equality of beings (the acceptance of dwelling together in harmony and respect), this chapter makes clear the acceptance of the equality of dharmas (the acceptance of the equality of the emptinesses); the chapter order gives rise one to the other, and its succession is recorded. It must be recorded that the four characters 「同學清淨」 tr. "the purity of training alike" are seen only this once in the whole of this treatise, and neither the sūtra nor the treatise of the preceding chapter has these words word for word (see Section IV); the treatise-author's quotation here is a quotation summing up the meaning, not a word-for-word citation of the preceding chapter; distinguished as it is. Huiying's commentary also brings out its own pairing at this point of succession (see Section VI), pointing to the same thing as the treatise-author's judgement.
Second, the forward pointing in chapter order of ‘equal training—aspiration and delight’ (the next chapter named differently in the two canons · recorded without judgement). After the last sentence of this chapter, 「是故說第三，無咎。」 tr. "Therefore the third is spoken, and it is without fault."〔T25 0607c16〕, comes the fascicle-end title at once, and the title of the next chapter, 「大智度論釋願樂品第六十四」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Aspiration and Delight, the Sixty-fourth", is at〔T25 0607c20〕 (the head of Fascicle 78). On the T223 side of the sūtra explained the next chapter is instead named "Pure Vow", the Sixty-fourth〔T08 0358b16〕; Jizang's commentary follows the sūtra, reading 「淨願品第六十四」 tr. "Chapter on Pure Vow, the Sixty-fourth"〔X24n0451 0316a06〕, and Huiying's commentary follows the treatise, reading 「願樂品」 tr. "Chapter on Aspiration and Delight"〔X46n0791 0907a13〕—the names of the next chapter differ in the two canons, and the ancient masters each follow the text on which they comment; recorded as it is, without judging which is correct; its examination belongs to the ledger of the next chapter. Within this chapter of this treatise there is no explicit wording pointing forward to the next chapter (a character-by-character search for 「願樂」 tr. "aspiration and delight" within the range of this chapter has zero hits); distinguished as it is.
Third, the cross-references of ‘the sixty-two views’ (within the treatise · within the commentary · two layers). The sūtra of this chapter takes 「譬如我見中悉攝六十二見」 tr. "As within the view of self the sixty-two wrong views are all included"〔T25 0605b16〕 as its simile, and the treatise sets up its third question and answer to explain that it can stand, concluding at the end that 「身見攝六十二見」 tr. "the view of a body includes the sixty-two wrong views"〔T25 0607b19〕 is without fault. This item has earlier text both in other chapters of this treatise and in other chapters of Huiying's commentary: Huiying states for himself 「如大集、阿含經等釋六十二見義，已如佛母品中說也。」 tr. "As the Great Collection, the Āgama sūtras, and others explain the meaning of the sixty-two views, it has already been spoken of in the Chapter on the Mother of the Buddhas."〔X46n0791 0907a08〕—the commentator refers to his own chapter on "The Mother of the Buddhas" (that is, Chapter 48 of this treatise), so the discussion in this chapter continues from the earlier chapter and does not arise alone. On the side of this treatise, the treatise-author in this chapter only sets up the main heading 「我見是本」 tr. "the view of self is the root" and does not list the sixty-two items again; their detailed items are in other chapters (this ledger does not fill the count with a search not unfolded; for their alignment it records, as a matter of fact, that it is not unfolded). The connection is recorded, not fixing a reading on anyone's behalf.
Fourth, linking to the treasury (stable citation · soft citation). This chapter's setting up of 「等法即諸空」 tr. "the dharma of equality is the emptinesses", its turn of 「學如不作證」 tr. "training in suchness without realising it", its bounds of 「盡諸學邊」 tr. "exhausting the limits of all training", the consolation of its two similes 「少所處出金銀」 tr. "few are the places that yield gold and silver" and 「轉輪聖王業」 tr. "the work of a wheel-turning sage king", and its close in 「不與空諍」 tr. "not contending with emptiness" are what later ages rest on when discussing the Dharma-gate of equality, the rarity of practitioners, and the self-refutation of prajñā; they rest on a stable citation〔T25n1509 等學品·卷七十七〕; the places where the other collections cite this treatise are not yet in settled form, so the citation is soft, awaiting their word-by-word verification. This belongs to the further resonance of the meaning of prajñā running down through the grounds of training; recorded without judgement.
VIII. Witnesses and Editions
The base text of this chapter is Fascicle 77 of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa〔T25 0604c02–0607c20〕 (the main text of the chapter body begins from the chapter title〔T25 0604c02〕 and ends with the sentence 「是故說第三，無咎。」 tr. "Therefore the third is spoken, and it is without fault." at〔T25 0607c16〕; the fascicle-end title 「大智度論卷第七十七」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Seventy-seven" is at〔T25 0607c17〕, within the range of this unit, and its two notes are entered in this ledger; the continuation title of the next chapter, "Aspiration and Delight", the Sixty-fourth〔T25 0607c20〕, is the head of Fascicle 78); the collation text for the sūtra explained is "Equal Training" in the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra〔T08 0357a08–0358b15〕; the ancient-master commentary texts for collation are Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra (X24n0451, covering the sūtra explained at〔X24n0451 0315b17–0316a05〕) and Huiying's Commentary (X46n0791, covering this treatise at〔X46n0791 0905c20–0907a11〕); Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises (X46n0784) has zero real hits for this chapter, and the four books of Zhiyi and Zhanran have zero real hits (see Section VI). The variant collation notes follow the Taishō collation, covering differences between the Taishō base text and the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, and Ishiyama (the Ishiyama-dera manuscript) texts—in the ledger of forty-four entries of this chapter no entry of the Shōgozō B is seen, nor are present-day emendation layers such as the Korean-CB / CB entered in the ledger; the Shōgozō text is seen only once, in the star note on the 【經】 structural marker (entry two of the ledger below).
The note on the chapter title entered in the ledger (differing from the circle-anchor type of the preceding chapter). The anchor of the collation note on this chapter's title〔T25 0604c02〕 is a beg / end pair of <anchor xml:id="beg0604014"> / <anchor xml:id="end0604014"> (checked directly against the base text), so it is entered in the ledger of forty-four entries of the working base text, as the first entry of the ledger below—this is of a different type from the note on the chapter title of the preceding chapter, "Training Alike", which is a point anchor of the <anchor type="circle"/> type and is not entered in its ledger of forty entries; the structure of the denominators of the two chapters differs on this account, and it is recorded so that the convention of the preceding chapter is not mistakenly used to infer that of this chapter. The full text of the note in the base text, as it stands: type=mod reads 「（大智…三）十二字【大】，釋等學品第六十三【明】，大智論釋第六十三品等學品【宮】，摩訶般若波羅蜜品第六十二等學【石】」 tr. "(Great Wisdom … Three) twelve characters (Taishō); Commentary on the Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third (Ming); Treatise on Great Wisdom, Commentary on the Sixty-third Chapter, the Chapter on Equal Training (Palace); Mahāprajñāpāramitā, Chapter Sixty-two, Equal Training (Ishiyama)"; type=orig reads 「（（大智…三））十二字＝（（釋等學品第六十三））八字【明】，（（大智論釋第六十三品等學品））十二字【宮】，（（摩訶般若波羅蜜品第六十二等學））十四字【石】」 tr. "((Great Wisdom … Three)) twelve characters = ((Commentary on the Chapter on Equal Training, the Sixty-third)) eight characters (Ming); ((Treatise on Great Wisdom, Commentary on the Sixty-third Chapter, the Chapter on Equal Training)) twelve characters (Palace); ((Mahāprajñāpāramitā, Chapter Sixty-two, Equal Training)) fourteen characters (Ishiyama)"—this is the basis of the four forms of the chapter title and of the Ishiyama -1 step; recorded side by side as it is, without forcing a reconciliation (analysed in Section IV).
Notes with a point anchor / without a collation entry: zero in this chapter (the negative proposition is asserted by structure, not by search). Within the range of this chapter〔T25 0604c02–0607c20〕 all anchors were enumerated one by one: forty-two collation-note anchors and two star-note anchors, forty-four in all; the start markers of the anchors are also forty-four, corresponding one to one. Point anchors zero, interlinear notes zero—that is, this chapter has no note of the point-anchor type, no interlinear note, and no entry of the CBETA emendation layer; the forty-four entries are the whole, and there is no note outside the ledger that needs to be listed separately. This is an assertion made by enumerating the whole set (the denominator taken from the base text's set of anchors, not from the thing being checked), not 「搜不到故無」 tr. "none because none was found by search".
Two stars · one across chapters · one within the chapter (listed separately). Within the range of this chapter there are two star anchors; for each, the target of its collation entry is resolved and the chapter to which it belongs is located:
beg_855〔T25 0604c03〕, the 【經】 structural marker—corresp→note(0598011)〔T25 0598c24〕, belonging to the range of Chapter 61, "Not Realising It in a Dream", shared across chapters. The full text of that note in the base text, as it stands (type=mod): 「【經】【大】＊，〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】＊，不分卷及品【石】」 tr. "sūtra-marker (Taishō) *; omitted (Song, Palace, Shōgozō) *; no division of fascicle or chapter (Ishiyama)"—the note layer also carries the Ishiyama remark 「不分卷及品」 tr. "no division of fascicle or chapter", while the rdg of the app layer has only wit1 / wit3 / wit5 (Song, Palace, Shōgozō), so entry two of the ledger below records, following the app layer, 「〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】」 tr. "omitted (Song, Palace, Shōgozō)" and does not include the Ishiyama remark; the difference between the two layers is recorded as it is, set side by side without judgement. This shares the same single note withbeg_852of the preceding chapter, "Training Alike" (already recorded under the preceding chapter); that is, the general explanation 「【經】體例標記於宋宮聖三本俱缺、石本更不分卷品」 tr. "the stylistic marker for the sūtra is lacking in all three texts Song, Palace, and Shōgozō, and the Ishiyama text further does not divide fascicles and chapters" is hung back to a single place of definition through the star mechanism, and is not a doctrinal divergence peculiar to this chapter (an existing convention, not judged again). One thing must be corrected: that corresp target〔T25 0598c24〕 lies within Fascicle 77 (Fascicle 77 begins at〔T25 0598c19〕), and belongs to Chapter 61, "Not Realising It in a Dream" (chapter title〔T25 0594c24〕, continuation title〔T25 0598c19〕)—it is not the end of Fascicle 76, nor the passage just before Chapter 62; recorded so as to correct it.beg_856〔T25 0606b08〕, the character 「界」 tr. "realm"—corresp→note(0606005), that is, the note of this same passage itself (entry twenty-seven of the ledger below), shared within the chapter; its lem and rdg are wholly the same as beg0606005 (realm / world【宮】 / land【石】), so entries twenty-seven and twenty-eight of the ledger below are identical word for word, not an error of repetition but the shared use of the same position by the star mechanism; distinguished as it is.
The note texts of the star targets carry the mark 「＊」 tr. "asterisk" in the base text (note 0598011 reads 「【經】【大】＊，〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】＊，不分卷及品【石】」 tr. "sūtra-marker (Taishō) *; omitted (Song, Palace, Shōgozō) *; no division of fascicle or chapter (Ishiyama)"; note 0606005 reads 「界【大】＊，世界【宮】＊，國【石】＊」 tr. "realm (Taishō) *; world (Palace) *; land (Ishiyama) *"), and this ledger keeps the 「＊」 tr. "asterisk" mark in the relevant entries as it stands in the base text (entries two, twenty-seven, and twenty-eight of the ledger below).
Complete ledger of collation notes (all forty-four entries reconciled · base text as it stands). Below, all are listed in full in the order of their appearance in the base text, including two star entries, with their corresp targets and the chapters to which they belong 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 (forty-four · in order of appearance in the base text · star-corresp marked with each entry)
- 〔T25 0604c02〕大智度論釋等學品第六十三【大】｜釋等學品第六十三【明】｜大智論釋第六十三品等學品【宮】｜摩訶般若波羅蜜品第六十二等學【石】(note on the chapter title · beg / end pair type · entered in this ledger as the first entry · differing from the circle-anchor type of the preceding chapter · four forms coexisting · the Ishiyama -1 step together with the sūtra-title form · see the separate listing above)
- 〔T25 0604c03〕【經】【大】＊｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】＊(note on the presence or absence of a structural marker · star · corresp→note(0598011) = the note of Chapter 61, "Not Realising It in a Dream"〔T25 0598c24〕 · shared across chapters · that note also carries the remark 「不分卷及品【石】」 tr. "no division of fascicle or chapter (Ishiyama)", which is not in the app layer · see the separate listing above)
- 〔T25 0604c03〕是【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0604c12〕故【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0604c13〕故學【大】｜學故【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0604c29〕世界【大】｜國土【石】(a variant reading of the same group as entries twenty-seven / twenty-eight below · on the side of the sūtra explained the variation of the same group is in the Song edition · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0605a01〕輪轉【大】｜轉輪【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0605a04〕出【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0605a07〕癖【大】｜躄【宋】【元】【明】【宮】(on the side of the sūtra explained the same position reads 「癖【大】｜辟【元】【聖】【宋】｜躄【宮】【明】」 tr. "crippled (Taishō) | pi (Yuan, Shōgozō, Song) | lame (Palace, Ming)"〔T08 0357b14〕 · both canons have this group)
- 〔T25 0605a19〕夫【大】｜夫人【元】【明】(the two editions Yuan and Ming read 「凡夫人」 tr. "ordinary persons", agreeing exactly with the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0605a25〕人【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0605b04〕住【大】｜在【宋】【宮】(the two editions Song and Palace read 「欲在阿鞞跋致地」 tr. "wishes to be in the ground of the avaivartika", agreeing exactly with the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained · on the side of the sūtra explained the same position reads 「在【大】｜住【宮】【明】」 tr. "be in (Taishō) | abide in (Palace, Ming)"〔T08 0357c12〕 · the two sides form an exact mirror image · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0605c02〕說【大】｜說修【石】
- 〔T25 0605c09〕作【大】｜得【石】
- 〔T25 0605c10〕欲【大】｜欲得【石】
- 〔T25 0605c10〕鍾【大】｜鐘【明】(the Ming edition reads 「鐘」 tr. "bell (metal form)", agreeing exactly with the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0605c10〕唄【大】｜貝【元】【明】【宮】(the three texts Yuan, Ming, and Palace read 「貝」 tr. "conch-shell", agreeing exactly with the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0605c14〕不【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0605c18〕天【大】｜天及【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【石】(all five texts read 「天及人」 tr. "gods and humans", agreeing exactly with the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained, of the〔T08 0358b01〕 type · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0605c23〕深【大】｜行【宋】【元】【明】
- 〔T25 0605c25〕菩【大】｜是菩【元】【明】【石】
- 〔T25 0605c29〕有【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】(the two editions Song and Palace read 「是人般若波羅蜜」 tr. "this person's prajñāpāramitā", agreeing exactly with the reading of the base text of the sūtra explained · on the side of the sūtra explained the same position reads 「人【大】｜人有【宮】【明】」 tr. "person (Taishō) | person has (Palace, Ming)"〔T08 0358b09〕 · the two sides form an exact mirror image · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0606a01〕行【大】｜行是【元】【明】
- 〔T25 0606a04〕無【大】｜無有【元】【明】【石】
- 〔T25 0606a14〕法【大】｜二【元】【明】【宮】【石】(「得內空則皆平等無法」 tr. "on obtaining inner emptiness they are all equal and without dharmas" / 「皆平等無二」 tr. "they are all equal and without two" · a variant reading bearing doctrinal weight · four texts read 「二」 tr. "two" · recorded side by side as it is, without judgement)
- 〔T25 0606a28〕學【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】
- 〔T25 0606b08〕界【大】＊｜世界【宮】＊｜國【石】＊(the place of definition of the star · note(0606005) · for what shares it see the next entry)
- 〔T25 0606b08〕界【大】＊｜世界【宮】＊｜國【石】＊(star · corresp→note(0606005) = the note in the same passage of this chapter〔T25 0606b08〕 · shared at the same position within the chapter · lem / rdg wholly the same as the entry above · see the separate listing above)
- 〔T25 0606b15〕親【大】｜雜【宮】
- 〔T25 0606c05〕人【大】｜人生【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0606c11〕利【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0606c16〕菩薩【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607a07〕軟【大】｜濡【宋】【元】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607a14〕已【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607a21〕所行【大】｜行所【宋】【元】【明】【宮】(the lemma contains a line break
<lb n="0607a22">within the base text · the Chinese-character stream reads 「所行」 tr. "the workings" · the loc follows the line to which the first character belongs〔T25 0607a21〕) - 〔T25 0607b09〕根【大】｜相【宋】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607b09〕等【大】｜盡【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607b29〕眾【大】｜[阿-可+(企-止+長)]【石】(the Ishiyama text has the CBETA created character CB01589 · recorded as it stands in CBETA's composed-character notation, its normalised glyph not taken)
- 〔T25 0607c02〕是【大】｜是無得【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【石】(five texts add the two characters 「無得」 tr. "without attainment" · an added text bearing doctrinal weight · recorded as it is)
- 〔T25 0607c03〕是【大】｜見【石】
- 〔T25 0607c10〕行【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
- 〔T25 0607c16〕咎【大】｜咎釋第六十二品竟【石】(the collation annotation (side-note) kept as it stands · the Ishiyama text's closing record at the end of the chapter · the second end of evidence for the -1 step · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0607c17〕論【大】｜經【石】(fascicle-end title · the Ishiyama text reads 「大智度經」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra" · see Section IV)
- 〔T25 0607c17〕七【大】｜八【石】(fascicle-end title · the Ishiyama text reads 「卷第七十八」 tr. "Fascicle Seventy-eight" · evidence of the Ishiyama double track of fascicle numbering · see Section IV)
The forty-four entries above agree mechanically with the number of collation notes at the anchors of the working base text (the list at the end of the working base text has forty-four entries · collation entries forty-four · anchors enumerated also forty-four), and the targets of the stars are marked with each entry. The entry of the note on the chapter title into the ledger, the two stars, and the enumerated assertion of no point anchors, no interlinear notes, and no entries of the CBETA emendation layer have been listed separately above.
Witness cross-reading of the sūtra explained (eleven places unfolded · the rest not unfolded · the gap recorded, awaiting completion). Within the range for cross-reading of this chapter on the T223 side of the sūtra explained〔T08 0357a08–0358b15〕, a scan entry by entry finds twenty-two numbered notes and six star anchors (twenty-eight anchors in all; see Section IV); the eleven places of variant reading in which it and this treatise confirm each other (the emptiness of specific marks / the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas · the transliterations abibazhi / aweiyuezhi · purifying buddha-worlds / purifying buddha-lands · protection / protection of the Dharma · turning the wheel of the Dharma / the wheel of the Dharma · the two first characters of zhantuoluo · ordinary people / ordinary persons · tan / tanna in dānapāramitā · bell and drum and chant / bell and drum and conch · wishing to be eyes for the blind / wishing to give eyes to the blind · this person has prajñāpāramitā / this person's prajñāpāramitā) have been recorded entry by entry in Section IV. The entry-by-entry listing of the remaining entries is not unfolded; it is recorded, as a matter of fact, that they are not unfolded, and no estimate is made to fill the count.