大智度論 六度相攝品之下Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · The Six Perfections Contain One Another, Part 3 of 3

The Six Perfections Contain One Another, Last Part: Why One Master and Five Companions Is the Sequence of the Causes and Conditions of Practice, Why the Containing by Mutual Arising Is Not Arising in Sequence, and How the Six Perfections at Last Come Back to Being Fulfilled within a Single Thought at a Single Time

What Is Being Asked

In the sūtra text of the two earlier parts, the Buddha, following Subhūti's questions, spoke out group by group, to the end, the arrangement of thirty groups of ‘abiding in one perfection and taking up the other five’: abiding in giving and taking up the five, and abiding in morality and taking up the five, are in the First Part; abiding in patience, abiding in vigour, abiding in meditation, and abiding in prajñā, each taking up the five, are in the Middle Part. The sūtra text is spoken in good order, yet the reader will give rise to a most plain doubt: since the six perfections are six, why, when containing is spoken of, must one first be set up as the 「主」 tr. "master" and the other five as ‘what is taken up’? If the six perfections are equal from the outset, is not this 「主」 tr. "master" something extra? This Last Part, in its very first sentence, asks just this question—「何以但一波羅蜜為主」 tr. "Why is only one perfection the master?"—and the treatise-author's answer is only seven Chinese characters: 「行因緣次第應爾」 tr. "The sequence of the causes and conditions of practice should be so."

These seven Chinese characters are the key to the whole part. They move the 「主」 tr. "master" from the higher and lower of dharmas to the position of the person: it is not that dānapāramitā is more honoured than śīlapāramitā; it is where this person is standing at this moment. The householder bodhisattva has wealth, knows sin and merit, and has kindness and compassion; he stands in the position of giving, and so giving is his master. The bodhisattva who has gone forth has no wealth; he stands in the position of morality, patience, and meditation, and so morality, patience, and meditation are his master. The master is only what is fitting in the sequence. Once this layer is seen clearly, the arrangement of thirty groups is no longer a dry square table; it is thirty roads leading from different starting points to the same place.

Following this key, the difficulties this part has to handle appear one after another. The first difficulty is the most important: not doing evil within patience is morality from the outset, so why must 「住忍取戒」 tr. "abiding in patience and taking up morality" be spoken of separately? It should be turned round: abiding in morality and containing patience would be right. The treatise-author's answer is the guiding principle of form for the whole part—「此中說相，不說次第相生」 tr. "Here the marks are spoken of; arising one from another in sequence is not spoken of." Arising one from another in sequence speaks of before and after; mutual containing speaks of each one's own mark coming together in one place; mix up the two, and the whole chapter cannot be read. The second difficulty is in the passage on abiding in vigour and taking up meditation: since it has been said that vigour gives rise to meditation, why are four or five kinds of obtaining meditation further listed that, ‘although there is vigour, are not named arising from vigour’? The answer is 「多處受名」 tr. "the name is received by the greater share"—the name is set up according to the greater share, not according to presence or absence. The third difficulty is in the passage on abiding in prajñā: since the Buddha has already spoken at length, why does the treatise-author still put five questions in a row? Those five questions—why, among the eighteen emptinesses, the last four are not spoken of; why it is said that the bodhisattva is like the buddhas without a mind of greedy clinging; since this is the acceptance of non-arising, why it is called compliant acceptance; how the leaping samādhi is able to leap over two; why the Abhidharma is not sufficient to rely on—every one is a place where one is bound to get stuck when measuring the bodhisattva's Dharma with the ruler of the śrāvakas' teaching.

The last passage turns most widely. After the treatise-author has finished speaking of the containing by mutual generation, he sets out on a separate road: 「一念中能行六波羅蜜」 tr. "within a single thought is able to practise the six perfections". The first half speaks of A giving rise to B, a continuity of cause and effect; the second half speaks of the six being fulfilled right now within A itself, not waiting on mutual generation. In one and the same giving, relinquishing wealth in accordance with the Dharma is giving, not tending toward the two vehicles is morality, the mind not moving is patience, not resting is vigour, not being scattered is meditation, the three wheels being unfindable is prajñā—the six perfections are not six things queued up and done to the end; they are six faces accomplished at the same time upon one thing. On this road the treatise-author speaks six rounds in succession: abiding in giving, abiding in morality, abiding in patience, abiding in vigour, abiding in meditation, abiding in prajñā, each taking one perfection as the head, and the six perfections all complete; at the end he gathers in the whole chapter with a single sentence—「一心中一時能具足六波羅蜜」 tr. "within a single mind, at a single time, is able to fulfil the six perfections". The thirty groups of the First and Middle Parts are spoken horizontally; here they are gathered in vertically; only where the horizontal speaking ends does one know fulfilment at a single time.

Passage by Passage

1. Why only one perfection is the master: the sequence of the causes and conditions of practice should be so. The first question opening the part is the question the whole chapter most needs to ask: since mutual containing is spoken of, why set up a master? The treatise-author's answer does not answer from the nature of dharmas; it answers from the causes and conditions of practice—「行因緣次第應爾」 tr. "The sequence of the causes and conditions of practice should be so." This answer must first guard against one misreading: taking the 「主」 tr. "master" as a judgement of honoured and lowly, and so going off to dispute which of the six perfections is higher and which lower. The treatise-author's meaning is exactly the reverse: the master is a position in a sequence, not a rank. Whichever perfection you start from at this moment, that perfection is your master; change the person, change the season, and the master changes. Understand this sentence, and only then will the thirty groups below not be read as thirty dead rules.

2. There are two kinds of bodhisattvas, the householder and the one who has gone forth: because it is what is fitting in the sequence it is named the master. The treatise-author at once brings this abstract answer down onto two concrete kinds of people. The householder bodhisattva, because of the causes and conditions of merit, is very rich, and being very rich becomes a cause and condition for seeking the Buddha path; since he has wealth, and also knows sin and merit, and moreover has a mind of kindness and compassion towards beings—the three things complete—it is fitting that he first practise giving, and then, following the causes and conditions of the sequence, practise the other perfections. The bodhisattva who has gone forth has no wealth; what is fitting in the sequence is upholding the precepts, patience, and meditative concentration. The last sentence is set down very weightily: 「除財施，餘波羅蜜皆出家人所宜行。」 tr. "Apart from the gift of wealth, the other perfections are all fitting for one who has gone forth to practise." Here one misreading must be cleared away: it does not say that one who has gone forth does not give; it says that the giving practised by one who has gone forth does not lie in wealth; beyond the gift of wealth, the gift of Dharma, the gift of fearlessness, and so on up to the other perfections are still fitting for one who has gone forth. Brought down to oneself, this passage is a most practical sentence—first see clearly in which kind of causes and conditions you are standing, then decide from which perfection to start; this is better than speaking emptily of the six perfections being equal.

3. Abiding in patience as the master and taking up giving: giving the body, without begrudging and without hatred. The treatise-author first sets up the vow made by the bodhisattva who takes kṣāntipāramitā as the master: if someone comes and cuts and severs my body, I should not give rise to a mind of hatred, because I now practise the bodhisattva path and should fulfil the perfections. Then he points out the joint: among the perfections, dāna stands first, and within dāna nothing is more prized and cherished than the body; to be able to give the body to others—not begrudging is dāna, not being hateful is patience—the two perfections are both accomplished within one matter, and this is the real meaning of ‘containing giving by patience’. Here one must see clearly that 「不惜」 tr. "not begrudging" and 「不瞋」 tr. "not being hateful" are two actions falling on the same matter; it is not patience first and giving after, nor giving first and patience after.

4. Meeting adversity in giving: not, because of small evil causes and conditions, giving rise to abandoning and falling back. The treatise-author goes on to speak of a still more common scene: the bodhisattva abides in patience and gives beings clothing, food, and every kind of thing, giving them everything; the receiver turns round and reviles, beats, and harms him, destroying his giving and destroying his patience. Here the bodhisattva thinks—I should not, for the sake of a false and deceptive body, ruin the path of the perfections; I should give, I should not give rise to an evil mind, and I should not, because of small evil causes and conditions, give rise to abandoning and falling back. The last sentence is the most important: 「是菩薩命未盡間，增益施心；若命終時，二波羅蜜力故，即生好處，續行布施。」 tr. "While his life is not yet exhausted, this bodhisattva increases the mind of giving; when his life comes to an end, because of the power of the two perfections, he is at once born in a good place and continues to practise giving." The two powers of giving and patience do not only accomplish the one matter of this life; they also carry over into the next life. This passage clears away one misreading: thinking that once the receiver reviles and insults, the condition of giving has already been ruined; the treatise-author's meaning is that it is precisely at this place that the two perfections of giving and patience truly join into a single power.

5. The question on abiding in patience and taking up śīla: why it is not said the other way round, abiding in morality and containing patience. This is the first formal question and answer of the whole part, and also the guiding principle of its form. The questioner sets up the difficulty very concretely: when one abides in patience, not doing evil is itself morality, so why further say abiding in patience and taking up morality? It should be abiding in morality and containing patience that fits the sequence. The treatise-author's answer is only two sentences, yet it settles how the whole chapter is to be read—「此中說相，不說次第相生。雖和合而各各有相；若次第法，應先戒後忍。」 tr. "Here the marks are spoken of; arising one from another in sequence is not spoken of. Although they come together, each has its own mark; if it were the graded dharmas, morality should come first and patience after." Then he gives the boundary between the marks of patience and of morality: 「戒」 tr. "morality" names not taking the life of another; 「忍」 tr. "patience" names not begrudging one's own life. The one faces others, the other faces oneself; since what they face differs, the mark of morality must still be spoken of separately within patience. Here the reader should set up one general rule: whenever reading the texts on mutual containing, one must not measure them with the ruler of sequence.

6. The first difference between patience and morality: gathering in one's own mind, and not vexing beings. The treatise-author divides them again from the side of the mind's workings. Patience is gathering in one's own mind and not giving rise to hatred; upholding the precepts is of two kinds—first, not vexing beings; second, for one's own sake, because the precepts are the root from which meditative concentration arises. Then he brings up a very subtle kind of person: there are bodhisattvas who practise patience but have not yet received and upheld the dharma of the precepts; they are patient only out of fear of sin, and are not yet able to pity beings deeply; such a person either hears it from a teacher or reflects for himself—upholding the precepts is a cause and condition of the Buddha path and does not disturb beings; since I am already able to be patient, doing this thing is then easy. The treatise-author concludes: this is 「忍辱能取尸羅波羅蜜」 tr. "patience can take up śīlapāramitā". What is most worth savouring in this passage lies in the five Chinese characters 「則行此事易」 tr. "then doing this thing is easy": once patience is accomplished, morality comes readily to hand; the containing of mutual containing is contained in this word 「易」 tr. "easy".

7. The second difference between patience and morality: a mental-factor dharma and a dharma of form. The treatise-author changes to another criterion and divides them again: patience is a mental-factor dharma; upholding the precepts is a dharma of form. Upholding the precepts is called having the three things complete—arising in the mind, being spoken by the mouth, receiving and upholding; patience only arises in the mind and is not a dharma of receiving and upholding. This judgement is very fine, yet it must not be misread as belittling patience—it does not say that patience is less weighty than morality; it says that the natures on which the two rely are different from the outset, and so when they come together in one place each still has its own mark.

8. The third difference between patience and morality: purity of body and speech, and purity of mind. The third criterion is the simplest: purity of body and speech is called upholding the precepts; purity of mind is called patience. The three judgements stand side by side—the object faced, the substance relied on, the deed purified—and with this the difference between patience and morality is fully spoken. From here the reader can learn a method: when distinguishing two dharma-marks close in meaning, one need not look for only one criterion; set up several angles, and the boundary becomes clear of itself.

9. Meditation and wisdom are also dharmas of the purity of the mind: why only patience is spoken of. This is the second question and answer. The question follows naturally: since 「意清淨」 tr. "purity of mind" has been used to define patience, and dhyānapāramitā and prajñāpāramitā likewise purify the mind, why is only patience spoken of here? The treatise-author answers with only a sentence and a half—「禪、智力大故不說；持戒時心未能清淨，須忍辱守心故。」 tr. "Meditation and wisdom are great in power, and so they are not spoken of; when upholding the precepts the mind is not yet able to be pure, and patience is needed to guard the mind." This answer contains a very considerate observation: at the stage of upholding the precepts the mind is still coarse, and the power of meditation and wisdom cannot yet be put to use; what can guard this breath is precisely patience. Brought down to practice: while the period of the precepts is not yet steady, there is no need to hurry after concentration and wisdom; first keep hold of patience.

10. This sūtra itself states the causes and conditions: bodhisattvas of keen faculties increase from life to life and do not fall into evil places. The treatise-author cites the causes and conditions stated by the sūtra text itself as evidence: there are bodhisattvas of great merit, wisdom, and keen faculties, who in the presence of a Buddha of the present arouse the mind and practise the perfections, and so from life to life they increase, and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and in between they do not fall into evil places; it is for the sake of such bodhisattvas that it is said 「從初發心乃至坐道場，不生瞋心奪眾生命，亦不著二乘」 tr. "from the first arousing of the mind and so on up to sitting at the seat of awakening, he does not give rise to a mind of hatred and take the life of beings, nor does he cling to the two vehicles". The treatise-author concludes: all this is because of the merit of the two perfections. Here one misreading is cleared away: it must not be read as saying that all bodhisattvas do not fall into evil places; what the sūtra text points to is those of 「大功德、智慧、利根」 tr. "great merit, wisdom, and keen faculties" who arouse the mind in the presence of a Buddha of the present; the limitation is very clear.

11. Apart from the three kinds of mind, dedicating to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The treatise-author picks out the mark of dedication: dedicating apart from the three kinds of mind. The three minds are: no person, no dharma, no place to which one dedicates—there is no mind of self and no inverted mind. Only when the three wheels are empty is dedication the dedication of a perfection. Though this sentence is short, it is the ground of why the ‘mutual containing’ of the whole chapter can accomplish perfections: apart from these three minds, one perfection taking up five is only wholesome dharmas helping one another, and does not accomplish a perfection.

12. Abiding in patience and taking up vīrya: not regarding long diligent toil as a hard thing; the mark of one person is precisely the mark of all persons. The treatise-author explains the mark of vigour: accumulating merit for oneself and delivering beings, arousing the mind and not being lazy until the matter is accomplished; meeting causes and conditions that obstruct the path, the mind does not sink and does not retrogress, is able to endure every suffering, and does not regard long diligent toil as a hard thing. He then cites what the sūtra says: the bodhisattva even passes over a thousand myriad yojana, and even if he does not find a single person whom he can cause to enter the real Dharma and obtain nirvāṇa, his mind at this time is not sorrowful; if he finds one person whom he can cause to uphold the five precepts and so forth, at that time his mind is glad. And he clears away a calculating thought—not having the sorrow of 「我過此無量國土，正得此一人」 tr. "I have passed over these immeasurable lands and have only now found this one person". Why? 「一人相即是一切人相，一切人相即是一人相，是諸法相不二故。」 tr. "The mark of one person is precisely the mark of all persons, and the mark of all persons is precisely the mark of one person, because the marks of these dharmas are not two." This sentence is the eye of the whole passage: not being sorrowful is not a stiff holding out; it is seeing that the marks of dharmas are not two, so that the calculation of many and few has nowhere to arise.

13. Abiding in patience and taking up dhyāna: because of the power of patience the mind is tamed and soft; because the mind is tamed and soft it easily obtains meditative concentration. This passage is short and its route is clear: because of the power of patience his mind is tamed and soft; because the mind is tamed and soft he easily obtains meditative concentration; within meditative concentration he obtains every kind of pure mind and mental-factor dharma, such as kindness and compassion, and with a non-clinging mind dedicates them all to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Three instances of the character 「故」 tr. "because" string it into one chain, and at the end it still comes back to non-clinging and dedication. What is most worth remembering for practice is the middle link—being tamed and soft. Those who seek concentration and do not obtain it are mostly not lacking in effort; it is that the mind is not yet soft.

14. Abiding in patience and taking up prajñā: the two acceptances accomplish each other; the three things are not seen; the limit of reality is not realised. This is the longest and deepest passage in the group of abiding in patience. The treatise-author first lays out the route: abiding in the acceptance of beings, enduring all the evils beings inflict, practising great kindness and compassion, and so obtaining great merit; because he obtains great merit, the mind becomes soft; because the mind is soft he easily obtains the acceptance of dharmas, namely that all is ultimately non-arising. Abiding in this acceptance of dharmas, he contemplates all dharmas as of the mark of emptiness, the mark of separation, inexhaustible, of the mark of quiescence, like the mark of nirvāṇa. The wonder lies in the next turn—「爾時，還增長眾生忍」 tr. "at this time, it further increases the acceptance of beings": having obtained the acceptance of dharmas, it turns back to nourish the acceptance of beings, because within ultimate emptiness who is there that reviles, who is there that harms? Since the two acceptances are complete, the three things are not seen: the dharma endured, the one who endures, and the place of enduring. At the end there is one more turn, which rescues ultimate emptiness from being a dead place: by his original vow he seeks the Buddha path, and because he does not cling to this dharma of ultimate emptiness, and so on up to the time before he has sat at the seat of awakening, he does not realise the limit of reality. The misreading this passage must clear away is the greatest: thinking that once emptiness has been contemplated to the end one should take realisation. The treatise-author, at the very emptiest place, sets up a ‘not clinging to emptiness’, and only then are there sitting at the seat of awakening, fulfilling the dharmas of the Buddha, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and benefiting beings at will—「皆是般若波羅蜜力」 tr. "all this is the power of prajñāpāramitā".

15. Abiding in vigour and taking up giving: vigour has no separate substance. It turns into the second group. The treatise-author first sets up the place of vigour: the bodhisattva at first enters the perfections through the gate of vigour, diligently practises the five perfections, with vigour of body and of mind, without resting and without ceasing. At once he sets down a very important verdict—「精進更無異體。」 tr. "Vigour has no separate substance." Vigour is not a sixth thing standing alongside the other five perfections; it is that unresting power present throughout the five perfections. Below this he goes on: abiding in this vigour, he does not fear the suffering of the Avīci Niraya, how much less other sufferings; and knowing that all dharmas are ultimately empty, he comes out from ultimate emptiness and, because of the mind of kindness and compassion, again gives rise to wholesome deeds and does not take nirvāṇa—this is the power of vigour. Here the reader should change a common picture: vigour is not the same as busyness; to be willing to turn back and do things from within ultimate emptiness is the utmost of vigour.

16. Passing over hundreds of thousands of lands without finding a single person, the mind neither regrets nor sinks. The treatise-author goes on laying out the real matters of this passage: the bodhisattva abiding in vigour should have this thought—going on for a long, long time I shall surely obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; it is not that I shall fail to obtain it. So he passes over one yojana and so on up to a hundred thousand yojana, bestowing on beings the two gifts of wealth and Dharma; and so on up to passing over hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭi of lands, even if he does not find a single person who enters the three vehicles, his mind neither regrets nor sinks, and he does not have the thought 「我爾所佛土而不得一人可度，云何可得度一切人」 tr. "I have passed over so many buddha-lands and cannot find a single person to deliver; how could I possibly deliver all people?" Or he may find one person whom he can cause to practise the ten wholesome paths but who cannot midway enter the three vehicles, and he does not for this reason slight or regret, but thinks instead: now I shall for the time being cause this person to practise the ten wholesome paths, and little by little deliver him with the three vehicles. Having taught the ten wholesome paths, he further satisfies beings with the two gifts of wealth and Dharma, and holding this merit he dedicates it to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. This passage should be read together with passage 12: the one is at the gate of patience, the other at the gate of vigour, both alike not counting many and few; but here there is one more layer—falling back to seek the next best is still a sequence, not a failure.

17. All giving uses vigour: why only these two gifts are said to arise from vigour. The third question and answer, asked very finely: since all giving must make use of vigour, why is it said only of these two gifts, of wealth and of Dharma, that they arise from vigour? The treatise-author's answer is only one sentence—「雖一切施皆由精進生，此以多精進力生故。」 tr. "Although all giving arises from vigour, here it is because it arises from the greater share of the power of vigour." And he cites the sūtra as evidence: passing over hundreds of thousands of lands, he satisfies beings with the two gifts. This answer sets down a general rule: the name a dharma receives is set up according to the greater share, not according to presence or absence. This general rule will be used once more below, in the passage explaining meditation; the reader had best remember it now.

18. Abiding in vigour and taking up śīla: the forty kinds of wholesome paths, without resting and without ceasing. The treatise-author explains morality: the bodhisattva straightforwardly practises the ten wholesome paths, and this is called śīlapāramitā; or it arises from the perfection of patience and the other perfections. If from the first arousing of the mind and so on up to sitting at the seat of awakening he abandons the ten unwholesome paths and practises the forty kinds of wholesome paths without resting and without ceasing, only this is called the power of the perfection of vigour. Next a sentence shows its difficulty from the reverse side—「有人一種不能行，何況四種！」 tr. "There are people who cannot practise even one kind—how much less four kinds!" Again, because of the power of śīla, he is not born in the three realms and does not receive the two vehicles; and he points out why it is so: beings, because of a mind of laziness and affliction, are born within the three realms; loathing birth and death, they give up the Buddha path and take the Small Vehicle—these are all marks of laziness. Here one must see clearly the treatise-author's way of judging: giving up the great and taking the small is, in his view, not a small aspiration; it is laziness.

19. Abiding in vigour and taking up kṣānti: now patience arises from vigour. The treatise-author explains patience: from the first arousing of the mind and so on up to sitting at the seat of awakening, if a human or a non-human comes, cuts and severs his body and carries it off, at that time, because he has broken the inversion of self and is skilled at accumulating ultimate emptiness, he thinks—within this there is no one who cuts and no one who severs; these things are all what ordinary people falsely and deceptively see; I obtain a great benefit; when I know the real mark of all dharmas I am able to enter nirvāṇa, and it is only out of pity for beings that I receive a body; beings come of themselves and take it away, and I should not begrudge it. After deeply entering the real mark of all dharmas, there follows a very warm and gentle sentence: 「此中無有定相，眾生自生怖畏。」 tr. "Within this there is no fixed mark; it is beings themselves who give rise to fear." Finally he divides patience from vigour: being able to endure reviling, beating, and harming is patience; being glad and not retrogressing is vigour; of the two dharmas, either patience arises from vigour or vigour arises from patience—「今從精進生忍辱」 tr. "now patience arises from vigour". The last four Chinese characters are the locating words of this passage—the same pair of dharmas runs in this direction in this group and in the opposite direction in the group of abiding in patience; this is one more proof that the texts on mutual containing differ from the texts on sequence.

20. Abiding in vigour and taking up dhyāna: of the various conditions for obtaining meditation, only the kind that fights with the mind is named arising from vigour. This is the longest analysis of the whole part, and also the positive demonstration of the general rule 「多處受名」 tr. "the name is received by the greater share". The treatise-author lists the various conditions for obtaining meditation: first, obtaining it of itself, as at the time when the kalpa is exhausted; second, obtaining it on falling back, and obtaining it by birth; third, dying in a higher ground and being born in a lower ground and obtaining it—these three all do not arise from vigour. Fourth, obtaining it because great giving breaks the five hindrances such as stinginess and greed; fifth, obtaining it through a slight mind of weariness, because of upholding the precepts purely and cultivating and accumulating patience; sixth, obtaining it by the power of great wisdom, knowing that the desire realm is impermanent, false and deceptive, and impure—although these three also have vigour, meditation is obtained by further relying on other dharmas, and so they are not named arising from vigour. Here, in passing, the treatise-author adds a sentence on the real state of meditation: 「禪定雖亦虛誑，猶勝欲界。」 tr. "Although meditative concentration too is false and deceptive, it is still superior to the desire realm." What is truly named arising from vigour is the seventh kind: not taking the five dharmas as the master, but only with vigour day and night, walking and sitting in meditation, constantly fighting with the mind, with the five powers of faith and the rest deeply reining in the five hindrances; if the mind gallops off and scatters, gathering it in and making it return, as though fighting with a thief, even to the point of sweating. There is also an eighth kind: people of dull faculties, covered by the sins of former lives, deeply attached to worldly pleasures, galloping and hard to restrain, who obtain concentration only by adding deep vigour. At the end he closes with the simile of the person with merit and the person of thin merit: what comes of itself to one who sits at ease with nothing to do, blessings and emoluments arriving of themselves, is named 「福德自至」 tr. "merit arrives of itself"; what is obtained only by diligently setting up skilful means and fighting is named 「精進而得」 tr. "obtained by vigour". The concluding sentence is the one most worth remembering—「如是一切處雖有精進，多處受名。」 tr. "In this way, although there is vigour everywhere, the name is received by the greater share."

21. Abiding in vigour and taking up prajñā: apart from the prajñā that arises from the four perfections, the rest of wisdom mostly arises from vigour. The treatise-author explains wisdom: because of the power of vigour the bodhisattva obtains dhyānapāramitā; because he obtains dhyānapāramitā, the power of the bodhisattva's supernormal powers arises; by the causes and conditions of these two things, with the power of supernormal powers he reaches everywhere in the ten directions, wishing to fulfil the merit not yet fulfilled, and wishing also to teach and transform all beings. Next a sentence marks out the scope—「除四波羅蜜所生般若，餘智慧多從精進生故，住精進為主，取智慧。」 tr. "Apart from the prajñā that arises from the four perfections, the rest of wisdom mostly arises from vigour; therefore abiding in vigour is the master, and it takes up wisdom." This sentence is precisely the application of 「多處受名」 tr. "the name is received by the greater share" at the gate of wisdom: it does not say that prajñā arises only from vigour; it says that, when the share arising from the other four perfections is deducted, what remains mostly arises from vigour. At the end he further divides prajñā into two: first, contemplating the real mark of all dharmas, and within all dharmas seeing neither the mark of a dharma nor the mark of what is not a dharma; second, practising as it is taught. Yet people, because of a lazy mind, cannot practise these two things; because of the power of vigour one is able to practise them fully. Seeing and practising, the two things, alike need vigour; this is where the passage comes to rest on the ground.

22. Abiding in meditation and taking up the five: the simile of the lamp lit in a closed room, and conjured persons expounding the Dharma. The sūtra text of the group of abiding in meditation is broad, yet the treatise-author's explanation is extremely concise and clean; within a single passage all five perfections are gathered in. First he sets up the general mark: abiding in dhyānapāramitā, the mind is tamed, soft, and immovable, and able to contemplate the real mark of all dharmas; it is like a lamp lit in a closed room, whose light shines clear and bright—this is 「住禪波羅蜜生智慧」 tr. "abiding in dhyānapāramitā gives rise to wisdom". Next he says that not vexing any being, and moreover pitying them, is 「甚深清淨持戒、忍辱」 tr. "very deep and pure upholding of the precepts and patience". Next he says that conjuring wealth by the power of supernormal powers and fulfilling giving, and also sending conjured persons to expound the Dharma for all; and again that rising from meditation and expounding the Dharma for beings with a pure and soft mind, is 「布施」 tr. "giving". Next he says that giving rise to supernormal powers by the power of meditative concentration, reaching everywhere in the ten directions, guiding and benefiting all without laziness and without rest, is 「精進」 tr. "vigour". Again he says that meditative concentration making the four perfections increase is 「禪定生精進」 tr. "meditative concentration gives rise to vigour". At the end he stops with 「餘義，如經廣說」 tr. "the rest of the meaning is as the sūtra explains at length". This passage must clear away one misreading: one must not, because the treatise text is short, think that the meaning of the group of abiding in meditation is shallower; the treatise-author says plainly that the rest of the meaning is in the sūtra; it is brief because the sūtra has already spoken at length.

23. Abiding in prajñā and taking up the five: as the Buddha himself explains at length in the sūtra. Here the treatise-author passes over it with a single sentence and sets up no explanation of his own. This sentence looks like an abbreviation, yet in fact it is a matter of form: since the sūtra text is the Buddha's own extensive explanation, the treatise-author does not repeat it, and puts all his strength into the five questions and answers below—what they ask about are all places where one still gets stuck after the Buddha's extensive explanation. Here the reader should turn a thought round: that the treatise-author does not explain is not necessarily taking it lightly; sometimes it is precisely because the sūtra text is already sufficient that what remains is only doubt.

24. Why, among the eighteen emptinesses, four emptinesses are not spoken of. The first question. The wording of the question first states its own reason—「佛雖廣說，其中猶有不解者，今當問」 tr. "although the Buddha has explained it at length, there are still things within it that are not understood, and now I should ask"—the attitude is utterly sincere. What is asked is: among the eighteen emptinesses, why are the last four emptinesses not spoken of? The treatise-author answers: the fourteenth is named the emptiness of all dharmas; saying ‘all’ means that of dharmas there is none not exhausted, and so they are not spoken of. This answer is very brief, yet it at once draws the next question.

25. If so, only fourteen should be spoken of: why are there eighteen? The second question follows close behind, a very fine push: since the emptiness of all dharmas has already exhausted everything, eighteen becomes a superfluous number. The treatise-author's answer divides into two layers: one layer is 「彼中分別一切法相空，一切空皆總入十八空」 tr. "there, the emptiness of the marks of all dharmas is distinguished, and all emptinesses are gathered together into the eighteen emptinesses"—eighteen is the number of the general account; the other layer is 「此中為行者說」 tr. "here, it is spoken for the practitioner"—here it is the number suited to the hearer. The practitioner may practise one emptiness, two emptinesses, and so on up to fourteen emptinesses, settled according to how much he originally clung; only for someone who deeply clings to wrong views are the other four emptinesses used, because existent dharmas, non-existent dharmas, and the like are the wrong views of the outside paths, and this bodhisattva, because he cultivates kindness and compassion and his mind becomes soft, does not give rise to such views of existence and non-existence. With ‘furthermore’ he turns closer still: because the bodhisattva perfumes his mind with the fourteen emptinesses, he is clear and distinct regarding existence and non-existence and makes no error, and therefore the last four emptinesses are not spoken of. The misreading this passage must clear away is taking the number as a fixed dharma: for one and the same Dharma-gate, the general account and the account suited to the hearer may differ in number without contradicting each other.

26. Why it is said that the bodhisattva is like the buddhas without a mind of greedy clinging. The third question. In the sūtra the bodhisattva is likened to the Buddha, and the questioner feels he is raised too high. The treatise-author answers very distinctly: the Buddha has cut off the afflictions and their habitual residues so that they do not arise; the bodhisattva subdues them by the power of prajñā so that they do not arise—the one is cutting off, the other is subduing; their natures are different from the outset. The reason the sūtra text speaks so is 「欲讚歎般若力故」 tr. "because it wishes to praise the power of prajñā": although the fetters are not yet cut off, it is no different from the Buddha's having cut them off, so as to let people know to prize prajñā. This passage clears away a great misreading: one must not take this as saying that the bodhisattva is already equal to the Buddha's position. The treatise-author's verdict rests only on the four Chinese characters 「般若力故」 tr. "because of the power of prajñā"; what is praised is the Dharma, not the person.

27. He arouses the mind and has this thought: within this there is no dharma whatever that arises or ceases. The treatise-author next records the thought shown in the sūtra text—within this there is no dharma whatever that arises or ceases, nor is there anyone who receives reviling, cutting and severing, and such things. This sentence is the starting point of the next question: read alone it is a contemplation; read together with what follows it is a difficulty.

28. This is precisely the acceptance of non-arising: why is it called compliant acceptance? The fourth question, the most finely drawn distinction of the whole part. The questioner says: since he has already contemplated no arising and no ceasing, that is the acceptance of non-arising; why does the sūtra call it only compliant acceptance? The treatise-author's answer divides into three sections. First, what is broken here is the being that is a provisional name, in which the five aggregates come together; he is not yet able to break dharmas, and so the sūtra says 「無生者滅者，無受罵詈者」 tr. "there is none that arises and none that ceases, there is none who receives reviling"—what is absent is the person, not dharmas. Second, although this person has already broken the self and contemplates the emptiness of dharmas, he is not yet able to enter deeply, and still has love that clings to dharmas. Third, by raising each against the other he shows their boundary: just as one who has obtained the dharma of the acceptance of non-arising still has kindness and pity for beings, so within compliant acceptance there is also the thought of the emptiness of dharmas; of the two dharmas, being unfindable with respect to beings is named the acceptance of beings, and being unfindable with respect to dharmas is named the acceptance of dharmas; 「法忍者不妨眾生忍，眾生忍不妨法忍，但以深淺為別」 tr. "the acceptance of dharmas does not obstruct the acceptance of beings, and the acceptance of beings does not obstruct the acceptance of dharmas; they are distinguished only by depth and shallowness". The misreading this passage must clear away is reading the two acceptances as two mutually exclusive roads; the treatise-author says plainly that the two do not obstruct each other, and that what distinguishes them is only depth and shallowness.

29. In the leaping samādhi one cannot leap over two: why is it said thus here? The fifth question takes the settled account of the Abhidharma directly to challenge the sūtra. The treatise-author's answer has only five Chinese characters as its guiding line—「大小乘法異」 tr. "the dharmas of the Great Vehicle and of the Small Vehicle are not the same". Not leaping over two is what is said within the dharmas of the Small Vehicle; the bodhisattva, because of immeasurable merit and wisdom and the power of deeply entering meditative concentration, is able to leap at will. Then with a simile he makes it understandable: a person leaping with human strength does not get beyond some ten feet; if one leaps with the strength of a god, there is no difficulty of breadth and distance. Once the magnitude of the power changes, the limit naturally differs; this is not breaking the rule; the rule was from the outset set up only for that magnitude.

30. The Abhidharma is all spoken for ordinary persons and śrāvakas; the bodhisattva is not like this. The treatise-author pushes the previous answer one layer further and says why it is so: what is in the Abhidharma is all spoken for ordinary persons and śrāvakas; the bodhisattva is not like this—because of the power of wisdom he enters the samādhi of the lion's rousing and is able to obtain mastery over dharmas; because of the power of prajñā he is able to proclaim dharmas freely and at will, in accord with beings. Here one must see clearly that the treatise-author is not abolishing the Abhidharma; he is judging the hearers it is meant for. Whenever one brings up a treatise to challenge a sūtra, first ask for whom this treatise was spoken—this is the method this passage leaves the reader.

31. Again, there are bodhisattvas who much practise prajñā and abide securely in the immovable dharma. When the five questions are finished, the treatise-author comes back to the positive side: again, there are bodhisattvas who much practise prajñāpāramitā, know the real mark of all dharmas, and abide securely in the immovable dharma; none of the gods and humans of all the world can challenge him or make him waver. This sentence is both the close of the five questions above and the start of the extensive explanation below of prajñā giving rise to the five perfections—only one who is unmoved when challenged can be unobstructed everywhere in giving, morality, patience, vigour, and meditation.

32. Prajñā giving rise to dāna, one: giving to the Buddha and giving to beings are equal and without difference. The treatise-author begins to explain extensively, perfection by perfection. First he speaks of the gift of wealth: if he obtains wealth, he gives to two kinds of beings, either giving to the Buddha or giving to beings; because beings are empty his mind is equal, and he does not prize and cling to the buddhas nor slight and despise beings. At once he speaks of the faults at the two edges—if in giving to the poor and lowly he gives rise to slighting, the merit is small; if in giving to the buddhas he gives rise to greedy clinging, the merit is not complete. This sentence is the most awakening: giving with greedy clinging to the Buddha, the merit, after all, is not complete. Below this he pushes on to the things given: whether gold, silver, and precious things, or even grass and trees, because dharmas are empty these too are equal and without difference; cutting off every kind of false thought that discriminates one and different, and so forth, he enters the gate of the dharma of non-duality and gives—this is called the gift of wealth. Only when the two layers, the emptiness of persons and the emptiness of dharmas, are set up is giving equal.

33. Prajñā giving rise to dāna, two: the gift of Dharma is likewise. The treatise-author pushes the gift of Dharma by the same principle: he does not covet and prize the one who has wisdom and can receive the Dharma, nor slight the one who has no wisdom and does not understand the Dharma. Why? Because the dharmas of the Buddha are immeasurable, unspeakable, and inconceivable. And he levels his mind once more over the dharmas spoken: whether speaking of shallow dharmas such as giving, or of the twelve links of causes and conditions, emptiness, the signless, non-action, and the other very deep dharmas, they are equal and without difference; 「是法皆入寂滅不戲論法中故」 tr. "because these dharmas all enter the dharma of quiescence, without idle discourse". This passage clears away a great misreading: it must not be read as saying that deep and shallow are without distinction and one may speak the shallow at will. What the treatise-author levels is the speaker's mind, not the fitness of the Dharma to the hearer; the mind does not prize the deep and despise the shallow, yet in expounding the Dharma one must still suit the hearer.

34. Every kind such as these is called 「般若生布施」 tr. "prajñā gives rise to giving" . The treatise-author concludes the two passages above with a single sentence. Concluding sentences of this kind appear again and again in this part, and the reader need not let them slip lightly by: every concluding sentence is a boundary stake, marking which passage explains which sentence of the sūtra text.

35. Rejoicing and dedicating: able to give beings a share of merit. The treatise-author goes on to raise another mark of the giving born of prajñā: the bodhisattva rejoices in the three kinds of merit cultivated by the buddhas of the ten directions and the three times and by their disciples, shares it all with all beings, and dedicates it to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. And he points out why rejoicing also counts as giving—「智慧力故，無所不施，能與眾生福德分。」 tr. "Because of the power of wisdom, there is nothing he does not give, and he is able to give beings a share of merit." When there is nothing to give there is still something to give; this is the one gate of prajñā giving rise to dāna that least uses up wealth.

36. When giving, every kind of good mind arises, and each one breaks an affliction. This is the passage of prajñā giving rise to dāna closest to daily use. The treatise-author lists five pairs: because he gives with a mind of kindness he extinguishes hatred; because he is glad on seeing the receiver obtain happiness he extinguishes the mind of jealousy; because he gives to the receiver with a respectful mind he breaks arrogance; because he clearly believes and knows the retribution of giving he breaks doubt and ignorance; because he does not take the giver and the receiver as fixed and real he breaks the other wrong views such as existence and non-existence. He also sets up three contemplations: contemplating the receiver as a Buddha, contemplating the thing given as like the mark of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and contemplating his own body as from the very beginning ultimately empty. He concludes: if he gives in this way, because it is not false and deceptive, it reaches straight to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. In a single giving every affliction has its counteragent one by one; this is the real meaning of 「拔出慳貪根本而行布施」 tr. "pulling out the root of stinginess and greed and giving".

37. Marks such as these are called 「般若波羅蜜生檀波羅蜜」 tr. "prajñāpāramitā gives rise to dānapāramitā" . One more boundary stake, closing the whole account of prajñā giving rise to dāna.

38. Prajñā giving rise to śīla, one: it is not that there are no beings and yet he is able to receive and uphold the ten wholesome paths. The treatise-author explains morality and at the very start sets up a boundary easily swept away by a view of emptiness: because the bodhisattva deeply enters pure prajñāpāramitā, it is not that there are no beings and yet he is able to receive and uphold the precepts of the ten wholesome paths and the rest; it is in order to break the inversion of killing that there is the precept of not killing; it is not that it exists within the real mark. This sentence covers both sides: the reason the precepts are set up is to break inversion; yet for the precepts to be able to be set up, there must still be beings. Emptiness does not obstruct the precepts; the precepts are not set up within the real mark but at the place where inversion awaits breaking.

39. Prajñā giving rise to śīla, two: limited upholding of the precepts and the precepts of non-discrimination. The treatise-author shows the immeasurable by the measured: some people uphold the precept of not killing for the beings within a hundred yojana, some uphold the precept of not killing for the beings of one Jambudvīpa—such as these are upholding the precepts for a limited number of beings; or some uphold the precepts for one day, or receive the five precepts or the ten precepts—such as these are limited upholding of the precepts. The bodhisattva who practises prajñā is not like this—he upholds the precepts for the sake of all beings of immeasurable lands, not for one life or two lives, 「如如、虛空、法性、實際住」 tr. "abiding like suchness, space, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality"; because of the mark of ultimate emptiness, he does not grasp at this mark of the precepts, does not loathe the breaking of the precepts, and does not cling to upholding the precepts. It is named 「菩薩般若波羅蜜生具足無分別戒」 tr. "the bodhisattva's prajñāpāramitā gives rise to the fulfilled precepts of non-discrimination". What is to be remembered in this passage are three instances of 「不」 tr. "not": not grasping at the mark of the precepts, not loathing the breaking of the precepts, not clinging to upholding the precepts—for one who upholds the precepts, the hardest barrier is not breaking the precepts; it is clinging to the precepts.

40. Prajñā giving rise to kṣānti: obtaining the acceptance of all dharmas, the mind without discrimination of right and wrong. The treatise-author explains patience very briefly: patience is of two kinds, first the acceptance of beings, second the acceptance of dharmas. Because the bodhisattva deeply enters prajñāpāramitā, he obtains the acceptance of all dharmas, is able to believe and receive the immeasurable dharmas of the Buddha, and has in his mind no discrimination of right and wrong. It is named 「般若波羅蜜中生忍辱」 tr. "patience arises within prajñāpāramitā". The patience here is no longer enduring people's evil; it is accepting the depth of the Dharma—being able to believe and receive the immeasurable dharmas of the Buddha without giving rise to right and wrong; this is the positive statement of the acceptance of dharmas.

41. Prajñā giving rise to vīrya: the three deeds all extinguished; the simile of crossing the sea in a dream. The treatise-author explains vigour: again, there are bodhisattvas who, because they diligently practise vigour and have fulfilled the five perfections, practise prajñāpāramitā, obtain the real mark of all dharmas, and extinguish the three deeds—the body does nothing, the mouth says nothing, the mind thinks nothing. Then with a simile he makes it understandable: it is like a person who in a dream is sinking in the great ocean and moves hands and feet seeking to cross; after waking, the mind of the dream at once ceases. This simile is the best simile of the whole part: it does not forbid hands and feet; it is that once one wakes from the dream they are naturally not needed. It is named 「從般若波羅蜜中生第一精進」 tr. "the foremost vigour arises from within prajñāpāramitā". And he cites the words of the Sūtra of Holding the Mind as evidence—because I obtained this vigour, I received the prediction in the presence of Dīpaṃkara Buddha. The misreading to clear away here: the three deeds all being extinguished is not paralysis and not moving; it is moving without anything done; the 「不動精進」 tr. "unmoving vigour" above has the same purport as this.

42. Prajñā giving rise to dhyāna: the simile of the two bulls; meditative concentration arises from discriminating wisdom. At the head of this passage the treatise-author first sets up a general rule: although apart from wisdom there is no meditative concentration, meditative concentration is for the most part obtained by the power of wisdom, and therefore meditative concentration arises from wisdom. Then he cites the event told in the Pratyekabuddha Sūtra: there was a king who saw two bulls fight to the death for the sake of lust, and he at once awakened of himself—I, for the sake of wealth and beauty, make war on other countries; how is this any different from that! Thereupon he abandoned the five desires, obtained meditative concentration, and became a pratyekabuddha. The treatise-author likens the bodhisattva to him: by causes and conditions great or small he is able to loathe the five desires, and weighs that the pleasure of the five desires and the pleasure of meditation are far apart—how could one give up the pleasure of meditative concentration for the small pleasure of the five desires; and the pleasure of meditative concentration is of pure merit, and one feels pleasure throughout the body. He concludes: such as these are meditative concentration arising from discriminating wisdom. This passage may be read together with passage 20: there it says that meditation is obtained by vigour, here it says that meditation is obtained by wisdom; the two do not contradict each other, and it is still 「多處受名」 tr. "the name is received by the greater share".

43. The meaning of meditative concentration is as the sūtra says. Passed over with a single sentence, of the same form as passage 23. The treatise-author does not repeat what the sūtra has already explained at length.

44. Planting roots of goodness through immeasurable kalpas, coming out from the very deep dharma and turning back to cultivate merit. The treatise-author brings to a close the explanation of mutual generation and lands on a very wide shot: this bodhisattva, through immeasurable kalpas, plants roots of goodness for the sake of the Buddha path; because he is apart from desire he obtains mastery over the meditative concentrations and deeply enters suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality; because of the power of vigour, skilful means, and kindness and compassion, he comes out from the very deep dharma and turns back to cultivate merit. The nine Chinese characters 「出於甚深法，還修功德」 tr. "comes out from the very deep dharma and turns back to cultivate merit" are the most important—after entering deeply, being willing to come out, and after coming out, being willing to cultivate again; this is precisely the echo of passage 14's ‘not clinging to ultimate emptiness’. With this, the containing by mutual generation has been fully spoken.

45. Turning to fulfilment within a single thought: this person subdues his mind, and within a single thought is able to practise the six perfections. Here the treatise-author sets out on a separate road. What was said before is A giving rise to B; what is said from here on is the six being present right now within one perfection. The treatise-author first sets it out with giving as the example: relinquishing wealth in accordance with the Dharma is dāna; abiding securely in the ten wholesome paths, giving, and not tending toward the two vehicles is śīla; stinginess and greed and every affliction, and the people of Māra, coming and being unable to move his mind is kṣānti; when giving, vigour of body and of mind, without resting and without ceasing, is vigour; gathering the mind upon the giving, not letting it be scattered, without doubt and without regret, facing straight toward anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi is meditation; when giving, the giver, the receiver, and the wealth are unfindable, and not, as wrong views do, grasping at marks and falsely seeing a fixed mark, but, like the buddhas and the worthies and sages, contemplating the mark of the thing given, the marks of the receiver and the giver, and the mark of the place to which one dedicates, is prajñā; when giving the Dharma it is likewise. Here the reader must take the three Chinese characters 「一念中」 tr. "within a single thought" as solid: it is not six things queued up and done to the end; it is six faces accomplished at the same time within one giving.

46. Abiding in morality, the six complete, one: the three kinds of restraint, and giving fearlessness to beings. The treatise-author turns to taking upholding the precepts as the head. The bodhisattva receives all the precepts in full, and with a wholesome mind gives rise to right speech, right deeds, and the three kinds of restraint—the restraint of the precepts, the restraint of meditative concentration, and the restraint without outflows; abiding in these precepts, he gives fearlessness to all beings, and this is called dānapāramitā. How does upholding the precepts become giving? Because where the precepts are, beings have no fear of me. The gift of fearlessness does not wait on wealth; this is the perfection first accomplished within the gate of the precepts.

47. Abiding in morality, the six complete, two: patience for the sake of upholding the precepts. The treatise-author explains the patience within morality in two layers: one layer is the afflictions pressing from within—when lust, hatred, and the other afflictions wish to break the precepts, he is able to subdue them and able to endure them; the other layer is what outer conditions inflict—when someone comes and reviles, beats, and harms him, because he fears breaking the precepts he endures it and does not retaliate; and when pressed by the sufferings of hunger and thirst, cold and heat, for the sake of upholding the precepts he is able to endure them all. This is called kṣāntipāramitā. This passage requires seeing one turn clearly: what is endured here is not endured for the sake of patience; it is endured 「為持戒故」 tr. "for the sake of upholding the precepts"—since the master is morality, patience is set up bound to morality.

48. Abiding in morality, the six complete, three: distinguishing the marks of the precepts is vigour of mind; practising according to the dharma of the precepts is vigour of body. The treatise-author explains the vigour within morality through two gates, of mind and of body: distinguishing the marks of the precepts—light and heavy, with remainder and without remainder, the root and branch of the causes and conditions, whether prohibited or permitted, and so forth—is vigour of mind; being able to practise according to the dharma of the precepts, and, when there is an offence, humbling the mind, repenting, and removing it, is called vigour of body. With such upholding of the precepts and vigour, he does not seek to be a king of the gods or a king of humans, and so on up to not seeking the nirvāṇa of the Small Vehicle; only because the precepts are the dwelling-place of the bodhisattva path, upholding the precepts is able to cultivate and accumulate the five perfections—this is called the perfection of vigour. This passage leaves the reader a plain truth: studying the marks of the precepts also counts as vigour, but it must be counted together with 「有犯則下意懺除」 tr. "when there is an offence, humbling the mind, repenting, and removing it", so that it does not stay on paper.

49. Abiding in morality, the six complete, four: seeking the pleasure of meditative concentration in order to make the precepts firm and secure. The treatise-author explains the meditation within morality, and speaks in a very orderly sequence. First he sets out why it is so: when the precepts are upheld purely, the power of the afflictions is broken, and the mind is then tamed. Next, with two similes, he shows the reverse side: it is like old age robbing the strength of the prime of life, and when death comes one is easily destroyed—the practitioner who does not obtain meditative concentration recollects the five desires and gives rise to the five hindrances, which encroach upon his upholding of the precepts. Therefore 「為戒堅牢故，求禪定樂」 tr. "in order to make the precepts firm and secure, he seeks the pleasure of meditative concentration". Next he settles the meaning of meditation: gathering all mind and mental-factor dharmas so that they come together in one place is named meditative concentration. Next he lists the three layers to be removed: first removing the evil bodily and verbal deeds that break the precepts, next removing the three kinds of evil initial and sustained thought, and then removing the three kinds of subtle initial and sustained thought—namely of one's land, of one's kin and village, and of not dying. When these have been removed he at once obtains meditative concentration, and this is called dhyānapāramitā. What is most worth savouring in this passage is the sentence 「為戒堅牢故，求禪定樂」 tr. "in order to make the precepts firm and secure, he seeks the pleasure of meditative concentration": the reason for seeking concentration is not seeking pleasure; it is guarding the precepts.

50. Abiding in morality, the six complete, five: the elephant bathes and again sprinkles itself with earth; neither loathing nor love should arise. The treatise-author explains the wisdom within morality, rising layer by layer. The first layer: when upholding the precepts, knowing that the precepts can give rise to the fruits and retributions of merit in this life and later lives—this is called wisdom. The second layer: the precepts that are loved, the one who upholds the precepts, and the one who breaks the precepts, these three things are unfindable—this is called wisdom. The third layer sets up three kinds of people: the lower person breaks the precepts, the middle person clings to the precepts, the upper person does not cling to the precepts. The fourth layer is the bodhisattva's own reflection—if I loathe the breaking of the precepts and the one who breaks them, and love the precepts and the one who upholds them, and give rise to love and resentment, I shall still receive the causes and conditions of sinful deeds; it is like an elephant which, after bathing and washing, again sprinkles itself with earth. And he pushes on to its principle: all dharmas belong to causes and conditions, and none is sovereign; all wholesome dharmas arise because of evil; if they arise because of evil, how could one cling to them? Evil is the cause of good; how could one loathe it? Reflecting thus, he straightaway enters the real mark of all dharmas—contemplating that upholding the precepts and breaking the precepts both arise from causes and conditions; because they arise from causes and conditions they are without self-nature; because they are without self-nature they are ultimately empty; because they are ultimately empty he does not cling—this is called prajñāpāramitā. The simile of the elephant bathing and again sprinkling itself with earth is the eye of this passage: to uphold the precepts with toil and then defile oneself with loathing and love is exactly like washing clean and then scooping up earth to scatter over one's body.

51. Abiding in patience, the six complete, one: the two acceptances give rise to the two gifts. The treatise-author turns to taking patience as the head. When the bodhisattva practises patience he has this thought—if beings come to cut and sever my body, I shall give it at once, so that beings do not incur the sin of robbery. The wonder of this thought lies in thinking on behalf of the other: what is cherished is not my body but his sin. Or, while cultivating patience, he expounds the Dharma on the basis of patience, distinguishing by every kind of cause and condition the world and nirvāṇa, and causes beings to abide in the six perfections. At the end he concludes their mutual generation: obtaining the acceptance of beings and being able to give the body is the gift of wealth; obtaining the acceptance of dharmas, deeply entering dharmas, and speaking them for beings is the gift of Dharma; 「是二施從二忍生，故名檀波羅蜜」 tr. "these two gifts arise from the two acceptances, and so it is named dānapāramitā". The two acceptances and the two gifts are matched one to one; the form is very orderly.

52. Abiding in patience, the six complete, two: upholding the precepts because of patience. The treatise-author explains the morality within patience with a question that reasons from the heavier to the lighter: when the bodhisattva practises patience, he does not begrudge even his body and life for the sake of patience—how much less would he vex beings and break the precepts! Therefore because of patience he upholds the precepts, pities all beings, and wishes to deliver them. And he sets down a definition of the precepts—「持戒名一切諸善法安立住處。」 tr. "Upholding the precepts is named the dwelling-place where all wholesome dharmas are established." This definition is brief and complete, and may be read alongside passage 48's 「戒是菩薩道住處」 tr. "the precepts are the dwelling-place of the bodhisattva path".

53. Abiding in patience, the six complete, three: within patience, with body and mind diligently practising the four perfections. Only a single sentence: the bodhisattva, within patience, with body and mind diligently practises the four perfections—this is called vigour. The very shortness of this passage shows the form—in the texts on fulfilment within a single thought, wherever the meaning is already clear, nothing is added.

54. Abiding in patience, the six complete, four: I am able to be patient toward all beings like the earth. The treatise-author explains the meditation within patience: within patience, the mind is tamed and soft, does not cling to the five desires, and is gathered in one place; toward all beings I am able to be patient like the earth—this is called dhyānapāramitā. The three Chinese characters 「忍如地」 tr. "patient like the earth" are the steadiest of all the similes of this part: the earth does not choose between clean and foul but bears them all; when patience reaches this point, the mind of itself is not scattered.

55. Abiding in patience, the six complete, five: patience at its deepest is precisely prajñā. The treatise-author explains the wisdom within patience, listing four layers from the shallow to the deep: knowing that the retribution of patience is the adornment of the body with the marks and minor signs, and so forth; cultivating patience being able to screen off the afflictions; being able to endure the faults and evils of beings; being able to accept all very deep dharmas. When the four layers are exhausted, he afterwards obtains the real mark of all dharmas; at this time the practitioner obtains in his mind this acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas, and it 「即是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "is precisely prajñāpāramitā". Here 「即是」 tr. "is precisely" is used and not 「生」 tr. "gives rise to", which shows exactly the difference between fulfilment within a single thought and mutual generation—it is not that patience gives rise to prajñā; it is that when patience reaches this point it is, in its very substance, prajñā.

56. Abiding in vigour, the six complete, one: although vigour is the root of all good, what is named arising from vigour is so by the greater share. The treatise-author turns to taking vigour as the head, and at the outset first places a sentence of self-limitation: although vigour is the root of all good, and apart from vigour no wholesome dharma can be obtained, 「但以精進力多生五波羅蜜故，名精進生」 tr. "it is only because the five perfections arise by the greater share of the power of vigour that it is named arising from vigour". This is the third appearance of passage 17's 「多處受名」 tr. "the name is received by the greater share", and also the treatise-author's most consistent way of judging throughout the part. Arriving here, the reader should confirm: wherever this chapter says ‘such-and-such a perfection gives rise to such-and-such a perfection’, it is all said with respect to the greater share; it does not say that the other perfections have no part in it.

57. Abiding in vigour, the six complete, two: the three kinds of giving, and so on up to the two vigours, moving and unmoving. The treatise-author assigns them one by one: constantly practising the three kinds of giving and never giving them up or stopping—the gift of wealth, the gift of Dharma, the gift of fearlessness—this is called dānapāramitā; well cultivating the right deeds of body and speech, tending straight toward the Buddha path, not craving the two vehicles—this is called śīlapāramitā; when he diligently practises vigour and someone comes to destroy the bodhisattva path, being able to endure it, unmoved—this is called kṣāntipāramitā; although practising every kind of other dharma, the mind not scattered, with a single mind keeping sarvajñā in mind—this is called dhyānapāramitā. At the end he does not speak of prajñā directly, but first divides vigour into two: first, the moving mark, body and mind practising diligently; second, because all idle discourse is extinguished, body and mind unmoving. He concludes: although the bodhisattva diligently practises the moving vigour, he is also not apart from the unmoving vigour, and 「不動精進不離般若波羅蜜」 tr. "the unmoving vigour does not depart from prajñāpāramitā". This conclusion most needs close reading: prajñā is not a sixth thing set up separately; it is what the unmoving vigour does not depart from.

58. Abiding in meditation, the six complete: entering meditative concentration and conjuring offerings, expounding the Dharma, accepting dharmas, giving rise to samādhis. The treatise-author turns to taking meditative concentration as the head. Because of the power of the mind of kindness and compassion he gives fearlessness to all beings; or, because of the power of meditative concentration, he conjures precious things like Mount Sumeru filling every place, rains down every kind of flower, incense, and the like as offerings to the buddhas, and gives clothing, food and drink, and so forth to poor beings; or within meditative concentration he expounds the Dharma for the beings of the ten directions—this is called dānapāramitā. Herein, practising wholesome deeds of body and speech in accord with meditative concentration, and being apart from the mind of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha—this is called śīlapāramitā. Entering meditative concentration and obtaining a pure and soft pleasure, and yet being able not to cling to the taste of meditation; because of the power of meditative concentration, being able to enter deeply into the emptiness of dharmas, able to accept this dharma, the mind without doubt and without regret—this is called kṣāntipāramitā. Wishing to give rise to the samādhis—the leaping samādhi, the samādhi of the lion's rousing, and the other immeasurable samādhis of the bodhisattvas—without resting and without ceasing—this is called the perfection of vigour. Because of the power of meditative concentration the mind is pure and immovable and able to enter the real mark of all dharmas, and 「諸法實相即是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "the real mark of all dharmas is precisely prajñāpāramitā". In this passage the sentence 「能不著禪味」 tr. "able not to cling to the taste of meditation" is the joint: of the gate of meditation containing the six perfections, the most dangerous barrier is precisely craving the taste.

59. Abiding in prajñā, the six complete: within a single mind, at a single time, able to fulfil the six perfections. The treatise-author, taking prajñā as the head, makes the last round, which is also the close of the whole chapter. Being able to contemplate the mark of the three kinds of giving as like anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and extinguishing every kind of idle discourse such as neither existent nor non-existent—this is called the dānapāramitā within the immeasurable, inexhaustible prajñā; bodily and verbal deeds proceeding in accord with prajñā, and because he obtains prajñā being able to uphold the precepts firmly and purely—this is called śīlapāramitā; abiding in the mind of prajñā, the acceptance of beings and the acceptance of dharmas becoming ever deeper and purer—this is called kṣāntipāramitā; the bodhisattva who practises prajñā is pure in body and mind and obtains the unmoving vigour, contemplates the moving vigour as like an illusion, like a dream, and because he obtains the unmoving vigour does not enter nirvāṇa—this is called the perfection of vigour; because he practises this unobstructed prajñā, although he constantly enters meditative concentration, because he obtains the power of prajñāpāramitā, he does not rise from meditation and yet is able to deliver beings—this is called dhyānapāramitā. At the end he gathers in the whole chapter with a single sentence—「如是等菩薩利智慧故，一心中一時能具足六波羅蜜。」 tr. "Bodhisattvas such as these, because their wisdom is keen, are able within a single mind, at a single time, to fulfil the six perfections." The thirty groups listed in the First and Middle Parts are a horizontal arrangement in sequence; here they are gathered in vertically by a single sentence: the horizontal is the road, the vertical is the fruit; when the road has been walked to its end, the six perfections are no longer six.

Do Not Misread

Do not read the 「主」 tr. "master" as honoured and lowly. The answer that opens the whole part is only seven Chinese characters—「行因緣次第應爾」 tr. "The sequence of the causes and conditions of practice should be so."; the master is what is fitting in the position of practice in a sequence, not higher and lower among dharmas. The treatise-author at once proves it with the two kinds of bodhisattvas, the householder and the one who has gone forth: for one who has wealth, giving is the master; for one without wealth, morality, patience, and meditation are the master. If the master is read as the honoured one, the arrangement of thirty groups at once turns into thirty contests for a seat, and the meaning of the whole chapter is entirely lost.

Do not read mutual containing as arising one from another in sequence. This is the boundary stake the treatise-author set up with his own hand—「此中說相，不說次第相生。雖和合而各各有相；若次第法，應先戒後忍。」 tr. "Here the marks are spoken of; arising one from another in sequence is not spoken of. Although they come together, each has its own mark; if it were the graded dharmas, morality should come first and patience after." So for the same pair, patience and morality, in the group of abiding in patience it is patience taking up morality, and in the group of abiding in morality it is morality taking up patience; for the same pair, vigour and patience, here it is 「今從精進生忍辱」 tr. "now patience arises from vigour", and there it is vigour arising from patience. The direction can be exchanged precisely because what is spoken of is the marks, not the order.

Do not read 「精進更無異體」 tr. "vigour has no separate substance" as vigour having no substance. The treatise-author's meaning is that vigour does not separately set up a sixth substance standing alongside the five perfections; it is present throughout the five perfections as that unresting power; and that is why there is 「一切處雖有精進，多處受名」 tr. "although there is vigour everywhere, the name is received by the greater share". If it is read as vigour being dispensable, the whole group of abiding in vigour and taking up the five falls empty.

Do not read 「多處受名」 tr. "the name is received by the greater share" as vagueness. It is a strict way of judging: the name a dharma receives is set up according to the greater share, not according to presence or absence. Among the various conditions for obtaining meditation that the treatise-author lists, only the kind that fights with the mind is named arising from vigour; this does not mean that obtaining meditation through the other conditions has no vigour; when prajñā is said to be 「除四波羅蜜所生般若」 tr. "apart from the prajñā that arises from the four perfections", this does not mean that prajñā does not arise from the other perfections. Wherever this chapter says that A gives rise to B, it must be read with this rule.

Do not read 「菩薩如諸佛無貪著心」 tr. "the bodhisattva, like the buddhas, is without a mind of greedy clinging" as the bodhisattva already being equal to the Buddha. The treatise-author divides them very clearly: the Buddha has cut off the afflictions and their habitual residues so that they do not arise; the bodhisattva subdues them by the power of prajñā so that they do not arise. The intent of the sūtra text in speaking so lies in 「今欲讚歎般若力故」 tr. "now it wishes to praise the power of prajñā" … 「令人知貴般若」 tr. "to let people know to prize prajñā"; what is praised is the Dharma, not the position.

Do not read compliant acceptance and the acceptance of non-arising as two mutually exclusive stages. The treatise-author says plainly 「法忍者不妨眾生忍，眾生忍不妨法忍，但以深淺為別」 tr. "the acceptance of dharmas does not obstruct the acceptance of beings, and the acceptance of beings does not obstruct the acceptance of dharmas; they are distinguished only by depth and shallowness", and also says that one who obtains the dharma of the acceptance of non-arising still has kindness and pity for beings, and that within compliant acceptance there is also the thought of the emptiness of dharmas. What distinguishes them is only depth and shallowness, not presence and absence.

Do not read 「不證實際」 tr. "does not realise the limit of reality" as being timid about taking realisation. The treatise-author sets up this sentence at the very emptiest place: after abiding in the acceptance of dharmas, contemplating ultimate emptiness, and not seeing the dharma endured, the one who endures, and the place of enduring, he still says 「本願求佛道，不著是畢竟空法故，乃至未坐道場不證實際」 tr. "by his original vow he seeks the Buddha path; because he does not cling to this dharma of ultimate emptiness, and so on up to the time before he has sat at the seat of awakening, he does not realise the limit of reality". Not realising is not being unable; it is not clinging to emptiness—clinging to emptiness and clinging to existence are alike a clinging.

Do not read the 「等無異」 tr. "equal and without difference" of prajñā giving rise to giving as licence to be slighting. What the treatise-author levels is the mind that gives: giving to the Buddha with greedy clinging, the merit is not complete; giving to the poor and lowly with slighting, the merit is small. Only a mind that neither prizes nor despises gives by the emptiness of beings and the emptiness of dharmas; this and suiting the hearer with deep or shallow in expounding the Dharma are two matters, which must not be mixed into one.

Do not read 「非無眾生而能受持十善等諸戒」 tr. "it is not that there are no beings and yet he is able to receive and uphold the precepts of the ten wholesome paths and the rest" as the precepts existing within the real mark. The treatise-author has already marked it himself in the same sentence—「欲破殺生顛倒故有不殺生戒，非實相中有」 tr. "it is in order to break the inversion of killing that there is the precept of not killing; it is not that it exists within the real mark". The precepts are set up on account of the inversion awaiting breaking, and setting up the precepts still requires that there be beings; emptiness does not abolish the precepts, and the precepts are not real of themselves.

Do not read fulfilment within a single thought as another way of speaking of mutual generation. After 「復次，是菩薩於無量劫為佛道故種善根」 tr. "Furthermore, this bodhisattva, through immeasurable kalpas, plants roots of goodness for the sake of the Buddha path", the treatise-author sets out on a separate road; what he speaks of is no longer A giving rise to B, but one perfection in its very substance containing six—and so the final passages use 「即是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "is precisely prajñāpāramitā" and 「諸法實相即是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "the real mark of all dharmas is precisely prajñāpāramitā" and do not use 「生」 tr. "gives rise to". The thirty groups spoken horizontally and the six rounds gathered in vertically differ in form, and must not be read by being fitted onto each other.

Bearing on Practice

First recognise your own master. The treatise-author speaks very concretely of the two kinds of causes and conditions, of the householder and of the one who has gone forth: one who has wealth, knows sin and merit, and has a mind of kindness and compassion should first give; one without wealth should practise morality, patience, and meditation. The first matter in reading this part is not memorising the thirty groups but honestly asking—given my present standing, means, and temperament, which perfection is my master? Having settled it, start from that perfection, and take up the other five from there.

Use 「不以小惡因緣故而生廢退」 tr. "not, because of small evil causes and conditions, giving rise to abandoning and falling back" to hold firm halfway. Arousing the mind to give and having the receiver turn round and revile; arousing the mind to expound the Dharma and having the hearer not accept it—these are the places in daily life where one most easily falls back. What the treatise-author teaches is not swallowing one's anger; it is changing the reckoning: not ruining the path of the perfections for the sake of a false and deceptive body. The matter is small; it is not worth trading the whole path for it.

Use 「一人相即是一切人相」 tr. "the mark of one person is precisely the mark of all persons" to counteract the mind that calculates many and few. Passing over a thousand myriad yojana without finding a single person, the mind is still not sorrowful; finding one person to uphold the five precepts, at that time there is gladness. What most wears out one who applies himself is not toil but calculating results; this sentence is the medicine set up for just this illness.

While upholding the precepts is not yet steady, first guard patience. The treatise-author says plainly that because the power of meditation and wisdom is great they are not spoken of here—「持戒時心未能清淨，須忍辱守心故」 tr. "when upholding the precepts the mind is not yet able to be pure, and patience is needed to guard the mind". When the period of the precepts first begins, there is no need to hurry after concentration and wisdom; keep hold of these three—not retaliating, not arguing, not calculating—and the precepts will naturally become firm and secure.

Before seeking concentration, first ask whether the mind is soft. 「忍辱力故，其心調柔；心調柔故，易得禪定」 tr. "Because of the power of patience, his mind is tamed and soft; because the mind is tamed and soft, he easily obtains meditative concentration"—this is the sequence the treatise-author gives. One who has sat long without obtaining concentration should turn back and check whether he is still hard in his dealings with people.

Examine yourself by the various conditions for obtaining meditation that the treatise-author lists, and do not mistake your own power. Obtaining it of itself, obtaining it on falling back, obtaining it by birth, obtaining it through giving, obtaining it through morality and patience, obtaining it through wisdom—the treatise-author distinguishes them one by one, and only the kind of 「常與心鬪」 tr. "constantly fighting with the mind" … 「如與賊鬪，乃至流汗」 tr. "as though fighting with a thief, even to the point of sweating" is named arising from vigour. A single chance accord need not be taken for the power of the path; on the other hand, for one of dull faculties, hard to restrain, who adds deep vigour, the treatise-author has also given a clear place.

When giving, check against those five good minds one by one. Giving with a mind of kindness extinguishes hatred; seeing the receiver obtain happiness and being glad extinguishes jealousy; giving with respect breaks arrogance; believing and knowing the retribution breaks doubt and ignorance; not taking the giver and the receiver as fixed and real breaks the wrong views of existence and non-existence. One giving is one complete lesson in counteracting, not merely handing over a thing.

One who upholds the precepts should chiefly check the three instances of 「不」 tr. "not": not grasping at the mark of the precepts, not loathing the breaking of the precepts, not clinging to upholding the precepts. The simile of the elephant bathing and again sprinkling itself with earth is set up for just this—the purity upheld with toil is often ruined by that share of loathing toward those who break the precepts and that share of love toward one's own upholding of them.

Take 「為戒堅牢故，求禪定樂」 tr. "in order to make the precepts firm and secure, he seeks the pleasure of meditative concentration" as the reason for seeking concentration. One does not sit for the sake of enjoying the pleasure of meditation; it is because without concentration one recollects the five desires and gives rise to the five hindrances, which encroach upon the upholding of the precepts. Once the motive is right, craving the taste in sitting naturally lessens.

Use the simile of crossing the sea in a dream to loosen the grip of forcing. Moving hands and feet in a dream seeking to cross, after waking the mind of the dream at once ceases—vigour at its utmost is the body doing nothing, the mouth saying nothing, the mind thinking nothing, not doubling one's force. When daily practice is strung too tight, hold up this simile and look.

At the close of the day's practice, take 「一念中能行六波羅蜜」 tr. "within a single thought is able to practise the six perfections" and examine one matter by it. On the one most important thing done today, ask: was it relinquished cleanly?—that is dāna; did it not tend toward the two vehicles?—that is morality; when disturbed, was it unmoved?—that is patience; was it without resting and without ceasing?—that is vigour; was it not scattered?—that is meditation; were the three wheels unfindable?—that is prajñā. When the six questions have been asked, one matter is the six perfections.

Further Resonances

The place of this Last Part within the whole chapter has already been clearly judged by the ancient masters. Huiying, in explaining this chapter, points out its office right where the treatise-author opens his mouth—「問曰：何以但一波羅蜜為主已下，論主欲解經文，先釋以一波羅蜜為頭攝諸波羅蜜，所以故興此問答也」 tr. "From ‘Question: Why is only one perfection the master?’ onward: the treatise-author, wishing to explain the sūtra text, first explains taking one perfection as the head and containing the perfections, and that is why he raises this question and answer"; he explains the treatise-author's answer as what is necessarily so of dharmas within the causes and conditions of practice, and further extends its pattern: 「一波羅蜜中有此五義，如一檀中有四種捨義，一戒之中有三種戒義等悉爾」 tr. "within one perfection there are these five meanings, just as within one dāna there are four kinds of meaning of relinquishing, and within one precept there are three kinds of meaning of the precepts, and so on—all are like this". Huiying further points out, at the two kinds of bodhisattvas, the householder and the one who has gone forth, that the treatise-author's intent in setting out the two kinds separately lies in 「欲明所行之法異故」 tr. "because he wishes to make clear that the dharmas practised differ", and he sums up that the texts of mutual containing in this chapter all have three meanings—speaking of the group of abiding in patience and taking up giving, 「則有忍義、檀義、波羅蜜義，諸一一波羅蜜相攝中皆具三義」 tr. "then there are the meaning of patience, the meaning of dāna, and the meaning of pāramitā; in the mutual containing of each and every perfection all three meanings are complete". This judgement of three meanings and the treatise sentence 「此中說相，不說次第相生」 tr. "Here the marks are spoken of; arising one from another in sequence is not spoken of" throw light on each other: each has its own mark, and together they come back to pāramitā.

On distinguishing patience from morality, Huiying's explanation keeps the same boundary as the treatise-author. Under the question and answer on 「取尸羅」 tr. "takes up śīla", he says that what is meant to be spoken of here is 「諸波羅蜜相攝、忍戒相異之義，故云從忍生戒，非是論決次第相生義也」 tr. "the meaning of the perfections containing one another and of patience and morality differing from each other; therefore it says that morality arises from patience; it is not settling the meaning of arising one from another in sequence"; under the judgement of a dharma of form and a mental-factor dharma, he explains upholding the precepts as 「明從於身口生無作色，是可持法故，所以諸根具足受之乃得」 tr. "it makes clear that non-action form arises from body and speech; because it is a dharma that can be upheld, it is obtained only when one with the faculties complete receives it", and 「忍非受法，但須內心自行，是故為異」 tr. "patience is not a dharma of receiving; it needs only to be practised by the inner mind itself; therefore they differ", and adds a two-way sentence—「忍亦能生戒，戒亦生忍，但以內外色心等為別也」 tr. "patience can also give rise to morality, and morality also gives rise to patience; they are distinguished only by inner and outer, form and mind, and so forth". The treatise text only says that the marks differ; Huiying adds that mutual generation is still there, and that what distinguishes them lies in inner and outer, form and mind—which may be read together with the treatise-author's judgement 「此中說相，不說次第相生」 tr. "Here the marks are spoken of; arising one from another in sequence is not spoken of".

On the sentence 「精進更無異體」 tr. "vigour has no separate substance", Huiying's explanation is the most detailed. He first takes ignorance as a comparison: just as ignorance pervades the five categories and yet an unshared ignorance is set up separately, so vigour pervades all practices and yet a perfection of vigour must be set up separately, because it is so much. Next he speaks by dividing substance and mark—「以相明體，得有別體；以體明體，無有別體」 tr. "making the substance clear by the mark, it may have a separate substance; making the substance clear by the substance, it has no separate substance"—and at the end comes back to 「今者據其遍通之義，故云無別體也」 tr. "here it is based on the meaning of its pervading everywhere, and so it says it has no separate substance". The one-sentence verdict of the treatise text, through this explanation, is kept from being read as vigour having no substance.

On the various kinds of obtaining meditation and the simile of the person with merit, Huiying also sets limits. On the kind 「如劫盡」 tr. "as when the kalpa is exhausted", he cites the conditions of the fire disaster told in the larger-text sūtra, saying that at that time beings, because the fire is pressing, are able of themselves to leave desire and, without sleeping, obtain the first dhyāna, and that 「菩薩亦不須此禪等也」 tr. "the bodhisattva also has no need of such meditations"; on the three—obtaining it on falling back, obtaining it by birth, and dying in a higher ground, being born in a lower ground, and obtaining it—he distinguishes one by one the conditions for obtaining the meditation without outflows and the pure meditation. On the simile of merit arriving of itself and of obtaining by vigour, he adds a special limitation—「此唯為鈍根難制、脩禪難得者作喻，非為精進人作喻也」 tr. "this simile is made only for those of dull faculties, hard to restrain, for whom meditation is hard to obtain by cultivation; it is not a simile made for the person of vigour". This limitation is very important: a simile is set up only for the hearers it is likened to, and must not be extended further. As for the treatise sentence 「除四波羅蜜所生般若」 tr. "apart from the prajñā that arises from the four perfections", Huiying notes 「謂施、忍、禪也」 tr. "namely giving, patience, and meditation", naming only three, which differs from the treatise text's 「四」 tr. "four"; this difference is recorded side by side without judgement.

On the five questions of the group of abiding in prajñā, under the question on compliant acceptance Huiying judges why it is so as lying in 「論主大判作優劣分之，以順忍為生空，無生忍為法空」 tr. "the treatise-author broadly judges them and divides them as superior and inferior, taking compliant acceptance as the emptiness of beings and the acceptance of non-arising as the emptiness of dharmas", and ties this to the words above, 「無受罵者法者等」 tr. "there is none who receives reviling, no dharma, and so forth". This judgement answers exactly to the treatise text's 「處眾生不可得故，名眾生忍」 tr. "because with respect to beings they are unfindable, it is named the acceptance of beings" and 「於法不可得故，名為法忍」 tr. "because with respect to dharmas they are unfindable, it is named the acceptance of dharmas". On the question of the eighteen emptinesses, Huiying says that the earlier speaking of eighteen 「通總一切諸法，為一切人說具此十八」 tr. "comprehensively covers all dharmas and is spoken for all people with these eighteen complete", whereas here it is only for the one who practises, 「故隨於事得辨而已」 tr. "and so it is only discussed according to the matter at hand"—which is also on the same road as the treatise text's 「彼中分別一切法相空」 tr. "there, the emptiness of the marks of all dharmas is distinguished" … 「此中為行者說」 tr. "here, it is spoken for the practitioner".

And the most important structural verdict of the whole part also comes from Huiying. Under the sentence 「復次是菩薩於無量劫為佛道故種善根」 tr. "Furthermore, this bodhisattva, through immeasurable kalpas, plants roots of goodness for the sake of the Buddha path" he says plainly: 「上來至此明相生相解義竟。自此已下，論主既以此之六波羅蜜是菩薩本業行故，復更作一種解釋，明一念之中具足六波羅蜜之義……」 tr. "From above up to here, the meaning of mutual generation and mutual explanation has been made clear, and it is finished. From here down, since the treatise-author takes these six perfections to be the bodhisattva's fundamental practice, he makes one further kind of explanation, making clear the meaning of the six perfections being fulfilled within a single thought …" And he says that this meaning ought properly to have been made clear in the following chapter, but the treatise-author explains it here as the occasion allows, 「亦皆就一一波羅蜜辨明，一一度一念之中即具六波羅蜜，不明相生義也」 tr. "also all discussed and made clear with respect to each perfection: within a single thought of each perfection the six perfections are at once complete; it does not make clear the meaning of mutual generation". At the end he restates it once more—「亦各各以一一波羅蜜為頭，明具足六義也」 tr. "also each takes one perfection as the head and makes clear the meaning of fulfilling the six". On this basis, the ‘fulfilment within a single thought’ of the latter section of the Last Part is six rounds and not three: abiding in giving, abiding in morality, abiding in patience, abiding in vigour, abiding in meditation, abiding in prajñā, each being a head, each containing the six perfections. This judgement is precisely the pivot of how this part is to be read: the first half speaks horizontally of mutual generation, the second half speaks vertically of fulfilment, and the two roads must not be fitted onto each other. At the three kinds of restraint Huiying adds a further note—「戒律儀者，是律儀戒唯是有漏，禪律儀通有漏無漏，是定共戒。無漏律儀唯是道，道品中道共戒也」 tr. "The restraint of the precepts: these precepts of restraint are only with outflows; the restraint of meditation extends to both with outflows and without outflows, and is the precepts concomitant with concentration. The restraint without outflows is only the path; it is the precepts concomitant with the path among the limbs of the path"—which may be read together with the round of abiding in morality containing the six.

Jizang's explanation of this chapter is very brief—his whole commentary on it is no more than seven lines—yet the guiding line he sets up does not differ from Huiying's. He marks this chapter as 「明一一行中具足眾行」 tr. "making clear that within each practice all practices are fulfilled", and sets up a question of his own to settle the kind of containing—「問：此中是何物攝耶？答：此是相生攝，以本攝末。」 tr. "Question: What kind of containing is this here? Answer: This is containing by mutual generation, the root containing the branches." And he distinguishes it from the mark of containing made clear in the "Eloquence" chapter earlier in his commentary: the earlier made clear mutual containing, 「欲以眾行多功共成多之功力，顯莊嚴有大力勢，能破生死直趣佛道」 tr. "wishing by the many merits of the many practices jointly to accomplish a manifold power, showing that the adornment has great strength and force, able to break birth and death and tend straight toward the Buddha path"; now it is 「明一一度中而起諸行，為顯方便也」 tr. "making clear that within each perfection the practices arise, in order to show skilful means". The judgement of containing by mutual generation, the meaning of the root containing the branches, and the conclusion of showing skilful means—though the three phrases are brief, they suffice to place this chapter. Jizang does not comment item by item on the particular contents of the thirty groups; this is recorded as it is.