大智度論 大方便品之下Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · The Great Skilful Means, Part 3 of 3

The Great Skilful Means, Last Part: Why the Sentence ‘This Gate Is What Those of Keen Faculties Enter’ Is Not the Buddha's Words, Why the Buddha Removes the Limit of Keen Faculties Altogether, Why the Three Chinese Characters Rendered Here as ‘Trains with a Single Mind’ Are the True Threshold, Why ‘the Deeds of Māra Cease the Moment They Would Arise’ Is Tied to Practice and Not to Guarding, Why the Space of a Single Finger-Snap Surpasses Teaching the Beings of a World to Obtain the Path, Why Abiding as Taught Is at Once Judged to Be Avaivartika, Why So Long a List of Knowing Well Is Explained Only in Small Part, Why the Four Gates Can Be Matched with the Eightfold Noble Path, Why ‘Only Prajñā Can Reach’ and ‘Reaches Because Joined with the Five Perfections’ Do Not Contradict One Another, Why Knowing Well Letters and Knowing Well No Letters Lie One in Gathering Merit and One in Breaking Inversions, Why the Eleven Names of the Wisdoms Each Have an Illness They Answer, Why Skilful Means and Waiting for Beings Are Two Faces of One Matter, and Why ‘Because They Are Hard to Understand They Are Explained, What Is Easy to Understand Is Not Spoken’ Is the Avowal of Method for the Whole Section

What Is Being Asked

The Last Part comes on from fascicle eighty-two. In the closing section of the Middle Part the treatise-author has already tied off the meaning of the four gates—Subhūti, hearing the Buddha speak of the four gates of suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, and neither joined nor dispersed, knows the brief and extensive marks, and so says 「是名略攝般若波羅蜜」 tr. "this is named the brief gathering of prajñāpāramitā". The very first sentence of the Last Part's fascicle follows right on from this sentence: 「世尊！是門，利根菩薩摩訶薩所入。」 tr. "World-Honored One! This gate is what the bodhisattva-mahāsattva of keen faculties enters." Here the reader must first see one thing clearly: the one who says this sentence is not the Buddha. The sūtra text does not again mark words addressed to the Buddha; it carries on from what precedes only with the vocative ‘World-Honored One’, and when the treatise section below restates this passage of its own accord, it sets Subhūti's meaning and the Buddha's answer straight against each other—「須菩提意：以四種門雖安隱，以甚深故，利根者乃得入。佛答：「無不入者。」」 tr. "Subhūti's meaning is: though these four kinds of gates are peaceful and secure, because they are very deep, only people of keen faculties can enter them. The Buddha answered: ‘There is none who cannot enter.’" The attribution is made clear by the treatise itself and does not wait on conjecture. What is asked is no longer what the four gates are, but who can enter the four gates.

The Buddha's answer removes altogether the threshold that Subhūti had set up: 「鈍根菩薩亦可入是門，中根菩薩、散心菩薩亦可入是門」 tr. "the bodhisattva of dull faculties can also enter this gate; the bodhisattva of middling faculties and the bodhisattva of scattered mind can also enter this gate", and he lays down a general verdict—「是門無礙」 tr. "this gate is without obstruction". Having removed it, he at once supplies the true threshold, and this threshold does not fall on the keenness or dullness of the faculties; it falls on the single mind of training: 「若菩薩摩訶薩一心學者皆入是門。」 tr. "If a bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains with a single mind, all can enter this gate." Next he brings out the four who cannot enter and the four who can enter, pair against pair; then he brings out two kinds of people who can enter, the one those who wish to abide in the ground of the avaivartika, the other those who wish to attain the omniscience of all kinds. The first question and the first answer of this unit lie wholly here.

After the first answer the sūtra text turns all the way into praise of virtues. First it speaks of the dharma to be trained in—to train as prajñāpāramitā teaches, and so on up to training as dānapāramitā teaches; next it speaks of the proof of practising prajñā—whatever deeds of Māra there are cease the moment they would arise; next it speaks of the response to practising prajñā—the buddhas now present in immeasurable asaṃkhyeya lands of the ten directions keep this bodhisattva in mind, and the reason for it is a single sentence: the buddhas of the three times are born from within this prajñāpāramitā. Next it compares merit: cultivation for even the space of a single finger-snap surpasses teaching the beings of the three-thousand great-thousand world to give as they please, to uphold the precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom, to obtain liberation and the knowledge and vision of liberation, and so on up to obtaining the four fruits and the pratyekabuddha path; and, pushing it wider, from a moment, half a day, one day, up to immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeya kalpas, it surpasses teaching the beings of worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges in the ten directions. At the end it turns into a long praise: one who abides as taught is precisely avaivartika, is kept in mind by the buddhas, has accomplished the power of skilful means, has drawn near to and made offerings to immeasurable buddhas, has long practised the six perfections and long cultivated all dharmas, abides in the ground of the Dharma-prince, fulfils his vows, is never apart from the buddhas, has inexhaustible eloquence and has fully obtained dhāraṇī, and because his bodily form and his receiving of the prediction are complete he takes on a body for the sake of beings—and it is gathered up in one extremely long list of headings: knows well the gates of letters, knows well what are not gates of letters, and from there ranged all the way down to knows well how to distinguish the three vehicles.

What the treatise section has to deal with is therefore three matters. First, who can enter the four gates—the treatise-author does not answer directly; he first sets up a simile, next matches the four gates with the eightfold noble path, and at the end sets the short knowledge of the Small Vehicle against the Buddha's breath of great compassion, making the difference between Subhūti and the Buddha clear. Second, the contradiction between training in prajñā and training in the five perfections—since the sūtra says that one who trains as prajñā teaches then obtains omniscience, why does the treatise-author also say that one reaches it because prajñā is joined with the five perfections? This difficulty the treatise-author raises himself and answers himself. Third, how so long a list of headings is to be explained—the treatise-author does not explain every heading to the end; he picks out only what is hard to understand to explain, and at the end of the section avows his method himself: 「如是難解故解說，易解者不說。」 tr. "Because such things are hard to understand, they are explained; what is easy to understand is not spoken." The whole unit can be gathered up at this point into one question: since the four gates are very deep gates, why is the place of entry on the contrary so wide; and what is obtained after entering, why is it so broad an expanse of fine and close knowing well?

Passage by Passage

1. Subhūti says that this gate is what the bodhisattva-mahāsattva of keen faculties enters. The first sentence of the Last Part is spoken carrying on from the words of the previous fascicle. Subhūti has just said that the four gates are the brief gathering of prajñā, and next he lays down a judgement: this gate is what the bodhisattva-mahāsattva of keen faculties enters. This judgement has its line of reasoning—the four gates are suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, and neither joined nor dispersed, none of them dharmas with marks that can be climbed on, and one who hears them and can enter should not be of dull faculties. Here the reader must first recognise the speaker: the sūtra text does not again bring out the mark of words addressed to the Buddha, but carries on from what precedes only with the vocative ‘World-Honored One’, and the treatise section of its own accord restates it as Subhūti's meaning; therefore this sentence belongs to Subhūti and not to the Buddha. Whenever the sūtra text carries on from what precedes directly with a vocative, one should look back at the speaker above, and not, because the next sentence has the two Chinese characters rendered here as ‘the Buddha said’, assign the sentence above to the Buddha as well.

2. The Buddha says that the bodhisattvas of dull faculties, of middling faculties, and of scattered mind can also enter this gate, that this gate is without obstruction, and that those who train with a single mind all enter; the four who cannot enter and the four who can enter; those who wish to abide in the ground of the avaivartika and who wish to attain the omniscience of all kinds can enter. The Buddha's answer is in three sections. First, three kinds of people can all enter—dull faculties, middling faculties, scattered mind, precisely the three kinds Subhūti had not reckoned; he lays down a general verdict, 「是門無礙」 tr. "this gate is without obstruction", four Chinese characters that dismantle the threshold completely. Second, he sets up the true threshold: 「若菩薩摩訶薩一心學者皆入是門。」 tr. "If a bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains with a single mind, all can enter this gate." This sentence is the eye of the whole section—what is sifted is not the faculties; it is whether the mind is single or not. Third, with eight words set against each other he brings out those who cannot enter and those who can: 「懈怠、少精進、妄憶念、亂心者所不能入，精進、不懈怠、正憶念、攝心者能入。」 tr. "The lazy, those of little vigour, those of false recollection, and those of disordered mind are those who cannot enter; the vigorous, the not lazy, those of right recollection, and those of collected mind can enter." Four illnesses and four medicines, set one against one, and all four belong to the workings of the mind; not one belongs to the nature of the faculties. At the end he brings out two kinds of people who can enter—「欲住阿鞞跋致地、欲逮一切種智者能入」 tr. "those who wish to abide in the ground of the avaivartika, and those who wish to attain the omniscience of all kinds, can enter"—and this is said with respect to aspiration. The reader should look at them together: the gate is without obstruction and people obstruct themselves; the place of obstruction lies in laziness and a disordered mind, not in keenness or dullness.

3. The Buddha says that training as prajñā and so on up to dānapāramitā teach, one will obtain omniscience, and that when one practises prajñā, whatever deeds of Māra there are cease the moment they would arise. Having opened the gate, the Buddha at once points out what is to be trained in. One must see clearly the sentence pattern here—「如般若波羅蜜所說當學，乃至如檀波羅蜜所說當學」 tr. "he should train as prajñāpāramitā teaches, and so on up to: he should train as dānapāramitā teaches"—it speaks from prajñā back to dāna, not from dāna on to prajñā. What is to be trained in being complete, only then does he give a sentence of proof: 「所有魔事欲起即滅」 tr. "whatever deeds of Māra there are cease the moment they would arise". This sentence is well worth savouring—it is not that the practitioner first goes to detect Māra, guard against Māra, break Māra; it is that the deeds of Māra cease of themselves at the moment they would arise. The proof is tied to the one matter of practising prajñā, not to the work of guarding against Māra. If the reader here gives rise to a thought of counteracting, he has misunderstood this sentence.

4. The Buddha says that one who wishes to obtain the power of skilful means should practise prajñā; that the buddhas now present in the ten directions keep in mind the bodhisattva who thus practises, trains, and cultivates, because the buddhas of the three times are born from within prajñā; that one should reflect, ‘The dharma the buddhas have obtained, I too shall obtain’; and that one who trains thus swiftly obtains awakening, and should constantly not be far from the thought of sarvajñā. The skilful means of the chapter title is here clearly tied to prajñā: 「菩薩摩訶薩欲得方便力，當行般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva who wishes to obtain the power of skilful means should practise prajñāpāramitā." Next it speaks of the buddhas' keeping in mind—the buddhas now present in immeasurable asaṃkhyeya lands keep in mind this bodhisattva who practises prajñā, and the Buddha himself gives the reason for it: 「是般若波羅蜜中生過去、未來、現在諸佛故」 tr. "because from within this prajñāpāramitā are born the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present". This answer does not speak from stimulus and response; it speaks from where they come from: prajñā is that from which the buddhas are born, so one who practises prajñā shares the same root with the buddhas, and those who keep him in mind are of themselves keeping in mind that from which they came. The sūtra text at once turns this meaning into a thought the practitioner can hold—the dharma that the buddhas of the past, the future, and the present have obtained, I too shall obtain. At the end it is gathered into the plainest sentence of all: one should constantly not be far from the thought of sarvajñā.

5. The Buddha says that cultivation for even the space of a finger-snap has very much merit, surpassing teaching the beings of the three-thousand great-thousand world to give as they please, to uphold the precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom, to obtain liberation and the knowledge and vision of liberation, and to obtain the four fruits and the pratyekabuddha path; because these dharmas are born from within prajñā. This passage compares merit. One side of the comparison is extremely small—cultivating prajñā for even the space of a single finger-snap; the other side is extremely large—teaching the beings of a great-thousand world to practise giving, morality, concentration, and wisdom, to obtain liberation and the knowledge and vision of liberation, and so on up to teaching them to obtain the fruit of the srota-āpanna and so on up to the fruit of the arhat and the pratyekabuddha path. The small surpasses the large, and the reason is still the same sentence: these dharmas are all born from within prajñā, and the buddhas now present in the ten directions are also born from within prajñā. Here the reader should see clearly what is being compared: not the length of time of the practice, but the rank, among dharmas, of the dharma that is cultivated. Cultivating for an instant at the place from which they are born surpasses teaching a world upon the dharmas that are born.

6. The Buddha says that practising prajñā with the thought of sarvajñā, from a moment, half a day, one day, and so on up to immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeya kalpas, has very much merit, surpassing teaching the beings of worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges in the ten directions to obtain the fruits; because the buddhas are born from within prajñā and speak these dharmas. The previous passage took the shortness of a finger-snap as its example; this passage speaks on the contrary from length: a moment, half a day, one day, one month, a hundred days, one year, a hundred years, one kalpa, a hundred kalpas, and so on up to immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeya kalpas. The side being compared is also pushed from one great-thousand world to worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges in the ten directions. The short already surpasses it, and the long surpasses it too—from which it can be seen that what surpasses does not lie in the length of time, but still lies in the dharma practised. What matters is the first sentence of this passage: 「菩薩摩訶薩應薩婆若念行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should practise prajñāpāramitā with the thought of sarvajñā". Practising prajñā and taking sarvajñā as one's thought—only this is the practice being compared here; apart from this thought, however long the time, it is not within the comparison.

7. The Buddha says that one who abides as prajñā teaches should be known to be avaivartika, kept in mind by the buddhas, and accomplished in the power of skilful means; should be known to have drawn near to and made offerings to immeasurable buddhas, planted roots of goodness, kept company with the good friend, long practised the six perfections, and long cultivated the eighteen emptinesses and the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds; should be known to abide in the ground of the Dharma-prince, fulfil his vows, never be apart from the buddhas, not be apart from roots of goodness, and go from one buddha-land to another buddha-land; should be known to have inexhaustible eloquence and full dhāraṇī, and, because his bodily form is complete and his receiving of the prediction is complete, to take on a body for the sake of beings. The four rounds of ‘one should know’ in this passage infer backwards from one matter where it came from. What it rests on is only one sentence—「如般若波羅蜜所說住」 tr. "abides as prajñāpāramitā teaches"; from this one sentence it is judged that he is avaivartika, is kept in mind by the buddhas, and has accomplished the power of skilful means. The next three rounds of ‘one should know’ infer his former causes and present position: having drawn near to and made offerings to immeasurable buddhas, having long practised and long cultivated—these are the former causes; abiding in the ground of the Dharma-prince, fulfilling his vows, never being apart from the buddhas—this is the present position; inexhaustible eloquence, full dhāraṇī, the completeness of bodily form and of receiving the prediction—these are its function. The last sentence, 「為眾生受身」 tr. "takes on a body for the sake of beings", is where this passage comes home—the complete body is not taken on for himself; it is taken on for beings. The reader should look at the direction of these four rounds of ‘one should know’: it does not first ask about his former causes and then grant him his present position; it sees where he now abides and then knows what he has accumulated before.

8. The Buddha says one should know that this bodhisattva knows well the gates of letters and what are not gates of letters, is skilled in speech and non-speech, in one word, two words, and many words, in the speech of women and the speech of men; knows well form and so on up to consciousness, the nature of the world and the nature of nirvāṇa, the marks of dharmas, the conditions, the truths, the grounds, fruits, and paths, the faculties, the wisdoms, the three times, skilful means and waiting for beings, the mind and the deep mind, meaning and words, and so on up to knowing well how to distinguish the three vehicles. This is the longest passage of this unit, and also the place where the whole chapter is gathered up. The sūtra text ranges all the way down with the two Chinese characters rendered here as ‘knows well’, starting from the finest, the gates of letters and what are not gates of letters, passing through speech in one, two, and many words, of men and of women, passing through the five aggregates, passing through the nature of the world and the nature of nirvāṇa, passing through the marks of dharmas—conditioned and unconditioned, existent and non-existent, self and other, joined and dispersed, associated and non-associated—passing through suchness and non-suchness, the nature of dharmas and the position of dharmas, conditions and the absence of conditions, passing through the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields, the truths and the twelve links of causes and conditions, meditation and the immeasurable minds and the formless absorptions, the six perfections and the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds, passing through the conditioned nature and the unconditioned nature, having a nature and being without nature, passing through the contemplations and the emptiness of the marks, passing through giving up the path and not giving up the path, passing through arising, ceasing, and abiding-and-changing, passing through desire, hatred, and delusion and non-desire, non-hatred, and non-delusion, passing through view and non-view, wrong, right, and all views, passing through name-and-form and the four conditions, passing through practising marks and the four truths, passing through the five paths and the five destinies, passing through the person, path, and fruit of the four fruits, passing through the pratyekabuddha and the Buddha's omniscience and its path, passing through the faculties and the completeness of the faculties, passing through the eleven kinds of wisdom, passing through the three times, passing through skilful means and waiting for beings, passing through the mind and the deep mind, meaning and words, and coming home at the end to knowing well how to distinguish the three vehicles. Here the reader need not at first seek to understand heading by heading—the treatise section will itself pick out what is hard to understand and explain it, and the rest the treatise-author says plainly he does not explain. What is to be seen is the shape of this list: what is known well runs from the finest, letters, to the greatest, the three vehicles, and there is not one dharma in between that is not within it; the one said in the passage above to have accomplished the power of skilful means—the mark of his accomplishment is precisely this great expanse of knowing well.

9. The Buddha concludes that the bodhisattva who practises prajñā, gives rise to prajñā, and cultivates prajñā obtains such benefits as these. Sūtra ② ties off with one sentence: practising, giving rise to, and cultivating prajñāpāramitā, one obtains such various benefits as these. The three Chinese characters set side by side are worth savouring—practising is the rising of function, giving rise is what issues forth, cultivating is continuity. All the praise of virtues and the list of headings above are gathered under these three Chinese characters as the name of benefit. If the reader has read the list of the passage above as a checklist of the bodhisattva's abilities, this sentence reminds him: those are benefits, not qualifications.

10. The treatise-author explains: Subhūti's meaning is that though the four gates are peaceful and secure, because they are very deep only those of keen faculties can enter; the Buddha answers that there is none who cannot enter. The treatise-author begins his explanation by first returning the two opening sentences of Sūtra ② each to its speaker: Subhūti's meaning is that the four gates, though peaceful and secure, are very deep, and so only people of keen faculties can enter them; the Buddha's answer is 「無不入者」 tr. "there is none who cannot enter". This sentence, placed at the head of the section, is precisely the internal evidence for the attribution of speakers in the sūtra text—the limit Subhūti set up and the limit the Buddha removed are set against each other, and here there can be no doubt whose the first sentence of the sūtra is. In reading the treatise one should watch for this kind of self-restatement: the subject used when the treatise-author retells the sūtra's meaning is often the most direct ground for deciding the speaker of a sūtra passage.

11. The treatise-author makes clear that what Subhūti sets up lies in wisdom and keen faculties, while the Buddha's meaning lies in single-minded vigour and the wish to train; he sets up the simile of the clear and cool pool. The treatise-author states the difference between the two parties still more clearly: what Subhūti makes clear is that those of keen faculties in wisdom can enter; the Buddha's meaning is that anyone who with a single mind is vigorous and wishes to train can enter. At once he brings out a simile—it is like a clear and cool pool in the time of heat: all who have eyes and have feet can enter; though it is near, one who does not wish to enter does not enter. This simile is taken with great precision: the pool does not choose people; what it chooses is only eyes and feet, and wishing or not wishing. The four gates and the pool of prajñā are likewise: of the beings of the four quarters there is none whom it bars. The reader should see clearly the three parts in the simile—the pool is what is entered, eyes and feet are the means of entering, wishing to enter is the real key to entering; of the three, the pool never sets a limit.

12. The treatise-author matches the four gates with the eightfold noble path: the not lazy is right vigour, the one without false thought is right mindfulness, the one without a disordered mind is right concentration, the four gates of suchness and the rest are right view, and right view and the rest abiding securely is the practice of the precepts; this eightfold noble path can obtain prajñāpāramitā. The treatise-author fits those whom the sūtra lists as able to enter one by one into the eightfold noble path: the not lazy is right vigour, the one without false thought is right mindfulness, the one without a disordered mind is right concentration; then he matches the four gates themselves as right view—the four gates of suchness and the rest are right view; at the end he takes right view and the rest abiding securely as the practice of the precepts. Put together, the eightfold noble path is complete, and 「此八聖道能得般若波羅蜜」 tr. "this eightfold noble path can obtain prajñāpāramitā". In this matching one thing must be seen clearly: the four marks of those able to enter that the sūtra brings out were originally workings of the mind spoken of scatteredly; once the treatise-author matches them, they become one complete path. Whenever in reading a sūtra one sees headings of virtue listed scatteredly, one can learn this method and look back to see whether they have an order of their own.

13. The treatise-author judges that because Subhūti's knowledge, being of the Small Vehicle, is short, he says only that those of keen faculties can enter, and that because the Buddha, being of the Great Vehicle, has great knowledge, he says that those of middling and dull faculties can enter with the eight dharmas coming together; here he speaks because of the breath of great compassion. Here the treatise-author passes a judgement: because Subhūti's knowledge, being of the Small Vehicle, is short, he says only 「利根者能入」 tr. "people of keen faculties can enter"; because the Buddha, being of the Great Vehicle, has great knowledge, he says 「雖中根、鈍根，八法和合故，能入是四門」 tr. "though they are of middling faculties or dull faculties, because the eight dharmas come together, they can enter these four gates". The so-called eight dharmas coming together is precisely the eightfold noble path matched in the passage above—it is not that the faculties have turned keen; it is that the eight dharmas are used together. The last sentence especially must be looked at: 「佛此中以大悲氣故說」 tr. "here the Buddha, because of the breath of great compassion, says" 「中根、鈍根皆可得入」 tr. "that those of middling faculties and dull faculties can all obtain entry". In judging whether people can or cannot enter, there is a share of knowledge and also a share of compassion; the reason the Buddha opens the gate as far as the middling and the dull, the treatise-author attributes to the breath of great compassion. The reader here should take both meanings together: because of knowledge he knows that they can enter; because of compassion he says that they can enter.

14. The treatise-author makes clear that one who trains in the six perfections as prajñā teaches before long obtains sarvajñā; that as the śrāvaka obtains the path not by right view alone but by practising the eight limbs together, so the Great Vehicle obtains it not by training in prajñā alone but because prajñā is joined with the five perfections. The treatise-author carries on from above and turns: if the bodhisattva can train in the six perfections as prajñā teaches, before long he will obtain sarvajñā. Why must the five perfections be spoken of along with it? He takes the dharma of the śrāvakas as a comparison—one does not obtain the path by right view alone; it is because the eight limbs are practised together. The Great Vehicle is likewise: it is not by training in prajñā alone that one obtains sarvajñā; one obtains it because prajñā is joined with the five perfections. At the end, with 「是故說」 tr. "therefore it is said", he restates the sūtra text: 「菩薩如所說般若波羅蜜，當學得一切智。」 tr. "The bodhisattva should train as prajñāpāramitā teaches, and then he obtains omniscience." The reasoning of this passage continues that of the passage above—the passage above explained the ability to enter by the eight dharmas coming together, this passage explains the ability to obtain by the six perfections practised together; the meaning of practising together runs through them both.

15. Question: Above it was said that only prajñā can reach the omniscience of all kinds; why is it now said that one reaches it because prajñā is joined with the five perfections? The treatise-author raises a difficulty himself, and a very proper one: above it was said again and again that only prajñā can reach the omniscience of all kinds, yet here it is said that one reaches it only when prajñā is joined with the five perfections; before and after seem to contradict. Whenever, in reading the treatise, two statements before and after contradict and one has not noticed it oneself, this question is precisely asking it on the reader's behalf. Here the reader would do well first to answer it once himself, and then look at the treatise-author's answer.

16. Answer: It is constantly said that one reaches it because it is joined with the six perfections; or at times there are pure buddha-lands where, merely by hearing the real mark, one reaches sarvajñā, without needing to practise the perfections in sequence. The treatise-author's answer is in two sections. First, the direct statement: 「常說與六波羅蜜合故得至」 tr. "it is constantly said that one reaches it because it is joined with the six perfections"—the usual teaching is from the first that the six perfections are practised together, not that prajñā practises alone. Second, he opens an exception: or at times there are pure buddha-lands where, merely by hearing the real mark, one reaches sarvajñā, without needing to practise the perfections in sequence. This section deserves great attention—the exception does not lie in the power of prajñā being twofold; it lies in the place where the Dharma is received and the person who receives it being different; in a pure buddha-land, on hearing the real mark one at once arrives—this is not abolishing the five perfections; it is not needing to practise them in sequence. The reader must not take this section as grounds for abolishing practice; what the treatise-author marks is the two Chinese characters rendered here as ‘at times’, not the usual way.

17. The treatise-author makes clear that since it is said here that the bodhisattva obtains sarvajñā, the reward of the merit of prajñā is already complete, and that now it only praises the power and might of the person who practises prajñā; he cites what is said in the sūtra, that the deeds of Māra cease as soon as they arise. The treatise-author settles the rank of the praise of virtues above: since it is said here that the bodhisattva obtains sarvajñā, the reward of the merit of prajñā is already complete; what is now spoken of is no longer the reward, but praise of the power and might of the person who practises prajñā. At once he cites the sūtra's words as evidence: 「是菩薩行般若，所有魔事起即滅。」 tr. "When this bodhisattva practises prajñā, whatever deeds of Māra there are cease as soon as they arise." The reader should distinguish these two layers—the reward is the fruit obtained, the power and might is the mark at the time of practice. For the long section of the sūtra text from the praise of virtues onward, the treatise-author has fixed its nature with a single sentence: it is praise of power and might, not a continued account of the virtues of the fruit.

18. The treatise-author judges that everything from ‘kept in mind by the buddhas’ up to here is praise of the merit of the bodhisattva's practising prajñā, and so on up to knowing well how to distinguish the three vehicles. The treatise-author then passes another general judgement, marking the beginning and end of the section of praise of virtues: from 「諸佛所念」 tr. "kept in mind by the buddhas" above up to here, all is praise of the merit of the bodhisattva's practising prajñā, and so on up to 「分別善知三乘」 tr. "knows well how to distinguish the three vehicles". This judgement is very useful—it tells the reader that the large expanse in between, the comparison of merit and the long list of knowing well, belongs to one and the same section of the outline, and does not each speak on its own. Whenever in reading the treatise one sees the treatise-author mark a beginning and an end, he is drawing the outline for the reader; in reading the sūtra one can divide the sections accordingly.

19. The treatise-author explains that knowing well the gates of letters is as is said in the dhāraṇī of letters, and that not-letters means suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality, within which there are no letters; stating its meaning briefly, it lies in knowing well the two dharmas of the world and nirvāṇa: because he gathers the path of merit he knows well letters, because he breaks the inversions within merit he knows well no letters. From here on the treatise-author enters the explanation of the list of headings. He first explains the gates of letters and what are not gates of letters: the gates of letters are 「如文字陀羅尼中說」 tr. "as is said in the dhāraṇī of letters", and the treatise-author does not bring out their headings again; not-letters are 「非字名如、法性、實際，此中無文字」 tr. "not-letters means suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality: within these there are no letters"—precisely three of the four gates set up in the Middle Part, from which it can be seen that the not-letters here are not spoken of loosely. Next the treatise-author himself brings out a brief meaning: this bodhisattva, because of the power of immeasurable merit, knows well two dharmas, namely the world and nirvāṇa; if he is weary of the suffering of the world, he keeps nirvāṇa in mind; if he wishes to sink into nirvāṇa, he turns back and keeps the world in mind. At the end he closes with two sentences: 「集諸福德道故，善知字；破福德中顛倒故，善知無字。」 tr. "Because he gathers the path of all merits, he knows well letters; because he breaks the inversions within merit, he knows well no letters." This close is very deft—letters and not-letters are from the first matters of speech, and with a single turn the treatise-author ties them to gathering merit and to breaking inversions; knowing letters is being able to gather, knowing no letters is not clinging to what is gathered.

20. The treatise-author explains speech and non-speech, one word, two words, and many words, the speech of men and the speech of women, making clear that because the bodhisattva knows these matters well he can subdue those of the wrong paths and the powerful and eminent. The treatise-author continues with the explanation of the class of speech. What is called one word is that by this one word one can distinguish how many pure words and impure words there are; one word, two words, many words, the speech of men, the speech of women, and so on—their sounds each differ. At the end he brings out its use: because the bodhisattva knows these matters well, he can subdue those of the wrong paths and the powerful and eminent. The reader should see where this use falls—not in skill in one's own speaking, but in being able to subdue others; subduing those of the outside paths and subduing the powerful and eminent are both uses of speech. The letters and not-letters of the passage above are spoken with respect to principle, the speech and non-speech of this passage are spoken with respect to use; the two passages together form a pair.

21. The treatise-author explains that the two kinds of mark of form and so on up to consciousness—whether permanent or impermanent—are as was said before; he explains giving up the path as going from one ground to another ground, giving up the lower ground without sorrow and obtaining the higher ground without greed, and not giving up the path as abiding within this ground. This passage explains two headings together. The two kinds of mark of the five aggregates the treatise-author passes over with only the three Chinese characters 「如先說」 tr. "as was said before", without bringing them out again—this is precisely the method he avows below. Giving up the path and not giving up the path he explains in detail: giving up the path is that the bodhisattva goes from one ground to another ground, 「捨下地不憂，得上地不貪」 tr. "giving up the lower ground without sorrow and obtaining the higher ground without greed"; not giving up the path is 「住是地中」 tr. "abiding within this ground". One must see clearly that what giving up the path gives up is the ground, not the path—the path practised has never been given up; what is given up is the position already passed; and only when there is no sorrow at the moment of giving up and no greed at the moment of obtaining is it named knowing well. If the reader reads giving up the path as giving up practice, it will contradict the abiding within this ground of not giving up the path.

22. The treatise-author explains wrong view, next worldly right view, and all views as the views of those in training and those beyond training and so on, and practice as the sixteen aspects; he explains that the srota-āpanna is the person, the path of the srota-āpanna is the path of seeing the truths, and the fruit of the srota-āpanna is the sixteenth mind and mental-factor dharmas, the precepts without outflows, and such dharmas, and so on up to the Buddha likewise; he explains knowing well the faculties as distinguishing well the twenty-two faculties. All that this passage explains lies within the bounds of names and marks. Among the views, the three—wrong view, worldly right view, and all views—the treatise-author only marks their headings and divides their kinds: all views are the views of those in training and those beyond training, and so on. Practice is the sixteen aspects. The sixteen aspects are the four aspects of each of the four truths, whose headings this treatise lists itself elsewhere: 「觀苦四種：無常、苦、空、無我；觀苦因四種：集、因、緣、生；觀苦盡四種：盡、滅、妙、出；觀道四種：道、正、行、跡。」 tr. "Contemplating suffering, four kinds: impermanence, suffering, emptiness, non-self; contemplating the cause of suffering, four kinds: origin, cause, condition, arising; contemplating the ending of suffering, four kinds: exhaustion, cessation, sublimity, exit; contemplating the path, four kinds: path, rightness, practice, track." Now, in present-day language, heading by heading—of the four for contemplating suffering: impermanence is flowing on without abiding, suffering is oppression without peace, emptiness is that nothing belonging to a self can be found, non-self is that there is no master to be grasped; of the four for contemplating the cause of suffering: origin is the gathering-in brought about by afflictions and deeds, cause is the power that directly produces, condition is the share that helps to complete, arising is arising in continuity; of the four for contemplating the ending of suffering: exhaustion is the cause already exhausted, cessation is the fruit already at rest, sublimity is being apart from all trouble and burden, exit is leaving the three realms for ever; of the four for contemplating the path: path is the road that leads through to nirvāṇa, rightness is not being crooked, practice is being able to tend toward it, track is that following it one can arrive. One truth, four aspects; four truths, and so sixteen. Below this he explains the names of the four fruits, taking the srota-āpanna as the sample and dividing it into three: 「須陀洹者，人也」 tr. "the srota-āpanna is the person"; 「須陀洹道者，見諦道也」 tr. "the path of the srota-āpanna is the path of seeing the truths"; the fruit of the srota-āpanna is 「第十六心、心數法及無漏戒等諸法」 tr. "the sixteenth mind, mental-factor dharmas, and the precepts without outflows, and such dharmas". One name divided into three, person, path, and fruit—why the list of headings in the sūtra text lists three, 「善知須陀洹、善知須陀洹果、善知須陀洹道」 tr. "knows well the srota-āpanna, knows well the fruit of the srota-āpanna, knows well the path of the srota-āpanna", only becomes clear here. The treatise-author at once extends it to the whole list with the one sentence ‘and so on up to the Buddha, it is likewise’. Finally he explains knowing well the faculties as 「善分別二十二根」 tr. "being skilled in distinguishing the twenty-two faculties". As for why a faculty is named a faculty, this treatise itself explains its mark as 「利解了了自在相」 tr. "the mark of keen understanding, of clarity, and of mastery"—being clear toward its object and obtaining mastery, able to be the master of dharmas, it is therefore named a faculty. The full list of the twenty-two faculties this treatise nowhere in the whole work enumerates one by one in a single place, but those scattered in other places can be picked out group by group, and they are now spoken of heading by heading according to the explicit text of this treatise. The first group: the six faculties of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. When refuting the real existence of beings, this treatise itself brings out their functions: 「眼自見色，耳自聞聲，鼻嗅香，舌知味，身知觸，意知法」 tr. "the eye of itself sees form, the ear of itself hears sound, the nose smells scent, the tongue knows taste, the body knows touch, the mind knows dharmas"—the eye faculty is the faculty able to see forms, the ear faculty is the faculty able to hear sounds, the nose faculty is the faculty able to smell scents, the tongue faculty is the faculty able to know tastes, the body faculty is the faculty able to feel touch, the mind faculty is the faculty able to know dharmas; the six each master one object and obtain mastery in it, and therefore each is named a faculty. The body faculty has a further meaning: this treatise says 「如人初入胎中得二根：身根，命根」 tr. "as when a person first enters the womb he obtains two faculties: the body faculty and the life-faculty"—it is what is obtained first on entering the womb. The mind faculty too has a further meaning: this treatise says 「五根所依意根，必與受俱，若喜、若樂、若捨」 tr. "the mind faculty, on which the five faculties rely, is necessarily together with feeling—whether joy, or pleasure, or equanimity"—the mind faculty is the ground on which the five faculties, faith and the rest, rely, and it necessarily goes together with feeling. As for the marks of keenness and dullness of the six faculties, this treatise only says 「眼等六根，如《法華經》說」 tr. "the six faculties, the eye and the rest, are as the Lotus Sūtra says" and points to another sūtra, not bringing it out again here. The second group: the male faculty and the female faculty. This treatise brings out the heading of the male faculty only in the place on the keenness and dullness of the faculties: 「男根淨者，得陰藏相」 tr. "one whose male faculty is pure obtains the mark of the concealed private parts"—one whose male faculty is pure does not cling to smoothness and knows desire to be a fault; this is keenness. For the heading of the female faculty this treatise has no separate explanation; the gap is now recorded as it is, and nothing is supplied on its behalf. The third group: the life-faculty. The life-faculty is the faculty by which the life of one lifetime continues without break; this treatise says 「有命根故，餘根有用」 tr. "because there is the life-faculty, the other faculties have their use"—when the life-faculty is present, the other faculties all have their use; if the life-faculty perishes, the other faculties all perish along with it. Its mark of keenness is 「命根不為老、病、貧、窮等所惱，安隱受樂」 tr. "the life-faculty is not troubled by old age, sickness, poverty, want, and the like, and receives pleasure in peace and security". The fourth group, which this treatise lists as the five kinds of feeling: 「樂根、苦根、憂根、喜根、捨根」 tr. "the faculty of pleasure, the faculty of pain, the faculty of distress, the faculty of joy, the faculty of equanimity". The two faculties of pleasure and joy this treatise divides most finely: 「麁樂名樂，細樂名喜」 tr. "coarse pleasure is named pleasure; fine pleasure is named joy", and again it says 「初得樂時是名樂」 tr. "when pleasure is first obtained, this is named pleasure", 「歡心內發，樂相外現，歌舞踊躍，是名喜」 tr. "a glad mind arising within, the mark of pleasure appearing without, singing and dancing and leaping—this is named joy"—pleasure is the coarse pleasure received, joy is the fine pleasure arising within. For the three faculties of pain, distress, and equanimity this treatise only lists their names and does not explain their marks separately; the gap is recorded here as it is; only, speaking of them as one group, this treatise says 「喜、樂等五根了了覺知，故言利」 tr. "the five faculties, joy, pleasure, and the rest, are clearly aware; therefore they are called keen"—the keenness of the five feelings as faculties lies not in the thickness or thinness of the feeling, but in being clearly aware at the time of feeling and not giving rise to greed along with it. The fifth group, the five faculties of faith, vigour, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom, this treatise explains heading by heading itself: 「信道及助道善法，是名信根」 tr. "believing in the path and in the wholesome dharmas that aid the path: this is named the faculty of faith"—the faculty of faith is being able to believe and receive the path and the dharmas that aid the path without doubting; 「懃求不息，是名精進根」 tr. "seeking diligently without rest: this is named the faculty of vigour"—the faculty of vigour is, when practising this path, seeking diligently without rest; 「念道及助道法，更無他念，是名念根」 tr. "keeping in mind the path and the dharmas that aid the path, with no other thought: this is named the faculty of mindfulness"—the faculty of mindfulness is being bound solely to the path with no other thought; 「一心念不散，是名定根」 tr. "a single mind, the thought not scattered: this is named the faculty of concentration"—the faculty of concentration is the mind being single and not scattered; 「觀無常等十六行，是名慧根」 tr. "contemplating the sixteen aspects, impermanence and the rest: this is named the faculty of wisdom"—the faculty of wisdom is being able to contemplate the sixteen aspects of the four truths. The sixth group is the three faculties without outflows, of which this treatise speaks in most detail: the faculty of coming to know what is not yet known is possessed, in the path of seeing the truths, by 「信行、法行人」 tr. "persons practising in faith and practising by the Dharma", and its substance is 「無漏九根和合」 tr. "the coming together of nine faculties without outflows"—「所謂信等五根，喜、樂、捨根，意根」 tr. "namely the five faculties, faith and the rest; the faculties of joy, pleasure, and equanimity; and the mind faculty"; 「信解、見得人，思惟道中」 tr. "for persons of faith and understanding and of attainment by view, in the path of reflection", these nine faculties are renamed the faculty of knowing; 「無學道中，是九根名『知已根』」 tr. "in the path beyond training, these nine faculties are named ‘the faculty of having known’". This treatise also asks itself why, among the twenty-two faculties, only these three are taken, and answers 「餘十九根，根相不具足，故不取」 tr. "the other nineteen faculties are not complete in the mark of a faculty; therefore they are not taken"—not being taken does not mean that there are no such faculties; it is that their mark of a faculty is not sufficient to enter nirvāṇa directly. All these heading-by-heading explanations stop where the explicit text of this treatise reaches; what this treatise does not list is recorded as a gap as it is, and this work supplies nothing on its behalf. From this the reader can gain a method for reading a list of headings: whenever one name is divided into several headings, first ask whether what is divided is the person, the path, or the fruit.

23. The treatise-author records someone's saying that one observes whether the faculties of beings who can be delivered are keen or dull, and knows for oneself whether one's roots of goodness are complete, bringing out the simile of the fledgling's feathers; next he explains the wisdoms—wisdom is the general mark; swift wisdom knows dharmas swiftly, yet the power of knowledge differs as strong or weak, keen or dull; emerging wisdom can pull itself out; penetrating wisdom penetrates thoroughly to the end; broad wisdom knows everything entirely, religious and lay; deep wisdom contemplates dharmas as immeasurable, signless, and inconceivable; great wisdom is fully endowed with all the wisdoms above and is also named great because the Buddha is great and the great prajñā is great; unequalled wisdom does not cling to prajñā within prajñā; jewel wisdom is like the wish-fulfilling jewel, of itself without a fixed mark, moving according to dharmas. This passage first records one school's saying: 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" one observes that the faculties of beings who can be delivered are keen or dull: those whose faculties are complete can be delivered, those whose faculties are not complete cannot yet be delivered; again, the bodhisattva also knows for himself whether his roots of goodness are complete or not complete, 「如鳥子自知毛羽具足，爾乃可飛」 tr. "as a fledgling knows for itself when its feathers are complete, and only then can fly". This simile is very apt—flying or not flying does not depend on the wish; it depends on the feathers. Below, he explains the eleven kinds of wisdom, and each name has an illness it answers. Wisdom is the general mark of all wisdom; it is the general name. Swift wisdom knows dharmas swiftly; yet swift is not necessarily strong, 「如馬雖疾而力弱」 tr. "as a horse, though swift, is weak in strength", so powerful wisdom is set up separately; strong is not necessarily keen, 「譬如鈍斧雖有大力，不能破物」 tr. "as a blunt axe, though it has great strength, cannot split things", so keen wisdom is set up separately—the three names link together, each name making up for what the one before lacks. Emerging wisdom is being able, amid various difficulties, to pull oneself out, and also being able, amid the afflictions, to pull oneself out of the three realms and enter nirvāṇa. Penetrating wisdom is thoroughly penetrating to the end: within the dharmas of the Buddha, and so on up to the exhaustion of the outflows and the obtaining of nirvāṇa, breaking up dharmas and reaching into the nature of dharmas. Broad wisdom is that, of the various scriptures, books, treatises, and debates of the religious and the lay, and of what exists and what does not exist within the dharmas of the Buddha, there is nothing he does not know entirely. Deep wisdom is contemplating all dharmas as immeasurable, signless, and inconceivable; here the treatise-author, in passing, sets apart the deep wisdom of the world—being able to know matters of long ago and far away, that within gain there is decline and within decline there is gain—of the same name as deep wisdom but different in reality. Great wisdom is being fully endowed with all the wisdoms above, and so great; again, among all beings the Buddha is great, among all dharmas prajñā is great; knowing the Buddha, believing in the Dharma, and coming together with the great Dharma, it is therefore named great. Unequalled wisdom is 「於般若中不著般若」 tr. "not clinging to prajñā within prajñā"; able to enter so deeply, there is no other dharma that can serve as a simile for it; again, the bodhisattva little by little practises the path and reaches into the nature of the inconceivable, and there is none equal to him. Jewel wisdom is like the wish-fulfilling jewel, which has no fixed colour of its own but changes according to the thing before it; prajñā is likewise: 「自無定相，隨諸法行」 tr. "it has no fixed mark of its own, and moves according to dharmas"; again, it is like the wish-fulfilling pearl, by which whatever one wishes is obtained—the practitioner can obtain the vow of buddhahood. The reader can read these eleven names as one string in sequence: from swift, to powerful, to keen, to able to emerge, to able to penetrate, to broad, to deep, to great, to unequalled, to wish-fulfilling—all the way pushed from the keenness or dullness of function through to the non-clinging of substance.

24. The treatise-author explains knowing well the three times: the past has already ceased and the future has not yet arisen, one cannot say that they exist and cannot say that they do not exist, and yet one can practise the real mark within them; the present arises and ceases thought by thought and so cannot be known, and yet one can penetrate it. The single heading of the three times the treatise-author explains extremely briefly and extremely strictly. The past has already ceased, the future has not yet arisen, 「不得言有、不得言無」 tr. "one cannot say that they exist, one cannot say that they do not exist"—both ends are barred, and yet within this one can practise the real mark: this is named knowing well. Present dharmas have another difficulty: because they arise and cease thought by thought they cannot be known, and yet one can penetrate them: this is named knowing well the present age. One must see clearly that what the two counteract is different—with regard to the past and the future, the illness lies in judging whether they exist or not; with regard to the present, the illness lies in relying on its being knowable. Knowing well is not knowing more; it is being able to practise where nothing can be said, and being able to penetrate where nothing can be known.

25. The treatise-author explains skilful means as wishing to accomplish a matter, being able to bring about the full complement of causes and conditions, in the right measure of more and less, and not letting there be any loss—as the bodhisattva, though he practises emptiness, does not realise the limit of reality, and though he practises merit, also does not cling; he explains waiting for beings with the simile of a merchant or a great general waiting for the others, making clear that the bodhisattva, riding the swift horse of wisdom, though he could swiftly enter nirvāṇa, does not enter because he waits for beings. Here, on the skilful means of the chapter title, the treatise-author gives the closest definition in the whole chapter: 「方便名欲成辦其事，能具足因緣多少得所，於中不令有失。」 tr. "Skilful means names wishing to accomplish a matter, being able to bring about the full complement of causes and conditions, in the right measure of more and less, and within it not letting there be any loss." At once he brings out its instance: 「如菩薩雖行空，不證實際；雖行福德，亦復不著。」 tr. "As the bodhisattva, though he practises emptiness, does not realise the limit of reality; though he practises merit, he also does not cling." Within one sentence there are two layers of not losing—practising emptiness without losing oneself in realisation, practising merit without losing oneself in clinging. Next he explains waiting for beings: as a merchant or a great general, though riding a swift horse he could swiftly arrive at the place where they stop, still waits for the others; the bodhisattva is likewise, 「乘智慧駃馬，雖能疾入涅槃，亦待眾生故不入」 tr. "riding the swift horse of wisdom, though he could swiftly enter nirvāṇa, he too, for the sake of waiting for beings, does not enter". This simile and the sentence above bring each other out exactly: not realising the limit of reality is being able and not taking; waiting for beings is being able and not going—both are one and the same not losing. The reader should read the two matters as one matter, and not read waiting for beings as a separate item of compassion.

26. The treatise-author explains knowing well the good and evil minds and the deep mind of beings—though now evil, the root is good—bringing out two proofs, father and mother beating a child and the Buddha delivering Aṅgulimāla, and making clear that when the bodhisattva observes that the five wholesome roots, faith and the rest, come from the deep mind, then they can be delivered; he explains that meaning is of two kinds, both dharma and name, that words are naming things by names, and that meaning is tied to the unobstructed knowledge of meaning and of dharmas, words to the unobstructed knowledge of expression and of delight in speaking. The first half of this passage explains the mind and the deep mind. The deep mind is 「現在雖惡，其本則好」 tr. "though now he is evil, his root is good", and the treatise-author brings out two proofs: as when father and mother beat a child, 「外惡內善」 tr. "harsh outside and good within"; as when the Buddha delivered Aṅgulimāla, knowing that though his shallow mind was evil, his deep mind was in fact good. Below, he speaks of the bodhisattva's use: when he observes that the five wholesome roots of beings, faith and the rest, come from within the deep mind, at that time they can be delivered—whether one can be delivered or not depends not on the good or evil now in action, but on what is in the deep mind. The second half explains meaning and words: meaning is of two kinds, both dharma and name; words are speech, naming things by names. The attribution too is clear: 「得義無礙、法無礙故，名善知義」 tr. "because he obtains the unobstructed knowledge of meaning and the unobstructed knowledge of dharmas, it is named knowing well meaning"; because of the unobstructed knowledge of expression and the unobstructed knowledge of delight in speaking, it is named knowing well words. The four unobstructed knowledges are tied two to each heading; here the reader can look back at knowing well meaning and knowing well words in the sūtra's list, and the place where they divide lies exactly here.

27. The treatise-author concludes that abiding within these two kinds of knowing well he can deliver beings by the three vehicles, and that this is named knowing well how to distinguish the three vehicles; and he avows himself that because such things are hard to understand they are explained, and what is easy to understand is not spoken. These two sections are joined and each has its use. First, it concludes the last heading of the list: the bodhisattva, abiding within these two kinds of knowing well—namely the meaning and words of the passage above—can deliver beings by the three vehicles; this is named knowing well how to distinguish the three vehicles. From this it can be seen that the last heading does not start another matter; it is the use of the two headings before it; meaning and words being without obstruction, the teaching of the Dharma can then divide the differences of the three vehicles. Second, the treatise-author avows the method by which he explains this list: 「如是難解故解說，易解者不說。」 tr. "Because such things are hard to understand, they are explained; what is easy to understand is not spoken." The reason why above he picked only these few headings—the gates of letters, speech, giving up the path, the views, the four fruits, the faculties, the wisdoms, the three times, skilful means, the deep mind, and meaning and words—to explain, and explained none of the rest, lies in this sentence. The reader need not supply explanations on his behalf for the headings not explained; not explaining is method, not a gap.

28. Question: Why is knowing well form and so on up to consciousness spoken of first, and knowing the aggregates, the elements, and the sense-fields afterwards; why is knowing well conditions spoken of first, and cause, sequence, object, and dominant afterwards? Answer: It is first spoken of extensively and afterwards briefly. The whole chapter is closed with one round of question and answer, and what is asked is the order of the list and not doctrinal principle: why is 「善知色乃至識」 tr. "knowing well form and so on up to consciousness" spoken of first, and 「知眾、界、入」 tr. "knowing the aggregates, the elements, and the sense-fields" afterwards; why is 「善知緣」 tr. "knowing well conditions" spoken of first, and 「因、次第、緣、增上」 tr. "cause, sequence, object, and dominant" afterwards. The treatise-author answers very briefly: 「先廣說，後略說。」 tr. "It is first spoken of extensively, and afterwards spoken of briefly." The five aggregates are raised as a whole, the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields are a separate division; therefore the extensive comes first and the brief afterwards. Here the reader can know how finely the treatise-author reads the sūtra—he does not let go even of the order of the list; and the reason he has to ask is precisely that the order of the list is itself the sūtra's order of teaching, not arranged at random.

29. Again someone says that the five aggregates earlier are of three kinds, wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate, and that the aggregate of morality and the other four are also named the five aggregates; at the end he makes clear that conditions are first spoken of briefly and afterwards extensively. At the end the treatise-author records one more school's different saying: 「復有人言」 tr. "again someone says"—the five aggregates earlier are of three kinds, wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate; the aggregate of morality and the other four are also named the five aggregates. This saying does not go by the same road as the answer above: the answer above explains it by the order of extensive and brief, while this saying explains it by the two meanings of the one name ‘five aggregates’; the treatise-author records it and does not judge. At the end he adds one sentence correcting himself: conditions are 「先略說，後廣說」 tr. "first spoken of briefly, and afterwards spoken of extensively"—precisely the reverse of the five aggregates' extensive first and brief afterwards; the two places each have their own order, and he does not force them level. The whole chapter ends here. The reader may note the way the treatise-author closes the scene: he makes no words of summary, but stops as soon as he has answered the doubt about the order of the sūtra's list, which fits exactly the method he has avowed.

Do Not Misread

Do not read ‘this gate is without obstruction’ as ‘entering the gate is easy’. What the Buddha removed is the limit of the faculties, not the limit of practice. In the same passage, right after removing the limit, he brings out four kinds who cannot enter—the lazy, those of little vigour, those of false recollection, and those of disordered mind. The gate does not choose people, and yet the lazy and those of disordered mind still cannot enter. The treatise-author's simile of the clear and cool pool exhausts this measure: the pool bars no one, and yet 「雖近，不欲入者則不入」 tr. "though it is near, one who does not wish to enter does not enter". ‘Without obstruction’ speaks of the pool; it does not say that one who has eyes and has feet need not set out.

Do not read ‘those of keen faculties can enter’ as Subhūti having spoken wrongly. The treatise-author judges that because Subhūti's knowledge, being of the Small Vehicle, is short, he says only that those of keen faculties can enter; this judges the measure of what he sees, not his words as false. Those of keen faculties can indeed enter; it is only not the whole; what the Buddha adds is that those of middling faculties, of dull faculties, and of scattered mind enter too. Here the reader should learn the treatise-author's sense of measure—he does not say that Subhūti's words are wrong, only that the Buddha's words are great; and the reason the Buddha speaks so greatly the treatise-author attributes to the 「大悲氣」 tr. "breath of great compassion", not to knowledge alone.

Do not read ‘only prajñā can reach the omniscience of all kinds’ and ‘one reaches it because it is joined with the five perfections’ as contradicting one another. The treatise-author himself raises this difficulty and himself answers it: 「常說與六波羅蜜合故得至」 tr. "it is constantly said that one reaches it because it is joined with the six perfections"—the usual way is from the first practice together. The reason there are words of ‘only prajñā’ is that they speak of the leading position of prajñā among the six perfections; the reason there are words of practising together is that they speak of actual accomplishment. As for the section on pure buddha-lands, where merely by hearing the real mark one at once arrives, the treatise-author marks it with the two Chinese characters rendered here as ‘at times’; it opens an exception and does not establish a general rule. One who takes this section as grounds for abolishing the five perfections has read ‘at times’ as ‘always’.

Do not read ‘the deeds of Māra cease the moment they would arise’ as there being a dharma that can counteract Māra. The sūtra says 「所有魔事欲起即滅」 tr. "whatever deeds of Māra there are cease the moment they would arise", and the cause it is tied to is only practising prajñā. The ceasing of the deeds of Māra does not come from detecting and does not come from subduing; it is that at the moment they would arise they have of themselves nothing on which to stand. If here one seeks another dharma of counteraction, that is setting up a further dharma outside prajñā; and setting up a further dharma outside prajñā is precisely the place where the deeds of Māra get to arise.

Do not read the list of knowing well as subjects the bodhisattva must master one by one. On this list the treatise-author explains only what is hard to understand, and avows himself 「如是難解故解說，易解者不說」 tr. "because such things are hard to understand, they are explained; what is easy to understand is not spoken"—from which it can be seen that what he weighs is not seeking knowledge heading by heading. The sūtra itself also ties this list under the sentence of abiding as prajñā teaches: it is the mark of the fruit of what is abided in, not a curriculum of what is to be trained. If the reader, because of the length of this list, grows timid, he has mistaken its rank.

Do not read giving up the path as abandoning practice. The treatise-author explains it very plainly: giving up the path is 「捨下地不憂，得上地不貪」 tr. "giving up the lower ground without sorrow and obtaining the higher ground without greed", and what is given up is a ground already passed; not giving up the path is 「住是地中」 tr. "abiding within this ground". The two are from the first two faces of one matter—able to give up with regard to grounds, able to be at rest with regard to where one abides. If they are read as giving up practice set against not giving up practice, the sentence ‘abiding within this ground’ of not giving up the path has nothing to rest on.

Do not read waiting for beings as a further piece of compassion the bodhisattva arouses separately. The treatise-author sets it side by side with ‘though he practises emptiness, does not realise the limit of reality’, the two matters standing together under the one heading of skilful means. The definition of skilful means is 「欲成辦其事，能具足因緣多少得所，於中不令有失」 tr. "wishing to accomplish a matter, being able to bring about the full complement of causes and conditions, in the right measure of more and less, and within it not letting there be any loss"—not realising the limit of reality is not losing oneself in realisation, waiting for beings is not losing beings. Compassion here is not a thought added on; it is what the meaning of skilful means already contains.

Bearing on Practice

The first use is to take the three Chinese characters rendered here as ‘trains with a single mind’ as the standard of daily life. The four gates are very deep and yet the gate is without obstruction; the difference between being able to enter and not lies only in whether the mind is single or not. The treatise-author further matches it with the eightfold noble path: the not lazy is right vigour, the one without false thought is right mindfulness, the one without a disordered mind is right concentration. The practitioner can hold these three sentences to check himself—in today's effort, has he been lazy, has he had false thoughts, or has his mind been disordered? Remove only one of the three, and the gate is one share nearer; remove all three, and the eight dharmas come together of themselves.

The second use is to break the thought of belittling oneself with the simile of the clear and cool pool. All who limit themselves by the dullness of their faculties and will not set their hand to it are precisely the one in the simile who, though near, does not wish to enter. The pool does not choose people; what it waits for is only the wish to enter. In reading this passage one should look back at oneself: is what I call being unable really having no eyes and feet, or only not wishing? Since the treatise-author has said that the Buddha, because of the breath of great compassion, says that those of middling faculties and dull faculties can all obtain entry, the practitioner should not set limits in the Buddha's place.

The third use is to turn the sentence ‘the deeds of Māra cease the moment they would arise’ round and use it as a test. The sūtra ties the ceasing of the deeds of Māra to practising prajñā, not to counteraction. If in daily life one feels the deeds of Māra rising in confusion and has no leisure to counteract them, one may first not ask how to counteract them, but look back at whether the practice of prajñā has broken off. When the practice breaks off, what arises is endless; when the practice continues, what would arise ceases of itself—the power and might of the person who practises prajñā that the treatise-author praises shows precisely here.

The fourth use is to take the comparison of a single finger-snap to fix where one's effort is spent. The sūtra compares twice, as short as a finger-snap and as long as immeasurable kalpas; the side that surpasses is always cultivating prajñā, the other side is always teaching the beings of a world to practise giving, morality, concentration, and wisdom, and so on up to obtaining the path. This is not urging people to abandon teaching and transforming; it fixes the rank of what is cultivated—all dharmas are born from within prajñā, so exerting effort for an instant at the place from which they are born weighs more than labouring long upon the dharmas that are born. The practitioner can hold this and ask himself: is the effort I spend today spent at the place of birth, or at the tail end of what is born?

The fifth use is to check one's own practice by the definition of skilful means. The treatise-author says that skilful means is 「欲成辦其事，能具足因緣多少得所，於中不令有失」 tr. "wishing to accomplish a matter, being able to bring about the full complement of causes and conditions, in the right measure of more and less, and within it not letting there be any loss", and that its instance is that though practising emptiness one does not realise the limit of reality, and though practising merit one also does not cling. The practitioner can check himself at both ends: first, does my contemplation of emptiness go as far as being able to realise and yet not take it; second, does my making of merit, once made, leave no thought bound to it? Lose even one of the two, and however diligent the practice, it is still not named skilful means. And the section on waiting for beings is a ready remedy for testing—being able to go swiftly and not going, only this is waiting; being unable to go swiftly and lingering is not waiting.

Further Resonances

The backbone of this unit is one round of Sūtra ② and one round of Treatise ②. Sūtra ② begins from Subhūti's saying that the four gates are what the bodhisattva-mahāsattva of keen faculties enters; the Buddha answers that the bodhisattvas of dull faculties, of middling faculties, and of scattered mind can also enter, gives the general verdict that this gate is without obstruction, sets up the standard that those who train with a single mind all enter, and brings out the four who cannot enter and the four who can enter, and that those who wish to abide in the ground of the avaivartika and those who wish to attain the omniscience of all kinds can enter; next it says that training as prajñā and so on up to dānapāramitā teach, one obtains omniscience, that when one practises prajñā whatever deeds of Māra there are cease the moment they would arise, that one who wishes to obtain the power of skilful means should practise prajñā, that when one thus practises, trains, and cultivates, the buddhas now present in the ten directions keep this bodhisattva in mind, with the buddhas of the three times being born from within prajñā as the reason for it, that one should reflect that the dharma the buddhas have obtained, I too shall obtain, and so swiftly obtain awakening, and that one should constantly not be far from the thought of sarvajñā; next it compares merit: cultivation for even the space of a finger-snap surpasses teaching the beings of the three-thousand great-thousand world to give as they please, to uphold the precepts, meditative concentration, and wisdom, to obtain liberation and the knowledge and vision of liberation, and so on up to the four fruits and the pratyekabuddha path, and again practising prajñā with the thought of sarvajñā from a moment, half a day, and so on up to immeasurable, boundless asaṃkhyeya kalpas surpasses teaching the beings of worlds as many as the sands of the Ganges in the ten directions; next it says that one who abides as prajñā teaches should be known to be avaivartika, kept in mind by the buddhas, and accomplished in the power of skilful means, should be known to have drawn near to and made offerings to immeasurable buddhas, planted roots of goodness, kept company with the good friend, long practised the six perfections, and long cultivated all dharmas, should be known to abide in the ground of the Dharma-prince, fulfil his vows, never be apart from the buddhas, and go from one buddha-land to another buddha-land, and should be known to have inexhaustible eloquence and full dhāraṇī, and, because his bodily form is complete and his receiving of the prediction is complete, to take on a body for the sake of beings; at the end it exhausts its marks with the great list of headings from knowing well the gates of letters and what are not gates of letters onward, and concludes that practising prajñā, giving rise to prajñā, and cultivating prajñā, one obtains such benefits as these. Treatise ②, opening with ‘The treatise-author explains’, explains following the text: first it returns the first two sentences of Sūtra ② each to its speaker, making clear that Subhūti's meaning lies in the four gates being very deep, so that only those of keen faculties can enter, and that the Buddha answers that there is none who cannot enter; next it sets up the simile of the clear and cool pool to make clear that the pool bars no one and yet one who does not wish to enter does not enter; next it matches the marks of those able to enter the four gates with the eightfold noble path, and judges that the eightfold noble path can obtain prajñā; next it judges that because Subhūti's knowledge, being of the Small Vehicle, is short, he says only that those of keen faculties can enter, that because the Buddha, being of the Great Vehicle, has great knowledge, he says that those of middling and dull faculties can enter with the eight dharmas coming together, and that here he speaks because of the breath of great compassion; next, taking the śrāvaka's practising the eight limbs together as a comparison, it makes clear that the Great Vehicle too obtains sarvajñā because prajñā is joined with the five perfections, and restates the sūtra's sentence ‘should train and obtain omniscience’; next it raises itself the difficulty between ‘only prajñā can reach’ and ‘reaches because joined with the five perfections’, and answers that the six perfections are constantly said to be practised together, and that at times, in pure buddha-lands, one reaches it merely by hearing the real mark; next it fixes the rank of the section of praise of virtues as praise of the power and might of the person who practises prajñā, citing the sūtra's words that the deeds of Māra cease as soon as they arise; next it marks the beginning and end of the section of praise of virtues, from ‘kept in mind by the buddhas’ to knowing well how to distinguish the three vehicles; next it enters the explanation of the list—the gates of letters as said in the dhāraṇī of letters, not-letters as meaning suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality, with the brief statement of their meaning as lying in knowing well the two dharmas of the world and nirvāṇa, and because he gathers the path of merit he knows well letters, because he breaks the inversions within merit he knows well no letters; speech and non-speech, and one, two, and many words and the speech of men and women, making clear that he can subdue those of the wrong paths and the powerful and eminent; the two kinds of mark of form and so on up to consciousness as said before, and giving up the path and not giving up the path; the views and the sixteen aspects, the threefold division of person, path, and fruit of the srota-āpanna, and the twenty-two faculties; someone's saying on the completeness of the faculties and the simile of the fledgling's feathers, and the glosses on the eleven kinds of wisdom; knowing well the three times; the definition of skilful means and the simile of the merchant and the great general for waiting for beings; the mind and the deep mind, and the two proofs of father and mother beating a child and the Buddha delivering Aṅgulimāla; and meaning and words, each tied to two unobstructed knowledges; next it concludes that abiding in the two kinds of knowing well he can deliver beings by the three vehicles, which is knowing well how to distinguish the three vehicles, and avows itself that what is hard to understand is therefore explained and what is easy to understand is not spoken; at the end it closes with the question and answer on the order of the list—knowing well form and so on up to consciousness spoken of first and knowing the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields afterwards, knowing well conditions spoken of first and cause, sequence, object, and dominant afterwards—answering that it is first spoken of extensively and afterwards briefly, again records someone's saying that the five aggregates are of three kinds and that the aggregate of morality and the other four are also named the five aggregates, and at the end makes clear that conditions are first spoken of briefly and afterwards extensively.

Among the explanations of the ancient masters, for this unit only one, Jizang, is to be recorded. Jizang, dividing the text below this point in his Commentary on the Larger Sūtra, says: 「利根菩薩入是門下，第二、明悟人也。即以上四法為門也」 tr. "From ‘the bodhisattva of keen faculties enters this gate’ onward: second, it makes clear the persons who awaken. It takes precisely the four dharmas above as the gate"—taking the four dharmas above, suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, and neither joined nor dispersed, as the gate, which points to the same thing as this treatise's explaining ‘this gate’ by the four gates; and the meaning of his division of this passage he also marks himself, saying: 「明是門無礙，學者皆入」 tr. "It makes clear that this gate is without obstruction, and those who train all enter", which agrees with what this treatise judges. On the section of praise of virtues he judges: 「歎行方便人有大功德」 tr. "It praises the great merit of the person who practises skilful means", and divides it into two: first making clear the merit, next making clear the obtaining of wisdom—what is called the obtaining of wisdom refers to the list from knowing well the gates of letters onward; this division corresponds broadly to the beginning and end of the section this treatise marks, 「從上『諸佛所念』來至此」 tr. "from ‘kept in mind by the buddhas’ above up to here", yet the two masters each speak in their own words; they are recorded side by side without judgement. On the gates of letters he explains: 「字門即四十二字門，非字門謂如法性」 tr. "The gates of letters are precisely the forty-two gates of letters; what are not gates of letters means suchness and the nature of dharmas"—this treatise only says 「如文字陀羅尼中說」 tr. "as is said in the dhāraṇī of letters" and does not give their number, while Jizang fills it in directly with the forty-two gates of letters; this is his own supplement, recorded and not judged. On giving up the path he explains: 「捨道謂捨下地得地，得地不著喜、捨下地不憂也」 tr. "Giving up the path means giving up the lower ground and obtaining a ground; obtaining the ground he does not cling with joy, and giving up the lower ground he does not sorrow"—sharing its bones with this treatise's 「捨下地不憂，得上地不貪」 tr. "giving up the lower ground without sorrow and obtaining the higher ground without greed" but differing in wording, the one saying ‘does not cling with joy’, the other ‘without greed’; they are recorded side by side. On unequalled wisdom he explains: 「於波若中亦不著般若，此釋妙絕無所為喻名無等慧」 tr. "Within prajñā he also does not cling to prajñā; this explanation is wondrous beyond all, with nothing that can serve as a simile for it, and it is named unequalled wisdom", the same as this treatise's 「於般若中不著般若」 tr. "not clinging to prajñā within prajñā"; and his next sentence says: 「如如意寶能滿心願名為實慧」 tr. "Like the wish-fulfilling jewel, able to fulfil the wishes of the mind, it is named real wisdom"—this treatise has jewel wisdom, Jizang has real wisdom; the difference between the two Chinese characters is a variant naming of the term, recorded and not judged, and its details belong to the apparatus. On waiting for beings he explains: 「待眾生者，六度皆為眷屬，菩薩雖要待眾生共度生死也」 tr. "As for waiting for beings: the six perfections all form its retinue; the bodhisattva, even so, must wait for beings to cross over birth and death together"—close in intent to this treatise's simile of the merchant and the great general, yet a separate account. On the heading of meaning and words he explains: 「得義法亦無礙為善知語，得辭及樂說故知義，具此四能說三乘」 tr. "Obtaining meaning and dharma likewise without obstruction is knowing well words; obtaining expression and delight in speaking, therefore he knows meaning; complete in these four, he can speak the three vehicles"—while this treatise takes obtaining the unobstructed knowledge of meaning and of dharmas as knowing well meaning, and obtaining the unobstructed knowledge of expression and of delight in speaking as knowing well words; what the two masters tie is exactly the reverse; this is a difference of attribution, recorded side by side as it is without judgement. His explanation at the close says: 「此中五陰先廣說後略說，故先言前知色，後云善知陰入界」 tr. "Here the five aggregates are first spoken of extensively and afterwards briefly; therefore it first says, earlier, knowing form, and afterwards says knowing well the aggregates, sense-fields, and elements", 「此中先略說緣後廣說，故云因次第緣增上也」 tr. "Here conditions are first spoken of briefly and afterwards extensively; therefore it says cause, sequence, object, and dominant"—wholly the same as what this treatise answers in its final question and answer, and it can be read together with passage 28 of Passage by Passage above and the last sentence of passage 29.

Huiying's Commentary has no explanation for this unit. His commentary runs on continuously from the head of this chapter, with an outline of four kinds of skilful means, and explains the similes of the sun and moon going round, the wheel-jewel, and the four kinds of troops, up to the meaning of the brief and extensive marks; its extant text stops at the end of fascicle twenty-four, and the last sentence of the treatise it cites is 「云何菩薩摩訶薩知一切法略廣相」 tr. "How does the bodhisattva-mahāsattva know the brief and extensive marks of all dharmas?", which still lies in the preceding part of this chapter and does not reach Sūtra ② and Treatise ② of this unit; below it there follows at once the inscription at the end of the fascicle, and there it ends. Therefore the Further Resonances of this unit have only the one master, Jizang; Huiying's absence belongs to where the extant text stops, not to his passing over it without explanation; it is recorded as it is, and no inference of a missing explanation is drawn.