大智度論 遍學品之上Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Training in All, Part 1 of 2

Training in All, First Part: Immovable within the Nature and Otherwise Obtaining the Path; Training in All the Paths and Entering the Bodhisattva's Position; the Knowledge of the Kinds of Paths That Is Pure; Training Neither in Marks nor in the Signless; Cultivating the Breaking of Dharmas Is Cultivating Prajñā

What Is Being Asked

The name of this chapter shows at a glance that what it must answer is a question exceedingly hard to answer: since the bodhisattva does not take the realisation of the two vehicles, why must he still train in the path of the two vehicles? And it is not a cursory training but 「遍學」 tr. "training in all". The single unit of the First Part is wholly one passage of the sūtra, beginning from a sentence of praise by Subhūti—the bodhisattva, accomplished in great wisdom, practises a deep dharma and 「亦不受果報」 tr. "yet does not receive the retribution"—and the Buddha at once sets the reason for not receiving the retribution in one place: 「諸法性中不動故」 tr. "because he is immovable within the nature of dharmas". Since the place of immovability is 「無所有」 tr. "without anything existent", every road of obtaining the path is driven to a dead end: something existent obtaining something existent, something existent obtaining nothing existent, nothing existent obtaining something existent, nothing existent obtaining nothing existent—the four alternatives are asked through once; to three of them the Buddha answers only 「不也！」 tr. "No!", and the remaining one the Buddha had already himself laid bare in the preceding passage: 「以無所有法不能得所有法」 tr. "by a dharma of nothing existent one cannot obtain a dharma of something existent". Subhūti then speaks out the sharpest question—then does the World-Honored One perhaps not obtain the path? The Buddha's answer is extremely sparing: 「有得，不以此四句。」 tr. "There is obtaining; only not by these four alternatives." The path of questioning of the whole unit unfolds from here: if obtaining the path is not within the four alternatives, then where is it? The answer is: where there is no idle discourse; and as for the marks of idle discourse, the Buddha lists seventeen matters in one breath, and at the end even 「我當得一切種智」 tr. "I shall obtain the omniscience of all kinds" and 「我當斷一切煩惱習」 tr. "I shall cut off all the afflictions and their habitual residues" are among them.

Once idle discourse is exhausted, the question of entering the position follows hard on its heels: all dharmas being without nature, by what path does the bodhisattva enter the bodhisattva's position? The paths of the three vehicles are denied one by one, and the right answer the Buddha gives is 「菩薩摩訶薩遍學諸道，得入菩薩位」 tr. "the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains in all the paths, and obtains entry into the bodhisattva's position", taking as a simile the person of the eight at the position of seeing the truths, who first trains in the paths and afterwards enters the right position. Subhūti at once lays bare the danger in this sentence: if training in all the paths means taking the fruit according to the path, then a bodhisattva who gives rise to the path of seeing should become a srota-āpanna, and one who gives rise to the pratyekabuddha path should become a pratyekabuddha—and once he has become so, there is no such thing as his entering the position, and there is no such thing either as his obtaining the omniscience of all kinds without entering the position. The Buddha's reply is the pivot of this unit: the bodhisattva 「以智觀過八地」 tr. "contemplates with knowledge and passes beyond the eight grounds"—it is contemplating and passing beyond, not abiding and entering; the knowledge of the two vehicles and the severance of the two vehicles, falling on the bodhisattva, are 「菩薩無生法忍」 tr. "the bodhisattva's acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas", are 「皆是菩薩忍」 tr. "all the bodhisattva's acceptance". The dividing line of training without realising is set precisely on this sentence.

After this the sūtra turns again, through three layers. One layer is the knowledge of the kinds of paths that is pure—training in all is necessary because the bodhisattva must speak the Dharma for all beings, and so must thoroughly understand all voices and languages, and must know one by one the causes and fruits of the six destinies and so on up to the gods, and so on up to the limbs of the path and the ten powers—of the three evil destinies and the path of ghosts and spirits it says 「應知、應障」 tr. "should be known, should be obstructed", while of humans and gods upward it says only 「應知」 tr. "should be known". One layer is the emptiness and the use of the dharmas that aid the path—all dharmas are 「不合不散、無色、無形、無對，一相，所謂無相」 tr. "neither joined nor dispersed, without form, without shape, without resistance, of one mark, which is what is called the signless"; since they are like space, without taking and without giving up, how can the dharmas that aid the path take hold of awakening? The Buddha answers with 「諸法自相空」 tr. "all dharmas are empty of specific marks", displays the dharmas that aid the path for those who do not know, and states plainly that this is 「以世俗法故，為眾生說令解，非以第一義」 tr. "by reason of worldly dharmas, explained for beings so that they understand; not by the highest meaning". One layer is what makes cultivation cultivation—since he trains neither in marks nor in the signless, how is prajñā still to be cultivated? The Buddha answers 「修諸法壞，是修般若波羅蜜」 tr. "to cultivate the breaking of dharmas is to cultivate prajñāpāramitā", lists item by item all dharmas from form to the cutting off of the afflictions and their habitual residues, at the end comes back to the one sentence 「不念有色法」 tr. "not thinking that there are dharmas of form", and with 「二者是有法，不二者是無法」 tr. "two is an existent dharma; not two is a non-existent dharma" settles the eye of the whole unit. Training in the paths without taking realisation, speaking of what aids the path without holding it as real, cultivating all dharmas without thinking them existent—what the First Part must answer is the one question these three combine into: how is it possible both to train and not to abide?

Passage by Passage

1. Great wisdom accomplished, practising the deep dharma and yet not receiving the retribution—the cause lies in 「諸法性中不動」 tr. "immovable within the nature of dharmas" . At the very start Subhūti praises: this bodhisattva-mahāsattva is 「大智慧成就，行是深法，亦不受果報」 tr. "accomplished in great wisdom, practises this deep dharma, and yet does not receive the retribution". The Buddha approves his words, with 「如是！」 tr. "Just so!" twice, and points out the cause and condition: 「是菩薩摩訶薩，諸法性中不動故。」 tr. "Because this bodhisattva-mahāsattva is immovable within the nature of dharmas." What is praised is the fruit—practising the deep dharma and yet not undergoing the retribution; what the Buddha answers is the cause—immovability. Note that 「不受果報」 tr. "not receiving the retribution" is not that there is no fruit; it is that the practitioner does not abide on the fruit; and the reason he is able not to abide lies not in the strength or weakness of his power of patience, but in that the place where he settles himself has from the first nothing that can move. The resolution of every difficulty in the whole unit is born from this one sentence.

2. Immovable within what nature—the nature of being without anything existent, listed item by item throughout, ending at 「以無所有法不能得所有法」 tr. "by a dharma of nothing existent one cannot obtain a dharma of something existent" . Subhūti presses to ask what being immovable within the nature of dharmas is; the Buddha first answers generally, 「於無所有性中不動」 tr. "he is immovable within the nature of being without anything existent", and at once lists item by item throughout: the nature of form, the nature of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness; the nature of dānapāramitā and so on up to the nature of prajñāpāramitā; the nature of the four dhyānas, the nature of the four immeasurables, the nature of the four formless absorptions; the nature of the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the nature of the eightfold noble path; the emptiness samādhi, the signless, and the non-action samādhi, and so on up to the nature of great kindness and great compassion—from the five aggregates of the ordinary person, the six perfections of the practitioner, the dhyānas of the meditator, and the full list of the limbs of the path, right up to the great kindness and great compassion of the Buddha ground, each one is said to be 「性中不動」 tr. "immovable within the nature". Listing item by item throughout is not padding: what it means to cut off is precisely the hidden thought that ‘coarse dharmas are empty but subtle dharmas are not empty’. At the end the Buddha himself lays out the principle: 「是諸法性即是無所有」 tr. "the nature of these dharmas is precisely without anything existent", and passes a sentence of verdict—「以無所有法不能得所有法。」 tr. "By a dharma of nothing existent one cannot obtain a dharma of something existent." Immovability is immovable because the nature in which he rests is at root without anything existent; and since it is without anything existent, it cannot be taken to exchange for something existent. This sentence lays the groundwork for the question and answer on the four alternatives in the next passage.

3. The question and answer on the four alternatives—something existent and nothing existent obtaining each other in turn; the Buddha answers 「不也！」 tr. "No!" three times. Following the sentence above, Subhūti fills in the remaining three alternatives and asks them one by one: can a dharma of something existent obtain a dharma of something existent? Can a dharma of something existent obtain a dharma of nothing existent? Can a dharma of nothing existent obtain a dharma of nothing existent? All three times the Buddha answers only 「不也！」 tr. "No!"; add to these the 「以無所有法不能得所有法」 tr. "by a dharma of nothing existent one cannot obtain a dharma of something existent" that the Buddha himself laid out in the passage above, and all four alternatives are sealed shut. The questions are utterly mechanical and the answers utterly brief, precisely to let the reader see with his own eyes: any model that pictures obtaining the path as ‘exchanging one thing for another’, whether the two ends are existent or non-existent, cannot be made to work. The sūtra gives no explanation here; it only stops up the way, sentence by sentence—only when everything is stopped up can the next question be asked.

4. If none of the four alternatives obtains, is there then no obtaining the path?—the Buddha shows 「有得，不以此四句」 tr. "there is obtaining; only not by these four alternatives" . Subhūti sets the four alternatives side by side once over, and then asks the most crucial sentence of this passage: 「將無世尊不得道耶？」 tr. "Does the World-Honored One perhaps not obtain the path?" This question is not doubting the Buddha; it lays bare, on the reader's behalf, the blank left once the four alternatives are sealed shut—if the road of obtaining the path lay wholly within the four alternatives, the road would be cut off. The Buddha's answer is extremely short: 「有得，不以此四句。」 tr. "There is obtaining; only not by these four alternatives." The two Chinese characters 「有得」 tr. "there is obtaining" first cut off the doubt of annihilation; 「不以此四句」 tr. "not by these four alternatives" then turns the direction aside. The crucial point is this: the Buddha does not set up a separate fifth alternative; he only says that obtaining the path does not fall within the framework of these four alternatives.

5. What is it to have obtaining?—neither something existent nor nothing existent, without any kind of idle discourse: this is named obtaining the path. Subhūti presses once more with 「云何有得」 tr. "what is it to have obtaining?", and the Buddha answers: 「非所有、非無所有，無諸戲論，是名得道。」 tr. "Neither something existent nor nothing existent, without any kind of idle discourse: this is named obtaining the path." The first half, 「非所有、非無所有」 tr. "neither something existent nor nothing existent", steps back out of the four alternatives; only the second half, 「無諸戲論」 tr. "without any kind of idle discourse", is the positive answer. This sentence moves the centre of gravity of the whole unit from ‘whether or not there is a dharma that can be obtained’ to ‘whether or not there is still idle discourse in the mind’—obtaining the path is not getting hold of a thing; it is the place where all idle discourse comes to rest; and the so-called inability of the four alternatives to obtain is precisely because the four alternatives are themselves the format of idle discourse. The Buddha's extended account of the marks of idle discourse below follows straight down from this sentence.

6. What the bodhisattva's idle discourse is—the seventeen matters listed in full, ending at 「性不戲論性」 tr. "nature does not make idle discourse about nature" . Subhūti asks what the idle discourse of the bodhisattva-mahāsattva is, and the Buddha lists it matter by matter, closing each matter with 「是為戲論」 tr. "this is idle discourse": contemplating form and so on up to consciousness as either permanent or impermanent; as either suffering or pleasure; as either self or non-self; as either quiescent or not quiescent—four layers of contemplation are set up first. Next come the four truths' ‘should be seen, should be cut off, should be realised, should be cultivated’; next, that one should cultivate the four dhyānas, the four immeasurable minds, and the four formless absorptions; next, that one should cultivate the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eightfold noble path; next, that one should cultivate the three gates of liberation of emptiness, the signless, and non-action; next, that one should cultivate the eight liberations and the nine successive absorptions. Further down it turns to the 「我當」 tr. "I shall" sentence-form: I shall pass beyond the four fruits of the śramaṇa and the pratyekabuddha path; I shall fulfil the bodhisattva's ten grounds; I shall enter the bodhisattva's position; I shall purify buddha-lands; I shall bring beings to accomplishment; I shall give rise to the ten powers of the Buddha, the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, and the eighteen unshared dharmas; I shall obtain the omniscience of all kinds; I shall cut off all the afflictions and their habitual residues—each and every one is idle discourse. The order of this list is itself a teaching: the first half lists methods of contemplation and methods of cultivation, the second half lists the mind of vows and the positions of fruit, and not even the highest and purest, 「我當得一切種智」 tr. "I shall obtain the omniscience of all kinds" and 「我當斷一切煩惱習」 tr. "I shall cut off all the afflictions and their habitual residues", is let pass. What makes idle discourse idle discourse lies not in whether the dharma taken as object is high or low, but in that within the two Chinese characters 「我當」 tr. "I shall" a self that takes has been set up. At the end the Buddha gives the reason: 「性不戲論性，無性不戲論無性」 tr. "nature does not make idle discourse about nature; non-nature does not make idle discourse about non-nature"—the self-nature of a dharma will not go and make idle discourse about self-nature, and non-nature will not go and make idle discourse about non-nature; 「離性、無性，更無法可得，所謂戲論者、戲論法、戲論處。」 tr. "Apart from nature and non-nature there is no further dharma to be found—that is, what is called the one who makes idle discourse, the dharma of idle discourse, the place of idle discourse." The person who makes idle discourse, the dharma about which idle discourse is made, the place where idle discourse is—these three have no separate substance outside nature and non-nature. Therefore it concludes: form and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds are all without idle discourse, and the bodhisattva 「應行無戲論般若波羅蜜」 tr. "should practise the prajñāpāramitā that is without idle discourse".

7. How is it that idle discourse cannot be made—the nature of form is non-existent, which is precisely without idle discourse; one who practises thus obtains entry into the bodhisattva's position. Subhūti asks again: how is it that idle discourse cannot be made about form and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds? The Buddha answers most directly: 「色性無，乃至一切種智性無」 tr. "the nature of form is non-existent, and so on up to the nature of the omniscience of all kinds is non-existent"; 「若法性無，即是無戲論。」 tr. "If the nature of dharmas is non-existent, that is without idle discourse." That idle discourse cannot be made is not a prohibition; it is that there is nothing on which to set it up—since the nature is non-existent, idle discourse has nowhere to land. At the end the Buddha points out the position of fruit of this practice: when the bodhisattva is able to practise in this way the prajñāpāramitā that is without idle discourse, 「是時得入菩薩位」 tr. "then he obtains entry into the bodhisattva's position". The main theme of the whole chapter—entering the bodhisattva's position—appears here for the first time, and the cause of entering the position is set on being without idle discourse, not on obtaining a dharma.

8. All dharmas being without nature, by what path does one enter the position—not by the paths of the three vehicles, but 「遍學諸道，得入菩薩位」 tr. "he trains in all the paths, and obtains entry into the bodhisattva's position" . Subhūti's question is most thorough: if all dharmas are without nature, by practising which path does the bodhisattva enter the bodhisattva's position? And he himself lists three options—「為用聲聞道？為用辟支佛道？為用佛道？」 tr. "Is it by the śrāvaka path? Is it by the pratyekabuddha path? Is it by the Buddha path?" The Buddha denies the three options one by one: not by the śrāvaka path, not by the pratyekabuddha path, not by the Buddha path does he obtain entry into the bodhisattva's position; the right answer is 「菩薩摩訶薩遍學諸道，得入菩薩位」 tr. "the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains in all the paths, and obtains entry into the bodhisattva's position". Here one must look closely: even 「佛道」 tr. "the Buddha path" is among those denied. What is denied is not the path; it is the way of taking that ‘uses a certain path to exchange for a certain position’—the paths of the three vehicles are each of them paths, yet once one takes them as a voucher for entering the position, one falls back into the format of the four alternatives. The 「遍」 tr. "in all" of training in all answers exactly to the listing throughout of being immovable within the nature in the text above: since dharmas are throughout unfindable, training too should be throughout and not abide.

9. The simile of the person of the eight—first training in the paths and afterwards entering the right position; not yet having obtained the fruit, first giving rise to the path of the fruit. The Buddha at once sets up a simile: 「譬如八人先學諸道然後入正位，未得果而先生果道。」 tr. "It is as the person of the eight first trains in the paths and afterwards enters the right position; not yet having obtained the fruit, he first gives rise to the path of the fruit." The person of the eight is the position, on the path of seeing the truths, of one who is about to obtain the fruit of the srota-āpanna and has not yet obtained it; such people first train in the paths and then enter the right position, and while the fruit has not yet arrived, the path of obtaining the fruit has already arisen first. By this the bodhisattva is likened: he first trains in all the paths and afterwards enters the bodhisattva's position, 「亦未得一切種智而先生金剛三昧，爾時以一念相應慧得一切種智」 tr. "likewise, not yet having obtained the omniscience of all kinds, he first gives rise to the vajra samādhi, and at that time, with the wisdom associated with a single thought, obtains the omniscience of all kinds". The weight of the simile is on the two Chinese characters 「先」 tr. "first" and 「未」 tr. "not yet": training comes before, the position after; the path has already arisen and the fruit is not yet obtained. Most crucial is that it gives a ready-made old precedent—training first and entering after, the path first and the fruit after, is a matter that already existed on the noble path; it is not a new pattern opened separately for the bodhisattva.

10. Subhūti's objection—if one takes the fruit according to the path, one becomes a person of the eight and so on up to a pratyekabuddha, and there is no such thing as entering the position. Subhūti brings the danger in the simile into the clearest light: the person of the eight, heading for srota-āpanna and attaining srota-āpanna, heading for sakṛdāgāmin and so on up to attaining arhat, the pratyekabuddha path, the Buddha path—「是諸道各各異」 tr. "these paths each differ"—since the paths each differ, the positions they give rise to also each differ. Then if the bodhisattva gives rise to the path of the person of the eight, he should become a person of the eight; if he gives rise to the path of seeing, he should become a srota-āpanna; if he gives rise to the path of reflection, he should become a sakṛdāgāmin, an anāgāmin, an arhat; if he gives rise to the pratyekabuddha path, he should become a pratyekabuddha. Once he has become so, both roads are at an end: to become a person of the eight and so on up to becoming a pratyekabuddha, and afterwards enter the bodhisattva's position—「無有是處」 tr. "there is no such thing"; to obtain the omniscience of all kinds without entering the bodhisattva's position—「無有是處」 tr. "there is no such thing" either. At the end he gives the question back to the Buddha: 「我云何當知菩薩摩訶薩遍學諸道得入菩薩位？」 tr. "How am I to know that the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains in all the paths and obtains entry into the bodhisattva's position?" This objection carries great weight—it does not doubt training in all; it points out that training in all, if understood by the old pattern, contradicts itself. The joint of the whole unit lies in how the Buddha answers this question.

11. The Buddha approves the objection and further speaks the causes and conditions—「以智觀過八地」 tr. "he contemplates with knowledge and passes beyond the eight grounds" ; contemplating and passing beyond without abiding. The Buddha first approves Subhūti's difficulty, saying over the two 「無有是處」 tr. "there is no such thing" just as they were, and only then gives the right answer: the bodhisattva, 「從初發意行六波羅蜜時，以智觀過八地」 tr. "when from the first arousing of intent he practises the six perfections, contemplates with knowledge and passes beyond the eight grounds". The names of the eight grounds the Buddha lists himself: 「乾慧地、性地、八人地、見地、薄地、離欲地、已辦地、辟支佛地。」 tr. "The ground of dry wisdom, the ground of the stage of nature, the ground of the person of the eight, the ground of seeing, the ground of thinning, the ground of freedom from desire, the ground of what has been done, and the pratyekabuddha ground." Note that the sūtra here gives only their names and not their meaning—the definition of each ground is not within the sūtra text of this unit; its explanation belongs to the treatise section and the apparatus, and it is not glossed on their behalf here. The whole force of the answer to the difficulty lies in the two Chinese characters 「觀過」 tr. "contemplating and passing beyond": it is not that he does not pass through, but that he passes through contemplating with wisdom; it is not entering a ground and taking its fruit, but passing beyond the ground and not staying. 「遍學」 tr. "Training in all" in the text above and 「觀過」 tr. "contemplating and passing beyond" here gloss each other—training in all is contemplating all the paths and not abiding in the paths. Therefore below it says 「以道種智入菩薩位；入菩薩位已，以一切種智斷一切煩惱習」 tr. "with the knowledge of the kinds of paths he enters the bodhisattva's position; having entered the bodhisattva's position, with the omniscience of all kinds he cuts off all the afflictions and their habitual residues"—the knowledge by which he enters the position is the knowledge of the kinds of paths; the knowledge by which he cuts off the habitual residues is the omniscience of all kinds; the two knowledges each have their place and must not be confused.

12. Knowledge and severance are all the bodhisattva's acceptance—what the two vehicles obtain is, in the bodhisattva, the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. The Buddha goes a layer further: 「是八人若智若斷，是菩薩無生法忍」 tr. "whether knowledge or severance, that of this person of the eight is the bodhisattva's acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas"; of the srota-āpanna, the sakṛdāgāmin, the anāgāmin, the arhat, and the pratyekabuddha, 「若智若斷」 tr. "whether knowledge or severance", 「皆是菩薩忍」 tr. "all are the bodhisattva's acceptance". The same knowledge, the same severance, is for the two vehicles the realisation of a fruit and for the bodhisattva acceptance—this sentence says to the full the dividing line of ‘training without realising’. The bodhisattva does not go around the content of the two vehicles; what he obtains is precisely that content; the difference is that what is obtained does not, in him, set into a position of fruit, but only accomplishes acceptance. At the end the Buddha gathers up the whole course: the bodhisattva trains thus in the paths of the śrāvaka and the pratyekabuddha, with the knowledge of the kinds of paths enters the bodhisattva's position, having entered the position with the omniscience of all kinds cuts off all the afflictions and their habitual residues, and obtains the Buddha path; training in all the paths and making them complete, he should obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; 「得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提已，以果饒益眾生」 tr. "having obtained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, with the fruit he benefits beings". The end of training in all is not self-satisfaction; it is benefiting others with the fruit—this sentence lays the fuse in advance for the knowledge of the kinds of paths that is pure in the next passage.

13. What the knowledge of the kinds of paths is—rightly knowing the marks and features of dharmas and revealing them for others, understanding all voices and languages. Subhūti asks, taking up the above: among the śrāvaka path, the pratyekabuddha path, and the Buddha path of which the World-Honored One speaks, what is the bodhisattva's knowledge of the kinds of paths? The Buddha answers: 「菩薩摩訶薩應生一切道種淨智。」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva should give rise to all the knowledge of the kinds of paths that is pure." Its marks are two. One is knowing and being able to speak: 「若諸法相貌所可顯示法，菩薩應正知」 tr. "whatever dharmas can be shown by the marks and features of dharmas, the bodhisattva should know them rightly"; having known them rightly, he expounds and reveals them for others, causing beings to understand. The second is speaking and being able to reach everywhere: 「應解一切音聲語言」 tr. "he should thoroughly understand all voices and languages", and with these voices he speaks the Dharma, 「遍滿三千大千世界，如響相」 tr. "filling the three-thousand great-thousand world, like the mark of an echo". The reason why the knowledge of the kinds of paths must have 「遍學」 tr. "training in all" lies here—he must speak the Dharma to beings of every faculty and nature and of every language; if what he trains in does not reach to all, what he says will have places it does not reach. And the phrase 「如響相」 tr. "like the mark of an echo" at the same time marks out the mind-ground of the one who speaks the Dharma: the voice fills the three thousand and is like an echo; there is speaking, and no speaker is present.

14. Once the knowledge of the paths is complete, discerning and knowing the deep minds of beings—the causes and fruits of the three evil destinies and the path of ghosts and spirits should be known and should be obstructed; from humans and gods upward, and so on up to the eighteen unshared dharmas, they should only be known. Once the knowledge of the paths is complete, what comes next in sequence is 「應分別知眾生深心」 tr. "he should discern and know the deep minds of beings". The sūtra lists on layer by layer: the beings of hell—the path of hell, the cause of hell, the fruit of hell—「應知、應障」 tr. "should be known, should be obstructed"; the path, cause, and fruit of animals and hungry ghosts should be known, should be obstructed; the path, cause, and fruit of the dragons, ghosts and spirits, gandharvas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, and asuras should be known, should be obstructed. On reaching humans and gods the tone at once changes—「人道、因、果應知」 tr. "the path, cause, and fruit of humans should be known"; the path, cause, and fruit of the gods should be known; and it lists the gods by name one by one, from the Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Heaven of the Thirty-three, the Yāma heaven, the Tuṣita heaven, the Heaven of Delight in Transformation, and the heaven of the gods Sovereign over Others' Transformations, through the Brahmā heaven, the Heaven of Light-Sound, the Heaven of Universal Purity, the Heaven of Abundant Fruit, the Heaven of No Perception, the Apoluohe heaven, the Heaven without Heat, the Heaven Easy to See, and the Joyful-to-See heaven, up to the Akaniṣṭha heaven; then the path, cause, and fruit of the sphere of boundless space, the sphere of boundless consciousness, the sphere of nothing whatsoever, and the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception should be known; then the cause and fruit of the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eightfold noble path should be known; then the cause and fruit of the three gates of liberation and of the ten powers of the Buddha, the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, the eighteen unshared dharmas, and great kindness and great compassion should be known. This long list has one extremely important measure in it: of the three evil destinies and the paths of the ghosts and spirits it says 「應知、應障」 tr. "should be known, should be obstructed"; of humans and gods upward it says only 「應知」 tr. "should be known" and makes no mention of obstructing. Knowing is penetrating; obstructing is blocking—blocking what should be blocked, and only knowing and not blocking what should not be blocked: this is precisely why the knowledge of the kinds of paths is called 「淨」 tr. "pure". At the end the sūtra brings its use back to beings: by such paths the bodhisattva causes beings to enter the path of the srota-āpanna and so on up to the pratyekabuddha path, and so on up to the path of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; 「是名菩薩摩訶薩淨道種智」 tr. "this is named the bodhisattva-mahāsattva's pure knowledge of the kinds of paths".

15. Having trained in this knowledge of the kinds of paths, he penetrates the mark of the deep minds of beings—speaking the Dharma according to their minds, and what he says is not in vain. After training in the knowledge of the kinds of paths, the bodhisattva 「入眾生深心相」 tr. "penetrates the mark of the deep minds of beings"; having penetrated, 「隨眾生心，如應說法，所言不虛」 tr. "he accords with the minds of beings and speaks the Dharma as is fitting, and what he says is not in vain". Why is what he says not in vain? The Buddha himself gives the cause: 「是菩薩摩訶薩善知眾生根相，知一切眾生心、心數法生死所趣。」 tr. "This bodhisattva-mahāsattva knows well the marks of the faculties of beings, and knows where the minds and mental-factor dharmas of all beings tend within birth and death." Not in vain does not mean speaking pleasingly; it means that what is said accords with the other's marks of faculty, workings of mind, and destination in birth and death, every sentence landing on something real. At the end the Buddha brings this whole passage back into prajñā: the bodhisattva should practise the prajñāpāramitā of the path in this way; the reason is that 「一切諸善助道法皆入般若波羅蜜中」 tr. "all the wholesome dharmas that aid the path enter into prajñāpāramitā", and they are what the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, the śrāvakas, and the pratyekabuddhas should practise. Training in all the paths does not go outside prajñā because the dharmas that aid the path are from the first within prajñā—and this sentence in turn becomes the origin of the question in the next passage.

16. Since the dharmas that aid the path are empty, how can they take hold of awakening?—Subhūti raises space as a difficulty. Subhūti at once seizes on the sentence above and raises a difficulty: if the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi—「是一切法皆不合不散、無色、無形、無對，一相，所謂無相」 tr. "all these dharmas are neither joined nor dispersed, without form, without shape, without resistance, of one mark, which is what is called the signless"—then 「云何是助道法能取阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "how can these dharmas that aid the path take hold of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi"? He also gives the reasoning himself: such dharmas are 「無所取、無所捨」 tr. "without anything taken and without anything given up", 「譬如虛空無取、無捨」 tr. "just as space is without taking and without giving up". The difficulty is raised most squarely—emptiness was spoken by the Buddha himself, and that what aids the path can take hold of awakening was also spoken by the Buddha himself; put the two sentences together and they make a difficulty. One must see clearly the shape of this difficulty: what it asks is not whether things are empty or not, but how an empty dharma can have any function.

17. The Buddha answers—being empty of specific marks, there is no taking or giving up; for those who do not know, the dharmas that aid the path are displayed; spoken by worldly dharmas, not by the highest meaning. The Buddha first approves: 「如是！如是！須菩提！諸法自相空，無所取、無所捨。」 tr. "Just so! Just so! Subhūti! All dharmas are empty of specific marks, without anything taken and without anything given up." The side of emptiness is acknowledged in full. The turning word is in the next sentence: 「有眾生不知諸法自相空，為是眾生故，顯示助道法能至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "There are beings who do not know that all dharmas are empty of specific marks; it is for the sake of these beings that it is shown that the dharmas that aid the path can reach anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." Displaying the dharmas that aid the path is set up for those who do not know; it is not setting up, outside emptiness, a separate dharma that can take. The Buddha at once lists throughout once more: form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness; the six perfections; the eighteen emptinesses; the first dhyāna and so on up to the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception; the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eightfold noble path; the three gates of liberation; the eight liberations and the nine successive absorptions; the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, and the eighteen unshared dharmas; great kindness and great compassion; the omniscience of all kinds; and such dharmas—「於是聖法中，皆不合不散、無色、無形、無對，一相，所謂無相」 tr. "within this holy Dharma all are neither joined nor dispersed, without form, without shape, without resistance, of one mark, which is what is called the signless". At the end the position of this setting-up is marked out with perfect clarity: 「以世俗法故，為眾生說令解，非以第一義。」 tr. "By reason of worldly dharmas they are explained for beings so that they understand; it is not by the highest meaning." This sentence is one of the most important dividing lines in the whole unit—that the dharmas that aid the path can take hold of awakening is a worldly saying; that all dharmas are empty of specific marks is the highest meaning. The two sayings do not contradict each other, because the levels at which they are spoken differ. The last sentence, 「於是一切法中，菩薩摩訶薩以智、見如法應學；學已，分別諸法應用、不應用」 tr. "within all these dharmas the bodhisattva-mahāsattva should train with knowledge and with seeing, in accordance with the Dharma; having trained, he discerns which dharmas should be used and which should not be used", hands the topic on to the next passage.

18. To be used and not to be used—the dharmas of the two vehicles are discerned and known and not used; the omniscience of all kinds is discerned and known and used. Subhūti asks which dharmas, once discerned, should be used and which should not be used, and the Buddha answers: 「聲聞、辟支佛法，分別知，不應用；一切種智，分別知，應用。」 tr. "The dharmas of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas he discerns and knows, and should not use; the omniscience of all kinds he discerns and knows, and should use." Both sentences have the same three Chinese characters 「分別知」 tr. "discerns and knows"; the difference lies only in the single character 「不」 tr. "not". This is exactly the grounded statement of ‘training in all without realising’: the dharmas of the two vehicles must be discerned and known—without knowing them there is no training in all; yet once known they are not used—using them would become realisation. The omniscience of all kinds is both known and used. The meaning of the chapter name, in the unit of the First Part, here receives its simplest formula: training in all is that of what he trains in there is nothing he does not know; not realising is that of what he knows there is something he does not use. The last sentence, 「菩薩摩訶薩於是聖法中，應學般若波羅蜜」 tr. "the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, within this holy Dharma, should train in prajñāpāramitā", draws out the next passage's question about the holy Dharma.

19. What the holy Dharma is—the worthies and sages are neither joined with nor dispersed from all dharmas; the fivefold ‘a dharma without such-and-such and a dharma without such-and-such are neither joined nor dispersed’. Subhūti asks: 「何以故說名聖法？何等是聖法？」 tr. "Why is it named the holy Dharma? What is the holy Dharma?" The format of the Buddha's answer is the same as the listing throughout of the previous passage, but what is listed differs: the dharmas of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and the buddhas are neither joined with nor dispersed from desire, hatred, and delusion; neither joined with nor dispersed from the view of the body, grasping at precepts, and doubt; neither joined with nor dispersed from desire-attachment and anger; neither joined with nor dispersed from attachment to form, attachment to the formless, restlessness, conceit, and ignorance—first it lists the afflictions; next it lists the first dhyāna and so on up to the fourth dhyāna, kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, and the sphere of space and so on up to the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception, as neither joined nor dispersed; next it lists the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eightfold noble path as neither joined nor dispersed; next it lists inner emptiness and so on up to great compassion, the conditioned nature, and the unconditioned nature as neither joined nor dispersed. What is listed starts from the three poisons, the most defiled, and stops at great compassion and the unconditioned nature, the purest, all spoken of evenly as one. The Buddha at once gives the reason himself, in five parallel sentences: 「無色法與無色法不合不散，無形法與無形法不合不散，無對法與無對法不合不散，一相法與一相法不合不散，無相法與無相法不合不散。」 tr. "A dharma without form and a dharma without form are neither joined nor dispersed; a dharma without shape and a dharma without shape are neither joined nor dispersed; a dharma without resistance and a dharma without resistance are neither joined nor dispersed; a dharma of one mark and a dharma of one mark are neither joined nor dispersed; a signless dharma and a signless dharma are neither joined nor dispersed." Even those of the same kind are neither joined to nor dispersed from one another, how much less those of different kinds. What is called the holy Dharma is not a separate set of pure dharmas; it is not making the view of joining and dispersing about any dharma. The last sentence is 「是無色、無形、無對，一相，所謂無相般若波羅蜜，諸菩薩摩訶薩應學；學已，不得諸法相」 tr. "this prajñāpāramitā that is without form, without shape, without resistance, of one mark, called the signless, the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should train in; having trained, they do not obtain the marks of dharmas"—the result of training is 「不得諸法相」 tr. "not obtaining the marks of dharmas", and this sentence directly invites the longest difficulty, in the next passage.

20. The difficulty of not training in the marks of dharmas—pressing with question after question item by item, until the matter of delivering beings is driven to come to nothing. Subhūti pushes the sentence above, 「不得諸法相」 tr. "not obtaining the marks of dharmas", to the end: does the bodhisattva-mahāsattva 「不學色相耶」 tr. "not train in the mark of form"? Not train in the mark of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness, the mark of the eye and so on up to the mark of the mind, the mark of form and so on up to the mark of dharmas, the mark of the earth element and so on up to the mark of the consciousness element, the mark of the six perfections, the mark of inner emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas, the mark of the first dhyāna and so on up to the mark of the fourth dhyāna, the mark of kindness and so on up to the mark of equanimity, the mark of boundless space and so on up to the mark of neither perception nor non-perception, the mark of the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the mark of the eightfold noble path, the mark of the emptiness samādhi and the mark of the signless and non-action samādhi, the mark of the eight liberations and the nine successive absorptions, the mark of the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, the eighteen unshared dharmas, and great kindness and great compassion, the mark of the four noble truths, the mark of the twelve links of causes and conditions in reverse and forward order, the mark of the conditioned nature and the mark of the unconditioned nature? After questioning item by item, he pushes the consequences all the way down: if he does not train in the marks of dharmas, how does he train in the marks of dharmas, whether conditioned or unconditioned, and pass beyond the grounds of the two vehicles? Not passing beyond the grounds of the two vehicles, how does he enter the bodhisattva's position? Not entering the position, how does he obtain the omniscience of all kinds? Not obtaining the omniscience of all kinds, how does he turn the Dharma wheel? Not turning the Dharma wheel, how does he deliver beings out of birth and death by the three vehicles?—one sentence locks into the next, pressing straight on until the matter of delivering beings comes to nothing.

21. The Buddha answers—if there were really marks, one should train in them; because there are really no marks, he trains neither in marks nor in the signless; whether there is a Buddha or no Buddha, all dharmas are of one mark. The Buddha answers with only two sentences. One is a supposition: 「若諸法實有相，菩薩應學是相。」 tr. "If dharmas really had marks, the bodhisattva should train in those marks." One is a statement of how things are: all dharmas really have no mark—without form, without shape, without resistance, of one mark, which is what is called the signless; 「以是故，須菩提！菩薩摩訶薩不學相、不學無相。」 tr. "For this reason, Subhūti! the bodhisattva-mahāsattva trains neither in marks nor in the signless." He does not train in marks because marks are from the first non-existent; he does not train in the signless because the signless too is a mark that is taken. At the end a verdict is set down: 「有佛、無佛，諸法一相，性常住。」 tr. "Whether there is a Buddha or there is no Buddha, all dharmas are of one mark, and their nature ever abides." That dharmas are thus does not come to exist because a Buddha appears in the world, and does not cease to exist because a Buddha does not appear—this sentence is the deepest layer of explanation of the earlier 「不得諸法相」 tr. "not obtaining the marks of dharmas": not obtaining is not losing; it is how things are from the first.

22. The difficulty again—if dharmas are neither with marks nor without marks, prajñā has no way to be cultivated, and so on up to the point that even the merit of giving, keeping the precepts, and cultivating concentration cannot be caused to be obtained. Subhūti then turns the difficulty over one layer more: if all dharmas are neither with marks nor without marks, how does the bodhisattva cultivate prajñāpāramitā? And he lists out in full the chain of consequences of not cultivating—not cultivating prajñā, he cannot pass beyond the grounds of the two vehicles; not passing beyond the grounds of the two vehicles, he cannot enter the bodhisattva's position; not entering the position, he does not obtain the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas; not obtaining the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas, he cannot obtain the supernormal powers of the bodhisattva; not obtaining the supernormal powers, he cannot purify buddha-lands or bring beings to accomplishment; unable to purify lands and bring beings to accomplishment, he cannot obtain the omniscience of all kinds; not obtaining the omniscience of all kinds, he cannot turn the Dharma wheel; not turning the Dharma wheel, he cannot cause beings to obtain the four fruits of the śramaṇa, the pratyekabuddha path, and anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, 「亦不能令眾生得布施福，亦不能令得持戒、修定福」 tr. "nor can he cause beings to obtain the merit of giving, nor cause them to obtain the merit of keeping the precepts and of cultivating concentration". Even the shallowest merit, of giving, keeping the precepts, and cultivating concentration, is drawn in; this question is the one pushed furthest in the whole unit.

23. Cultivating the signless is cultivating prajñā; the general heading 「修諸法壞」 tr. "cultivating the breaking of dharmas" and its full account item by item. The Buddha's right answer is: 「諸法無相，非一相、非異相；若修無相，是修般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "All dharmas are signless, neither of one mark nor of different marks; to cultivate the signless is to cultivate prajñāpāramitā." Subhūti asks again how cultivating the signless is cultivating prajñā, and the Buddha answers with a sentence that holds the whole: 「修諸法壞，是修般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "To cultivate the breaking of dharmas is to cultivate prajñāpāramitā." Subhūti asks again how one cultivates the breaking of dharmas, and the Buddha then sets them out item by item, each in the sentence ‘to cultivate the breaking of such-and-such is to cultivate prajñāpāramitā’: form, and feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness; the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas; the contemplation of impurity; the first dhyāna and so on up to the fourth dhyāna; kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity; the four formless spheres; the recollection of the Buddha, the recollection of the Dharma, the recollection of the Saṅgha, the recollection of morality, the recollection of giving up, the recollection of the gods, the recollection of cessation, and the recollection of ānāpāna; the mark of impermanence, the mark of suffering, the mark of non-self, the mark of emptiness, the mark of origination, the mark of cause, the mark of arising, the mark of condition, the mark of closing, the mark of cessation, the mark of sublimity, the mark of departure, the mark of the path, the mark of rightness, the mark of the track, and the mark of separation; the twelve links of causes and conditions; the mark of a self, the mark of a being, the mark of a life-span, and so on up to the mark of a knower and the mark of a seer; the mark of permanence, the mark of pleasure, the mark of purity, and the mark of self; the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the eightfold noble path; the emptiness, signless, and non-action samādhi; the eight liberations and the nine successive absorptions; the samādhi with initial and sustained thought, the samādhi without initial thought but with sustained thought, and the samādhi without initial or sustained thought; the four noble truths; the knowledge of suffering, the knowledge of origination, the knowledge of cessation, and the knowledge of the path; the knowledge of exhaustion and the knowledge of non-arising; dharma-knowledge, subsequent knowledge, worldly knowledge, and the knowledge of others' minds; the six perfections; the eighteen emptinesses; the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, and the eighteen unshared dharmas; the four fruits of the śramaṇa and the pratyekabuddha path; omniscience; the cutting off of all the afflictions and their habitual residues. The sūtra here gives only the headings and not their explanation; the gloss of each item is not within this unit, and here they are recorded as they stand and not glossed on their behalf; what is to be looked at is the two ends of this list—it begins from form, the coarsest, and ends at 「斷一切煩惱習」 tr. "the cutting off of all the afflictions and their habitual residues", the subtlest; even that dharma which can cut off the afflictions and their habitual residues is among what is broken. What is called ‘all’ only here becomes truly all.

24. The Buddha himself explains the word 「壞」 tr. "breaking" —「不念有色法」 tr. "not thinking that there are dharmas of form" ; one who has the thought of existent dharmas clings to dharmas, and has no liberation, no path, no nirvāṇa. Subhūti asks finally: how is it called that to cultivate the breaking of form, and so on up to cultivating the breaking of the cutting off of all the afflictions and their habitual residues, is to cultivate prajñā? The Buddha's answer unties the word 「壞」 tr. "breaking": 「菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜時，不念有色法，是修般若波羅蜜」 tr. "when the bodhisattva-mahāsattva practises prajñāpāramitā, not thinking that there are dharmas of form is cultivating prajñāpāramitā"; and so on up to: not thinking that there is a dharma of breaking all the afflictions and their habitual residues is cultivating prajñāpāramitā. Breaking is not destroying; it is not thinking of a thing as existent. The Buddha at once makes it clear from the reverse side: 「有法念者，不修般若波羅蜜」 tr. "one who has the thought of existent dharmas does not cultivate prajñāpāramitā"; one who has the thought of existent dharmas does not cultivate the six perfections, and the reason is that 「是人著法」 tr. "this person clings to dharmas"; 「如是著者，無有解脫、無有道、無有涅槃」 tr. "for one who clings thus there is no liberation, no path, no nirvāṇa"; one who has the thought of existent dharmas also does not cultivate the four foundations of mindfulness and so on up to the omniscience of all kinds, 「是人著法故」 tr. "because this person clings to dharmas". Again and again it comes back to the two Chinese characters 「著法」 tr. "clings to dharmas".

25. Two is an existent dharma, not two is a non-existent dharma—grasping at marks makes two, two is precisely the existent, the existent is precisely birth and death. Subhūti then asks what an existent dharma is and what a non-existent dharma is, and the Buddha answers: 「二者是有法，不二者是無法。」 tr. "Two is an existent dharma; not two is a non-existent dharma." He asks again what two is, and the Buddha answers: the mark of form is two; the mark of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness is two; the mark of the eye and so on up to the mark of the mind is two; the mark of form and so on up to the mark of dharmas is two; the six perfections and so on up to the mark of the Buddha, the mark of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and the mark of the conditioned and unconditioned nature are two. At the end it speaks generally and gathers up the whole passage: 「一切相皆是二，一切二皆是有法；適有法便有生死，適有生死不得離生、老、病、死、憂悲苦惱。」 tr. "All marks are two; all that is two is an existent dharma; as soon as there is an existent dharma there is birth and death; as soon as there is birth and death one cannot be free of birth, old age, sickness, death, sorrow, grief, suffering, and vexation." Therefore it should be known that a person who abides within two marks has no six perfections, 「無有道、無有果，乃至無有順忍，何況見色相乃至見一切種智相！」 tr. "no path, no fruit, and so on up to no compliant acceptance—how much less seeing the mark of form and so on up to seeing the mark of the omniscience of all kinds!"—he has not even compliant acceptance, the very first step, how much less seeing the real mark. The sūtra section ends with a rhetorical question: 「若無修道，云何得須陀洹果乃至阿羅漢果、辟支佛道、阿耨多羅三藐三菩提及斷一切煩惱習？」 tr. "If there is no cultivating of the path, how could he obtain the fruit of the srota-āpanna and so on up to the fruit of the arhat, the pratyekabuddha path, anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, and the cutting off of all the afflictions and their habitual residues?" Grasping at marks makes two, two is precisely the existent, the existent is precisely birth and death—this thread strings together everything said in the whole unit since 「以無所有法不能得所有法」 tr. "by a dharma of nothing existent one cannot obtain a dharma of something existent": the four alternatives cannot obtain precisely because the four alternatives are all two.

Do Not Misread

Do not read 「遍學諸道」 tr. "trains in all the paths" as broad dabbling. Among the three options the sūtra denies is the Buddha path, which shows that what training in all concerns is not how much knowledge one has, but the whole way of taking that ‘does not exchange a certain path for a certain position’. The right explanation that follows straight after is 「以智觀過八地」 tr. "contemplates with knowledge and passes beyond the eight grounds"—contemplating and passing beyond without abiding; the allness of training and the absence of abiding are two faces of one and the same matter. Read training in all as training in much, and one will think the bodhisattva merely trains in more than the two vehicles; what the sūtra means is that he trains in just as much and abides in not a single place.

Do not read 「若智若斷，皆是菩薩忍」 tr. "whether knowledge or severance, all are the bodhisattva's acceptance" as the bodhisattva having another kind of knowledge and severance. What the Buddha speaks of is the same knowledge of the person of the eight, the same severance of the arhat, which, falling on the bodhisattva, 「是菩薩無生法忍」 tr. "is the bodhisattva's acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas". If one reads it as the bodhisattva having a separate set of knowledge and severance not shared with the two vehicles, one leaves 「遍學」 tr. "training in all" hanging in the air—what training in all trains in is precisely these. The dividing line is not in the thing obtained; it is in that what is obtained does not, in him, set into a position of fruit.

Do not read 「顯示助道法能至阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "it is shown that the dharmas that aid the path can reach anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi" as the Buddha contradicting himself. The Buddha first acknowledges 「諸法自相空，無所取、無所捨」 tr. "all dharmas are empty of specific marks, without anything taken and without anything given up", then says that displaying the dharmas that aid the path is because 「有眾生不知諸法自相空，為是眾生故」 tr. "there are beings who do not know that all dharmas are empty of specific marks; it is for the sake of these beings", and at the end himself marks its level—「以世俗法故，為眾生說令解，非以第一義」 tr. "by reason of worldly dharmas they are explained for beings so that they understand; it is not by the highest meaning". One sentence speaks of the highest meaning, one speaks of the worldly; the two sentences each have their own place. To read them as contradicting is to press two levels into one layer; to read the dharmas that aid the path as having a separate real substance is to be precisely the kind of being ‘who does not know the emptiness of specific marks’ for whom the sūtra sets this up.

Do not read 「修諸法壞」 tr. "cultivating the breaking of dharmas" as destroying dharmas. The Buddha himself explains this phrase as 「不念有色法」 tr. "not thinking that there are dharmas of form", and so on up to not thinking that there is a dharma of breaking all the afflictions and their habitual residues; what is broken is ‘thinking of it as existent’, not the dharma. If one reads it as smashing the dharmas one by one, then the last item of the list, 「修斷一切煩惱習壞」 tr. "to cultivate the breaking of the cutting off of all the afflictions and their habitual residues", could not be spoken of at all—is one then to smash the very matter of cutting off the afflictions and their habitual residues? What makes breaking breaking lies precisely in not thinking of things as existent, and so even the dharma that can break is among what is broken.

Do not read the seventeen matters of idle discourse as forbidding the making of vows. In what the Buddha lists—「我當入菩薩位」 tr. "I shall enter the bodhisattva's position", 「我當得一切種智」 tr. "I shall obtain the omniscience of all kinds", 「我當斷一切煩惱習」 tr. "I shall cut off all the afflictions and their habitual residues"—the sickness is not in the matter vowed but in the self that takes, set up by the two Chinese characters 「我當」 tr. "I shall"; the Buddha himself gives the reason, saying 「性不戲論性，無性不戲論無性」 tr. "nature does not make idle discourse about nature; non-nature does not make idle discourse about non-nature", and states plainly 「離性、無性，更無法可得，所謂戲論者、戲論法、戲論處」 tr. "apart from nature and non-nature there is no further dharma to be found—that is, what is called the one who makes idle discourse, the dharma of idle discourse, the place of idle discourse". Only when the three are at once without substance is idle discourse truly absent. If one reads it as the bodhisattva being forbidden to have aspirations and vows, then the sentence above, 「遍學諸道具足，應得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "training in all the paths and making them complete, he should obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi", has nowhere to be placed.

Bearing on Practice

Use 「不受果報」 tr. "not receiving the retribution" to test the mind that applies effort. Practising the deep dharma and yet not receiving the retribution is the first meaning with which this unit opens, and its cause is 「諸法性中不動」 tr. "immovable within the nature of dharmas". When one's effort begins to take hold a little, the mind naturally starts reckoning toward the fruit—this sitting went well, this passage was recited in accord. Here one can take the Buddha's answer and ask oneself: if the place where one rests is from the first without anything existent, where is this ‘went well’ to be placed? It is not suppressing the joy; it is seeing clearly that the joy has nowhere to abide.

Use the four alternatives to examine one's own model of seeking the path. Whenever one feels that practice is ‘using one thing to exchange for another’—using effort to exchange for states, using merit to exchange for positions of fruit, using the contemplation of emptiness to exchange for liberation—one can take up the four alternatives and check them one by one: something existent obtaining something existent, something existent obtaining nothing existent, nothing existent obtaining something existent, nothing existent obtaining nothing existent; the Buddha's three answers are all 「不也！」 tr. "No!", and adding the sentence the Buddha himself laid out in the earlier passage, all four alternatives are sealed. The four alternatives checked through, the road is still not cut off, because the Buddha says 「有得，不以此四句」 tr. "there is obtaining; only not by these four alternatives". This question and answer is an excellent daily test: knowing that it is not within the four alternatives, the mind naturally leaves the posture of trading.

Use the two Chinese characters 「我當」 tr. "I shall" to examine idle discourse. Among the seventeen matters of idle discourse, what most calls for self-reflection is the 「我當」 tr. "I shall" sentence-form of the second half. Daily vows, set practices, and hopes—every sentence can be the path, and every sentence can be idle discourse; the dividing line lies only in whether a 「我當」 tr. "I shall" stands in the middle. There is no need to abolish vows; one need only look back once at each vow: in this sentence, has the self that vows taken its stand or not?

Use 「分別知，不應用」 tr. "discerns and knows, and should not use" to set the measure for training in dharmas. The wider one's training in dharmas, the easier it is to take up every single thing trained in and use it—this dharma is good, so one moves in and dwells there; that dharma is wonderful, so one takes it as one's own realisation. The measure the sūtra gives is perfectly clear: of the dharmas of the two vehicles, 「分別知，不應用」 tr. "he discerns and knows, and should not use"; of the omniscience of all kinds, 「分別知，應用」 tr. "he discerns and knows, and should use". Of whatever is trained in, first ask whether one has come to know it; having come to know it, then ask whether it is something to be used or something only to be known. Knowing and not using is not waste; it is how training in all is able not to realise.

Use 「應知、應障」 tr. "should be known, should be obstructed" to judge what to take and what to give up. The knowledge of the kinds of paths that is pure says of the three evil destinies and the path of ghosts and spirits 「應知、應障」 tr. "should be known, should be obstructed", and of humans and gods upward says only 「應知」 tr. "should be known". Applied to oneself, it is this: of the paths of the afflictions that are presently active, know them and also block them; of states that are not yet evil destinies, know them, and there is no need to block and cut them all off without distinction. The two commonest deviations in practice—not blocking what should be blocked, and blocking without distinction what should not be blocked—can both be corrected with this measure.

Practise all dharmas with 「不念有」 tr. "not thinking that they exist". The full account of cultivating the breaking of dharmas looks dense and intricate, but its use lies only in the one sentence 「不念有色法」 tr. "not thinking that there are dharmas of form". In daily practice there is no need to contemplate item by item; one need only not think of the dharma one is practising as a really existent thing: when giving, not thinking that there is a dharma of giving; when keeping the precepts, not thinking that there is a dharma of keeping the precepts; and so on up to, when cultivating the signless, not thinking that there is a dharma of the signless. At the very end even 「斷一切煩惱習」 tr. "the cutting off of all the afflictions and their habitual residues" is among what is broken—this sentence is the last checkpoint, and what it guards against is precisely setting oneself up in the highest dharma.

Further Resonances

The unit of the First Part, one passage of the sūtra from beginning to end, sets up the whole path of questioning and the right answers of the chapter "Training in All". From Subhūti's praise, 「大智慧成就，行是深法，亦不受果報」 tr. "accomplished in great wisdom, practises this deep dharma, and yet does not receive the retribution", onward, the Buddha gives its cause with 「諸法性中不動」 tr. "immovable within the nature of dharmas", gives its nature with 「無所有」 tr. "without anything existent", and with the three answers 「不也！」 tr. "No!", together with the 「以無所有法不能得所有法」 tr. "by a dharma of nothing existent one cannot obtain a dharma of something existent" he had already spoken himself, seals off completely the trading road of the four alternatives, and with 「有得，不以此四句」 tr. "there is obtaining; only not by these four alternatives" opens a separate gate; since the gate opens at 「無諸戲論」 tr. "without any kind of idle discourse", he goes on to list at length the seventeen matters of idle discourse and comes back to 「性不戲論性」 tr. "nature does not make idle discourse about nature". Next, taking entry into the position as the question, he denies the paths of the three vehicles and establishes 「遍學諸道」 tr. "trains in all the paths", taking as a simile the person of the eight who first trains in the paths; Subhūti presses him with the difficulty of taking the fruit according to the path, and the Buddha answers it with 「以智觀過八地」 tr. "contemplates with knowledge and passes beyond the eight grounds" and 「若智若斷，皆是菩薩忍」 tr. "whether knowledge or severance, all are the bodhisattva's acceptance"—the dividing line of training without realising is, for the whole unit, settled here. After this come three turns: the knowledge of the kinds of paths that is pure makes clear what training in all is for—understanding all voices and knowing the causes and fruits of the six destinies, the gods, and so on up to the limbs of the path and the ten powers—while the three evil destinies and the path of ghosts and spirits are 「應知、應障」 tr. "should be known, should be obstructed", and from humans and gods upward only 「應知」 tr. "should be known"; neither joined nor dispersed, of one mark, signless, makes clear why the dharmas that aid the path can be spoken of: it lies in 「以世俗法故，為眾生說令解，非以第一義」 tr. "by reason of worldly dharmas they are explained for beings so that they understand; it is not by the highest meaning"; training neither in marks nor in the signless makes clear what makes cultivation cultivation: it lies in 「修諸法壞」 tr. "cultivating the breaking of dharmas", which in fact is 「不念有色法」 tr. "not thinking that there are dharmas of form". At the end, 「二者是有法，不二者是無法」 tr. "two is an existent dharma; not two is a non-existent dharma" gathers up the eye of the whole passage: grasping at marks makes two, two is precisely the existent, the existent is precisely birth and death—the root of why the four alternatives cannot obtain lies here. As for how the treatise-author explains this sūtra sentence by sentence—explaining immovability as ultimate emptiness, suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality; explaining the principle that in the four alternatives both alike have fault; explaining the two kinds of impermanence and the two kinds of the acceptance of non-arising; explaining the simile of the person of the eight with the comparison 「如人親親繫獄故，入而看之」 tr. "as a person whose kinsman is held in prison goes in to see him"; explaining the numbers of knowledge and severance and the opening and closing of the four truths and the one truth; explaining the difference between knowing and seeing and setting out the explanations of the various houses; explaining that the breaking of all dharmas is like the breaking of the parts of a cart, upon which the mark of the cart also ceases; and so on up to explaining the dispute over compliant acceptance and the dharma of the summit, and the judgement 「見色有二種」 tr. "seeing form is of two kinds"—the Last Part of this chapter unfolds this in continuation; it is not anticipated here.