大智度論 次第學品之下Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Training in Sequence, Part 2 of 2

Training in Sequence, Last Part: The Sequential Practice, Training, and Path of Bodhisattvas New to the Training, the Six Perfections and the Six Recollections, and There Being a Path and a Fruit within the Nature without Anything Existent

What Is Being Asked

What the fascicle of the First Part asked about was the border between 「有相」 tr. "having marks" and 「無相」 tr. "the signless": having the mark of dharmas, not even compliant acceptance is obtained; without the mark of dharmas, compliant acceptance, up to the severing of all the afflictions and their habitual residues, can all be established; from this Subhūti pressed on to the Buddha himself and asked: since the Buddha knows that all dharmas are without any existent nature, how could he become a Buddha and obtain the power of sovereignty over all dharmas? The Buddha answered with what he himself did when formerly practising the bodhisattva path—he cultivated the six perfections, parted from the desires and from evil and unwholesome dharmas, and entered the four dhyānas; toward the dhyānas and their limbs he grasped their marks and yet did not think that there was this dhyāna, did not receive its flavour, did not obtain this dhyāna; dwelling in reliance on the four dhyānas he gave rise to the five supernormal powers, and toward the supernormal powers he did not grasp at their marks and did not receive their flavour; at the last, with the wisdom associated with a single thought, he obtained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The treatise-author explains it passage by passage; on the section 「是諸法畢竟空義，甚深難解！」 tr. "This meaning of the ultimate emptiness of dharmas is very deep and hard to understand!" he dwells again and again, and on the sentence 「有法是菩薩道，無法是菩薩果」 tr. "An existent dharma is the bodhisattva's path; a non-existent dharma is the bodhisattva's fruit" he sets out three separate explanations.

The Last Part comes on from this, yet turns the head of the question wholly in another direction. What the First Part asked was ‘how the great bodhisattva can give rise to function within emptiness’; what the Last Part asks is ‘how one new to the training can take the first step within emptiness’. Subhūti says it plainly as soon as he opens his mouth: since the great bodhisattva, knowing that dharmas are without any existent nature, can obtain awakening by way of the four dhyānas and the five supernormal powers, then 「新學菩薩摩訶薩云何於諸法無所有性中次第行、次第學、次第道」 tr. "how do bodhisattva-mahāsattvas new to the training, within dharmas that are without any existent nature, practise in sequence, train in sequence, and follow the path in sequence"? The single Chinese character 「新」 tr. "new" is the whole joint of this unit. That the great bodhisattva walks within emptiness, people can still say is brought about by the power of his realisation; but one who has first aroused the mind has not yet even seen the real mark, and yet he is taught to walk within ultimate emptiness from the very outset—this is where the difficulty lies.

The Buddha's way of answering falls into three layers, each layer lower than the last and also each layer more concrete than the last. The first layer is the source of arousing the mind: from the buddhas and the sages of the four fruits one hears a sentence—all the worthies and sages have their names because they obtain that nothing exists; all conditioned, made dharmas are without anything existent, up to not even so much as a hair's tip; having heard this sentence, one makes a reckoning: since obtaining and not obtaining are equal, why then do I not arouse the mind? The second layer is the six perfections: dāna, śīla, kṣānti, vīrya, dhyāna, prajñā, each one practised in the four ways ‘himself practising, teaching others, praising, rejoicing and praising’, each one beginning from being born among gods and humans and obtaining great nobility, passing through the five aggregates and beyond the grounds of the two vehicles, entering the bodhisattva's position, purifying the buddha-land, bringing beings to accomplishment, obtaining the omniscience of all kinds, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and delivering beings by the three vehicles; and at the end of each passage there is always attached the sentence 「是事皆不可得。何以故？一切法自性無所有故」 tr. "these matters are all unfindable. Why? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is without anything existent". The third layer is the six recollections: recollection of the Buddha, recollection of the Dharma, recollection of the Saṅgha, recollection of morality, recollection of giving up, recollection of the gods; the one gate of recollection of the Buddha further opens into five rounds, and every round says ‘one does not recollect by such-and-such a dharma’, at the end gathering into 「無所念，是為念佛」 tr. "recollecting nothing—this is recollection of the Buddha".

When the three layers have been spoken, the sūtra suddenly turns to a most dangerous difficulty: 「若一切法無所有性者，是則無道、無智、無果。」 tr. "If all dharmas are without any existent nature, then there is no path, no knowledge, no fruit." This difficulty is not Subhūti's own doubt; he asks it on behalf of the people of the world to come—he fears that those bhikṣus who seek the three vehicles, hearing of emptiness and not understanding it, will ask in turn 「誰垢誰淨？誰縛誰解？」 tr. "Who is stained and who is pure? Who is bound and who is released?", and so break morality, break right view, break deportment, break pure livelihood, and fall into the three evil destinies. The Buddha does not answer this difficulty head-on; he only asks him a question in return: do you see the nature of form as really existent? He answers that he does not see it. The Buddha presses him once more: since you do not see dharmas as really existent, why do you ask such a question? Pressed to this point, Subhūti only then speaks out the real intent of his own question.

The treatise section explains following the sūtra, and its bones are in three places. First, why one new to the training is taught to practise ultimate emptiness—the answer lies in the sentence 「譬如小兒服藥，須蜜乃下」 tr. "it is as a small child taking medicine: it needs honey before it can go down": emptiness is not a separate gate taken out and taught by itself; it is combined into giving and keeping morality and swallowed down along with them. Second, what difference there is among the three names practice, training, and path—the treatise-author cites six sayings in a row and does not settle on one, saying at the end only 「如是等，名為三事差別」 tr. "such as these are named the differences of the three matters". Third, why it is named sequence—the answer lies in the simile of climbing a ladder: 「從一初桄漸上，上處雖高雖難，亦能得至。」 tr. "From the first rung one goes up little by little, and though the place above is high and hard, one can still reach it." Only here is the face of the title of the whole unit fully spoken: sequence is not setting emptiness aside to discuss later; it is setting up a ladder within emptiness.

So what is to be read in the Last Part is how two things that look opposite stand side by side—the nature of dharmas is without anything existent, and yet the sequence is plainly there. At the end the treatise-author himself lays down a sentence as the close of the whole unit: 「諸法性雖無所有，而隨世諦行，為破顛倒故。」 tr. "Though the nature of dharmas is without anything existent, one practises following worldly truth, in order to break inversion."

Passage by Passage

1. Subhūti's main question on the sequence of those new to the training. After the continuation title of fascicle 87, the sūtra at once raises a new question. Subhūti first takes up the meaning of the previous fascicle: 「若菩薩摩訶薩知諸法無所有性，因四禪、五神通，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "suppose a bodhisattva-mahāsattva knows that dharmas are without any existent nature, and by way of the four dhyānas and the five supernormal powers obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi"; having taken it up, he then puts the main question: 「新學菩薩摩訶薩云何於諸法無所有性中次第行、次第學、次第道，以是次第行、次第學、次第道，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提？」 tr. "How do bodhisattva-mahāsattvas new to the training, within dharmas that are without any existent nature, practise in sequence, train in sequence, and follow the path in sequence, and by this sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi?" First ask a question: how does this question differ from the question of the previous fascicle? The previous fascicle asked about the Buddha and the great bodhisattvas; here what is asked about is 「新學」 tr. "those new to the training". So the point of the question lies not in the principle of emptiness itself but in the measure of the person who is to practise it. In reading this passage, first get ready for one thing: the sequence the Buddha opens below will not be a shallow road set up apart from the principle of emptiness—were it so, it would break into two separate pieces, emptiness going back to emptiness and practice going back to practice.

2. The Buddha's answer, first layer: hearing from the sages and arousing the mind. The Buddha tells Subhūti that the bodhisattva at the very first hears either from the buddhas, or from bodhisattvas who have made many offerings to the buddhas, or from the arhats, anāgāmins, sakṛdāgāmins, and srota-āpannas. What is heard is one set of words: 「得無所有故是佛，得無所有故是阿羅漢、阿那含、斯陀含、須陀洹，一切賢聖皆以得無所有故有名。一切有為作法無所有性，乃至無有如毫末許所有。」 tr. "Because he obtains that nothing exists, he is a Buddha; because they obtain that nothing exists, they are arhats, anāgāmins, sakṛdāgāmins, and srota-āpannas; all the worthies and sages have their names because they obtain that nothing exists. All conditioned, made dharmas are without any existent nature, up to there not being even so much as a hair's tip of anything existent." Having heard, he thinks, and his thought falls into three sections: first he sets the premise—「若一切法無所有性，得無所有故是佛，乃至得無所有故是須陀洹」 tr. "if all dharmas are without any existent nature—because he obtains that nothing exists he is a Buddha, up to because he obtains that nothing exists he is a srota-āpanna"; next he makes the reckoning—「我若當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提、若不得，一切法常無有性，我何以不發心得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "whether I come to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi or do not obtain it, all dharmas are ever without nature; why should I not arouse the mind to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi"; last he makes the oath and vow—「得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提已，一切眾生行於有相，當令住無所有中。」 tr. "Having obtained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, since all beings practise within marks, I shall cause them to dwell within there being nothing existent." These three sections should be looked at for their order: it is not that there is first a compassionate vow and then the principle is sought; it is that one first hears a sentence about principle, this sentence presses out a reckoning, and only when the reckoning is done is there the vow. So the beginning of arousing the mind lies not in feeling but in seeing. At the end the Buddha takes what the bodhisattvas of the past practised as proof, making clear that this road is not newly made.

3. General heading of the Buddha's second layer: one should train in the six perfections. 「是新發意菩薩應學六波羅蜜，所謂檀波羅蜜、尸羅波羅蜜、羼提波羅蜜、毘梨耶波羅蜜、禪波羅蜜、般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "This bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind should train in the six perfections, namely dānapāramitā, śīlapāramitā, kṣāntipāramitā, vīryapāramitā, dhyānapāramitā, and prajñāpāramitā." This sentence is the headrope of the six passages below. Speaking of the six perfections in order: dāna is giving away; śīla is morality that restrains and upholds; kṣānti is patient bearing; vīrya is vigour without pause; dhyāna is the mind on one object and not scattered; prajñā is the wisdom that penetrates the real mark of all dharmas—all six names are used in common throughout this treatise, and no new meaning is set up for them here. What matters is the two Chinese characters 「應學」 tr. "should train": the passage before has only just said that arousing the mind arises from seeing the principle, and this passage at once comes down to the six perfections; from this it can be seen that the first step of what is called sequence is putting the principle into the most ordinary gates of practice.

4. The sequence of dānapāramitā. The pattern of this passage is the mould for the five passages below, so it must be taken apart section by section. The first section is the four matters: 「自行布施，亦教人行布施，讚歎行布施功德，歡喜讚歎行布施者」 tr. "he himself practises giving, also teaches others to practise giving, praises the merit of practising giving, and rejoices in and praises those who practise giving"—oneself, teaching others, praising the dharma, delighting in people: if one of the four is lacking, it does not make up the four kinds of practice. The second section is the present retribution: 「以是布施因緣故，得大財富」 tr. "through the causes and conditions of this giving he obtains great wealth", with the things given listed alongside—food and drink, clothing, incense, flowers, necklaces, dwellings, bedding, lamps and candles, and all the various things needed to sustain life. The third section is the turning of birth: 「行是布施及持戒，生天、人中，得大尊貴」 tr. "practising this giving and also keeping morality, he is born among gods and humans and obtains great nobility". The fourth section is the accomplishing of the five aggregates: from keeping morality and giving he obtains the aggregate of meditative concentration; from giving, keeping morality, and meditative concentration he obtains the aggregate of wisdom, the aggregate of liberation, and the aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation. The fifth section is passing beyond the grounds and entering the position: 「過聲聞、辟支佛地，入菩薩位」 tr. "he passes beyond the grounds of the śrāvakas and the pratyekabuddhas and enters the bodhisattva's position". The sixth section is the Buddha's work: purifying the buddha-land, bringing beings to accomplishment, obtaining the omniscience of all kinds, turning the wheel of the Dharma, and delivering beings from birth and death by the Dharma of the three vehicles. The seventh section takes it away: 「菩薩以是布施，次第行、次第學、次第道，是皆不可得。何以故？自性無所有故。」 tr. "The sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path that the bodhisattva has by this giving—these are all unfindable. Why? Because self-nature is without anything existent." Of the seven sections, the first six are establishing and the seventh is sweeping away; the sweeping away is not a separate passage on the principle of emptiness spoken outside the six sections; it is attached right at the end of the six sections. This is the fixed pattern by which this chapter speaks of sequence, and the five perfections below are all so.

5. The sequence of śīlapāramitā. The same frame as the dāna passage, with its subject changed: 「自行持戒，教人持戒，讚歎持戒功德，歡喜讚歎行持戒者。」 tr. "He himself keeps morality, teaches others to keep morality, praises the merit of keeping morality, and rejoices in and praises those who practise the keeping of morality." Its difference lies in the middle section—the dāna passage speaks of the things given; this passage speaks of giving the medicine according to the sickness: 「見貧窮者施以財物，不持戒者教令持戒，亂意者教令禪定，愚癡者教令智慧，無解脫者教令解脫，無解脫知見者教令解脫知見。」 tr. "Seeing poor people, he gives them wealth; those who do not keep morality he teaches to keep morality; those of scattered mind he teaches meditative concentration; the deluded he teaches wisdom; those without liberation he teaches liberation; those without the knowledge and vision of liberation he teaches the knowledge and vision of liberation." Six sentences, six sicknesses, six medicines: just this shows that what a person who keeps morality practises does not stop at guarding himself. At the end it is still taken away with 「是事皆不可得。何以故？一切法自性無所有故」 tr. "these matters are all unfindable. Why? Because the self-nature of all dharmas is without anything existent". Here a difference of one Chinese character may be noted: the dāna passage reads 「是皆不可得」 tr. "these are all unfindable", this passage reads 「是事皆不可得」 tr. "these matters are all unfindable"; the sūtra itself is so, and there is no need to force them into line.

6. The sequence of kṣāntipāramitā. 「自行羼提波羅蜜，教人行羼提，讚歎羼提功德，歡喜讚歎行羼提者。」 tr. "He himself practises kṣāntipāramitā, teaches others to practise kṣānti, praises the merit of kṣānti, and rejoices in and praises those who practise kṣānti." The middle section says that while practising patience he still puts giving first—「布施眾生各令滿足，教令持戒，教令禪定乃至解脫知見」 tr. "he gives to beings and lets each of them be satisfied, teaches them to keep morality, teaches them meditative concentration, up to the knowledge and vision of liberation". The words on passing beyond the grounds in this passage read 「過阿羅漢、辟支佛地」 tr. "passes beyond the grounds of the arhats and the pratyekabuddhas", differing in wording from the 「過聲聞、辟支佛地」 tr. "passes beyond the grounds of the śrāvakas and the pratyekabuddhas" of the two passages on dāna and śīla, but pointing to the same thing; the words on the pure land in this passage read 「得淨佛世界」 tr. "obtains a pure buddha-world", while the two passages before read 「得淨佛國土」 tr. "obtains a pure buddha-land". Variant wordings of this kind are unevennesses the sūtra itself has; in reading, it is enough to know that they point to the same thing, and one must not raise a separate explanation because of the difference.

7. The sequence of vīryapāramitā. This passage is the shortest: once the four matters are listed, the middle sections are simply bracketed with 「乃至」 tr. "up to": 「乃至是事不可得，自性無所有故。」 tr. "Up to: this matter is unfindable, because self-nature is without anything existent." First ask a question: why is this passage alone abridged? Because the three passages before have already set up the mould completely, the rest can be known by the pattern, and so the sūtra itself uses an economy of the brush. Here one must guard against a misreading: the economy of the brush does not say that the one perfection of vigour lacks these sections; it says that its items are the same as before. Wherever the sūtra has 「乃至」 tr. "up to", it should all be read in this way.

8. The sequence of dhyānapāramitā. In this passage the object of the four matters is not one dharma but three: 「自入禪、入無量心、入無色定」 tr. "he himself enters the dhyānas, enters the immeasurable minds, enters the formless absorptions", and likewise in teaching others, likewise in praising, likewise in rejoicing and praising. Dhyāna is the four dhyānas of the form realm; the immeasurable minds are the four minds of kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; the formless absorptions are the absorptions of the four formless states—all three are dharmas of the mind-ground. Having listed the three dharmas, the middle then speaks of dwelling in these three while practising benefit for others: 「住諸禪、定、無量心，布施眾生，各令滿足；教令持戒，教令禪定、智慧。」 tr. "Dwelling within the dhyānas, the absorptions, and the immeasurable minds, he gives to beings and lets each of them be satisfied; he teaches them to keep morality, teaches them meditative concentration and wisdom." From this it can be seen that the perfection of dhyāna is not a matter of closing one's door. At the end it too is taken away with 「乃至是事不可得，自性無所有故」 tr. "up to: this matter is unfindable, because self-nature is without anything existent".

9. The sequence of prajñāpāramitā; this is called the sequential practice, training, and path of a bodhisattva of the first arousing of intent. This passage differs from the five passages before in one place: in the five perfections before, each practises its own perfection, while in this perfection 「自行六波羅蜜，亦教他人令行六波羅蜜，讚歎六波羅蜜功德，歡喜讚歎行六波羅蜜者」 tr. "he himself practises the six perfections, also teaches other people to practise the six perfections, praises the merit of the six perfections, and rejoices in and praises those who practise the six perfections"—what prajñā practises is the six perfections as a whole. Further, the passing beyond the grounds in this passage adds a phrase of its own: 「以是檀波羅蜜、尸羅波羅蜜、羼提波羅蜜、毘梨耶波羅蜜、禪波羅蜜、般若波羅蜜因緣及方便力，過聲聞、辟支佛地，入菩薩位」 tr. "through the causes and conditions of this dānapāramitā, śīlapāramitā, kṣāntipāramitā, vīryapāramitā, dhyānapāramitā, and prajñāpāramitā, together with the power of skilful means, he passes beyond the grounds of the śrāvakas and the pratyekabuddhas and enters the bodhisattva's position"; the four Chinese characters 「及方便力」 tr. "together with the power of skilful means" are not in the five passages before. At the end a summing-up sentence gathers in this layer: 「須菩提！是名初發意菩薩摩訶薩次第行、次第學、次第道。」 tr. "Subhūti! This is called the sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path of a bodhisattva-mahāsattva of the first arousing of intent."

10. General heading of the Buddha's third layer: the six recollections. 「菩薩摩訶薩從初以來，以一切種智相應心，信解諸法無所有性，修六念，所謂念佛、念法、念僧、念戒、念捨、念天。」 tr. "From the very first onward, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, with a mind associated with the omniscience of all kinds, believes and understands that dharmas are without any existent nature, and cultivates the six recollections, namely recollection of the Buddha, recollection of the Dharma, recollection of the Saṅgha, recollection of morality, recollection of giving up, and recollection of the gods." The six recollections are among the very oldest gates of practice in the dharmas of the Buddha, yet here two qualifications are added: one is 「以一切種智相應心」 tr. "with a mind associated with the omniscience of all kinds", the other is 「信解諸法無所有性」 tr. "believes and understands that dharmas are without any existent nature". Only with these two qualifications are the six recollections the sequential practice spoken of in this chapter. First ask a question: the six perfections having been spoken of, why speak further of the six recollections? The six perfections are the matters practised; the six recollections are the mind that is bound to them; if the matters have a sequence but the mind is bound to nothing, the matters become outer ornament. In the six gates below, every gate says 「乃至無少許念」 tr. "up to there not being even a little recollection", precisely for this reason.

11. Recollection of the Buddha, first: not recollecting by the five aggregates. 「菩薩摩訶薩念佛，不以色念，不以受、想、行、識念。」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva, recollecting the Buddha, does not recollect by form, does not recollect by feeling, perception, constructions, or consciousness." The reason for it: 「是色自性無，受、想、行、識自性無。若法自性無，是為無所有。」 tr. "The self-nature of this form is non-existent, and the self-nature of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness is non-existent. If the self-nature of a dharma is non-existent, this is without anything existent." The last sentence matters most: 「何以故？無憶故，是為念佛。」 tr. "Why? Because there is no remembering—this is recollection of the Buddha." First ask a question: recollecting and yet without remembering—is this not self-contradictory? It is not. What is called remembering is tying a mark onto the mind and keeping it; without remembering is the mind turning toward the Buddha without tying a mark. If one takes the five aggregates as the Buddha and recollects them, what is recollected is the five aggregates, not the Buddha. Here one must guard against a slip: not recollecting by the five aggregates does not say that the Buddha has no body of the five aggregates; it says that one may not take the marks of the five aggregates as the object recollected.

12. Recollection of the Buddha, second: not recollecting by the marks and minor signs. 「不以三十二相念，亦不念金色身、不念丈光、不念八十隨形好。」 tr. "He does not recollect by the thirty-two marks, and also does not recollect the golden body, does not recollect the light of one zhang, does not recollect the eighty minor marks." All four are surpassing marks of the Buddha's body: the thirty-two marks are the major marks, the golden body is the colour of the body, the light of one zhang is the light the body sends forth, the eighty minor marks are the fine excellences that come along with the major marks. The reason for it: 「是佛身自性無故。若法無性，是為無所有。」 tr. "Because the self-nature of this Buddha-body is non-existent. If a dharma has no nature, this is without anything existent." The closing words are as before: 「何以故？無憶故，是為念佛。」 tr. "Why? Because there is no remembering—this is recollection of the Buddha." Read this passage together with the one before, and it can be seen that the blocking goes as far as it can go—first it blocks the five aggregates that ordinary persons share, then it blocks the marks and minor signs that the Buddha alone has; if even the marks and minor signs may not be grasped, then there is nothing further that may be grasped. Brought down to practice: one who cultivates recollection of the Buddha and has the marks and minor signs appear before the mind's eye should, right at this point, ask himself one question—is what is recollected the marks, or the Buddha?

13. Recollection of the Buddha, third: not recollecting by the aggregates of merit. 「不應以戒眾念佛，不應以定眾、智慧眾、解脫眾、解脫知見眾念佛。」 tr. "One should not recollect the Buddha by the aggregate of morality; one should not recollect the Buddha by the aggregate of concentration, the aggregate of wisdom, the aggregate of liberation, or the aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation." These five aggregates are not the five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness of the passage before; they are the aggregates of the fivefold Dharma body of morality, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation—the former is the body of birth and death, this is the body of merit. The reason for it: 「是眾無有自性。若法無自性，是為非法。」 tr. "These aggregates have no self-nature. If a dharma has no self-nature, this is not a dharma." Here the closing words change to another phrasing: 「無所有念，是為念佛。」 tr. "Recollecting by there being nothing existent—this is recollection of the Buddha." The first two rounds read 「無憶故」 tr. "because there is no remembering"; this round reads 「無所有念」 tr. "recollecting by there being nothing existent"; the words change but the meaning does not differ—all are blocking the grasping at marks.

14. Recollection of the Buddha, fourth: not recollecting by the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the rest. 「不應以十力念佛，不應以四無所畏、四無礙智、十八不共法念佛，不應以大慈大悲念佛。」 tr. "One should not recollect the Buddha by the ten powers; one should not recollect the Buddha by the four fearlessnesses, the four unobstructed knowledges, or the eighteen unshared dharmas; one should not recollect the Buddha by great kindness and great compassion." What is listed are all the Buddha's unshared merits: the ten powers are the ten kinds of decisive power of the Buddha's knowledge and vision; the four fearlessnesses are being without timidity in expounding the Dharma; the four unobstructed knowledges are the four kinds of being unhindered in meaning, dharma, phrasing, and eloquence; the eighteen unshared dharmas are what the Buddha alone has and does not share with the two vehicles; great kindness and great compassion are the virtue of the Buddha's mind. The reason for it: 「是諸法自性無。若法自性無，是為非法。」 tr. "The self-nature of these dharmas is non-existent. If the self-nature of a dharma is non-existent, this is not a dharma." The closing words read 「無所念，是為念佛」 tr. "recollecting nothing—this is recollection of the Buddha". By this point what is blocked has gone from the form body to the Dharma body, and from the Dharma body to the virtue of the mind.

15. Recollection of the Buddha, fifth: not recollecting by the twelve links of causes and conditions. 「不應以十二因緣法念佛。」 tr. "One should not recollect the Buddha by the dharma of the twelve links of causes and conditions." The twelve links of causes and conditions are the dharma of principle that the Buddha realised and spoke. The reason for it: 「是因緣法自性無。若法自性無，是為非法。」 tr. "The self-nature of this dharma of causes and conditions is non-existent. If the self-nature of a dharma is non-existent, this is not a dharma." The closing words still read 「無所念，是為念佛」 tr. "recollecting nothing—this is recollection of the Buddha". First ask a question: what the four rounds before blocked all belonged to the Buddha's body and the Buddha's virtues; why does this round go on to block the dharma of principle? Because a person who recollects the Buddha, falling back to the next best, often takes ‘the principle the Buddha spoke’ as the object recollected, and thinks of himself as not grasping at marks; the sūtra stops up this road too. When the five rounds are exhausted, what remains is only a mind that grasps no dharma whatever and turns toward the Buddha—this is recollection of the Buddha in this chapter.

16. Recollection of the Buddha having been spoken of, it is summed up as sequential practice, and dwelling within it one can fulfil the limbs of the path. 「菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜時，應念佛，是為菩薩初發意次第行、次第學、次第道。」 tr. "When the bodhisattva-mahāsattva practises prajñāpāramitā, he should recollect the Buddha; this is the sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path of the bodhisattva of the first arousing of intent." This sums up what is above. The text below turns out a further layer of function: dwelling within this sequence, 「能具足四念處、四正勤、四如意足、五根、五力、七覺分、八聖道分，修行空三昧、無相、無作三昧，乃至一切種智」 tr. "he can fulfil the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of supernormal power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven limbs of awakening, and the eightfold noble path, and cultivate and practise the emptiness samādhi, the signless samādhi, and the non-action samādhi, up to the omniscience of all kinds"—what is listed is the thirty-seven limbs of the path and the three gates of liberation; the limbs of the path are the general headings of practice, the samādhis are the gates that are entered. Why is this? 「諸法性無所有故。」 tr. "Because the nature of dharmas is without anything existent." The last sentence is the eye of the whole passage: 「是菩薩知諸法性無所有，是中無有性、無無性。」 tr. "This bodhisattva knows that the nature of dharmas is without anything existent; within this there is neither an existent nature nor a non-existent nature." An existent nature is of course blocked, and a non-existent nature is blocked too; if one sets up a 「無性」 tr. "non-existent nature" as something attained, it is still having something to be attained.

17. Recollection of the Dharma. The Buddha opens the gate of recollection of the Dharma and blocks it pair by pair: wholesome dharmas and unwholesome dharmas, determinate dharmas and indeterminate dharmas, worldly dharmas and world-transcending dharmas, pure dharmas and impure dharmas, the dharmas of sages and the dharmas of ordinary persons, dharmas with outflows and dharmas without outflows, the dharmas of the three realms bound to the desire realm, bound to the form realm, and bound to the formless realm, conditioned dharmas and unconditioned dharmas. Among these, seven pairs stand two against two, and the dharmas bound to the three realms are set up separately as three items, making seventeen items in all—all of them the usual headings for judging dharmas in the dharmas of the Buddha. The reason for it: 「是諸法自性無。若法自性無，是為非法。無所念，是為念法。」 tr. "The self-nature of these dharmas is non-existent. If the self-nature of a dharma is non-existent, this is not a dharma. Recollecting nothing—this is recollection of the Dharma." Next it speaks of its fruit: 「念法中學無所有性故，乃至當得一切種智。是菩薩得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提時，得諸法無所有性；是無所有性中，非有相、非無相。」 tr. "Because he trains in the nature without anything existent within recollection of the Dharma, up to his coming in time to obtain the omniscience of all kinds. When this bodhisattva obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, he obtains the nature of dharmas without anything existent; within this nature without anything existent there is neither having marks nor the signless." The double negation of the last sentence has the same guarding intent as 「無有性、無無性」 tr. "neither an existent nature nor a non-existent nature" of the passage before. The closing words weigh most: 「於是法中，乃至無少許念，何況念法！」 tr. "Within this Dharma, up to there not being even a little recollection, how much less recollecting the Dharma!" First ask a question: since it says there is not even a little recollection, what use do the two Chinese characters 「念法」 tr. "recollection of the Dharma" still have? They have a use. What is blocked is adding recollection upon recollection; what is kept is not grasping a single dharma while the mind does not leave the Dharma.

18. Recollection of the Saṅgha. This gate is the shortest: 「菩薩摩訶薩念僧，無為法故分別有佛弟子眾，是中乃至無有少許念，何況念僧！」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva, recollecting the Saṅgha, distinguishes that there is the assembly of the Buddha's disciples because of the unconditioned dharma; within this, up to there not being even a little recollection, how much less recollecting the Saṅgha!" Within the one sentence there is a joint: what makes the Saṅgha the Saṅgha is not the number of people, not the marks of the robe; it is distinguished as existing because of 「無為法」 tr. "the unconditioned dharma". The unconditioned dharma is the quiescence that the worthies and sages realise in common; those who realise this in common are named the assembly of the Buddha's disciples. So recollection of the Saṅgha is not recollecting a group of people; it is recollecting that which makes them the Saṅgha. Since it is unconditioned, there is no mark that can be grasped, and so it still comes back to 「無有少許念」 tr. "there not being even a little recollection".

19. Recollection of morality. 「從初發意已來，應念聖戒——無缺戒、無隙戒、無瑕戒、無濁戒、無著戒、自在戒、智者所讚戒、具足戒、隨定戒。」 tr. "From the first arousing of intent onward, he should recollect noble morality—morality without breach, morality without crack, morality without flaw, morality without turbidity, morality without clinging, sovereign morality, morality praised by the wise, complete morality, and morality that accords with concentration." The nine items, put one by one into present-day words: without breach is not broken or damaged; without crack is without leaking gaps; without flaw is without stain or blemish; without turbidity is not mixed; without clinging is keeping it without clinging to the mark of keeping; sovereign is keeping it without constraint or pressure; praised by the wise is according with what people of knowledge approve; complete is all the precepts being perfectly provided; according with concentration is keeping it in accord with the concentrated mind. The nine items go from coarse to fine: the first four speak of its purity, the middle two speak of its mind, the last three speak of its accomplishment. At the end it is still gathered into 「應念是戒無所有性，乃至無少許念，何況念戒！」 tr. "He should recollect that this morality is without any existent nature, up to there not being even a little recollection, how much less recollecting morality!" When one keeps morality and recollects the marks of morality, morality turns into a bond instead; this gate treats precisely this sickness.

20. Recollection of giving up. 「應念捨——若自念捨、若念他捨，若捨財、若捨法、若捨煩惱；……」 tr. "He should recollect giving up—whether recollecting his own giving up or recollecting the giving up of others, whether it is giving up wealth, giving up the Dharma, or giving up the afflictions; ……" The first two items speak of persons, the last three speak of things: giving up wealth is the outer, giving up the Dharma is the inner, giving up the afflictions is the root. The order of the three is clear—if wealth is not given up, the Dharma cannot be given up; if the Dharma is not given up, the root of the afflictions is not moved. The reason for it: 「觀是捨不可得故，乃至無少許念，何況念捨！」 tr. "Because he contemplates this giving up as unfindable, up to there not being even a little recollection, how much less recollecting giving up!" First ask a question: having already given up, why recollect giving up as well? An ordinary person practises giving up and his mind keeps a record of his own giving up; this record is precisely grasping; what the sūtra blocks is exactly this record.

21. Recollection of the gods. This gate uses a passage of words for the recollecting: 「四天王諸天所有信、戒、施、聞、慧，此間命終，生彼天處；我亦有是信、戒、施、聞、慧。乃至他化自在天所有信、戒、施、聞、慧，此間命終，生彼天處；我亦有是信、戒、施、聞、慧。」 tr. "The faith, morality, giving, learning, and wisdom possessed by the gods of the Four Heavenly Kings—having ended their lives here, they were born in that heavenly place; I too have such faith, morality, giving, learning, and wisdom. Up to the faith, morality, giving, learning, and wisdom possessed by the gods Sovereign over Others' Transformations—having ended their lives here, they were born in that heavenly place; I too have such faith, morality, giving, learning, and wisdom." The five—faith, morality, giving, learning, and wisdom—are the causes of being born in the heavens. The Heaven of the Four Heavenly Kings is the first of the six heavens of the desire realm, the heaven of the gods Sovereign over Others' Transformations is the last of the six heavens of the desire realm; the first and the last are named, and the four heavens in between are within them. The method of recollecting the gods is comparing the five things the gods have with one's own five things and knowing that the causes are the same. Yet the closing words still take it away: 「應念是天無所有性中尚無少許念，何況念天！」 tr. "He should recollect these gods as without any existent nature; within this there is still not even a little recollection, how much less recollecting the gods!" Comparing without clinging—this is the measure of recollecting the gods.

22. The six recollections being finished, they are summed up as sequence. 「菩薩摩訶薩行是六念，是名次第行、次第學、次第道。」 tr. "The bodhisattva-mahāsattva's practising these six recollections—this is called sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path." The six recollections go from the Buddha to the Dharma, to the Saṅgha, to morality, to giving up, and to the gods—from the most honoured to the nearest at hand; each one comes back to 「無少許念」 tr. "not even a little recollection". So what makes the six recollections a sequence lies not in their being six but in their being threaded together—what threads them together is the one line of 「無所有性」 tr. "the nature without anything existent".

23. Subhūti raises a difficulty: if there is the nature without anything existent, then there is no path, no knowledge, no fruit. Subhūti lists one by one the dharmas recollected: form up to consciousness, the eye up to the mind, form up to dharmas, the eye-element up to the mind-consciousness-element, dānapāramitā up to prajñāpāramitā, inner emptiness up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas, the four foundations of mindfulness up to the eightfold noble path, the Buddha's ten powers up to the omniscience of all kinds—from the five aggregates, the six faculties, the six sense-objects, and the eighteen elements, to the six perfections, the emptinesses, the limbs of the path, and the dharmas of the Buddha, there is not one that is not without any existent nature. Since all are without anything existent, he then passes a verdict: 「若一切法無所有性者，是則無道、無智、無果。」 tr. "If all dharmas are without any existent nature, then there is no path, no knowledge, no fruit." The three things are all taken away together: the path is the road that is practised, knowledge is the wisdom that can practise, the fruit is the place that is reached. The weight of this difficulty lies in its being inferred along the line of the Buddha's own words.

24. The Buddha answers with a counter-question. The Buddha does not break what he has set up, but asks a question: 「汝見是色性實有不？乃至一切種智實有不？」 tr. "Do you see this nature of form as really existent? Up to: is the omniscience of all kinds really existent?" Subhūti answers: 「不見也！世尊！」 tr. "I do not see it, World-Honored One!" The Buddha presses again: 「汝若不見諸法實有，云何作是問？」 tr. "Since you do not see dharmas as really existent, why do you ask this question?" Between the three utterances the difficulty has dissolved of itself—what is put as a difficulty is ‘if there are no real dharmas, there is no path and no fruit’, and the one who raises the difficulty himself admits that he does not see that there are real dharmas; since he does not see real dharmas, then the matter of ‘there being no real dharmas’ is not a new view the Buddha has added, but what he himself had granted from the start. What the Buddha breaks is not the content of the question but the posture of the question. The pattern of this passage is of a kind with the way the Buddha answered Subhūti in the fascicle of the First Part: he infers from what the other has set up, and does not set up a separate principle to contend with him.

25. Subhūti makes clear the intent of his question: he asks for the sake of the people of the world to come. Subhūti lays himself open in three layers. The first layer makes clear that he himself has no doubt: 「我於是法不敢有疑」 tr. "I dare not have doubt about this Dharma". The second layer says for whom it is: 「但為當來世諸比丘求聲聞、辟支佛道、菩薩道者」 tr. "it is only for the sake of those bhikṣus in the world to come who seek the path of the śrāvakas, the path of the pratyekabuddhas, and the path of the bodhisattvas"; those people will say these words—「若一切法無所有性，誰垢誰淨？誰縛誰解？」 tr. "If all dharmas are without any existent nature, who is stained and who is pure? Who is bound and who is released?" The third layer speaks of its harm: 「是不知不解故而破於戒、破正見、破威儀、破淨命；是人破此事故，當墮三惡道。」 tr. "Because of this not knowing and not understanding, they break morality, break right view, break deportment, break pure livelihood; because they break these things, those people will fall into the three evil destinies." The four things—morality, right view, deportment, and pure livelihood—are all broken, and their order goes from the inner to the outer—once view is broken, conduct follows it. At the end he states once more: 「我於是法中信，不疑不悔。」 tr. "In this Dharma I have faith; I do not doubt and do not regret." This passage settles the character of the whole difficulty: it is a question that protects the Dharma, not a question of disputation.

26. The treatise-author explains the intent of Subhūti's question. At the start of the treatise section it is marked at once with 「釋曰：」 tr. "Explanation:", and it first explains Subhūti's mind: 「須菩提伏受佛語，一切諸法雖空，而能起四禪、神通，是大菩薩近成佛者能行；今未知新發意者云何行，是故疑，問佛：……」 tr. "Subhūti subdued himself and received the Buddha's words—though all dharmas are empty, one can still give rise to the four dhyānas and the supernormal powers; this is something the great bodhisattvas near to becoming a Buddha can practise; now he did not yet know how those who have newly aroused the mind should practise, and for this reason doubted, and asked the Buddha: ……" The two Chinese characters 「伏受」 tr. "subdued himself and received" should be looked at—it is not being forced into submission; it is subduing his own feeling of doubt and receiving it. Having received it, why ask further? What he doubts is no longer the principle but the person: in the principle he already has faith enough; he only does not know where a person of the beginning mind sets down his foot.

27. What is meant by new to the training. 「以次第行、次第學、次第道故，當知是新發意菩薩；雖無量劫發意，未得諸法實相，皆名新學。」 tr. "Because of sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path, one should know that this is a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind; though he has aroused the intent for immeasurable kalpas, so long as he has not yet obtained the real mark of all dharmas, he is called new to the training." This sentence breaks a common error: thinking that being new to the training means the time in kalpas is short. The treatise-author judges it most clearly—new and old are judged not by the time in kalpas but by whether or not one has obtained the real mark. Though one has aroused the intent through immeasurable kalpas, if one has not yet obtained the real mark one is still called new to the training; and the reverse is likewise so. Brought down to practice: there is no need to measure oneself by how long or short one's years have been; only ask whether the real mark has been seen or not.

28. Question and answer one: why one new to the training is made to practise ultimate emptiness. The treatise-author sets a question for himself: 「若如是人是新學，但應教行布施、持戒等，佛何以教令於諸法無所有畢竟空性中行？」 tr. "If such a person is new to the training, he should only be taught to practise giving, keeping morality, and such matters; why does the Buddha teach him to practise within the nature of dharmas that is without anything existent and ultimately empty?" The answer has two sections. The first section says why: 「今明始入無所有、畢竟空法故，令行無所有。」 tr. "It is now in order to make clear the beginning of entry into the dharma of there being nothing existent and ultimate emptiness that he is made to practise there being nothing existent." The second section says the method: 「而是菩薩以無所有畢竟空和合布施、持戒等行」 tr. "and this bodhisattva combines the practices of giving, keeping morality, and the rest with there being nothing existent and ultimate emptiness", and makes it clear with a simile—「譬如小兒服藥，須蜜乃下。」 tr. "It is as a small child taking medicine: it needs honey before it can go down." The point this simile takes lies in the two Chinese characters 「和合」 tr. "combines": the medicine is emptiness, the honey is giving and keeping morality; it is not taking the honey first and the medicine afterwards; it is mixing them in one place and swallowing them down. The closing words: 「是故雖新發意，亦觀深空，無咎。」 tr. "For this reason, though he has newly aroused the mind, he also contemplates deep emptiness, and there is no fault." Here one must guard against a misreading: in the simile emptiness is taken as the medicine and the practice of matters as the honey; it does not say that the practice of matters is the sweet part and emptiness is a bitter affair; it says that the meaning of emptiness is hard to take in, and so one borrows the practice of matters to enter it.

29. Taking up the sūtra to explain the people from whom one hears. The treatise-author takes up a sentence of the sūtra and explains it further: 「佛答須菩提：「菩薩若初從諸佛聞，若從多供養諸佛者聞。」」 tr. "The Buddha answered Subhūti: ‘The bodhisattva hears it at the very first from the buddhas, or hears it from those who have made many offerings to the buddhas.’" Having taken it up, he explains it item by item: 「諸佛者，若過去、若現在」 tr. "as for the buddhas: either those of the past or those of the present"—it does not extend to the future, because the buddhas of the future have not yet appeared in the world. 「多供養諸佛者，遍吉、觀世音、得大勢菩薩、文殊師利、彌勒菩薩等」 tr. "as for those who have made many offerings to the buddhas: Samantabhadra, Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva Mahāsthāmaprāpta, Mañjuśrī, the Bodhisattva Maitreya, and others"—what is named are all names of great bodhisattvas; this is the constant way of this treatise in explaining the sūtra, making clear the class by actual examples. 「四種聲聞聖人義，如先說」 tr. "the meaning of the four kinds of śrāvaka sages is as spoken of before"—the meaning of the four fruits has been explained in an earlier passage, and is not brought out again here. The last sentence most deserves attention: 「辟支佛不樂說法故，不說。」 tr. "The pratyekabuddhas are not mentioned, because they do not delight in expounding the Dharma." Among those able to speak listed in the sūtra there is no pratyekabuddha, and the treatise-author points out specially why it is so; what the sūtra does not have, the treatise-author explains as well—this is a fine point of this treatise.

30. The sages all have their differences because of there being nothing existent, because of nirvāṇa. First a general statement: 「諸佛等聖人皆因無所有故有是分別。」 tr. "The buddhas and the other sages all have such distinctions because of there being nothing existent." Next he explains the reason separately: 「聖人雖有禪定等諸功德，皆為涅槃故。涅槃即是寂滅相、無所有法，……」 tr. "Though the sages have meditative concentration and all manner of merits, these are all for the sake of nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is the mark of quiescence, the dharma of there being nothing existent, ……" At the end he takes it up and concludes: 「是故說：「諸聖人，皆因涅槃有是差別。」」 tr. "For this reason it is said: ‘All the sages have such differences because of nirvāṇa.’" The line of reasoning of this passage should be seen clearly: what divides the sages into the four fruits and the fruit of Buddhahood is not how much merit they have obtained but the nirvāṇa toward which they tend; and nirvāṇa is precisely being without anything existent. So the sentence 「賢聖皆以得無所有故有名」 tr. "the worthies and sages all have their names because they obtain that nothing exists" is not abstruse talk; it is said with reference to where the sages tend.

31. All conditioned, made dharmas have no fixed nature. 「一切有為作法從因緣和合生起故有，無有實定性乃至如毫末許所有。」 tr. "All conditioned, made dharmas exist because they arise from the coming together of causes and conditions, and have no really fixed nature, up to there not being even so much as a hair's tip of anything existent." Next it divides into two gates and refutes: 「有為有二種：一者、色，二者、無色。色法破壞，分別乃至微塵，無有定實；無色法中，乃至無有一念定實。」 tr. "The conditioned is of two kinds: first, form; second, the formless. Dharmas of form can be broken; when analysed down to fine particles, there is nothing fixed and real; within formless dharmas, up to there being not a single thought that is fixed and real." Dharmas of form are refuted by analysing them to the utmost minuteness; formless dharmas are refuted by their not abiding for an instant—one across and one along, the two roads of refuting dharmas. At the end it says 「破義，如上說」 tr. "the meaning of the refutation is as spoken of above", pointing to the broad refutation of the earlier text, which is not repeated here. Brought down to practice: this passage is the footnote to 「毫末許所有」 tr. "so much as a hair's tip of anything existent" in the passage before; wherever the sūtra has a phrase and the treatise-author divides it into gates and refutes it, it should all be read in this way.

32. Why one hears only from the sages. 「是菩薩從諸佛聖人聞是法，餘人多以著心說，諸聖人以無著心說，是故但從聖人聞。」 tr. "This bodhisattva hears this Dharma from the buddhas and the sages, because the other people mostly speak with a clinging mind, while the sages speak with a mind without clinging; for this reason he hears only from the sages." This passage answers a question that was not asked: since the Dharma is the Dharma, does it make a difference from whom one hears it? It does. With one and the same sentence, 「一切法無所有」 tr. "all dharmas are without anything existent", when it is spoken with a clinging mind, what the hearer gets is an emptiness that can be clung to; when it is spoken with a mind without clinging, what the hearer gets cannot be clung to. So choosing a teacher is not choosing his words; it is choosing his mind.

33. The reckoning of the bodhisattva of sequential training. This passage is the reckoning of arousing the mind and most deserves close reading. First it speaks of his knowledge: 「以比智籌量決定，知諸法究竟必空，皆入佛所得實相中，所謂寂滅、無戲論相。」 tr. "With subsequent knowledge he reckons and decides, and knows that dharmas are in the end certainly empty and all enter into the real mark the Buddha obtained, namely the mark of quiescence and of no idle discourse." Subsequent knowledge is knowing by comparing and inferring from what has been heard; it is not direct realisation. Next he sets up his reckoning: 「我若得作佛、若不作佛，一等無異。」 tr. "Whether I come to become a Buddha or do not become a Buddha, the two are equal and without difference." Why equal? 「諸法實相不增不減，更無新法可得故，法亦不失。」 tr. "Because the real mark of all dharmas neither increases nor decreases, there being no further new dharma to obtain, and no dharma is lost either." Going in one layer further, even the beings to be delivered and the merit to be cultivated enter into the reckoning: 「若度眾生，眾生畢竟空，本末不可得；我所願、所作功德及成佛時神通力皆如夢、如幻故，無一定實相，畢竟空。」 tr. "As for delivering beings: beings are ultimately empty, and root and branch they are unfindable; the vows I make, the merit I perform, and the power of the supernormal powers at the time of becoming a Buddha are all like a dream, like an illusion, and so there is no fixed and real mark—they are ultimately empty." The reckoning being exhausted, he then turns out the conclusion: 「得、不得雖同，我何以不發心作佛？」 tr. "Since obtaining and not obtaining are the same, why should I not arouse the mind to become a Buddha?" First ask a question: why is this conclusion not ‘since they are the same, there is no need to arouse the mind’? Because 「同」 tr. "the same" means that either side is equally possible, not that one side alone is possible; since no single dharma obstructs me, arousing the mind meets no obstruction. This is the first vital point of this unit, and the two rounds of question and answer below come out of it.

34. Question and answer two: what hindrance ultimate emptiness is to arousing the mind. The treatise-author sets a question for himself: 「若知諸法畢竟空、無所有者，云何復言「我何以不發心作佛」？」 tr. "If one knows that dharmas are ultimately empty and without anything existent, why does it further say ‘why should I not arouse the mind to become a Buddha’?" The answer says: 「畢竟空，無所有，無所障礙，何妨發心作佛？」 tr. "Ultimate emptiness is without anything existent and has nothing that obstructs; how does it hinder arousing the mind to become a Buddha?" This answer only pushes the meaning of the word 「無所有」 tr. "without anything existent" to its full: without anything existent means that even 「障礙」 tr. "obstruction" is not there. The one raising the difficulty has secretly treated emptiness as a powerful thing that can cancel arousing the mind; the treatise-author points out that emptiness has no such power, and no such substance either.

35. If emptiness could obstruct, it would be an existent nature. 「復次，若說畢竟空，滅諸戲論，云何障發心？若障，即是有性，云何言無所有性？」 tr. "Again, if it is said that ultimate emptiness extinguishes all idle discourse, how could it obstruct arousing the mind? If it obstructs, that is an existent nature; how then can it be called the nature without anything existent?" This is another way of pressing the same meaning, and a tighter one: supposing emptiness really could obstruct arousing the mind, then emptiness itself would become a real entity with a function, and then it would not be called the nature without anything existent. So the saying ‘emptiness obstructs arousing the mind’ contradicts itself. Brought down to practice: whoever, through hearing of emptiness, feels that all things are pointless should examine himself by this sentence—that thing which makes you feel it pointless, you are using as if it really existed.

36. Question and answer three: why not dwell at ease, rather than arouse the mind and undergo suffering. The question says: 「若不障發心，亦應不障不發心，菩薩何不安住而發心受諸勤苦？」 tr. "If it does not obstruct arousing the mind, it should equally not obstruct not arousing the mind; why does the bodhisattva not dwell at ease, but arouse the mind and undergo all manner of toil and suffering?" This question is very sharp: since neither side is obstructed, why take precisely the one with suffering? The answer falls into three sections, and this is the first—「有人言：是菩薩有種種因緣應發心」 tr. "Someone says: this bodhisattva has various causes and conditions for which he should arouse the mind", and what is cited is the suffering of relatives and friends: 「或以多諸親屬知識皆不聞、不知、不得是諸法實相，是故今世、後世受諸苦惱；我幸有力，能使是人得離眾苦。」 tr. "Perhaps because he has many relatives and friends who have never heard, never known, never obtained this real mark of all dharmas, and for this reason undergo all manner of suffering and vexation in this life and in later lives; ‘I fortunately have the strength to let these people get free of all suffering.’" And it makes this clear with a simile: 「譬如人得好良藥，親里知識受諸病苦，云何不與？」 tr. "It is as a person who has obtained an excellent good medicine, while his kin and friends are undergoing all manner of pains of sickness: how could he not give it to them?" It concludes: 「是故菩薩雖知諸法性無所有，因親里故而發心，利益眾生。」 tr. "For this reason, though the bodhisattva knows that the nature of dharmas is without anything existent, he arouses the mind for the sake of his kin, and benefits beings." The reasoning of this section does not lie in high places: though no dharma presses me to arouse the mind, there are living people within suffering—this is why one arouses it.

37. The second section: arousing the mind because one is himself not yet ripe. 「菩薩復作是念：「我雖聞諸法實相，心未深入，未有禪定，智慧未熟，受諸苦惱。」是故發心求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，集諸功德，以無所有法作證，自為，亦為他人。」 tr. "The bodhisattva further has this thought: ‘Though I have heard of the real mark of all dharmas, my mind has not yet entered it deeply; I do not yet have meditative concentration, my wisdom is not yet ripe, and I undergo all manner of suffering and vexation.’ For this reason he arouses the mind and seeks anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, gathers all manner of merit, and takes the dharma of there being nothing existent as his realisation, for himself and also for others." The section before was for others; this section takes in oneself as well. What is called 「心未深入」 tr. "the mind has not yet entered it deeply" is having heard and not yet realised; having heard and not yet realised, suffering and vexation are still there, and so one must arouse the mind to cultivate and gather. The last phrase 「自為，亦為他人」 tr. "for himself and also for others" is the joining of the two sections. Here one must guard against a misreading: saying 「自為」 tr. "for himself" does not say that the bodhisattva seeks pleasure for himself; it says that he does not deceive himself about where he is not yet ripe.

38. The third section: dwelling within the equality of beings and the equality of dharmas, and enemy and kin being equal. 「是菩薩復聞大乘深義，住眾生等、法等中，無別異心，可得佛。」 tr. "This bodhisattva further hears the deep meaning of the Great Vehicle, dwells within the equality of beings and the equality of dharmas, has no mind of separate difference, and can attain buddhahood." Below it explains why: 「是菩薩以畢竟空心，煩惱微薄、怨親平等」 tr. "this bodhisattva, with the mind of ultimate emptiness, has slight and thin afflictions, and enemy and kin are equal", and records his thought: 「怨親無定，以因緣故，親或為怨，怨或為親。」 tr. "Enemy and kin are not fixed; because of causes and conditions, kin at times become enemies, and enemies at times become kin." From this he fulfils the pāramitā of patience, 「得作佛。由何而得？由忍怨故。是以菩薩視怨如親。」 tr. "and obtains becoming a Buddha. From what is it obtained? It is obtained from bearing with enemies. Therefore the bodhisattva regards enemies as kin." Next it makes this clear with two similes: 「譬如欲過嶮道，應當敬重頂戴導師；又如良醫雖賤，為貴者所重。」 tr. "It is as one who wishes to pass through a dangerous road should respect and carry on his head the guide; and as a good physician, though lowly, is valued by the noble." The first simile takes its having no choice but to rely; the second takes its being valued though lowly. At the end it records his reflection: 「中人、怨家，雖於我無用，而是佛道因緣。」 tr. "Middling people and enemies, though they are of no use to me, are causes and conditions of the Buddha-path." Look at the three sections together, and the conditions for arousing the mind are three: because of the suffering of kin, because one is oneself not yet ripe, and because enemy and kin are equal and so patience is accomplished—one facing outward, one facing inward, one facing the enemy.

39. Concluding the sequence of the first layer. 「是名一種次第行、次第學、次第道。是故以過去菩薩所行為證。」 tr. "This is called one kind of sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path. For this reason what the bodhisattvas of the past practised is taken as the proof." What is called 「一種」 tr. "one kind" is the sequence of the one gate of arousing the mind; below, the six perfections and the six recollections are each one kind. This sentence answers to the phrase of the sūtra 「如過去諸菩薩摩訶薩所行道」 tr. "just like the path practised by the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas of the past", making clear that it is not newly created.

40. The rise of question and answer four, and the first saying. The question says: 「次第行、次第學、次第道有何差別？」 tr. "What difference is there among sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path?" This question is the joint of the names and marks of the whole unit. In the answer he lists the sayings in a row and does not settle at once; the first saying is: 「有人言：無差別；若行、若學、若道，義一而語異。」 tr. "Someone says: there is no difference; whether practice, whether training, whether path—the meaning is one and the words differ." This saying takes their sameness: the three names are only three ways of saying one matter. First, establish that this saying has its use—it guards against people forcing distinctions of rank upon the three names and losing their single thread.

41. The second saying: beginning, middle, and end. 「有人言：初名行，中名學，後名道。」 tr. "Someone says: the beginning is named practice, the middle is named training, the end is named path." This saying takes their time: one and the same matter divided into three portions, before and after. Set against the first saying, one holds to sameness and one holds to difference; the treatise-author sets them side by side and does not judge—this is the constant way of this treatise toward the differing sayings from of old.

42. The third saying: giving, keeping morality, wisdom. 「行名布施，學名持戒，道名智慧。」 tr. "Practice is named giving, training is named keeping morality, path is named wisdom." This saying matches the three names with three matters. Giving comes at the beginning, so it is named practice; keeping morality requires restraining the mind continuously, so it is named training; wisdom is where one arrives, so it is named path.

43. The fourth saying: keeping morality, meditative concentration, wisdom. 「復次，行名持戒，學名禪定，道名智慧。」 tr. "Again, practice is named keeping morality, training is named meditative concentration, path is named wisdom." This saying advances one step on the saying before: it matches them with the three trainings of morality, concentration, and wisdom. Compared with the saying before, the saying before starts from giving, this saying starts from keeping morality; the dharmas matched differ, but the intent of dividing into three is the same.

44. The fifth saying: the eightfold noble path divided into three parts. 「行名正語、正業、正命，學名正精進、正念、正定，道名正見、正思惟。」 tr. "Practice is named right speech, right action, and right livelihood; training is named right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration; path is named right view and right thought." Having matched them, the treatise-author further explains why: 「此八事雖名為道，然分別有三分：正見是道體；發起是道，名正思惟。正語、正業、正命，助益正見，故名為行。正精進、正念、正定，能成就正見，使令牢固，是名學。」 tr. "Though these eight things are named the path, when distinguished they have three parts: right view is the body of the path; what gives rise to the path is named right thought. Right speech, right action, and right livelihood aid right view, and so are named practice. Right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration can accomplish right view and make it firm; this is named training." This explanation is most clear: one is the body, one gives rise, three aid, three accomplish. What is called the body of the path means that among the eight things right view alone is what they rest on, and the other seven are all set up around it. Brought down to practice: if one applies effort without knowing which is the body, the seven limbs all become scattered matters.

45. The sixth saying: the six perfections matched with the three names. 「有人言：檀波羅蜜、毘梨耶波羅蜜名為行，初入道故。尸羅波羅蜜名為學」 tr. "Someone says: dānapāramitā and vīryapāramitā are named practice, because they are the first entry into the path. Śīlapāramitā is named training", and the reason for it: 「人心常隨五欲難禁難制，無須臾停息，漸以尸羅波羅蜜、禪波羅蜜制伏其心，是故名學。」 tr. "The human mind constantly chases after the five desires, is hard to restrain and hard to control, and does not rest for a moment; little by little, by śīlapāramitā and dhyānapāramitā, one subdues one's mind, and for this reason it is named training." 「羼提波羅蜜、般若波羅蜜名為道。何以故？忍為善，般若為智慧，善、智具足故名道。」 tr. "Kṣāntipāramitā and prajñāpāramitā are named path. Why? Patience is goodness, prajñā is wisdom; because goodness and wisdom are complete, it is named path." At the end it concludes with a simile: 「譬如人有眼有足，隨意所至。」 tr. "It is as a person who has eyes and has feet, and reaches wherever he wishes." The eyes stand for prajñā, the feet stand for patience—with wisdom and without patience one cannot walk; with patience and without wisdom one does not know where to go.

46. The general gathering of the six sayings. 「如是等，名為三事差別。」 tr. "Such as these are named the differences of the three matters." The three Chinese characters 「如是等」 tr. "such as these" are the vital point: the six sayings cited are not exhaustive; they are examples. Here the treatise-author does not judge high and low, nor does he set up a saying of his own. Here one must guard against a misreading: not judging is not vagueness; what is at issue here lies in the names, not in the meaning—the marks of practice that the six sayings point to in fact run through one another, and forcibly fixing one saying would instead lose their running through.

47. Question and answer five: why it is named sequence; the simile of climbing a ladder. The question says: 「何以名次第？」 tr. "Why is it named sequence?" In the answer he first sets out the intent of Subhūti's question: 「以須菩提意：若一切法無所有，初發心菩薩於是空法中云何能漸次第學？以是故說次第。」 tr. "According to Subhūti's intent: if all dharmas are without anything existent, how can a bodhisattva of the first arousing of the mind, within this empty dharma, train little by little in sequence? For this reason sequence is spoken of." Next he sets up the right meaning: 「諸法雖空難解，次第行得力故，能得成就；……」 tr. "Though dharmas are empty and hard to understand, because sequential practice gains strength, one can reach accomplishment; ……" At the end he makes it clear with a simile: 「譬如緣梯，從一初桄漸上，上處雖高雖難，亦能得至。」 tr. "It is as climbing a ladder: from the first rung one goes up little by little, and though the place above is high and hard, one can still reach it." The point this simile takes lies in the two Chinese characters 「初桄」 tr. "the first rung"—what makes a ladder a ladder is not its height but its having a first step that can be trodden on. The difficulty of emptiness lies not in its being hard to understand but in there being no place to set one's hand to; sequence is precisely giving emptiness a place to set one's hand to. Read this simile together with the simile of the small child taking medicine before: that one says emptiness must be combined with the practice of matters to be entered; this one says the practice of matters must be climbed step by step.

48. Sequential practice is practising the six perfections in four kinds of practice. 「次第行者，四種行六波羅蜜，如經中說。」 tr. "The one who practises in sequence practises the six perfections in four kinds of practice, as the sūtra says." This sentence is the headrope of the text below. What are called the four kinds are the four matters of the sūtra, ‘himself practising, teaching others, praising, rejoicing and praising’; the ten-odd passages below all explain these four matters, taking dānapāramitā as the example. The treatise-author's method of explaining the sūtra can be seen here: the sūtra lists the six perfections side by side; the treatise-author takes one of them alone and explains it in detail, and the rest are known by the example.

49. Why dāna is practised in four ways. The treatise-author takes up the four phrases of the sūtra: 「自行檀，教人行檀，讚檀功德，歡喜讚行檀」 tr. "he himself practises dāna, teaches others to practise dāna, praises the merit of dāna, and rejoices in and praises those who practise dāna", and explains the four reasons he can practise them: 「善拔慳貪根，深愛檀波羅蜜，慈悲於眾生，通達諸法實相；以此因緣故，能四種行檀波羅蜜。」 tr. "He has well pulled up the root of stinginess and greed, deeply loves dānapāramitā, is kind and compassionate toward beings, and penetrates the real mark of all dharmas; because of these causes and conditions, he can practise dānapāramitā in four ways." The four causes, put one by one into present-day words: pulling up the root of stinginess and greed is removing the root of why one does not give; deeply loving dāna is giving rise to delight in the dharma of giving; being kind and compassionate toward beings is the giving having something it turns toward; penetrating the real mark is giving without grasping the mark of giving. The four causes go from shallow to deep, and the last cause is precisely the meaning of this chapter.

50. The various cases of not being able to complete the four matters. This passage lists from the reverse side the cases of not completing them, and each one has its cause of sickness. First, practising it himself but unable to teach others—「或畏他瞋，或畏為己教布施以之為恩」 tr. "either he fears others' anger, or he fears that others will take his urging them to give, done for their own sake, as a favour"; both sicknesses lie in scruples. Second, 「教人布施，自不能施」 tr. "he teaches others to give but cannot himself give". Third, 「種種讚歎布施之德，勸人令施而不能自行」 tr. "in all manner of ways he praises the virtue of giving and urges people to give, but cannot himself practise it". Fourth, 「自行布施，亦教人布施、稱讚布施之德，而見人布施不能歡喜」 tr. "he himself practises giving, also teaches others to give and praises the virtue of giving, yet seeing others give cannot rejoice", and its sickness lies in 「或有破戒惡人行施而不喜見」 tr. "perhaps there is a precept-breaking evil person practising giving, and he does not like to see it". Fifth, 「喜見施主而不讚歎」 tr. "he likes to see a donor but does not praise him", and its sickness lies in 「以其邪見不識施果故」 tr. "because he holds wrong views and does not recognise the fruit of giving". It concludes: 「如是，各各不能具足。」 tr. "Thus each of them is unable to complete them." The list of five cases is made by lacking the four matters one by one, and in reading it should be set against the four matters of the passage before.

51. The bodhisattva can practise the four matters and teaches beings to do it themselves. 「菩薩大悲心、深愛善法故，能行四事，如上說。」 tr. "Because the bodhisattva has the mind of great compassion and deeply loves wholesome dharmas, he can practise the four matters, as spoken of above." Next it says why teaching others is necessary: 「菩薩若但自布施、不教他人，但能今世少許利益。是眾生隨業因緣墮貧窮處，……」 tr. "If the bodhisattva only gave himself and did not teach others, he could give only a little benefit in this life. These beings, following the causes and conditions of their deeds, fall into a place of poverty, ……" So the bodhisattva teaches them, saying: 「我不惜財物，我雖多施汝，汝亦不得持至後世；汝今當自作，後當自得。」 tr. "I do not begrudge wealth; though I give you much, you still cannot take it with you into later lives; you should now do it yourselves, and later you will obtain it yourselves." These words are the eye of the whole passage—giving things relieves only for a time; teaching them to do it themselves relieves their later lives. At the end it says why he rejoices: 「見行施者雖是破戒惡人，但念其好心布施之德，不念其惡，是故歡喜讚歎。」 tr. "Seeing one who practises giving, even if he is a precept-breaking evil person, he thinks only of the virtue of his good mind in giving and does not think of his evil; for this reason he rejoices and praises." This answers exactly to the sickness of the fourth case in the passage before.

52. The Three Jewels, the inexhaustible field of merit. 「復次，見三寶無盡福田中施故，施福不盡，必至佛道；觀其未來無盡功德故，歡喜行是四種布施，世世財富。」 tr. "Again, because he sees giving within the inexhaustible field of merit of the Three Jewels, the merit of the giving is not exhausted and will certainly reach the Buddha-path; because he contemplates its inexhaustible merit in the future, he joyfully practises these four kinds of giving, and life after life he has wealth." This passage adds another cause of rejoicing: the rejoicing of the passage before is not thinking of his evil; the rejoicing of this passage is contemplating his future. What is called the inexhaustible field of merit means that the field into which one gives is inexhaustible, and so the merit produced is inexhaustible too.

53. Wealth comes of itself; the simile of planting grain and the straw. 「是菩薩雖不為財富布施，未具足阿耨多羅三藐三菩提、六波羅蜜等法，中間而財富自至；譬如人為穀故種禾，而稾草自至。」 tr. "Though this bodhisattva does not give for the sake of wealth, before he has fulfilled anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, the six perfections, and such dharmas, in the meantime wealth comes of itself; it is as a person who plants grain for the sake of the grain, and the straw comes of itself." The point this simile takes lies in the two Chinese characters 「自至」 tr. "comes of itself": the straw is not what is sought, yet it comes along with the grain. The bodhisattva does not give for the sake of wealth, yet wealth comes along with the giving. Here one must guard against a misreading: it does not say that seeking wealth too is no harm; it says that what comes of itself without being sought can be used but must not be clung to—the next passage tells how to use it.

54. When he obtains the retribution of wealth, he parts from the mind of stinginess and greed. 「菩薩得財物報時，離慳貪心，隨眾生意布施，須食與食等。」 tr. "When the bodhisattva obtains the retribution of wealth, he parts from the mind of stinginess and greed and gives according to the wishes of beings: to one who needs food, he gives food, and so on." This sentence takes up what is above and opens what is below: it takes up what is above in that the wealth obtained is the wealth that came of itself in the passage before; it opens what is below in that the four Chinese characters 「須食與食」 tr. "to one who needs food, give food" draw out question and answer eight below. What is called according to the wishes of beings means taking as the standard what the recipient needs, not what the giver has.

55. Question and answer six: when giving, to what kind of people does he give first. The question says: 「是菩薩布施時，先施何等人？」 tr. "When this bodhisattva gives, to what kind of people does he give first?" In the answer he first sets the right order: 「是菩薩雖因眾生起大悲心，而菩薩布施，必先供養諸佛、大菩薩、辟支佛、阿羅漢及諸聖人。」 tr. "Though this bodhisattva gives rise to the mind of great compassion because of beings, yet when the bodhisattva gives, he certainly first makes offerings to the buddhas, the great bodhisattvas, the pratyekabuddhas, the arhats, and the sages." From there it descends level by level, in five turns in all: if there are no sages, he gives to 「持戒、精進、禪定、智慧離欲人」 tr. "those who keep morality, are vigorous, are in meditative concentration, are wise, and are free of desire"; if there are no such people, he gives to 「一切出家佛弟子」 tr. "all the Buddha's disciples who have left home"; if there are no such people, he gives to those who 「持五戒、行十善道，及持一日戒、三歸」 tr. "keep the five precepts and practise the ten wholesome paths, and keep the one-day precepts and the three refuges"; if there are no such people, he gives to 「中人非正非邪者」 tr. "middling people who are neither right nor wrong"; if there are no such people, he gives to 「五逆惡人，及諸畜生」 tr. "the evil people of the five heinous sins, and the animals". At the end he sets a general rule: 「不可不與，菩薩以施攝一切眾生故。」 tr. "He may not withhold it, because the bodhisattva gathers in all beings by giving." This descent level by level takes the superiority and inferiority of the field of merit as its order.

56. A differing saying: one should first give to those of the heinous sins, the poor, and the sick. 「有人言：應先布施五逆罪人、斷善根者，貧窮、老病、下賤、乞匃者，乃至畜生；……」 tr. "Someone says: one should first give to people of the five heinous sins, to those who have cut off the roots of goodness, and to the poor, the old and sick, the lowly, and the begging, up to the animals; ……" It runs exactly in the opposite direction to the saying before—the former takes the goodness of the field as its order, this takes the urgency of the recipient as its order. Two similes make it clear: 「譬如慈母，多有眾子，先念羸病，給其所須」 tr. "it is as a kind mother with many children first thinks of the weak and sick and supplies what they need", taking the leaning of a mother's heart toward the weak; 「又如菩薩為餓虎欲食子故，以身施之」 tr. "it is also as the bodhisattva who, because a hungry tiger wished to eat its young, gave his body to it", taking its utmost point. The two sayings are set side by side and not yet judged; the next question is set up precisely to judge them.

57. Question and answer seven: among all these, to whom should one give first. The question says: 「如是種種，應先施何者？」 tr. "Among all these, to which should one give first?" The answer falls into four layers. The first layer sets the general rule: 「一切眾生皆是菩薩福田，能生大悲故。菩薩常欲以阿耨多羅三藐三菩提施眾生，何況衣食等而有分別！」 tr. "All beings are the bodhisattva's field of merit, because they can give rise to great compassion. The bodhisattva constantly wishes to give anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi to beings; how much less would he make distinctions over clothing, food, and the like!" This layer says directly that there is no need to distinguish—distinguishing by the superiority and inferiority of the field is said with reference to clothing and food; if what one wishes to give is awakening, there is nothing to distinguish. The second layer speaks by distinguishing positions: 「又菩薩得無生忍法，平等無差。未得無生忍者，或慈悲心多、或分別心多，此二心不得俱行。」 tr. "Further, the bodhisattva who has obtained the dharma of the acceptance of non-arising is equal and without difference. Among those who have not yet obtained the acceptance of non-arising, in some the mind of kindness and compassion is greater, in some the discriminating mind is greater; these two minds cannot proceed together." For one who has obtained acceptance there is no such question; for one who has not yet obtained acceptance the two minds cannot stand together.

58. The one in whom the mind of compassion is greater gives first to poor evil people. 「悲心多者，先施貧窮惡人，作是念：「種福田中，果報雖大，憐愍眾生故，先利貧者。」如是田雖不良，以慈悲心，得大果報。」 tr. "The one in whom the mind of compassion is greater gives first to poor evil people, and has this thought: ‘Among the fields of merit in which to plant, though the retribution is great, out of pity for beings I first benefit the poor.’ Thus, though the field is not good, because of the mind of kindness and compassion he obtains great retribution." This passage judges most evenly: the field is not good but the mind is good, so the retribution is still great. So the differing saying of the passage before is not wrong; it is the mark of practice of one in whom the mind of compassion is greater.

59. The one in whom the discriminating mind is greater makes offerings first to the buddhas. 「分別心多者，作是念：「諸佛有無量功德故，應先供養。」以分別諸法、取著佛身故心小；其心雖小，福田良故，功德亦大。」 tr. "The one in whom the discriminating mind is greater has this thought: ‘Because the buddhas have immeasurable merit, I should make offerings to them first.’ Because he discriminates dharmas and grasps at and clings to the Buddha's body, his mind is small; though his mind is small, because the field of merit is good, the merit too is great." This passage too judges evenly, and its words are finer still: saying his 「心小」 tr. "mind is small" is not concealing his sickness—discriminating is precisely grasping and clinging; saying his 「功德亦大」 tr. "merit too is great" is not burying what is real in it—because the field is good. Read the two passages together: the former has a great mind and an inferior field, the latter a small mind and a good field; each obtains one side. Brought down to practice: there is no need to take as a sickness which side one leans toward oneself; one should know it to be a matter of position.

60. One who has obtained the real mark practises both things together. 「若得諸法實相，入般若波羅蜜方便力中，心得自在，二事俱行——慈愍眾生，又視皆如佛。如是等，菩薩隨因緣行布施。」 tr. "If one obtains the real mark of all dharmas and enters the power of skilful means of prajñāpāramitā, the mind becomes free, and the two things proceed together—pitying beings with kindness, and also regarding all as a Buddha. Such as these: the bodhisattva practises giving according to causes and conditions." This is the reconciling of the two passages before: compassion and reverence from the first do not obstruct each other; the reason they cannot stand together is that one has not yet obtained the real mark and skilful means. The last phrase 「隨因緣行布施」 tr. "practises giving according to causes and conditions" is the gathering-in of the whole question—there is no fixed dharma; one practises according to conditions.

61. Question and answer eight: why the sūtra says ‘to one who needs food, give food’. The question says: 「經何以不言「與衣食等」，而言「須食與食」？」 tr. "Why does the sūtra not say ‘give clothing, food, and the like’, but says ‘to one who needs food, give food’?" The answer says: 「有人須食與飲、須飲與衣，以不稱受者意故，福德少，是故言須食與食。」 tr. "There are people who to one who needs food give drink, and to one who needs drink give clothing; because it does not suit the recipient's wish, the merit is small; for this reason it says to one who needs food, give food." This question is extremely fine and extremely concrete: the difference of wording in one phrase of the sūtra the treatise-author also explains. What is judged is a standard—the merit of giving is fixed not by the costliness or cheapness of the thing given but by whether or not it suits the recipient's wish. Brought down to practice: giving people what I wish to give is not as good as giving people what they need.

62. Question and answer nine: how to know what is needed by those who are ashamed or afraid. The question says: 「有人若羞、若怖，雖有所須，不能發言，云何知其所須？」 tr. "There are people who are either ashamed or afraid; though they have needs, they cannot speak out; how is one to know what they need?" This question rises out of what is above: since suiting the wish is the standard, how can one suit those who cannot speak out? The answer says: 「菩薩觀其相貌，隨時所須、土地所宜；或有知他心者，資生之具，隨意而與。」 tr. "The bodhisattva observes their appearance, what is needed at the time, and what suits the land; or, if he has knowledge of others' minds, he gives the requisites that sustain life according to their wishes." Three methods are set side by side: observing their appearance is with reference to the person; what is needed at the time and what suits the land is with reference to the circumstances; one with knowledge of others' minds is with reference to supernormal power. The first two are things everyone can do; the last is the affair of those who have supernormal powers—the treatise-author does not take supernormal power as the constant way, and so places it last and attaches to it the two Chinese characters 「或有」 tr. "or, if he has".

63. Giving accomplishes the aggregate of morality, up to the aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation. 「是人因是布施，得成戒眾」 tr. "Through this giving this person is able to accomplish the aggregate of morality", and the reason for it is that after practising giving he himself has this thought: 「我憐愍眾生，以衣食布施，所益甚少；不如持戒，常以無惱、無畏施於眾生。」 tr. "I pity beings and give clothing and food, but what it benefits is very little; it is better to keep morality, and constantly give beings freedom from vexation and freedom from fear." Below it speaks aggregate by aggregate: 「菩薩住是持戒中，為守護戒故，生禪定。心不散、清淨故，得成慧眾；無戲論、捨諸著是慧相。以是慧破諸煩惱縛，得解脫眾。了了知見證解脫故，名解脫知見眾。」 tr. "Dwelling within this keeping of morality, the bodhisattva gives rise to meditative concentration for the sake of guarding morality. Because the mind is not scattered and is pure, he is able to accomplish the aggregate of wisdom; being without idle discourse and abandoning all clinging is the mark of wisdom. With this wisdom he breaks the bonds of all the afflictions and obtains the aggregate of liberation. Because he realises liberation by clearly knowing and seeing, it is named the aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation." The order in which the five aggregates give rise to one another is clear point by point: giving gives rise to morality, morality gives rise to concentration, concentration gives rise to wisdom, wisdom gives rise to liberation, and liberation is known and seen. This passage is the detailed explanation of the stretch of the sūtra from 「得禪定眾」 tr. "obtains the aggregate of meditative concentration" to 「解脫知見眾」 tr. "the aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation".

64. Because he first practises giving and the five aggregates, he passes beyond the grounds of the two vehicles and enters the bodhisattva's position. 「是人先行布施及五眾因緣故，過聲聞、辟支佛地，入菩薩位。」 tr. "Because of the causes and conditions of first practising giving and of the five aggregates, this person passes beyond the grounds of the śrāvakas and the pratyekabuddhas and enters the bodhisattva's position." This sentence is the conclusion of the passage above, and also the cause of the two questions below. What should be noted: the four Chinese characters 「先行布施」 tr. "first practising giving" still tie the starting point of the five aggregates to giving, running through with 「布施為主」 tr. "giving as the chief" in the earlier text.

65. Question and answer ten: why the five aggregates are spoken of and not the six perfections. The question says: 「菩薩應行六波羅蜜，入菩薩位，此中何以說五眾？」 tr. "The bodhisattva should practise the six perfections to enter the bodhisattva's position; why are the five aggregates spoken of here?" The answer first sets a general rule: 「法雖一，以種種異名說，是故說五眾無咎。」 tr. "Though the dharma is one, it is spoken of by various different names; for this reason there is no fault in speaking of the five aggregates." Next it says why one is singled out: 「是人從一波羅蜜中欲起諸波羅蜜，布施為主，已先說。」 tr. "This person wishes to give rise to all the perfections from within one pāramitā; giving is the chief, and it has already been spoken of first." Next it matches them one by one: 「持戒眾名尸波羅蜜；定眾、解脫眾名禪波羅蜜；慧眾、解脫知見眾是般若波羅蜜；行諸波羅蜜時，能忍諸惡事，是名羼提波羅蜜；能起諸波羅蜜，不休不息，是名毘梨耶波羅蜜。」 tr. "The aggregate of keeping morality is named śīlapāramitā; the aggregate of concentration and the aggregate of liberation are named dhyānapāramitā; the aggregate of wisdom and the aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation are prajñāpāramitā; being able to bear all evil things while practising the perfections—this is called kṣāntipāramitā; being able to give rise to the perfections without resting and without ceasing—this is called vīryapāramitā." The way the five aggregates are matched with the six perfections is this: morality is matched with śīla; the two aggregates of concentration and liberation are matched with dhyāna; the two aggregates of wisdom and of the knowledge and vision of liberation are matched with prajñā; patience and vigour are not set up as separate aggregates but run through the time of practising all the perfections. This way of matching should be seen clearly—it is not that five against six is one short; it is that patience and vigour are from the first not a single stretch of merit but marks of the time of practising all the perfections.

66. Question and answer eleven: why not speak only of the names of the perfections. The question says: 「若爾者，何以不但說諸波羅蜜名而說五眾？」 tr. "If so, why not speak only of the names of the perfections, but speak of the five aggregates?" The answer says: 「是人欲入菩薩位，此中不但以持戒、禪定得，和合眾戒、清淨戒、無盡戒。以要言之，攝一切戒名為戒眾；能破煩惱，過二乘，入菩薩位。」 tr. "This person wishes to enter the bodhisattva's position; here it is not obtained merely by keeping morality and meditative concentration; he combines the many precepts, the pure precepts, and the inexhaustible precepts. To put it briefly, gathering in all the precepts is named the aggregate of morality; it can break the afflictions, pass beyond the two vehicles, and enter the bodhisattva's position." Next it makes this clear with a simile: 「譬如一人、二人，不名為軍；和合多人，乃成為軍，能破怨敵。」 tr. "It is as one person or two persons are not called an army; only when many people are combined do they make an army that can break the enemy." At the end it says: 「餘眾亦如是。」 tr. "The other aggregates are likewise." The point this simile takes lies in 「和合」 tr. "combining"—the Chinese character 「眾」 tr. "aggregate" carries from the first the sense of gathering; speaking of aggregates and not of perfections is precisely to show that it is not the power of a single dharma. Brought down to practice: what is called breaking the afflictions does not rely on some one precept or some one kind of concentration; it relies on gathering them into an army.

67. Teaching and transforming beings, dedicating to the pure buddha-land, and obtaining the omniscience of all kinds. 「菩薩自得禪定等眾，亦令眾生得，是名菩薩教化眾生；教化眾生已，持自功德及眾生功德，盡迴向淨佛國。具此二法，即得一切種智，轉法輪，以三乘度眾生。」 tr. "The bodhisattva himself obtains the aggregates of meditative concentration and the rest, and also lets beings obtain them; this is called the bodhisattva's teaching and transforming beings; having taught and transformed beings, he takes his own merit and the merit of beings and dedicates it all to the pure buddha-land. Fulfilling these two dharmas, he then obtains the omniscience of all kinds, turns the wheel of the Dharma, and delivers beings by the three vehicles." This passage explains the latter half of the sūtra. What are called the 「二法」 tr. "two dharmas" are teaching and transforming beings and dedicating to the pure land; when these two are accomplished, the Buddha's work accomplishes itself. Read together with the passage before: when the five aggregates are accomplished one enters the position; when the two dharmas are accomplished one becomes a Buddha—the sequence is clear.

68. Concluding the meaning of sequence: first coarse then fine, first easy then hard. 「是名菩薩次第行、次第學、次第道。先麁後細，先易後難，漸漸習學，名為次第。」 tr. "This is called the bodhisattva's sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path. First coarse then fine, first easy then hard, little by little training in and learning, is named sequence." These twelve Chinese characters are the proper gloss on the two Chinese characters 「次第」 tr. "sequence" of the whole chapter. First ask a question: why does it not say ‘first shallow then deep’ but says 「先麁後細」 tr. "first coarse then fine"? Coarse and fine are said of the marks of dharmas; easy and hard are said of the strength of the person—one with reference to what is learned, one with reference to the one who can learn, both faces covered. Read together with the earlier simile of climbing the ladder, the steps of the ladder are precisely this coarse and fine, easy and hard.

69. The other five perfections are distinguished according to their meaning; practising following worldly truth. 「餘五波羅蜜，亦應隨義分別。」 tr. "The other five pāramitās should also be distinguished according to their meaning." This sentence makes clear that the detailed explanation of dānapāramitā before is an example. The last sentence is the bone of the whole treatise section: 「諸法性雖無所有，而隨世諦行，為破顛倒故。」 tr. "Though the nature of dharmas is without anything existent, one practises following worldly truth, in order to break inversion." Being without anything existent is the highest meaning; practising following worldly truth is why there is sequence; and the purpose of following worldly truth is still to break inversion, not to establish worldly truth. Here one must guard against a misreading: saying 「隨世諦行」 tr. "practises following worldly truth" does not say that sequence is only an expedient without real benefit; it says that the place where sequence is set up is worldly truth, while the matter it accomplishes—breaking inversion—is real.

70. The six recollections are the first sequential practice. 「復次，念佛等六念是初次第行，以易行易得故。」 tr. "Again, the six recollections, recollection of the Buddha and the rest, are the first sequential practice, because they are easy to practise and easy to obtain." The six perfections having been spoken of, it returns to the six recollections. It judges the six recollections to be 「初」 tr. "the first", and its reason is only four Chinese characters: easy to practise and easy to obtain. First ask a question: since the six recollections say in every single gate 「無少許念」 tr. "not even a little recollection", how can they be called easy? This doubt is what the next question and answer is set up for.

71. Question and answer twelve: not recollecting the Buddha by form—how can it be called easy. The question says: 「六念中亦言不以色念佛，云何言易？」 tr. "Within the six recollections it is also said that one does not recollect the Buddha by form; how can it be called easy?" The answer says: 「有法共行，故名為易；譬如服苦藥，以蜜下之則易。」 tr. "Because there is a dharma that can be practised along with it, it is called easy; it is as taking bitter medicine: sending it down with honey makes it easy." The four Chinese characters 「有法共行」 tr. "there is a dharma that can be practised along with it" are the root of the answer: though the six recollections block the grasping at marks, what they recollect—the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, morality, giving up, and the gods—is after all something the mind can be tied to; it is not being made to contemplate the signless from the very outset. This simile takes the same image as the earlier simile of the small child taking medicine but uses it differently: that one is used for the six perfections being combined with the meaning of emptiness, this one for the six recollections being combined with the signless—one image used in two ways, which shows precisely that the treatise-author uses similes as tools and does not cling to the simile.

72. The meaning of the six recollections is as broadly explained in the first chapter. 「六念義，如初品中廣說。」 tr. "The meaning of the six recollections is as broadly explained in the first chapter." Here the treatise-author does not explain the items of the six recollections again, but points back to the earlier text. This is the pattern of this treatise: a dharma-number already broadly explained earlier is not brought out again later. When the reader meets these words, he should know that they are not an omission but a signpost.

73. The six perfections and the six recollections are gentle and easy to practise; the rest, the three gates of liberation, are not spoken of. 「六波羅蜜、六念等，柔軟易行，不生邪見，是菩薩次第學法。餘三解脫門等，思惟籌量，或生邪見故不說。」 tr. "The six perfections, the six recollections, and the like are gentle and easy to practise and do not give rise to wrong views; this is the dharma of the bodhisattva's sequential training. The rest, the three gates of liberation and the like, require reflection and reckoning and may give rise to wrong views, therefore they are not spoken of." This passage judges a most vital point: it is not that the three gates of liberation are not good; it is that for one new to the training they are dangerous—the three gates of emptiness, the signless, and non-action require reflection and reckoning, and one whose strength does not reach them grasps them and makes wrong views. So in this chapter the Buddha speaks to those new to the training of the six perfections and the six recollections and does not speak of the three gates. Brought down to practice: in choosing a dharma, go by one's own strength, not by the height of the dharma.

74. The treatise-author explains Subhūti's difficulty. 「此中須菩提難：「世尊！若實無所有，云何有次第行等？」」 tr. "Here Subhūti raises an objection: ‘World-Honored One! If there is really nothing existent, how can there be sequential practice and the rest?’" The treatise-author encloses the long difficulty of the sūtra in a single sentence, which shows precisely that he judges the bone of this difficulty to lie in the contradiction between 「無所有」 tr. "being without anything existent" and 「次第」 tr. "sequence". Read against the sūtra, the headings of dharmas listed in the sūtra are very many, yet the treatise-author gathers them in a single phrase—this is the constant way of this treatise in explaining the sūtra, taking its joints and not spreading out along the text.

75. The Buddha's counter-question and Subhūti's answer. 「佛反問須菩提：「汝以聲聞智慧見色等法是一定實法不？」」 tr. "The Buddha in return asked Subhūti: ‘With the wisdom of a śrāvaka, do you see form and the other dharmas as one fixed, real dharma?’" Here the treatise-author adds the five Chinese characters 「以聲聞智慧」 tr. "with the wisdom of a śrāvaka", speaking with reference to Subhūti's position; the sūtra originally reads 「汝見是色性實有不」 tr. "do you see this nature of form as really existent". Next it records his answer: 「答言：「不見！」」 tr. "He answered: ‘I do not see it!’" The treatise-author further sets out the reason on his behalf: 「色等一切法但從因緣和合，假有其名，無有定實，云何言有？」 tr. "Form and all the other dharmas only come from the coming together of causes and conditions and provisionally have a name; there is nothing fixed and real; how can they be said to exist?" This added statement is the treatise-author's explanation, not the sūtra; in reading one should keep clear which sentence is sūtra and which is treatise—the treatise-author here is precisely speaking out the reason behind Subhūti's one 「不見」 tr. "I do not see it".

76. The Buddha's pressing again and the treatise-author's verdict. 「佛語須菩提：「汝若不見實定有，云何以次第等難空？」」 tr. "The Buddha told Subhūti: ‘Since you do not see anything fixed and real, why do you use sequence and such matters to challenge emptiness?’" There follows a verdict the treatise-author lays down himself: 「而次第法不離於空。」 tr. "And the dharma of sequence is not apart from emptiness." These eight Chinese characters are the general conclusion of the whole unit—sequence and emptiness are not two things standing over against each other; sequence is from the first within emptiness. If sequence existed separately apart from emptiness, the Buddha's counter-question would not hold; precisely because it is not apart, one who does not see real dharmas has nothing by which to use sequence to raise a difficulty.

77. Subhūti receives it and understands it clearly and distinctly. 「爾時，須菩提受解了了，是故說……」 tr. "At that time Subhūti received and understood it clearly and distinctly, and for this reason said ……" From here the treatise-author, in a long passage, states Subhūti's intent on his behalf, and layer by layer it all corresponds to the sūtra. First he makes himself clear: 「我無所疑」 tr. "I have nothing to doubt". Next he says for whom: 「為當來世求三乘人，聞佛說空無所有性，以罪重智鈍故，取空相」 tr. "for the sake of people in the world to come who seek the three vehicles: hearing the Buddha speak of emptiness and of the nature without anything existent, because their sins are heavy and their knowledge dull, they grasp at the mark of emptiness". The three Chinese characters 「取空相」 tr. "grasp at the mark of emptiness" are added by the treatise-author, pointing precisely to the root of the sickness—it is not that hearing emptiness gives rise to doubt; it is that hearing emptiness one grasps emptiness as a mark. Next he cites their words: 「誰垢誰淨？凡夫、惡人，何以名垢？出家、得道人，何以名淨？」 tr. "Who is stained and who is pure? Why are ordinary persons and evil people called stained? Why are those who have left home and those who have obtained the path called pure?" Here the two pairs 「凡夫、惡人」 tr. "ordinary persons and evil people" and 「出家、得道人」 tr. "those who have left home and those who have obtained the path" are examples the treatise-author supplies; the sūtra reads only 「誰垢誰淨？誰縛誰解？」 tr. "Who is stained and who is pure? Who is bound and who is released?".

78. The sequence of breaking morality and breaking view, and Subhūti's making himself clear. The treatise-author explains one by one the order of their falling: 「是人不解佛語深義以何事而說，著是空故，言：『何用持戒等為？』」 tr. "These people do not understand on what matter the deep meaning of the Buddha's words is spoken; because they cling to this emptiness, they say: ‘What need is there for keeping morality and such matters?’"—this is the cause. 「以是因緣，即生邪見，破正見；破正見故，以少因緣而破戒及威儀，無所畏忌」 tr. "Through these causes and conditions they give rise to wrong views and break right view; because they break right view, on scant causes and conditions they break morality and deportment, with nothing they fear or shun"—this is going from view to conduct. 「出家人資仰白衣，便妄語求利衣食等，破於正命等」 tr. "those who have left home, relying on the white-robed, then tell lies to seek gain, clothing, food, and so on, and break right livelihood and the rest"—this is the real face of breaking pure livelihood, which the treatise-author speaks of specially with reference to the situation of those who have left home. 「種此罪故，墮三惡道，或重於白衣」 tr. "because they plant these sins, they fall into the three evil destinies, perhaps more heavily than the white-robed"—the last five Chinese characters are a judgement added by the treatise-author: for the same breaking of morality, the sin of one who has left home may be heavier, because he relies on the white-robed and tells lies. At the end he makes three things clear on Subhūti's behalf: 「我已得道，於諸法無所受」 tr. "I have already obtained the path, and in dharmas there is nothing received"; 「又常聞佛說空法，云何戲論生疑」 tr. "and I constantly hear the Buddha speak the Dharma of emptiness; how could I make idle discourse and give rise to doubt"; 「又我常修無諍三昧，憐愍眾生，是故問佛。」 tr. "Further, I constantly cultivate the samādhi of non-contention and pity beings; for this reason I asked the Buddha." Of the three things, the samādhi of non-contention is supplied by the treatise-author and is not in the sūtra, which shows precisely why he asks on behalf of others and does not doubt himself. The whole unit closes here: beginning with the question ‘how does one new to the training practise’, ending with the answer ‘for the sake of the people of the world to come’—one beginning and one end, neither for his own sake.

Do Not Misread

Do not read 「無所有性」 tr. "the nature without anything existent" as there being nothing at all. The sūtra says that all dharmas are without any existent nature, yet in the same passage it says that one obtains the four dhyānas and the five supernormal powers and obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; the treatise-author further says plainly 「而次第法不離於空」 tr. "and the dharma of sequence is not apart from emptiness". What is blocked is a fixed, real self-nature on dharmas, not the function and the sequence of dharmas. If it is read as there being nothing at all, then the six perfections, the six recollections, and the thirty-seven limbs of the path listed in the sūtra all become empty talk, and why would the Buddha need to open these three layers for those new to the training?

Do not read 「無憶故，是為念佛」 tr. "because there is no remembering, this is recollection of the Buddha" as thinking of nothing at all while recollecting the Buddha. The five rounds of blocking each point to something—blocking the five aggregates, blocking the marks and minor signs, blocking the aggregates of the fivefold merit, blocking the ten powers and the other unshared dharmas, blocking the dharma of the twelve links of causes and conditions; what is blocked is in every case ‘taking some dharma as the object recollected’. The sūtra itself still says 「應念佛」 tr. "he should recollect the Buddha", from which it can be seen that what is kept is recollection and what is removed is grasping at marks. If it is read as not thinking, it is no different from wood or stone, and it also fails to accord with 「能具足四念處」 tr. "he can fulfil the four foundations of mindfulness" up to 「乃至一切種智」 tr. "up to the omniscience of all kinds" in the text below.

Do not read 「乃至無少許念，何況念戒」 tr. "up to there not being even a little recollection, how much less recollecting morality" as there being no need to keep morality. These words are in the gate of recollection of morality, and what the gate of recollection of morality recollects is precisely the nine kinds of noble morality: 「無缺戒、無隙戒、無瑕戒、無濁戒」 tr. "morality without breach, morality without crack, morality without flaw, morality without turbidity" and the rest. What is blocked is the mind keeping a record of the marks of its morality after keeping morality, not the practice of morality itself. At the end of the sūtra, the very reason for Subhūti's worry and fear is that he fears people will, because of emptiness, 「破於戒、破正見、破威儀、破淨命」 tr. "break morality, break right view, break deportment, break pure livelihood"; to read these words as there being no need to keep morality is to be just the kind of person Subhūti foretold.

Do not read the six sayings on the three names as the treatise-author having not settled their meaning. The treatise-author lists six sayings in a row and concludes 「如是等，名為三事差別」 tr. "such as these are named the differences of the three matters", saying that the marks of practice to which the three names practice, training, and path point can from the first be divided along many faces, and there is no single fixed way. Among the six sayings not one contradicts another—some divide by time into beginning, middle, and end; some match them with the dharmas of giving, keeping morality, and wisdom; some with morality, concentration, and wisdom; some with the three parts of the eightfold noble path; some with the six perfections. If one forcibly takes one saying as correct and discards the rest, one instead contradicts the treatise-author's first saying, 「義一而語異」 tr. "the meaning is one and the words differ".

Do not read the simile of climbing the ladder as sequence being outside emptiness. The ladder climbed in the simile is set up right within the dharma of emptiness—where the question was raised is 「初發心菩薩於是空法中云何能漸次第學」 tr. "how can a bodhisattva of the first arousing of the mind, within this empty dharma, train little by little in sequence", and where it is answered is 「諸法雖空難解，次第行得力故，能得成就」 tr. "though dharmas are empty and hard to understand, because sequential practice gains strength, one can reach accomplishment". The ladder is not something standing by itself apart from the wall. If one thinks that sequence is set up first and emptiness entered afterwards, this contradicts the sentence 「以無所有畢竟空和合布施、持戒等行」 tr. "combines the practices of giving, keeping morality, and the rest with there being nothing existent and ultimate emptiness".

Do not read the simile of the small child taking medicine as emptiness being a bitter affair. The use of the honey in the simile lies in making the medicine go down, not in making the medicine sweet; the point the treatise-author takes from the simile lies in 「和合」 tr. "combining", not in bitterness and sweetness. The same image is used once more in the later text—「譬如服苦藥，以蜜下之則易」 tr. "it is as taking bitter medicine: sending it down with honey makes it easy"—and what is spoken of there is the ease of the six recollections, from which it can be seen that in this unit this image is a common tool, taking one point from it wherever it is used, and one may not drag in its other meanings.

Do not read 「必先供養諸佛、大菩薩」 tr. "he certainly first makes offerings to the buddhas and the great bodhisattvas" and 「應先布施五逆罪人」 tr. "one should first give to people of the five heinous sins" as contradicting each other. The treatise-author reconciles them in the very next question: of those who have not yet obtained the acceptance of non-arising, the one in whom the mind of compassion is greater puts the poor and evil first, and the one in whom the discriminating mind is greater puts the buddhas first; the one who has obtained the real mark of all dharmas and entered the power of skilful means 「二事俱行」 tr. "practises both things together". The two sayings are each the mark of practice of one position, not one right and one wrong. The last sentence, 「如是等，菩薩隨因緣行布施」 tr. "such as these: the bodhisattva practises giving according to causes and conditions", is precisely not setting up a fixed dharma.

Do not read 「其心雖小，福田良故，功德亦大」 tr. "though his mind is small, because the field of merit is good, the merit too is great" as the treatise-author approving of the discriminating mind. The treatise-author says plainly that his mind is small 「以分別諸法、取著佛身故心小」 tr. "because he discriminates dharmas and grasps at and clings to the Buddha's body, his mind is small"—grasping and clinging is a sickness, and this is judged clearly; saying that the merit too is great is said with reference to the field, not with reference to the mind. The two matters are listed separately and do not cover each other—precisely the fine point in this treatise's judging of matters; to read the latter half as approval is to wipe out the judgement of the first half.

Do not read 「餘三解脫門等，思惟籌量，或生邪見故不說」 tr. "the rest, the three gates of liberation and the like, require reflection and reckoning and may give rise to wrong views, therefore they are not spoken of" as the Buddha not permitting people to cultivate the three gates of liberation. These words have their limit—limited to the people for whom this chapter is spoken, namely 「新發意」 tr. "those who have newly aroused the mind" and 「新學」 tr. "those new to the training". In the same treatise the three gates of liberation are broadly spoken of everywhere; they are not abolished by this chapter. The reason they are not spoken of is the danger of 「思惟籌量，或生邪見」 tr. "requiring reflection and reckoning, they may give rise to wrong views", said with reference to the strength of the person, not with reference to the superiority or inferiority of the dharma.

Do not read 「得、不得雖同，我何以不發心作佛」 tr. "since obtaining and not obtaining are the same, why should I not arouse the mind to become a Buddha" as the bodhisattva arousing the mind with an indifferent heart. In the text below the treatise-author himself sets two questions and answers them: one answers 「畢竟空，無所有，無所障礙，何妨發心作佛」 tr. "ultimate emptiness is without anything existent and has nothing that obstructs; how does it hinder arousing the mind to become a Buddha", the other answers with the three conditions for arousing the mind—the suffering of relatives and friends, one's own wisdom not yet being ripe, and, hearing the deep meaning of the Great Vehicle, enemy and kin being equal. From this it can be seen that ‘obtaining and not obtaining are the same’ is only words that remove the obstruction; the real conditions for arousing the mind are in the three sections after. If one reads only the first sentence and not the text after, it becomes a cold remark.

Bearing on Practice

Take 「雖無量劫發意，未得諸法實相，皆名新學」 tr. "though he has aroused the intent for immeasurable kalpas, so long as he has not yet obtained the real mark of all dharmas, he is called new to the training" and measure your own position by it. Do not fix your depth or shallowness by the number of years of cultivation and training; only ask whether the real mark has been seen or not. Measured this way, one who has trained long need not be self-satisfied, and a beginner need not belittle himself either—both are within one 「新」 tr. "new", and the only difference is the distance walked.

Take the four matters 「自行布施，亦教人行布施，讚歎行布施功德，歡喜讚歎行布施者」 tr. "he himself practises giving, also teaches others to practise giving, praises the merit of practising giving, and rejoices in and praises those who practise giving" and check one good deed of your own by them. Did you do it? Did you urge others? Did you praise its dharma? On seeing others do it, did you rejoice in your heart? The treatise-author lists five cases of not completing them, each with its cause of sickness; ask yourself according to the four matters one by one, and in which square the sickness lies becomes clear.

Take 「我雖多施汝，汝亦不得持至後世；汝今當自作，後當自得」 tr. "though I give you much, you still cannot take it with you into later lives; you should now do it yourselves, and later you will obtain it yourselves" and regard by it the limit of helping people. Giving is relief for a time; teaching them to do it themselves is the lasting benefit. These words used on giving are equally so used on other kinds of help—whatever one can do for a person only once, one should leave behind the way of doing it as well.

Take 「不稱受者意故，福德少」 tr. "because it does not suit the recipient's wish, the merit is small" and check by it the things you give to people. Giving people what I have much of is easy; giving people what they need is hard; the hardness lies not in the thing but in whether one is willing first to ask what he wants. The sūtra changed only one Chinese character—not saying 「與衣食等」 tr. "give clothing, food, and the like" but saying 「須食與食」 tr. "to one who needs food, give food"—and the whole measure lies here.

Take 「菩薩觀其相貌，隨時所須、土地所宜」 tr. "the bodhisattva observes their appearance, what is needed at the time, and what suits the land" and practise looking at people by it. Those who have needs but cannot say them are the most numerous, and shame and fear are two common causes. So do not wait for people to open their mouths; look at the countenance, look at the season, look at the situation—these three lookings anyone can do, and there is no need to wait for the knowledge of others' minds.

Take 「先麁後細，先易後難，漸漸習學」 tr. "first coarse then fine, first easy then hard, little by little training in and learning" and arrange your own lessons by it. Whoever feels that in applying effort there is nowhere to set his hand has mostly put the fine and the hard at the front. First ask a question: is this step the first step of the ladder? If it is not, look for a step further down. What makes the simile of climbing the ladder precious is precisely that it admits the top is high and hard, yet does not for that reason give up the first rung.

Take 「有法共行，故名為易」 tr. "because there is a dharma that can be practised along with it, it is called easy" and regard by it the gates of practice that can be relied on. What makes the six recollections easy is not that they are shallow but that they have something the mind can be tied to. Whoever applies effort and feels the mind has nowhere to land need not hurry to cultivate the signless; first take up a kind of gate that has a dharma that can be practised along with it and walk on—this is the right road this chapter opens for those new to the training.

Take 「餘三解脫門等，思惟籌量，或生邪見故不說」 tr. "the rest, the three gates of liberation and the like, require reflection and reckoning and may give rise to wrong views, therefore they are not spoken of" and restrain your own restlessness by it. One who delights in hearing the lofty and deep while his strength does not yet reach it is most apt to come to grief here—and the grief is not failing in cultivation; it is giving rise to wrong views. In choosing a dharma, first measure your strength—this sentence is the plain text this chapter gives.

Take 「是人不解佛語深義以何事而說，著是空故」 tr. "these people do not understand on what matter the deep meaning of the Buddha's words is spoken; because they cling to this emptiness" and examine by it your mind after hearing of emptiness. Whoever, having heard of emptiness, feels that keeping morality is pointless and making merit is pointless has precisely grasped the mark of emptiness. The way of treating it lies in one sentence of the treatise-author: emptiness is 「隨世諦行，為破顛倒故」 tr. "practising following worldly truth, in order to break inversion"—ask yourself whether your inversion has been broken or not, and you will know whether that ‘pointlessness’ is a measure of realisation or a delusion.

Take 「譬如一人、二人，不名為軍；和合多人，乃成為軍」 tr. "it is as one person or two persons are not called an army; only when many people are combined do they make an army" and regard by it scattered efforts. One precept, one session of concentration, one round of contemplation with wisdom—each by itself is a good thing, yet each may not be able to break the afflictions; what can break them is gathering into an aggregate. So the key of one's lessons lies not in some one item being especially refined, but in all the items being without lack and continuous.

Take 「怨親無定，以因緣故，親或為怨，怨或為親」 tr. "enemy and kin are not fixed; because of causes and conditions, kin at times become enemies, and enemies at times become kin" and loosen your own knots of enmity by it. These words do not exhort people to be magnanimous; they state a fact—relationships turn from the first through causes and conditions. When this is seen clearly, patience is not forced patience. The treatise-author goes on to say 「由何而得？由忍怨故」 tr. "From what is it obtained? It is obtained from bearing with enemies", from which it can be seen that on the Buddha-path the enemy is not an obstruction but a condition.

Take 「我幸有力，能使是人得離眾苦」 tr. "I fortunately have the strength to let these people get free of all suffering" and settle by it the concrete place of arousing the mind. Arousing the mind need not first have the appearance of a great vow; first see whether before your eyes there is a person in suffering whom you yourself can help. The treatise-author places relatives and friends at the head of the three conditions for arousing the mind, precisely speaking from the nearest place.

Further Resonances

The line by which the Last Part comes on from the First Part is moving one and the same 「無所有性」 tr. "nature without anything existent" from the position of realisation to the beginning mind. What the First Part speaks of are all matters already accomplished: the Buddha states for himself that when formerly practising the bodhisattva path he parted from the desires and entered the four dhyānas, and in reliance on the four dhyānas gave rise to the five supernormal powers; toward the dhyānas he grasped their marks and obtained them and yet did not think that they existed and did not receive their flavour; toward the powers he did not grasp at their marks and did not receive their flavour; at the last, with the wisdom associated with a single thought, he obtained awakening; along the way the treatise-author explains how hard to understand ultimate emptiness is, explains how compliant acceptance runs through the small and the great, and explains the three explanations of 「有法是菩薩道，無法是菩薩果」 tr. "an existent dharma is the bodhisattva's path; a non-existent dharma is the bodhisattva's fruit". The Last Part then turns to ask about the beginning mind—with this same nature without anything existent, where does one new to the training set down his foot? The Buddha's answer has three layers: first, arousing the mind from hearing the words of the sages; second, the four kinds of practice of the six perfections; third, the six recollections. The treatise section follows it with three bones: why one new to the training is taught to practise ultimate emptiness, what difference there is among the three names practice, training, and path, and why it is named sequence. Each of the three answers has its one sentence: the first lies in 「譬如小兒服藥，須蜜乃下」 tr. "it is as a small child taking medicine: it needs honey before it can go down", the second in 「如是等，名為三事差別」 tr. "such as these are named the differences of the three matters", the third in 「譬如緣梯，從一初桄漸上，上處雖高雖難，亦能得至」 tr. "it is as climbing a ladder: from the first rung one goes up little by little, and though the place above is high and hard, one can still reach it". At the end the treatise-author takes the eight Chinese characters 「而次第法不離於空」 tr. "and the dharma of sequence is not apart from emptiness" as the verdict on the whole unit, and further with the sentence 「諸法性雖無所有，而隨世諦行，為破顛倒故」 tr. "though the nature of dharmas is without anything existent, one practises following worldly truth, in order to break inversion" establishes why it is so. Viewing the First Part and the Last Part together, the three Chinese characters 「次第學」 tr. "training in sequence" of the chapter title are only then fully spoken: what is trained in is emptiness; what enables one to train is sequence.

The title of this chapter is not handed down alike in the various editions; they are recorded side by side below without forcing a judgement. The base text titles it "Training in Sequence"; the Ming edition lacks the four Chinese characters 「大智度論」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa", and the Shōgozō and Ishiyama-dera manuscripts lack even the thirteen Chinese characters of the chapter title. The Palace edition gives a separate variant name; its collation note at the head of the fascicle reads 「（（釋次…十五））九字＝（（釋第七十五品上三次品））十字【宮】」 tr. "‘((Explaining Ci… fifteen))’, nine characters, = ‘((Explaining the seventy-fifth chapter, upper, the Three Sequences chapter))’, ten characters, (Palace)"—that is, the Palace edition directly calls this chapter 「三次品」 tr. "The Three Sequences". In the text of the Larger Sūtra being explained, the chapter title reads 「三次品第七十五」 tr. "the seventy-fifth chapter, The Three Sequences", and below the title an interlinear note of one line says that the Khitan edition reads 「次第行品」 tr. "the chapter on Sequential Practice", while the collation note on one character of its chapter title reads 「次＋（第行）【三】【宮】【聖】」 tr. "after ‘Ci’ add ‘(di xing)’ (the three editions, Palace, Shōgozō)"—that is, the five witnesses, the Song, Yuan, and Ming editions, the Palace edition, and the Shōgozō manuscript, add, in 「三次品」 tr. "The Three Sequences", below its 「次」 tr. "Ci", the two Chinese characters 「第行」 tr. "di xing". The collation notes on the continuation title at the head of this unit's fascicle also show variant readings twice: one reads 「次第學品＝次品【宋】【宮】，〔次第學品〕－【聖】」 tr. "‘Training in Sequence chapter’ = ‘Sequence chapter’ (Song, Palace); ‘[Training in Sequence chapter]’ omitted (Shōgozō)", that is, the Song and Palace editions read 「次品」 tr. "The Sequence Chapter" and the Shōgozō manuscript lacks it entirely; the other reads 「第七十五之餘＝第七十五品下訖第七十六品【宋】【聖】，第七十五下訖第七十六品【元】，第七十五之下【明】，七十四品下訖第七十五品【聖】」 tr. "‘remainder of the seventy-fifth’ = ‘seventy-fifth chapter, lower, through the seventy-sixth chapter’ (Song, Shōgozō); ‘seventy-fifth, lower, through the seventy-sixth chapter’ (Yuan); ‘seventy-fifth, Last Part’ (Ming); ‘seventy-fourth chapter, lower, through the seventy-fifth chapter’ (Shōgozō)"—the Shōgozō manuscript reads 「七十四品下訖第七十五品」 tr. "seventy-fourth chapter, lower, through the seventy-fifth chapter", its chapter number constantly one step lower than the base text's, no different from the pattern seen in the several chapters of this treatise before. What the various names take differs: 「次第學」 tr. "Training in Sequence" is set up from its training gradually; 「三次」 tr. "Three Sequences" is set up from the sequence of the three, practice, training, and path; 「次第行」 tr. "Sequential Practice" is set up from its practice; the treatise section of this chapter has precisely the question 「次第行、次第學、次第道有何差別」 tr. "what difference is there among sequential practice, sequential training, and sequential path" and lists six sayings in a row, and the three names each obtain one side.

In his Great Calming and Contemplation, Zhiyi divides the three teachings, sudden, gradual, and indeterminate, and under the item 「漸」 tr. "gradual" cites directly the core words of this chapter's name as evidence; his text says: 「《大品》云：「次第行、次第學、次第道。」此證漸也。」 tr. "The Larger Sūtra says: ‘Sequential practice, sequential training, sequential path.’ This is evidence for the gradual." The three names he cites are wholly the same as the fixed formula that recurs again and again in the sūtra and treatise of this chapter, and are explicitly attributed to the Larger Sūtra—so in the Tiantai division of the teachings the three names of this chapter were once taken as plain evidence for the gradual teaching.

Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra explains this chapter under the title "The Three Sequences", and its divisions and explanations largely correspond to this unit; the essentials are recorded side by side. On the opening question of this unit, Jizang judges it the second section of the Buddha's answer: 「新學菩薩云何次第行下，第二、為始行菩薩開行次第也」 tr. "From ‘how do bodhisattvas new to the training practise in sequence’ onward: second, opening the sequence of practice for bodhisattvas beginning their practice", and he takes up the treatise-author's words, saying: 「論云須菩提信受佛語，諸法雖空而能起五通等，此是知菩薩所能行也。新學菩薩云何於無所有中脩行次第？」 tr. "The treatise says Subhūti believed and received the Buddha's words: though dharmas are empty, one can give rise to the five supernormal powers and the rest; this is knowing what a bodhisattva can practise. How do bodhisattvas new to the training cultivate the sequence of practice within there being nothing existent?"—agreeing exactly with the treatise-author's section 「須菩提伏受佛語」 tr. "Subhūti subdued himself and received the Buddha's words". On the three layers of the Buddha's answer, Jizang judges in general: 「佛答中約三種明次第：一者、約發心明次第；二者、約六度明次第；三者、得六念明次第」 tr. "In the Buddha's answer, sequence is made clear by way of three kinds: first, sequence made clear by way of arousing the mind; second, sequence made clear by way of the six perfections; third, sequence made clear by obtaining the six recollections"—the division into three layers is wholly the same as the order of the sūtra in this unit. On the meaning of 「新學」 tr. "new to the training", Jizang sets a question and answers it: 「問：何等是新學？答：雖未得無生現前無量劫脩行，皆名新學」 tr. "Question: what is new to the training? Answer: though one has cultivated practice for immeasurable kalpas, if non-arising has not yet been obtained and made present, all are called new to the training", the same judgement as the treatise-author's 「雖無量劫發意，未得諸法實相，皆名新學」 tr. "though he has aroused the intent for immeasurable kalpas, so long as he has not yet obtained the real mark of all dharmas, he is called new to the training". On the sayings about the three names, Jizang too sets four sayings side by side: 「人解三次有四說：一、行學道；三、名異了，義更無異。二云、初行中名學後道。三云、布施名行、持戒名學、智慧名道。三云、戒名行、定名學、慧名道，約八正戒定慧亦然。四云、檀與精進六度為行，持戒與禪二度為學，忍是善、般若是慧，具足故名為道也。」 tr. "People explain the three sequences with four sayings: first, practice, training, and path; the three names differ, and in meaning there is no further difference. The second says: the beginning is practice, the middle is named training, the end is path. The third says: giving is named practice, keeping morality is named training, wisdom is named path. The third says: morality is named practice, concentration is named training, wisdom is named path, and by way of the eightfold right path, morality, concentration, and wisdom, it is likewise. The fourth says: dāna and vigour among the six perfections are practice, keeping morality and dhyāna, two perfections, are training, patience is goodness and prajñā is wisdom, and because they are complete it is named path." What it lists differs here and there from the treatise-author's six sayings but on the whole agrees with them. On the section on hearing only from the sages, Jizang explains: 「此中明始行菩薩但從聖人邊開法者，聖說多無依著故，緣覺不說法故，不從緣覺聞」 tr. "Here it makes clear that the bodhisattva beginning his practice hears the Dharma only from the side of the sages, because the sages' speaking is mostly without reliance and clinging; because pratyekabuddhas do not expound the Dharma, he does not hear from pratyekabuddhas"—corresponding to the treatise-author's two sections 「餘人多以著心說，諸聖人以無著心說」 tr. "the other people mostly speak with a clinging mind, while the sages speak with a mind without clinging" and 「辟支佛不樂說法故，不說」 tr. "the pratyekabuddhas are not mentioned, because they do not delight in expounding the Dharma". On the doubt whether arousing the mind also has the three sequences, Jizang asks and answers himself: 「向發心中云何有次第行學道耶？答：此約初中後明學道，故發心亦具三也。」 tr. "In the arousing of the mind just mentioned, how is there sequential practice, training, and path? Answer: this makes clear training and path by way of beginning, middle, and end; therefore arousing the mind too has all three." On the four kinds of practice of the six perfections, Jizang lists them separately and speaks of the cases of not completing them: 「此中度皆具四行：一、自行；二、化他；三、歎人。有人雖自能行施，不能教化行施，以畏嗔故。又畏為已教布施，以之為息故，不能教化行施。有人雖能教化行施，而自不能行。有人具三事：一、自行施；二、能教他；三、歎布施法，見破戒惡人行施也。皆不具四事。菩薩具足四事」 tr. "Here the perfections all have four practices: first, practising oneself; second, transforming others; third, praising people. There is someone who, though he himself can practise giving, cannot teach and transform others to practise giving, because he fears anger. Again, he fears that because he has taught them to give, they will take it as interest, and so he cannot teach and transform others to practise giving. There is someone who, though he can teach and transform others to practise giving, cannot practise it himself. There is someone who has the three matters: first, practising giving himself; second, being able to teach others; third, praising the dharma of giving—he sees a precept-breaking evil person practising giving. None of them has the four matters. The bodhisattva fulfils the four matters"—of the same purport as the five cases listed by the treatise-author. On the doubt about the five portions arising from giving, Jizang sets a question saying: 「問：此云菩薩因布施生五分，得入菩薩位，云何作之？答：菩薩布施故，得果報如竟，不猶戒即生眾。又施眾生無畏，亦是戒眾。以持戒故得空，空故發慧，發慧斷煩惱，得脫眾生，可知見證解脫，名解脫知見眾也。」 tr. "Question: this says that the bodhisattva, through giving, gives rise to the five portions and obtains entry into the bodhisattva's position; how is this done? Answer: because the bodhisattva gives, he obtains the retribution as it comes to completion, not like morality at once giving rise to the aggregate. Again, giving beings fearlessness is also the aggregate of morality. Because of keeping morality he obtains emptiness; because of emptiness wisdom arises; wisdom arising severs the afflictions, and he obtains the liberation of beings; it can be known and seen that he has realised liberation, and it is named the aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation." On the mutual containing of the five portions and the six perfections, Jizang says: 「五分身六度相攝者，尸羅攝戒身，攝解脫身及定身，般若攝慧身及解脫智見」 tr. "As for the five-portioned body and the six perfections containing one another: śīla contains the body of morality, contains the body of liberation and the body of concentration, and prajñā contains the body of wisdom and the knowledge and vision of liberation"—largely the same as the treatise-author's way of matching, 「持戒眾名尸波羅蜜；定眾、解脫眾名禪波羅蜜；慧眾、解脫知見眾是般若波羅蜜」 tr. "the aggregate of keeping morality is named śīlapāramitā; the aggregate of concentration and the aggregate of liberation are named dhyānapāramitā; the aggregate of wisdom and the aggregate of the knowledge and vision of liberation are prajñāpāramitā". On the section on the six recollections, Jizang is brief, saying only: 「第二、約六念明三次，如文也。」 tr. "Second, the three sequences are made clear by way of the six recollections, as in the text." On Subhūti's difficulty at the end, Jizang judges it the third section and explains its intent: 「須菩提白佛下，第三、須菩提取惑情為問，請佛今通使教通無。應問意云：若諸法實無所有，則無有次第行學等。佛反問：汝聲聞人見色等法是定實不？須菩提答：一切法從因緣假名有，無有實定故，我不見其實定一也。」 tr. "From ‘Subhūti said to the Buddha’ onward: third, Subhūti takes up deluded feelings to make a question, asking the Buddha now to resolve them, so that the teaching may get through without obstruction. The intent of the question should be: if dharmas really are without anything existent, then there is no sequential practice, training, and so on. The Buddha asks in return: you, a śrāvaka, do you see form and the other dharmas as fixed and real? Subhūti answers: all dharmas exist as provisional names from causes and conditions, and there is nothing real and fixed; therefore I do not see their real and fixed oneness." On the order of breaking morality and breaking view in the last passage, Jizang explains: 「破正見者，惡取空是邪見故破正見，內破正見故外破戒及威儀，以不畏罪故便妄語求利，故破淨命也」 tr. "As for breaking right view: wrongly grasping emptiness is wrong view, and so it breaks right view; because right view is broken within, morality and deportment are broken without; because they do not fear sin, they then tell lies to seek gain, and so they break pure livelihood"—the division of inner and outer agrees wholly with the treatise-author's order, 「即生邪見，破正見；破正見故，以少因緣而破戒及威儀」 tr. "they give rise to wrong views and break right view; because they break right view, on scant causes and conditions they break morality and deportment".

The extant text of Huiying's Commentary stops at fascicle twenty-four, and what it comments on ends in the middle of chapter sixty-nine; this chapter lies outside the range of his extant commentary, and so for this chapter his explanation is lacking—it is not that his commentary covered it and failed to reach it. Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises sets out its discussion by topics and does not comment chapter by chapter; it cites nothing on the three names of this chapter, and this is recorded according to the facts, without judging whether there is or is not.