大智度論 實際品Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · The Limit of Reality

I. Structural Placement

Within the sequence in which the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa comments on the Larger Sūtra, this chapter belongs to the section of the Commentary on the Remaining Chapters, and lies in Fascicle 90. The chapter title 「大智度論釋實際品第八十」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on the Limit of Reality, the Eightieth"〔T25 0692c11〕 is written on the same line together with the fascicle number 「卷九十」 tr. "Fascicle Ninety"; directly above it is the end of the preceding chapter, "Thorough Penetration", the Seventy-ninth—after the last sentence of the preceding chapter, 「如是行般若波羅蜜菩薩，則能祐利眾生」 tr. "The bodhisattva who practises prajñāpāramitā in this way can protect and benefit beings"〔T25 0692c06〕, comes the fascicle-end title 「大智度論卷第八十九」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Eighty-nine"〔T25 0692c08〕, and this chapter's title follows straight on from it to open the fascicle. Hence this chapter is of the type ‘the chapter title is precisely the title that opens the fascicle’, exactly the opposite of the ‘tied within the fascicle’ of Chapter 78.

One chapter occupies a whole fascicle by itself (the most important structural fact of this chapter). The body of this chapter ends with the sentence 「菩薩行是諸法性，得佛時，能大利益眾生」 tr. "The bodhisattva practising the nature of these dharmas, when he becomes a Buddha, can greatly benefit beings"〔T25 0699b22〕, after which comes at once the fascicle-end title 「大智度論卷第九十」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Ninety"〔T25 0699b24〕; the title of the next chapter, 「大智度論釋照明品第八十一」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Illumination, the Eighty-first"〔T25 0699c02〕, is tied to a fascicle number of its own, 「卷第九十一」 tr. "Fascicle Ninety-one"〔T25 0699c03〕, and repeats the author's signature 「龍樹菩薩造」 tr. "Composed by the Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna"〔T25 0699c05〕 and the translator's signature 「後秦龜茲國三藏鳩摩羅什譯」 tr. "Translated by Kumārajīva, Tripiṭaka master of Kucha, in the Later Qin"〔T25 0699c06〕. The two titles at head and tail interlock: the whole of Fascicle 90 is this one chapter, and this chapter does not cross a fascicle either—wholly different from the chapters that cross fascicles, Chapters 40 to 47 and Chapter 78, and the opposite of Chapter 78, a single chapter spanning two fascicles. The author's signature reads 「聖者龍樹菩薩造」 tr. "Composed by the noble Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna"〔T25 0692c13〕, differing from the 「龍樹菩薩造」 tr. "Composed by the Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna" at the head of the next chapter's fascicle (the next chapter lacks the two Chinese characters 「聖者」 tr. "noble"), a small fascicle-by-fascicle difference in the wording of the base text's author signatures; recorded as it is, without forcing an explanation.

The structure within the chapter is one sūtra section and one treatise section. One 【經】 marker〔T25 0692c15〕 and one 【論】 marker〔T25 0696a11〕; the whole chapter has no second round of sūtra and treatise set against each other—unlike the multiple paired rounds listed in Chapters 44 to 47, the sūtra section of this chapter is a single continuous long dialogue between Subhūti and the Buddha, and the treatise section is Nāgārjuna's single long commentary. Both markers enter the collation entries (at 【經】 the three Song, Palace, and Shōgozō texts lack this marker; at 【論】 the two Song and Palace texts lack this marker); see Section VIII.

The whole chapter has nine thousand six hundred and forty-six pure Chinese characters. Divided along the boundary between the sūtra and treatise sections, it forms two units: the First Part (the sūtra section, from the chapter title up to before the 【論】 marker), four thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, and the Last Part (the treatise section, from the 【論】 marker up to the fascicle-end title), four thousand eight hundred and eleven; the sum of the two numbers agrees exactly with the value for the whole chapter, with not a single character lost. This chapter, being a single fascicle, has no fascicle boundary to take; the cut point is precisely the sūtra–treatise boundary where the 【論】 marker stands〔T25 0696a11〕, and no new boundary of any kind has been made; the character counts of the two sections are almost half and half, a naturally balanced cut point.

The density of questions and answers in the treatise section: 「問曰」 tr. "Question" is seen nine times and 「答曰」 tr. "Answer" nine times, the pairs equal in number with no one-sided remainder (Question at〔T25 0696a19〕〔T25 0696a24〕〔T25 0696b21〕〔T25 0696b25〕〔T25 0696c03〕〔T25 0697c26〕〔T25 0698a27〕〔T25 0699a01〕〔T25 0699a07〕); there is in addition one occurrence of 「有人言」 tr. "someone says"〔T25 0699a20〕, attached after the last 「答曰」 tr. "Answer" without forming a new question. 「復次」 tr. "Again" is seen thirteen times, 「譬如」 tr. "It is as" five times, and 「如先」 tr. "as before" three times—all regular forms of this treatise's commentarial style.

The chapter's position as judged by the ancient masters. Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra, in its opening words on this chapter, at once judges its position: 「此下第三、明為化之意」 tr. "From here below is the third: making clear the intent of transforming"〔X24n0451 0332c12〕—this chapter is the third within one great section on 「化他」 tr. "transforming others", and the reason why the bodhisattva transforms in ten thousand ways is precisely that he wishes to set beings within the limit of reality. The old division of the Fu and Yao times that Huiying's Commentary inherits likewise takes the ten chapters from "The Four Means of Gathering" onward as one section on 「外化方便」 tr. "skilful means of outward transformation"—「第二從四攝品去於化品有十品經，明菩薩外化方便」 tr. "Second, from the ‘Four Means of Gathering’ chapter on to the ‘Like a Conjuration’ chapter there are ten chapters of the sūtra, making clear the bodhisattva's skilful means of outward transformation"〔X46n0791 0912c21〕, and this chapter lies within that section. The two masters stand side by side; recorded without judgement; see Section VI for details.

II. Terms Examined

The terms of this chapter take 「實際」 tr. "the limit of reality" as the main cord, 「性空」 tr. "the emptiness of nature" as the substance, and 「方便力」 tr. "the power of skilful means" as the function. Each entry records the base text's own definition, without settling a reading on its behalf.

The limit of reality · the limit of beings. What the chapter's title is tied to, the pivot of the whole chapter. A single headline sentence of the sūtra section sets it up: 「菩薩為實際故行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "The bodhisattva practises prajñāpāramitā for the sake of the limit of reality"〔T25 0692c17〕; that he can act for beings hinges on the two limits not being different—「實際、眾生際異者，菩薩不行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "If the limit of reality and the limit of beings were different, the bodhisattva would not practise prajñāpāramitā", 「實際、眾生際不異」 tr. "the limit of reality and the limit of beings are not different"〔T25 0692c19〕. The Buddha further extends it: 「實際亦不異眾生際，實際、眾生際無二無別」 tr. "The limit of reality too is not different from the limit of beings; the limit of reality and the limit of beings are without duality and without difference"〔T25 0693a01〕. The treatise-author gives two definitions: the first speaks in terms of dharmas—「眾生假名虛誑、畢竟不可得」 tr. "beings are a provisional name, false and deceptive, ultimately unfindable"〔T25 0696a17〕, while what the bodhisattva acts for is the real dharma, 「實法即是實際」 tr. "the real dharma is precisely the limit of reality"〔T25 0696a18〕; the second speaks in terms of contemplation—the bodhisattva seeks the substance of ignorance and at that very moment it is illumination, 「諸法實相，名為實際」 tr. "the real mark of all dharmas is named the limit of reality"〔T25 0697a14〕. The treatise-author also brings forward, on others' behalf, the reason a divergent explanation runs into difficulty: 「實際是畢竟空，眾生際是決定有」 tr. "the limit of reality is ultimate emptiness; the limit of beings is fixed existence"〔T25 0697a26〕—if one explains it this way, the two limits become different and the objection arises at once; yet the answer of this chapter lies only in the single meaning 「不異」 tr. "not different", and so the treatise-author gathers it up, saying 「是故住實際無咎」 tr. "therefore abiding in the limit of reality is without fault"〔T25 0697a24〕.

Self-nature · establishing self-nature in self-nature. Subhūti's objection falls on this point: if the two limits are one, then establishing beings in the limit of reality becomes 「建立自性於自性」 tr. "establishing self-nature in self-nature". The Buddha's answer does not break his objection but shifts its position—「實際不可建立於實際，自性不可建立於自性」 tr. "The limit of reality cannot be established in the limit of reality; self-nature cannot be established in self-nature"〔T25 0692c27〕, and at once he offers the power of skilful means as the way out. The treatise-author says the whole of this principle with one simile: 「自性不應自性中住，如指端不能自觸指端」 tr. "Self-nature should not abide within self-nature, as the tip of a finger cannot touch the tip of that finger"〔T25 0697b05〕, and further sets out how the two dharmas fall into neither side—「菩薩知是二法不一不二，亦不不一、亦不不二，畢竟寂滅無戲論相」 tr. "The bodhisattva knows that these two dharmas are neither one nor two, nor not one, nor not two—ultimately of quiescent extinction, without the mark of idle discourse"〔T25 0697b09〕.

The power of skilful means. The functioning eye of this chapter. Subhūti asks specifically 「何等是諸菩薩摩訶薩方便力」 tr. "What is the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas' power of skilful means?"〔T25 0693a02〕, and the sūtra section answers it in order through five gates—giving, keeping morality, patience, vigour, and meditative concentration—each gate beginning with 「以方便力故」 tr. "by the power of skilful means". The treatise-author sets down a definition of the power of skilful means: 「方便力者，畢竟無法、亦無眾生，而度眾生」 tr. "The power of skilful means is this: ultimately there are no dharmas and no beings, and yet he delivers beings"〔T25 0697c25〕; its manner of practice is 「欲覺悟狂惑顛倒凡夫故，行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "wishing to awaken ordinary people who are mad, deluded, and inverted, he practises prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0697b01〕, and it comes home to 「菩薩雖住實際中，以方便力，布施門度眾生」 tr. "though the bodhisattva abides within the limit of reality, by the power of skilful means he delivers beings through the gate of giving"〔T25 0697c03〕.

The emptiness of nature · the mark of the abiding of dharmas · the constantly abiding marks of dharmas. The body of the teaching in the sūtra section. What the bodhisattva teaches beings is not some separately set-up dharma; it is only the emptiness of nature: 「是名實際性空法」 tr. "This is named the dharma of the limit of reality and the emptiness of nature"〔T25 0693b16〕. The sūtra marks the look of the emptiness of nature with 「是性空無住處，亦無所從來、亦無所從去」 tr. "This emptiness of nature has no abiding-place, nor does it come from anywhere, nor does it go anywhere"〔T25 0694b21〕, and ties its name to it: 「是名法住相」 tr. "This is named the mark of the abiding of dharmas"〔T25 0694b22〕—the same name appears once more below〔T25 0694b26〕; the former speaks of dharmas' having no abiding, the latter of arousing the mind with no arousing and no abiding, and each of the two places is an anchor in its own right. The treatise-author's corresponding words read 「常住法相是性空之異名，亦名諸法實相」 tr. "The constantly abiding marks of dharmas are another name for the emptiness of nature, and are also named the real mark of all dharmas"〔T25 0697c21〕. The relation between the eighteen emptinesses and the emptiness of nature also falls under this entry: 「十八空能令一切法空，若自不空，則為虛誑」 tr. "The eighteen emptinesses can make all dharmas empty; if they themselves were not empty, they would be false and deceptive"〔T25 0697c17〕.

The mark of the highest meaning · worldly truth · the foremost real meaning. The entry on the two truths. The sūtra section defines the highest meaning: 「第一義相者，無作、無為、無生、無相、無說」 tr. "The mark of the highest meaning is without making, unconditioned, non-arising, signless, and unspeakable"〔T25 0694c26〕, and makes clear that its three names are of one substance—this is named the highest meaning, is also named the emptiness of nature, and is also named the path of the buddhas. The words of worldly truth, by contrast, are tied again and again to the provisions of teaching and transforming: 「是世俗法，非第一實義」 tr. "This is a worldly dharma, not the foremost real meaning"〔T25 0693a28〕, the same words appearing again after the gate of patience〔T25 0693b15〕; at the end of the chapter 「世諦故說名菩薩」 tr. "by reason of worldly truth he is named bodhisattva"〔T25 0696a03〕 closes the sūtra section. The treatise-author explains it: 「第一義中無分別，世諦中有分別」 tr. "Within the highest meaning there is no discrimination; within worldly truth there is discrimination"〔T25 0698a27〕, and assigns what the two names point to—「諸法實相名性空」 tr. "the real mark of all dharmas is named the emptiness of nature"〔T25 0698a28〕, while the rest, giving and so on up to the eighty minor marks, is the bodhisattva path.

The flavour of ambrosia · the fruit of ambrosia. Words about fruit in the giving gate of the sūtra section, for which the treatise-author fixes the names: 「甘露味者，是八聖道分；甘露果者，是涅槃」 tr. "The flavour of ambrosia is the eightfold noble path; the fruit of ambrosia is nirvāṇa"〔T25 0697c02〕. This is one of the few places in this chapter where a definition is given outright, and the gloss of the terms comes from the treatise-author, not from the sūtra text; recorded as to its source, as it is.

Supernormal powers obtained as retribution · the dharma of the acceptance of non-arising · the bodhisattva path like an illusion · a life-span as he wishes. At the end of the gate of meditative concentration the sūtra section says that the bodhisattva's benefiting of beings is unbroken: 「是菩薩住報得神通，利益眾生，入生死五道」 tr. "This bodhisattva abides in supernormal powers obtained as retribution, benefits beings, and enters the five destinies of birth and death"〔T25 0694a09〕. At the end of the treatise section the treatise-author sets out the real meaning of the phrase 「隨意壽命」 tr. "a life-span as he wishes": 「隨意壽命者，菩薩得無生忍法」 tr. "A life-span as he wishes: the bodhisattva obtains the dharma of the acceptance of non-arising"〔T25 0698b14〕, enters the bodhisattva path like an illusion, can at one time transform himself into a thousand koṭi of myriads of bodies, and takes on forms according to the life-spans of beings; his example is drawn from our own Teacher—「如釋迦牟尼佛，於此國土壽命百年」 tr. "as Śākyamuni Buddha, in this land, has a life-span of a hundred years"〔T25 0698b18〕, while in the Adorned Buddha-land his life-span is seven hundred asaṃkhyeya kalpas—and he judges it: 「佛法於五不可思議中是第一不可思議」 tr. "Among the five inconceivables, the Buddha-dharma is the foremost inconceivable"〔T25 0698b19〕.

The path · the seven kinds of fruit. When the treatise-author explains ‘apart from the emptiness of nature there is no path and no fruit’, he points name by name to what is real: 「道者，八聖道分；果者，七種果」 tr. "The path is the eightfold noble path; the fruit is the seven kinds of fruit"〔T25 0698b23〕. The list of the seven fruits is not given at this place in this treatise; Jizang's Commentary reads 「果謂七果，道謂八正」 tr. "The fruits means the seven fruits; the path means the eight right ones"〔X24n0451 0333c03〕 and adds its own note, 「七果應是四果，緣覺佛菩薩也」 tr. "The seven fruits should be the four fruits, the pratyekabuddha, the Buddha, and the bodhisattva"—a list supplied by an ancient master; recorded without judgement; see Section VI.

The members of the twelve links traced in reverse (a distinctive feature of the treatise section). The first half of the treatise section explains 「實際」 tr. "the limit of reality" by tracing the twelve members back in reverse, and for each member there are words fixing its name: the cause of old age and death is birth—「何因緣故有老、病、死？以有生故」 tr. "Through what causes and conditions are there old age, sickness, and death? Because there is birth"〔T25 0696a23〕, and 「生定是苦本」 tr. "birth is certainly the root of suffering"〔T25 0696b04〕; the cause of birth is existence (existence in desire, existence in form, existence in the formless), the cause of existence is the four graspings, the cause of grasping is craving and the other afflictions (the small one is named craving; the one that grows and can give rise to deeds is named grasping), the cause of craving is the three kinds of feeling, the cause of feeling is the six contacts, the cause of contact is the six entries—「六入因緣，名色」 tr. "The cause and condition of the six entries is name-and-form"〔T25 0696b15〕, 「名色因緣，是識」 tr. "The cause and condition of name-and-form is consciousness"〔T25 0696b18〕; consciousness enters the womb by way of constructions—「行因緣。行即是過去三種業，業將識入胎」 tr. "Constructions as cause and condition. Constructions are precisely the three kinds of past deeds; the deeds carry consciousness into the womb"〔T25 0696b22〕; the root of constructions is ignorance—「是行因緣名無明」 tr. "the cause and condition of these constructions is named ignorance"〔T25 0696b28〕. The treatise-author also sets up two questions of his own to mark the bounds of the terms: why the deeds above are named existence while the deeds now are named constructions (the answer lies in the difference between having and not having a present name), and 「無始生死展轉甚多，何以止齊無明？」 tr. "Beginningless birth and death turn round very many times; why stop at ignorance?"〔T25 0696c03〕—his answer is only five Chinese characters, 「是事先已答」 tr. "This matter has already been answered before"〔T25 0696c04〕, and he does not restate it. The Sanskrit transliteration of 「行」 tr. "constructions" is preserved in the base text as an interlinear note (see the collation notes in Section VIII), a sound handed down by Kumārajīva's translation assembly, not collated from a recent Sanskrit edition.

III. Similes and Stories

Similes are seen five times in this chapter, all short and to the point, with no long jātaka; in addition two records of events in the Buddha's lifetime enter the questions and answers of the treatise section, a distinctive point of this chapter's style.

The simile of the conjured fourfold assembly (sūtra section · the general simile for teaching within emptiness). 「譬如佛化作四眾：比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷，常為是諸眾說法，千萬億劫不斷」 tr. "It is as the Buddha conjures the fourfold assembly—bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, upāsikās—and constantly teaches the Dharma for these assemblies, unbroken for thousands of myriads of koṭi of kalpas"〔T25 0694c04〕—with this the Buddha sets a question: would these conjured assemblies obtain the four fruits and receive the prediction? Subhūti answers that they would not, 「是諸化眾無有根本實故」 tr. "because these conjured assemblies have no real root". What the simile shows: teaching the Dharma does not wait for the one transformed to be real, so the emptiness of nature does not hinder teaching and transforming. The treatise-author uses this simile again in the treatise section: 「是化人無處行，化人無心、無心數法故」 tr. "This conjured person practises nowhere, because the conjured person has no mind and no mental-factor dharmas"〔T25 0698c25〕, turning the simile to the meaning of 「菩提無處行」 tr. "awakening practises nowhere". Jizang judges this to be a 「處喻」 tr. "simile of place"—「舉化人喻，菩提無處行是處喻也」 tr. "Bringing up the simile of the conjured person, ‘awakening practises nowhere’ is a simile of place"〔X24n0451 0333c12〕.

The simile of space not destroying space (sūtra section · the simile for the indestructible mark). 「譬如虛空不壞虛空，內虛空不壞外虛空，外虛空不壞內虛空」 tr. "It is as space does not destroy space: inner space does not destroy outer space, outer space does not destroy inner space"〔T25 0695b03〕; what it shows is the meaning of 「是色性空相不壞色」 tr. "this mark of form's emptiness of nature does not destroy form"〔T25 0695b02〕, and its verdict lies in 「是二法無有性能有所壞」 tr. "these two dharmas have no nature that could destroy anything"〔T25 0695b06〕. The treatise section cites the same simile in shortened form and supplies the reason: 「如內虛空不壞外虛空，以同體故」 tr. "as inner space does not destroy outer space, because they are of the same substance".

The simile of space, wind, clouds, stain, and purity (treatise section · the simile for the emptiness of nature not being made so by any power). 「譬如虛空，性常清淨，不著垢闇」 tr. "It is as space, whose nature is ever pure and is not touched by stain and darkness"〔T25 0698b06〕; when wind and clouds darken and cover it, people say it is impure; when a fierce wind blows them away, people say it is pure; 「而虛空實無垢無淨」 tr. "yet space in reality is without stain and without purity"〔T25 0698b09〕. What it shows: the emptiness of nature is not made empty by the power of merit, nor made empty by the power of wisdom, 「但性自爾故」 tr. "but simply because its nature is so of itself"; the buddhas with the fierce wind of teaching the Dharma blow away the clouds and film of inversion, and what is removed is only the film—no purity is added to space.

The simile of grass and trees being burned · the simile of the wind blowing a severed flame · the simile of the good physician treating illness · the simile of a fire burning a house (treatise section · four similes of the passage on the twelve links of causes and conditions). Explaining 「生定是苦本」 tr. "birth is certainly the root of suffering", it says 「如草木有生故，必可焚燒」 tr. "as grass and trees, because they have arisen, can certainly be burned"〔T25 0696b04〕—if they were not to arise, then even with a fierce fire and a great wind there would be nothing to burn or harm. Explaining how deeds carry consciousness into the womb, it says 「如風吹絕焰，空中而去，焰則依止於風」 tr. "as the wind blows a severed flame, which goes off through the air, the flame then relying on the wind"〔T25 0696b23〕. Explaining why the bodhisattva cuts off only future suffering, it sets up two similes together: 「如良醫，過去病不可治，現在病亦不可治」 tr. "as a good physician cannot treat past illness, and cannot treat present illness either"〔T25 0696c07〕, and in giving medicine treats only the illness that is about to arise; 「又如失火燒舍，不為已過去火故勤滅」 tr. "and again, as when a fire has broken out and is burning a house, one does not strive to put it out for the sake of the fire already past"〔T25 0696c09〕, nor strives to put it out for the sake of the present fire, but strives to put it out only so that the future fire may not burn further. The two similes are brought out together and do not stand in for each other, and the treatise-author himself judges that they are not empty: the diligent skilful means of the good physician and of the one who puts out the fire are not in vain either.

The simile of the silkworm wrapping itself in its own silk (treatise section · the simile for binding oneself by inversion). 「譬如蠶出絲自裹縛，入沸湯火炙」 tr. "It is as a silkworm puts out silk and wraps and binds itself, then enters boiling water and is roasted by fire"〔T25 0697a16〕—when ordinary people are first born they do not yet have the afflictions; later they themselves give rise to greed and anger, which cover their true wisdom, and on changing bodies they undergo the burning of hell-fire and boiling in cauldrons. This simile differs from the four before it: those four speak of principle, this one speaks of the state of things, and it is the place in this chapter from which compassion arises.

A small child treading on fire and stepping on ice (treatise section · a worldly example for the sequence of the twelve links). 「如小兒蹈火履氷，但有觸，未知苦樂」 tr. "as a small child treads on fire and steps on ice: there is only contact, and he does not yet know pain or pleasure"〔T25 0696c27〕—matching the sequence from infancy to adulthood with the arising of the six entries, contact, feeling, craving, and grasping, the regular method of this treatise for showing the marks of dharmas through worldly matters. The same passage further uses 「譬如現在火熱，過去、未來火亦如是」 tr. "It is as present fire is hot; past and future fire are likewise"〔T25 0697a04〕 to make clear ‘knowing one previous life, koṭi of myriads of lives can be known’, and warns: 「若更求，則墮戲論，非是佛法」 tr. "If one seeks further, one falls into idle discourse; that is not the Buddha's Dharma"〔T25 0697a06〕.

The madman's false seeing (treatise section · the simile for the recollection and imagining of ordinary people). 「如狂人妄有所見，以為實有」 tr. "as a madman falsely sees things and takes them to really exist"〔T25 0698a03〕—in order to deliver ordinary people who are madmen, within the dharma of madness he speaks of the existence of dharmas with distinctions, while within the real dharma there are none.

Two records of events in the Buddha's lifetime (treatise section · cited in question and answer · not similes). The treatise-author sets up his own question, 「乃至佛猶尚有眠，何以知之」 tr. "Even the Buddha still sleeps—how is this known?", and brings forward two events as proof: first, the Buddha orders Ānanda—「汝四襞優多羅僧敷，我欲小眠」 tr. "Fold my uttarāsaṅga in four and spread it out; I wish to sleep a little"〔T25 0699a08〕, and you teach the Dharma for the bhikṣus; second, the Nirgrantha Satyaka asks the Buddha whether he sleeps by day, and the Buddha answers 「春末夏初，以時熱故小眠息，除食患故」 tr. "At the end of spring and the start of summer, because the season is hot, I sleep and rest a little, to remove the trouble of food"〔T25 0699a10〕, and corrects the claim 「晝日眠是癡相」 tr. "sleeping by day is a mark of delusion" with 「諸漏能生後身相續不斷者，是名癡相」 tr. "When the outflows can give rise to a later body and the continuity is unbroken, this is named the mark of delusion"〔T25 0699a12〕—even if one never sleeps, that too is delusion; if the outflows are forever extinguished without remainder, then even though one sleeps it is not called delusion. What the two events prove is not the doctrine of this chapter but the limits of Subhūti's phrase 「阿羅漢尚不眠」 tr. "the arhat does not even sleep"; for its explanation see Section VI.

IV. The Sūtra Passage Explained

The alignment of the sūtra explained (Fascicle 25 of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra · it too opens with the title at the head of the fascicle). The "Limit of Reality" chapter, the Eightieth, of the sūtra explained, T223, begins at〔T08 0400c22〕 and ends at〔T08 0404b01〕, and the next chapter begins at〔T08 0404b02〕. Above it,〔T08 0400c19〕 is the fascicle title 「摩訶般若波羅蜜經卷第二十五」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Fascicle Twenty-five" and〔T08 0400c21〕 is the translator's signature—this chapter of the sūtra explained also stands at the head of its fascicle, of the same type as this treatise's chapter standing at the head of Fascicle 90, and the two canons agree in the point at which the fascicles divide at this chapter (unlike Chapter 78, where the two canons divide their fascicles at different points). The collation note on the sūtra's chapter title records that the Shōgozō text's title reads 「摩訶般若波羅蜜經實際品第八十」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Chapter on the Limit of Reality, the Eightieth" (adding the sūtra's name as a prefix); this belongs to the layer of notes and does not enter the entries.

The divergence between the two canons in the name of the next chapter (the most important single entry of this chapter's apparatus). This treatise's next chapter reads 「大智度論釋照明品第八十一」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on Illumination, the Eighty-first"〔T25 0699c02〕, whereas the next chapter of the sūtra explained reads in the base text 「具足品第八十一」 tr. "Chapter on Completeness, the Eighty-first"〔T08 0404b02〕—the chapter names differ while the chapter number is the same. Checking character by character the notes of the sūtra explained at this point: the first records 「具足【大】，照明【宮】，卷第廿六具足【聖】」 tr. "Completeness (Taishō), Illumination (Palace), Fascicle Twenty-six, Completeness (Shōgozō)"; the second is the interlinear note below the chapter title, 「丹照明品」 tr. "Khitan: Chapter on Illumination", and records that the five Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Shōgozō texts lack this interlinear note. That is: the Palace edition of the sūtra explained reads precisely "Illumination", and the base text further keeps, by an interlinear note, the variant of the Khitan edition (the Khitan Canon) reading "Illumination"—the chapter name "Illumination" used by this treatise has, within the line of the sūtra explained, two witnesses, the Palace edition and the Khitan edition, and does not stand alone with this treatise. Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra likewise titles the chapter after this one "Completeness", the Eighty-first〔X24n0451 0333c23〕, of the same making as the base text of the sūtra explained. That is: two makings of the next chapter's name run side by side—the base-text line of the sūtra explained and Jizang's Commentary read "Completeness"; this treatise and the Palace and Khitan editions of the sūtra explained read "Illumination"; the chapter number is in every case the Eighty-first. The two makings stand side by side; recorded without judgement, without extending one making to the whole line, and without inferring which school's explanation agrees with which. At the end of this chapter of the sūtra explained〔T08 0404b01〕 there is in addition a line of Sanskrit heading attached by the Taishō editors; this was attached by recent editors, is not handed down by the ancient masters, and this edition records its existence but does not adopt it as a basis for the Sanskrit source, nor transcribe it.

A full reading of the re-quoted sūtra against the sūtra (a mechanical collation of the stream of Chinese characters, character by character · fifty-two divergences). The stream of Chinese characters of this treatise's sūtra section (from after the 【經】 marker up to before the 【論】 marker) has four thousand eight hundred and eight characters, and that of this chapter of the sūtra explained four thousand eight hundred and thirty-four; collated character by character they show fifty-two divergences, not one of which is an addition or deletion at the level of a passage—what this treatise re-quotes is a full citation, not an abridged one, and in this chapter the relation of the sūtra and the treatise that explains it is at its closest. The bulk of the divergences are single characters added or lacking and synonyms exchanged; those that can be recorded entry by entry are as follows:

• One character in Subhūti's objection: this treatise reads 「世尊！不得建立自性於自性」 tr. "World-Honored One! One cannot establish self-nature in self-nature"〔T25 0692c25〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0401a04〕 「世尊！不應建立自性於自性」 tr. "World-Honored One! One should not establish self-nature in self-nature"—the exchange of de ‘can’ and ying ‘should’, the tone moving from 「不能」 tr. "cannot" to 「不當」 tr. "ought not".
• The opening phrase of the giving gate: this treatise reads 「說布施先後際相，作是言」 tr. "he teaches the marks of the former and latter limits of giving, saying this"〔T25 0693a07〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0401a15〕 「說布施先後際相空，作是言」 tr. "he teaches that the marks of the former and latter limits of giving are empty, saying this"—the sūtra explained has one extra character, 「空」 tr. "empty".
• The closing phrases of the gate of keeping morality: this treatise reads 「乃至除捨邪見」 tr. "and so on up to removing and giving up wrong views"〔T25 0693a19〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0401a29〕 「乃至除捨邪見法」 tr. "and so on up to removing and giving up the dharma of wrong views"; this treatise reads 「斷一切結使煩惱，入無餘涅槃」 tr. "cuts off all the fetters and afflictions and enters nirvāṇa without remainder"〔T25 0693a27〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0401b08〕 「斷一切結使煩惱習，入無餘涅槃」 tr. "cuts off all the fetters, the afflictions and their habitual residues, and enters nirvāṇa without remainder"—the sūtra explained has the extra character 「習」 tr. "habitual residues": cutting off the afflictions together with their residues.
• The opening phrase of the gate of patience: this treatise reads 「汝所瞋者自性空故」 tr. "because what you are angry at is empty of self-nature"〔T25 0693b03〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0401b13〕 「汝所瞋者自性空」 tr. "what you are angry at is empty of self-nature"—this treatise has one extra character, 「故」 tr. "because".
• The passage on awakening practising nowhere: this treatise reads 「今菩薩雖菩提無處行」 tr. "now the bodhisattva, though awakening practises nowhere"〔T25 0695c09〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0403c29〕 「今菩薩離菩提無處行」 tr. "now the bodhisattva, apart from awakening, practises nowhere"—the exchange of sui ‘though’ and li ‘apart from’ turns the sense of the sentence from concession to separation, one of the places of most evident semantic difference in this chapter's full collation; recorded as it is, without forcing an explanation.
• The list of the dharmas to be made complete: this treatise reads 「常捨法、不錯謬法」 tr. "the dharma of constant equanimity, the dharma without error"〔T25 0695c13〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0404a03〕 「常捨行不誑法、不錯謬法」 tr. "the practice of constant equanimity, the dharma without deceit, the dharma without error"—the sūtra explained has the three extra characters 「行不誑」 tr. "practice, without deceit".
• The words on increase and decrease at the end of the chapter: this treatise reads 「菩薩亦無增減」 tr. "the bodhisattva too is without increase or decrease"〔T25 0695c25〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0404a16〕 「菩薩亦不增減」 tr. "the bodhisattva too does not increase or decrease".
• The words on the four fruits at the end of the chapter: this treatise reads 「若成就須陀洹果、斯陀含果」 tr. "whether accomplishing the fruit of srota-āpanna, the fruit of sakṛdāgāmin"〔T25 0695c27〕, the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0404a17〕 「成就若須陀洹果」 tr. "accomplishing whether the fruit of srota-āpanna", and below ties one 「若」 tr. "whether" to each fruit—the position and number of the character ruo differ.
• The opening of the Buddha's words at the end of the chapter: this treatise reads 「佛語須菩提」 tr. "The Buddha told Subhūti"〔T25 0696a02〕, followed by the words that by reason of worldly truth he is named bodhisattva; the sūtra explained reads〔T08 0404a22〕 「如是，如是！須菩提！世諦故，說名菩薩」 tr. "Just so, just so! Subhūti! By reason of worldly truth he is named bodhisattva"—this treatise omits the words of approval 「如是！如是」 tr. "Just so! Just so!".

Twenty places where variant readings agree with the sūtra explained (what is most worth recording in this chapter's collation). Checking back entry by entry against this treatise's own collation notes: of the fifty-two divergences, at twenty places a variant reading in this treatise's collation notes agrees with the text of the sūtra explained, seventeen of them agreeing completely character for character and three agreeing in part (marked as they are). Examples of complete agreement:〔T25 0693a20〕 「見【大】｜見法【元】【明】」 tr. "views (Taishō) | the dharma of views (Yuan, Ming)", and the sūtra explained reads precisely 「邪見法」 tr. "the dharma of wrong views";〔T25 0693a27〕 「惱【大】｜惱習【元】【明】【石】」 tr. "afflictions (Taishō) | the afflictions and their habitual residues (Yuan, Ming, Ishiyama)", and the sūtra explained reads precisely 「煩惱習」 tr. "the afflictions and their habitual residues";〔T25 0693b24〕 「男子【大】｜法者【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】」 tr. "man (Taishō) | dharma (Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, Ishiyama)", and the sūtra explained reads precisely 「法者」 tr. "dharma";〔T25 0693c03〕 「瞋【大】｜著【元】【明】」 tr. "anger (Taishō) | clinging (Yuan, Ming)", and the sūtra explained reads precisely 「著」 tr. "clinging";〔T25 0694c09〕 「實【大】｜實事【宋】【元】【明】【聖】【石】」 tr. "real (Taishō) | real substance (Song, Yuan, Ming, Shōgozō, Ishiyama)", and the sūtra explained reads precisely 「實事」 tr. "real substance";〔T25 0695a17〕 「世尊！但【大】｜須菩提【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」 tr. "World-Honored One! Only (Taishō) | Subhūti (Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace)", and the sūtra explained reads precisely 「須菩提」 tr. "Subhūti";〔T25 0695a20〕 「如是！如是【大】｜〔－〕【宮】【聖】」 tr. "Just so! Just so! (Taishō) | omitted (Palace, Shōgozō)", and the sūtra explained precisely lacks it here;〔T25 0695c21〕 「有【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」 tr. "there is (Taishō) | omitted (Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace)", and the sūtra explained precisely lacks it;〔T25 0695c25〕 「無【大】｜不【石】」 tr. "without (Taishō) | not (Ishiyama)", and the sūtra explained reads precisely 「不」 tr. "not";〔T25 0695c27〕 「斯【大】｜若斯【宋】【元】【明】【宮】」 tr. "si (Taishō) | whether si (Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace)", and the sūtra explained reads precisely 「若斯」 tr. "whether si". The three examples of partial agreement are〔T25 0694b04〕 (the Palace edition reads 「善薩道」 tr. "the shansa path", the sūtra explained reads 「菩薩道時」 tr. "at the time of the bodhisattva path"),〔T25 0694b05〕 (the Ishiyama text reads 「癈」 tr. "abandon (variant graph)", the sūtra explained reads 「廢」 tr. "abandon"—the graphs differ but sound and meaning are the same), and〔T25 0696a03〕 (the Song, Yuan, and Ming read 「提如是世尊」 tr. "ti; just so, World-Honored One", the sūtra explained reads 「如是，如是！須菩提」 tr. "Just so, just so! Subhūti"—the word order differs). This distribution is structural, not scattered: the variant readings of this treatise mostly lean toward the sūtra explained; yet which is a loss in the transmission of the base text and which a variant text's alteration of characters following the sūtra, this entry does not judge on their behalf; recorded side by side.

V. The Prajñā Eye

The eye of this chapter lies in the double use of the single name 「實際」 tr. "the limit of reality": it is both the ultimate emptiness that is realised and the limit of beings who are delivered. Its meaning can be summed up in five layers.

First, acting for beings is precisely acting for the limit of reality. The question at the head of the chapter is the question of the whole chapter: beings are ultimately unfindable, so for whom does the bodhisattva practise prajñā? The Buddha's answer takes neither 「為眾生」 tr. "for the sake of beings" nor 「捨眾生」 tr. "giving up beings", but sets up the one sentence 「菩薩為實際故行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "The bodhisattva practises prajñāpāramitā for the sake of the limit of reality"〔T25 0692c17〕, and at once explains why with 「實際、眾生際不異」 tr. "the limit of reality and the limit of beings are not different"〔T25 0692c19〕. The treatise-author says this step more directly: beings are a provisional name, false and deceptive, while what the bodhisattva acts for is the real dharma, 「實法即是實際」 tr. "the real dharma is precisely the limit of reality"〔T25 0696a18〕—it is not that one gives up beings to seek the limit of reality; the limit of beings is from the first the limit of reality. Jizang points exactly here to what is refuted: 「有所得人皆云實際是真諦故，眾生是世諦」 tr. "People with something to be attained all say that the limit of reality is the real truth, and so beings are worldly truth"〔X24n0451 0333a03〕, and the Buddha refutes this, saying the two limits are not different.

Second, the difficulty of establishing and its resolution by skilful means. If the two limits are one, establishing beings in the limit of reality becomes 「建立自性於自性」 tr. "establishing self-nature in self-nature", and the Buddha himself grants that this is not possible—「實際不可建立於實際，自性不可建立於自性」 tr. "The limit of reality cannot be established in the limit of reality; self-nature cannot be established in self-nature"〔T25 0692c27〕. The objection standing, the Buddha does not shield himself; he only adds one position: 「以方便力故」 tr. "by the power of skilful means". The treatise-author seals off the road of self-reference with the simile of the fingertip—「自性不應自性中住，如指端不能自觸指端」 tr. "Self-nature should not abide within self-nature, as the tip of a finger cannot touch the tip of that finger"〔T25 0697b05〕—and further dismisses one and different with the four alternatives—「菩薩知是二法不一不二，亦不不一、亦不不二，畢竟寂滅無戲論相」 tr. "The bodhisattva knows that these two dharmas are neither one nor two, nor not one, nor not two—ultimately of quiescent extinction, without the mark of idle discourse"〔T25 0697b09〕. The difficulty is not untied in principle but made way for in practice: in principle one cannot establish; in practice one establishes by skilful means.

Third, the five gates of skilful means all teach by the emptiness of nature, and do not stop at the emptiness of nature. The giving gate teaches people to give and at once says 「如是布施，前際空、後際空、中際亦空」 tr. "Such giving is empty in the former limit, empty in the latter limit, empty too in the middle limit"〔T25 0693a07〕, coming home to 「是諸法畢竟自性空故」 tr. "because these dharmas are ultimately empty of self-nature"〔T25 0693a16〕; the gate of keeping morality teaches people to give up killing and so on up to giving up wrong views, and at once says that the retribution is empty of self-nature, coming home to 「空中無有滅、亦無使滅者。諸法畢竟空，即是涅槃」 tr. "Within emptiness there is no cessation, nor one who causes cessation. All dharmas being ultimately empty is precisely nirvāṇa"〔T25 0693a28〕; the gate of patience teaches people patience and at once asks 「我於何所法中瞋？誰為瞋者？所瞋者誰？」 tr. "Within what dharma am I angry? Who is the one who is angry? Who is the one angered at?", coming home to 「是性空中無有得者、無有得法、無有得處」 tr. "within this emptiness of nature there is no one who obtains, no dharma obtained, and no place of obtaining"〔T25 0693b15〕 and 「一切法離眾生相」 tr. "all dharmas are apart from the mark of beings"〔T25 0693b18〕; the gate of vigour teaches people not to slacken and at once says 「是性空無二無別故，是無二法則無可瞋處」 tr. "because this emptiness of nature is without duality and without difference, in this non-dual dharma there is nothing to be angry at"〔T25 0693c02〕; the gate of meditative concentration teaches people one-pointedness of mind and at once says that within the emptiness of nature there is no distraction and no one-pointedness, and grants 「汝等皆當應隨所願得；行性空故」 tr. "You will all obtain according to your wishes, because you practise the emptiness of nature". Each gate first gives a good that can be practised and then says that this good is empty from the first; emptiness does not revoke this good but keeps it from becoming a new object of clinging. The treatise-author takes the giving gate as an example and lays bare its workings in the mind: the bodhisattva thinks 「我從慳中拔出，今復著布施」 tr. "I pulled him out of stinginess, and now he again clings to giving", and therefore teaches him the real mark of giving.

Fourth, the emptiness of nature as the one and only path of the buddhas. The verdict of the sūtra section is extremely hard: if the nature of all dharmas were not empty, the bodhisattva could not rely on the emptiness of nature to accomplish awakening, nor teach beings the dharma of the emptiness of nature; 「若內空性不空、外空乃至無法有法空性不空者，則壞空性」 tr. "If the nature of inner emptiness were not empty, and the nature of outer emptiness and so on up to the emptiness of non-existent and existent dharmas were not empty, the nature of emptiness would be destroyed"〔T25 0694b19〕. The mark of the emptiness of nature is 「是性空無住處，亦無所從來、亦無所從去」 tr. "This emptiness of nature has no abiding-place, nor does it come from anywhere, nor does it go anywhere"〔T25 0694b21〕, and its name is 「是名法住相」 tr. "This is named the mark of the abiding of dharmas"〔T25 0694b22〕. The definition of the highest meaning follows—「第一義相者，無作、無為、無生、無相、無說」 tr. "The mark of the highest meaning is without making, unconditioned, non-arising, signless, and unspeakable"〔T25 0694c26〕—and makes clear that its three names are of one substance: this is named the highest meaning, is also named the emptiness of nature, and is also named the path of the buddhas. The treatise-author gathers it up still more decisively: 「一切法性空，是諸佛真法」 tr. "That all dharmas are empty of nature is the true Dharma of the buddhas"〔T25 0698b21〕; apart from the emptiness of nature there is no path and no fruit; and the verdict on its practice lies in 「行性空法，亦不著性空，即是涅槃」 tr. "Practising the dharma of the emptiness of nature and not clinging to the emptiness of nature either—this is precisely nirvāṇa"〔T25 0698b28〕. Jizang explains this in his passage on the eighteen emptinesses: 「以十八空入諸法空，此十八空亦空，乃名性空」 tr. "By the eighteen emptinesses one enters the emptiness of all dharmas; these eighteen emptinesses too are empty—only then is it named the emptiness of nature"〔X24n0451 0333b06〕.

Fifth, awakening practises nowhere, yet none of the myriad practices may be lacking. The last passage of the sūtra section presses to the bottom with three counter-questions: where does the conjured person practise? Where does the arhat's awakening in a dream practise? The answers are all: not practising within taking, not practising within giving up. The mark of awakening is 「菩提是不二相、不壞相」 tr. "awakening is the mark of non-duality, the indestructible mark"〔T25 0695b17〕, 「色即是菩提、菩提即是色，不二、不分別」 tr. "form is precisely awakening, awakening is precisely form, not two, without discrimination"〔T25 0695b19〕, and so 「是菩提非取故行、非捨故行」 tr. "this awakening is practised neither by taking nor by giving up"〔T25 0695b21〕. Subhūti then forces out the most perilous doubt of the whole chapter: can it be that the bodhisattva, not practising the ten grounds and not practising the six perfections, obtains awakening? The Buddha's answer is in two halves: first he fully grants his words, then he sets a bottom line: not making complete the ten grounds, the six perfections, and so on up to the eighty minor marks, he never obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The treatise-author explains why by the two names of taking and giving up—「取名實法，捨名空法」 tr. "taking names the real dharma; giving up names the empty dharma"〔T25 0698c22〕: taking names clinging practice, giving up names non-clinging practice; taking names twofold practice, giving up names non-dual practice; and the Buddha, from his own realisation, asks Subhūti in return: when you obtained the path, did you obtain anything? Subhūti answers that he did not, and the treatise-author speaks his mind for him: 「住無相門中入道，云何取相」 tr. "Abiding in the gate of signlessness I entered the path; how could I grasp at marks?"〔T25 0699b09〕; the Buddha asks again: if you did not obtain even the subtlest little dharma, how is it said that you are an arhat? Subhūti answers 「世諦法故，說言阿羅漢」 tr. "By reason of worldly dharmas it is said, arhat"〔T25 0699b12〕. Thus the two truths are aligned in one and the same person: to say he obtained arhatship is worldly truth; not obtaining a single dharma is the highest meaning. The end of the chapter comes home to 「諸法性是一切法根本尚不可得」 tr. "the nature of dharmas, which is the root of all dharmas, is itself unfindable"〔T25 0699b20〕, how much less could the six perfections and other made dharmas have a fixed reality—and the bodhisattva practising the nature of these dharmas, when he becomes a Buddha, can greatly benefit beings.

VI. Divergent Readings of the Masters

The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa has no tradition of a full commentary following the text throughout, and the ancient masters' citations and explanations are, as a matter of fact, partial and uneven. The state of the ancient masters' readings of this chapter falls into three: Jizang's commentary on the sūtra explained preserves a complete dedicated chapter; Huiying's commentary on this treatise lacks this chapter (the surviving text does not reach it), yet its sectional division covers the section to which this chapter belongs; Junzheng's book has zero hits. The searches back through the Tiantai lines and the Commentary on the Vimalakīrti Sūtra close with a negative result. This section records the correspondences between what each master comments on and cites and this chapter, without judging the relative merits of each master's interpretation.

Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra (X24n0451) · a dedicated chapter, hit. His commentary on this chapter begins at〔X24n0451 0332c11〕 (the chapter name is listed separately in his table of contents at〔X24n0451 0195c14〕) and ends at〔X24n0451 0333c23〕 (where the next chapter, "Completeness", the Eighty-first, begins), covering the whole of this chapter of the sūtra explained. Seven points in it can be recorded.

First, the general judgement on the chapter's position and name—「此下第三、明為化之意」 tr. "From here below is the third: making clear the intent of transforming"〔X24n0451 0332c12〕: the reason why the bodhisattva transforms in ten thousand ways is precisely that he wishes to set beings within the limit of reality. His explanation of the name 「實際」 tr. "the limit of reality" is especially worth recording: 「然實際是無之異名、正法之別目耳」 tr. "Yet the limit of reality is only another name for non-existence and a different title for the true Dharma"〔X24n0451 0332c13〕, and he extends it, saying 「十方三世佛菩薩為化之意，亦令悟實道也」 tr. "The intent of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and the three times in transforming is also to make beings awaken to the real path"〔X24n0451 0332c14〕—Jizang does not take the limit of reality as a separate dharma, but only as another name for 「無」 tr. "non-existence" and 「正法」 tr. "the true Dharma".

Second, the twofold division within the chapter—「品為二：第一、正明為化之意，建立眾生於際」 tr. "The chapter is in two: first, making clear directly the intent of transforming, establishing beings in the limit"〔X24n0451 0332c16〕; second, setting out broadly the dharmas by which the bodhisattva establishes them. Its division corresponds to the structure of this treatise's sūtra section.

Third, the objection at the opening runs on the same track as this treatise—Jizang explains the first question, saying 「先難法為眾生，今難眾生為法」 tr. "Before he objected to dharmas for the sake of beings; now he objects to beings for the sake of dharmas"〔X24n0451 0332c19〕, while the opening words of this treatise's treatise section read 「先難法為眾生，今難眾生為法故」 tr. "Before he objected to dharmas for the sake of beings; now he objects to beings for the sake of dharmas, and so"〔T25 0696a14〕—the two makings are almost the same character for character, differing only in the presence or absence of the final 「故」 tr. "and so". Jizang also adds on his own the count of four alternatives: objecting to dharmas by dharmas, objecting to persons by persons, 「前為四句也」 tr. "the preceding makes four alternatives".

Fourth, what is refuted by the two limits' not being different—「有所得人皆云實際是真諦故，眾生是世諦」 tr. "People with something to be attained all say that the limit of reality is the real truth, and so beings are worldly truth"〔X24n0451 0333a03〕; they practise prajñā only for the sake of delivering beings, and not prajñā for delivering the real truth, and so the Buddha refutes them, saying the two limits are not different; his concluding words are 「度眾生即如度實際，實際無所度，度眾生亦無所度也」 tr. "Delivering beings is just like delivering the limit of reality; the limit of reality has nothing to deliver, and delivering beings too has nothing to deliver"〔X24n0451 0333a05〕. In explaining that self-nature does not establish itself he too uses the simile of the fingertip—「如指端不自觸」 tr. "as the tip of a finger does not touch itself"〔X24n0451 0333a07〕, the same simile as this treatise's 「如指端不能自觸指端」 tr. "as the tip of a finger cannot touch the tip of that finger"〔T25 0697b05〕, with slightly different wording.

Fifth, the two gates of establishing—「就建立中有二：就因行以建立令住六度」 tr. "Within establishing there are two: with respect to causal practice, establishing them so that they abide in the six perfections"〔X24n0451 0333a14〕; second, with respect to the virtues of the fruit, establishing them so that they abide in the knowledge of all kinds; in the cause, each perfection is complete with five matters, and Jizang himself notes that his commentary is not uniform: 「般若中見五領不具，可相兼也」 tr. "In prajñā the five headings are seen not to be complete; they may be taken as including one another".

Sixth, his explanation of the passage on the eighteen emptinesses—「十八空無空，諸法十八空云何不空」 tr. "The eighteen emptinesses are without emptiness; how are the eighteen emptinesses of all dharmas not empty?"〔X24n0451 0333b05〕, 「以十八空入諸法空，此十八空亦空，乃名性空」 tr. "By the eighteen emptinesses one enters the emptiness of all dharmas; these eighteen emptinesses too are empty—only then is it named the emptiness of nature"〔X24n0451 0333b06〕; below it there is one more sentence, which this entry records without judging: 「此空亦名為佛，佛性名第一義空」 tr. "This emptiness is also named the Buddha; the Buddha-nature is named the emptiness of the highest meaning"〔X24n0451 0333b09〕, and it is also named the true Dharma, prajñā, nirvāṇa, and the norm of dharmas. The sentence naming the Buddha-nature the emptiness of the highest meaning is Jizang's own judgement; this chapter of this treatise has no such sentence; recorded without judgement. His explanation of the number of the path and the fruits reads 「果謂七果，道謂八正」 tr. "The fruits means the seven fruits; the path means the eight right ones"〔X24n0451 0333c03〕, with his own note that the seven fruits should be the four fruits, the pratyekabuddha, the Buddha, and the bodhisattva—this treatise says only 「果者，七種果」 tr. "the fruit is the seven kinds of fruit"〔T25 0698b24〕 and does not list them; Jizang's seven items are supplied by an ancient master; recorded as to their source, as it is.

Seventh, the two explanations of the meaning of the arhat's sleep—Jizang first gives the two kinds of sleep set up by this treatise: 「眠有二：一者、眠而夢，羅漢無此眠也」 tr. "Sleep is of two kinds: first, sleeping with dreams; the arhat does not have this sleep"〔X24n0451 0333c13〕; the second is the sleep of resting, which the arhat does have; next he states plainly that he is passing on a divergent view from this treatise—「論更出一解云」 tr. "The treatise further gives another explanation, saying"〔X24n0451 0333c14〕, followed by 「有人言：得禪定則得色界繫四大來在身中」 tr. "Someone says: one who obtains meditative concentration obtains the four elements bound to the form realm, which come into the body"〔X24n0451 0333c15〕, so that such a fruit ultimately does not sleep, and 「慧解脫羅漢不得色界定，故無色界四大事入身有眠也」 tr. "The arhat liberated by wisdom has not obtained the concentration of the form realm; therefore there is no matter of the four elements of the form realm entering his body, and he sleeps"〔X24n0451 0333c16〕. Here Jizang plainly says 「論」 tr. "the treatise"; what he cites is precisely the passage 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" of this treatise's treatise section〔T25 0699a20〕, and the trace of character-by-character transmission can be checked (this treatise reads 「離欲者，得禪定，色界繫四大入身中，身心歡樂則無有眠；慧解脫阿羅漢，色界四大不入身中，故有眠」 tr. "One free of desire obtains meditative concentration, and the four elements bound to the form realm enter his body; body and mind are joyful, and so there is no sleep. The arhat liberated by wisdom—the four elements of the form realm do not enter his body, and so he sleeps"). Here Jizang also adds an objection of his own: 「若得言者不眠，那令及凡夫得定者皆不眠也」 tr. "If those who obtain it are said not to sleep, would that make ordinary people who obtain concentration all not sleep as well?"〔X24n0451 0333c18〕—this challenge is Jizang's own; this treatise has no such thing; recorded without judgement.

Huiying's Commentary (X46n0791) · this chapter lacks an explanation · the sectional division covers it (recorded as it is). It is the only ancient commentary on this treatise, and survives only in fragmentary fascicles; this entry checks one by one the line markers of its main canonical edition (the main edition of the X canon), and the very last surviving marker is〔X46n0791 0917b12〕 (in the middle of Chapter 69); this chapter lies far beyond it, so this chapter's explanation is lacking, and is not recorded as zero hits. Yet the old division of the Fu and Yao times that his book inherits has an explicit statement on the large section to which this chapter belongs: 「第二從四攝品去於化品有十品經，明菩薩外化方便」 tr. "Second, from the ‘Four Means of Gathering’ chapter on to the ‘Like a Conjuration’ chapter there are ten chapters of the sūtra, making clear the bodhisattva's skilful means of outward transformation"〔X46n0791 0912c21〕—the ten chapters from "The Four Means of Gathering" (Chapter 78) onward form one section of skilful means of outward transformation, and this chapter (Chapter 80) is among their number. Huiying and Jizang, in different books, alike take this chapter as belonging to the section of 「外化方便」 tr. "skilful means of outward transformation"; the two masters do not borrow from each other yet run on the same track; recorded without judgement. Checking again throughout his book the three Chinese characters 「實際品」 tr. "the Limit of Reality chapter": zero hits; the general word 「實際」 tr. "limit of reality" appears thirty times, all as terms of his own doctrinal discourse, not specifically referring to this chapter.

Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises (X46n0784) · zero hits. Searching back character by character for 「實際品」 tr. "the Limit of Reality chapter": zero hits; the general word 「實際」 tr. "limit of reality" appears six times, all within his own doctrinal discourse, with no tie to this chapter. The form of this book is that of a thematic discussion of profound meaning, not a chapter-by-chapter commentary, and zero hits does not amount to a judgement that this chapter's lack of coverage is anomalous; recorded as it is.

The Tiantai lines and the Commentary on the Vimalakīrti Sūtra · closed with a negative result (a dedicated check of the core words of this chapter, recorded as fact). Zhiyi's Great Calming and Contemplation (T46n1911), Zhanran's Supporting Practice and Broad Resolution of Calming and Contemplation (T46n1912), Zhiyi's Profound Meaning of the Lotus (T33n1716), Zhanran's Annotations on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus (T33n1717), Zhiyi's Words and Phrases of the Lotus (T34n1718), and Sengzhao and others' Commentary on the Vimalakīrti Sūtra (T38n1775)—six works, whose numbers and titles have each been checked without error against the title at the head of each file—were searched back character by character for the three strings specific to this chapter, 「實際品」 tr. "the Limit of Reality chapter", 「眾生際」 tr. "the limit of beings", and 「阿羅漢夢」 tr. "the arhat's dream": all six works have zero hits. Though the word 「實際」 tr. "limit of reality" is seen several times in each of the six (ten, seventeen, five, two, ten, and seven), all are each book's own doctrinal usage, not citations of this chapter. No named citation of this chapter by these six works is seen; zero hits is also an entry in the ledger, and is not filled in with citations from other chapters.

VII. Cross-reading and Further Resonances

The meaning-veins of this chapter that carry over from before and after are five, all recorded in this section, without settling a reading on their behalf.

First, carrying on the objection of the chapter above (Chapter 79 → 80 · tied by the treatise-author himself). At the opening of the treatise section the treatise-author ties it himself to the preceding chapter: 「上品中須菩提種種因緣難」 tr. "In the chapter above, Subhūti objected with all kinds of causes and conditions"〔T25 0696a11〕—if all dharmas are empty, how are there the births and deaths of the five destinies, and wholesome and unwholesome dharmas? What is objected to now has changed sides: 「先難法為眾生，今難眾生為法故」 tr. "Before he objected to dharmas for the sake of beings; now he objects to beings for the sake of dharmas, and so"〔T25 0696a14〕. The treatise-author himself acknowledges that the question of this chapter and the question of the chapter above are two faces of one and the same mechanism: the chapter above objects in terms of dharmas, this chapter in terms of persons. Jizang's commentary runs on the same track here character by character (see Section VI) and adds on its own the count of four alternatives. The layer of collation also keeps the trace of the two chapters' joining: the variant readings of this chapter's title entry in both the 【聖】 and 【石】 texts read 「第七十九品」 tr. "the Seventy-ninth chapter" (see Section VIII), that is, in both texts the chapter order is one step less than the base text, consistently from head to tail.

Second, the treatise-author's four references to earlier passages (warp and weft within the chapter). The treatise section four times refers to earlier passages of this treatise: explaining the six inner entries among the twelve links it says 「如先說」 tr. "as said before"〔T25 0696c21〕; explaining the breaking of ignorance it says 「如先品《德女經》中「破無明」廣說」 tr. "as is said at length on ‘breaking ignorance’ in the Sūtra of the Virtuous Woman in an earlier chapter"〔T25 0697a12〕; explaining the giving gate it says 「如先〈檀品〉中說」 tr. "as said earlier in the ‘Dāna’ chapter"〔T25 0697b15〕; explaining that present giving too is empty it says 「如破六塵中破色法中說」 tr. "as said in the refutation of the dharma of form within the refutation of the six sense-objects"〔T25 0697b24〕, the passage it points to being 「現在布施雖眼見，分分破析，乃至微塵不可得」 tr. "Present giving, though seen by the eye, when broken apart part by part down to atoms, is unfindable"〔T25 0697b25〕. Two further references point to the sūtra explained—「如經中廣說」 tr. "as said at length in the sūtra"〔T25 0697b14〕〔T25 0697c04〕. All six places are the treatise-author's own warp and weft, not added by later hands.

Third, the re-quotation of the sūtra and the sūtra text itself tied apart (a key point of this chapter's style). When the treatise section explains 「兩際不異」 tr. "the two limits are not different", it cites a sentence of sūtra with 「復次，經中說」 tr. "Again, the sūtra says": 「若眾生與實際異，菩薩不應行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "If beings were different from the limit of reality, the bodhisattva should not practise prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0697a24〕—this is the treatise-author re-quoting the text of the sūtra explained, not the text of the sūtra section itself (the sūtra section originally reads 「實際、眾生際異者，菩薩不行般若波羅蜜」 tr. "If the limit of reality and the limit of beings were different, the bodhisattva would not practise prajñāpāramitā"〔T25 0692c17〕), the two differing in sentence form and in attribution; this section ties them apart and does not merge them. In the same passage the treatise-author further brings forward, on others' behalf, the objection 「異者，實際是畢竟空，眾生際是決定有」 tr. "As to their being different: the limit of reality is ultimate emptiness; the limit of beings is fixed existence"〔T25 0697a25〕; these are words of an objection set up by the treatise-author, neither sūtra text nor a settled teaching; recorded as it is.

Fourth, the ancient masters' sectional divisions running on the same track, and their passing-on of citations (Jizang · Huiying · the old division of the Fu and Yao times). As to this chapter's place in the whole sūtra, Jizang judges it the third within one section on 「化他」 tr. "transforming others"—「此下第三、明為化之意」 tr. "From here below is the third: making clear the intent of transforming"〔X24n0451 0332c12〕; the old division of the Fu and Yao times inherited by Huiying takes the ten chapters from "The Four Means of Gathering" onward as one section on 「外化方便」 tr. "skilful means of outward transformation"〔X46n0791 0912c21〕—the two masters, in different books and at different times, alike tie this chapter to the section where inner practice turns to outward transformation. Still more worth recording is the direction of the passing-on: when Jizang explains the meaning of the arhat's sleep he explicitly says 「論更出一解云」 tr. "The treatise further gives another explanation, saying"〔X24n0451 0333c14〕 and records this treatise's 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" view—though what the ancient master's commentary explains is the sūtra, in the course of explaining the sūtra it passes on this treatise character by character, and the transmission between this treatise and that commentary can be checked character by character in this chapter. The three makings stand side by side; recorded without judgement.

Fifth, links into the treasury (stable citation · soft citation). The meaning of the two limits in this chapter's ‘the limit of reality and the limit of beings are not different’, the resolution by the power of skilful means of ‘the limit of reality cannot be established in the limit of reality’, the twofold definition of ‘the real dharma is precisely the limit of reality’ and ‘the real mark of all dharmas is named the limit of reality’, the gate of practice of ‘abiding in the limit of reality without destroying the mark of the limit of reality’, the definition of the highest meaning in ‘the mark of the highest meaning is without making, unconditioned, non-arising, signless, and unspeakable’, the two-truths gathering of ‘awakening practises nowhere, yet none of the myriad practices may be lacking’, and the meaning of provisional setting-up in ‘by reason of worldly truth he is named bodhisattva’ are the basis in the treatise canon for the gate of prajñā practice and the meaning of the two truths, and are fixed at the stable citation〔T25n1509 實際品·卷九十〕; the places where the Heart Sūtra / the Diamond Sūtra / the Consciousness-Only mirrors cite this treatise are not yet finalised, so the citation is soft, pending word-for-word verification of their holding. This belongs to the further resonance of the meaning of prajñā running down through the sūtras; recorded without judgement.

VIII. Witnesses and Editions

The base text of this chapter is Fascicle 90 of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa〔T25 0692c11–0699c02〕 (the main text of the chapter body begins from the chapter title〔T25 0692c11〕; the First Part and the Last Part, two units, both lie in Fascicle 90; the Last Part begins from the 【論】 marker〔T25 0696a11〕 and ends with the fascicle-end title〔T25 0699b24〕; the next chapter begins at〔T25 0699c02〕); the collation text for the sūtra explained is the "Limit of Reality" chapter, the Eightieth, of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra〔T08 0400c22 起，訖 0404b02 前〕; the ancient-master commentary text for collation is Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra (X24n0451, covering this chapter at〔X24n0451 0332c11–0333c23〕); Huiying's Commentary (X46n0791) lacks an explanation of this chapter while its sectional division covers it, Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises (X46n0784) has zero hits, and the Tiantai lines and the Commentary on the Vimalakīrti Sūtra close with a negative result (see also Section VI). The variant collation notes follow the Taishō collation, covering differences between the Taishō base text and the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, and Ishiyama (the Ishiyama-dera manuscript) texts, as well as the CBETA collation.

The layer of witnesses (the Ishiyama text the main body · the Shōgozō B, the Korean edition, the Southern Canon, and the Northern Canon with zero witnesses in the whole chapter). The distribution of witnesses in this chapter's one hundred and fifty-seven collation notes, recounted entry by entry in this section: the Ishiyama seventy-three times, the Palace sixty-six times, the Shōgozō fifty-five times, the Ming fifty times, the Yuan forty-nine times, the Song forty-six times; the CBETA collation type three times (one of them also tied to the Korean edition). Among them the entries of missing characters (the variant text lacks the character) number fifty-three, about one third of the whole ledger. The Ishiyama text is the foremost witness in this chapter, unlike Chapter 78, where the three Song, Ming, and Yuan texts are the main body; while the Shōgozō B, the Korean edition (as an independent witness), the Southern Canon, and the Northern Canon are all seen zero times in this chapter. The texts of low occurrence are recorded with their zeros as they are, without supplying them by the density of other chapters. The distribution of entries between the two units: seventy-two in the First Part and eighty-five in the Last Part.

The chapter-title entry enters the entries (unlike Chapter 78 · recorded specially). The variant readings at this chapter's title〔T25 0692c11〕 form a collation entry and enter the count of one hundred and fifty-seven (the note on the title of Chapter 78 belongs to the layer of notes and does not enter the entries). Its three makings: the base text reads 「大智度論釋實際品第八十（卷九十）」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Commentary on the Chapter on the Limit of Reality, the Eightieth (Fascicle Ninety)"; 【聖】 reads 「大智度經論卷第九十釋第七十九品」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra-Treatise, Fascicle Ninety, Commentary on the Seventy-ninth Chapter"; 【石】 reads 「摩訶般若波羅蜜品第七十九實際品卷九十一」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā, Chapter the Seventy-ninth, Chapter on the Limit of Reality, Fascicle Ninety-one". At the same place there are two further entries: 「第八十【大】｜第八十品【宮】」 tr. "the Eightieth (Taishō) | the Eightieth chapter (Palace)" and 「卷【大】｜卷第【宮】」 tr. "fascicle (Taishō) | fascicle number (Palace)".

The chapter number one step less · the fascicle number one step more (the Shōgozō and Ishiyama texts consistent from head to tail). At the chapter title both 【聖】 and 【石】 call this chapter 「第七十九」 tr. "the Seventy-ninth", one step less than the base text, continuing without break the pattern consistent through Chapters 44 to 47; at the fascicle's end they go the same way—「生【大】｜生釋第七十九品竟【石】」 tr. "sheng (Taishō) | sheng; the commentary on the Seventy-ninth chapter ends (Ishiyama)", 「九十【大】｜九十釋第七十九品【聖】｜九十一【石】」 tr. "Ninety (Taishō) | Ninety, Commentary on the Seventy-ninth Chapter (Shōgozō) | Ninety-one (Ishiyama)". At both places, the opening title and the fascicle's end, they go one step less in the same direction; it is not a slip of the brush at a single point. The Ishiyama text further goes one step more in the fascicle number: the chapter title reads 「卷九十一」 tr. "Fascicle Ninety-one" and the fascicle's end reads 「九十一」 tr. "Ninety-one", that is, the Ishiyama text takes this chapter as its Fascicle 91, while the base text takes it as Fascicle 90—chapter number one less, fascicle number one more, the two going in opposite directions yet each consistent in itself, a difference in how the texts divide and join fascicles and chapters; recorded as it is, without forcing an explanation.

Three entries of the CBETA-collation type (the correct reading is the CBETA collation · listed specially). First,〔T25 0694b25〕 「住（K14n0549_p1407a06）（T25n1509_p0697c23）【CB】【麗-CB】｜在【大】｜住【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】」 tr. "abide (Korean Canon cross-reference) (cross-reference to this treatise) (CBETA, Korean–CBETA) | at (Taishō) | abide (Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, Ishiyama)"—this entry is tied to two cross-references at once: one to the Korean Canon (K14n0549), one to a parallel sentence in this treatise's own later text〔T25 0697c23〕, the only entry in this chapter carrying a double cross-reference, and the six variant texts agree in reading 「住」 tr. "abide" while only the base text reads 「在」 tr. "at"; second,〔T25 0696c09〕 「已【CB】｜己【大】」 tr. "already (CBETA) | self (Taishō)"; third,〔T25 0698c21〕 「提【CB】｜處【大】」 tr. "ti (CBETA) | place (Taishō)"—the latter two are simple CBETA collation readings of its own, without cross-references. The cross-reference strings of the three entries are, in the base text, spliced on immediately without separators; the working base text separates them with full-width parentheses for readability, with no character added or removed. The reader-facing text of this edition follows the reading of the current CBETA text.

Three star entries (all within the chapter · their type recorded in a special list). The star re-cited entries of this chapter (the same variant reading recurring in the text and sharing one note) number three in all, marked with each entry in the table below; this section checks one by one the positions of their anonymous added anchors:〔T25 0697a11〕,〔T25 0698b24〕,〔T25 0698b26〕. The notes they share are also checked entry by entry—the star at〔T25 0697a11〕 shares the note at the same place, 「內外【大】｜外內【宋】【宮】【聖】」 tr. "inner and outer (Taishō) | outer and inner (Song, Palace, Shōgozō)" (the base-text note reads 「內外【大】，外內【宋】【宮】，【聖】＊」 tr. "inner and outer (Taishō), outer and inner (Song, Palace), (Shōgozō) star", the star tied to 【聖】), so within the same line 「內外」 tr. "inner and outer" appears twice, and the 【聖】 text reads 「外內」 tr. "outer and inner" at both places; the two stars at〔T25 0698b24〕 and〔T25 0698b26〕 both share the note 「離【大】｜雜【聖】」 tr. "apart (Taishō) | mixed (Shōgozō)" at〔T25 0698b23〕, that is, within the same passage the character 「離」 tr. "apart" appears three times, and the 【聖】 text reads 「雜」 tr. "mixed" at all three places. All three stars fall within the range of this chapter, with no note shared across chapters (unlike the two cross-chapter stars of Chapter 78). The contents of the star entries do not touch doctrine; they are single characters recurring place by place.

One interlinear note (a Sanskrit transliteration handed down by Kumārajīva's translation assembly · its form recorded). The collation note at〔T25 0696b27〕 reads 「（天竺語「刪迦羅」，秦言「行」）【大】｜天竺語刪迦羅秦言行【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】」 tr. "(in the language of India ‘shanjialuo’, in the language of Qin ‘constructions’) (Taishō) | in the language of India shanjialuo, in the language of Qin constructions (Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Shōgozō, Ishiyama)"—the base text marks it as an interlinear note with full-width parentheses and inner quotation marks, while the other texts lack this layer of marking and the wording is entirely the same. This is the ancient masters' transliteration tied to the link 「行」 tr. "constructions" among the twelve links, handed down from Kumārajīva's translation assembly, not collated from a recent Sanskrit edition; at the same place another entry records a difference in its first character: 「刪【大】｜那【宮】【聖】」 tr. "shan (Taishō) | na (Palace, Shōgozō)". Following the conventions of this collection, the Sanskrit source relies only on what the ancient masters handed down; this entry records its existence and its variant readings, without comparing it against a recently collated edition.

The general ledger of collation (a full reconciliation of all one hundred and fifty-seven entries · the base text as it stands). Below, transcribed as the working base text stands—the collation notes of this chapter total one hundred and fifty-seven entries, agreeing mechanically with the tool value of the working base text (collation entries 157), and this section, recounting again entry by entry from the base text, also obtains one hundred and fifty-seven, the two numbers agreeing independently. The entries are listed in full in order of appearance in the base text, including three star re-cited entries (marked with each entry with the note shared and its location) and three CBETA collation entries (marked with each entry). The variant readings are preserved side by side, while the main text still follows the reading of the current base text:

Collation entries (one hundred and fifty-seven · in order of appearance in the base text · stars marked with each entry)

• 〔T25 0692c11〕大智度論釋實際品第八十（卷九十）【大】｜大智度經論卷第九十釋第七十九品【聖】｜摩訶般若波羅蜜品第七十九實際品卷九十一【石】
• 〔T25 0692c11〕第八十【大】｜第八十品【宮】
• 〔T25 0692c11〕卷【大】｜卷第【宮】
• 〔T25 0692c15〕【經】【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0693a04〕不【大】｜不可【石】
• 〔T25 0693a07〕相【大】｜空【宋】【元】【明】
• 〔T25 0693a12〕取【大】｜趣【石】
• 〔T25 0693a20〕見【大】｜見法【元】【明】
• 〔T25 0693a20〕是諸法【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0693a27〕切【大】｜切諸【石】
• 〔T25 0693a27〕惱【大】｜惱習【元】【明】【石】
• 〔T25 0693b03〕故【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0693b06〕佛【大】｜佛作非【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【石】
• 〔T25 0693b06〕作【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0693b10〕所【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0693b12〕中【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0693b19〕相【大】｜想【石】
• 〔T25 0693b24〕男子【大】｜法者【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0693b27〕中【大】｜〔－〕【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0693c03〕瞋【大】｜著【元】【明】
• 〔T25 0693c09〕諸【大】｜諸善【石】
• 〔T25 0693c11〕法【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0693c15〕道【大】｜道入【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0693c23〕脫【大】｜脫九【石】
• 〔T25 0693c29〕行【大】｜住【元】【明】
• 〔T25 0694a06〕語【大】｜舌【石】
• 〔T25 0694a06〕根【大】｜〔－〕【聖】
• 〔T25 0694a16〕空【大】｜空空【石】
• 〔T25 0694a20〕不【大】｜不應【石】
• 〔T25 0694a22〕初【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0694a27〕於【大】｜〔－〕【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0694a29〕果【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0694a29〕於【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0694b04〕般若波羅蜜【大】｜善薩道【宮】
• 〔T25 0694b05〕怠【大】｜癈【石】
• 〔T25 0694b08〕性皆【大】｜皆性【石】
• 〔T25 0694b21〕空性【大】｜性空【石】
• 〔T25 0694b25〕住（K14n0549_p1407a06）（T25n1509_p0697c23）【CB】【麗-CB】｜在【大】｜住【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】 (CBETA collation type · see the special list in Section VIII)
• 〔T25 0694c05〕眾【大】｜眾生【石】
• 〔T25 0694c06〕是諸【大】｜諸是【石】
• 〔T25 0694c09〕實【大】｜實事【宋】【元】【明】【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0694c18〕為【大】｜名【石】
• 〔T25 0695a01〕法【大】｜〔－〕【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0695a02〕心【大】｜〔－〕【聖】
• 〔T25 0695a05〕不【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0695a07〕行【大】｜於【宮】
• 〔T25 0695a09〕想【大】｜見【石】
• 〔T25 0695a14〕甚【大】｜甚深【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0695a14〕行【大】｜有行【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0695a17〕世尊！但【大】｜須菩提【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0695a20〕如是！如是【大】｜〔－〕【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0695b02〕是【大】｜〔－〕【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0695b04〕空【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0695b15〕若分別作二分者，無阿耨多羅三藐三菩提【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0695b17〕菩【大】｜須菩【聖】
• 〔T25 0695b24〕如【大】｜〔－〕【聖】
• 〔T25 0695c10〕雖【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0695c12〕解脫【大】｜〔－〕【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0695c13〕法【大】｜行【宮】【石】
• 〔T25 0695c20〕實義【大】｜義實【宋】｜義【聖】
• 〔T25 0695c21〕有【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0695c22〕是【大】｜〔－〕【聖】
• 〔T25 0695c23〕非【大】｜非以【石】
• 〔T25 0695c25〕減【大】｜滅【石】【聖】
• 〔T25 0695c25〕無【大】｜不【石】
• 〔T25 0695c26〕於【大】｜於汝【元】【明】【石】
• 〔T25 0695c27〕若【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0695c27〕斯【大】｜若斯【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0696a02〕世尊！世諦法故分別名阿羅漢道【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0696a03〕提【大】｜提如是世尊【宋】【元】【明】
• 〔T25 0696a03〕諦【大】｜諦法【宋】【元】【明】【石】
• 〔T25 0696a07〕相【大】｜相三昧【石】
• 〔T25 0696a11〕【論】【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【宮】
• 〔T25 0696a29〕死苦【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0696b02〕定【大】｜〔－〕【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0696b08〕因【大】｜因緣【聖】
• 〔T25 0696b09〕等【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0696b10〕名為【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0696b16〕色【大】｜色名【石】
• 〔T25 0696b18〕第【大】｜第名名色【宋】【元】【明】【宮】｜第名【聖】｜第名色【石】
• 〔T25 0696b19〕胎【大】｜初胎【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0696b27〕（天竺語「刪迦羅」 tr. "shanjialuo"，秦言「行」 tr. "constructions"）【大】｜天竺語刪迦羅秦言行【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0696b27〕刪【大】｜那【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0696c01〕愛【大】｜受【宋】【元】【明】【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0696c01〕邪【大】｜取【聖】
• 〔T25 0696c03〕止【大】｜正【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0696c07〕現【大】｜見【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0696c09〕已【CB】｜己【大】 (CBETA collation type · see the special list in Section VIII)
• 〔T25 0696c10〕去【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0696c19〕及【大】｜乃【宮】
• 〔T25 0696c20〕故【大】｜故故【宋】【元】【明】
• 〔T25 0696c20〕名【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0696c24〕因【大】｜內【聖】
• 〔T25 0696c26〕嬰孩【大】｜孆姟【石】
• 〔T25 0696c27〕蹈【大】｜誦【聖】
• 〔T25 0696c27〕氷【大】｜水【聖】｜泳【石】
• 〔T25 0697a02〕取【大】｜〔－〕【聖】
• 〔T25 0697a02〕能【大】｜〔－〕【聖】
• 〔T25 0697a06〕墮【大】｜隨【聖】
• 〔T25 0697a11〕內外【大】｜外內【宋】【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0697a11〕內外【大】｜外內【聖】 (star re-citation · the shared note is at〔T25 0697a11〕 · within the chapter)
• 〔T25 0697a16〕輪轉【大】｜轉輪【聖】
• 〔T25 0697a17〕裹【大】｜里【明】
• 〔T25 0697a20〕煮【大】｜者【聖】
• 〔T25 0697a21〕苦【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0697a27〕諸【大】｜謂【宮】
• 〔T25 0697a27〕際【大】｜〔－〕【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0697a28〕是【大】｜此【石】
• 〔T25 0697b01〕波羅蜜【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0697b02〕惑【大】｜或【石】
• 〔T25 0697b04〕際【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0697b07〕如【大】｜而【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0697b07〕不異，一亦【大】｜一不異亦【宋】｜一異亦【元】【明】｜一異【石】
• 〔T25 0697b12〕言【大】｜答【石】
• 〔T25 0697b13〕波羅蜜【大】｜〔－〕【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0697b18〕受【大】｜受福得【宋】【元】【明】【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0697b24〕如【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0697b26〕分【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0697c27〕已【大】｜以【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【石】
• 〔T25 0698a02〕夫【大】｜人【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0698a03〕如【大】｜譬如【石】
• 〔T25 0698a05〕實法【大】｜實相【宮】
• 〔T25 0698a21〕是【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0698a23〕異【大】｜法【聖】
• 〔T25 0698b02〕中【大】｜中亦性空【元】【明】
• 〔T25 0698b03〕後【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0698b03〕性【大】｜性空後亦性【石】
• 〔T25 0698b04〕空，但性自爾故【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0698b05〕諸佛賢聖以大福德、智慧【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0698b05〕方【大】｜力方【石】
• 〔T25 0698b15〕忍法【大】｜法忍【石】
• 〔T25 0698b17〕處【大】｜〔－〕【聖】
• 〔T25 0698b18〕牟【大】｜文【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0698b19〕國壽【大】｜國土壽命【石】
• 〔T25 0698b21〕法【大】｜道【宮】【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0698b23〕離【大】｜雜【聖】
• 〔T25 0698b24〕離【大】｜雜【聖】 (star re-citation · the shared note is at〔T25 0698b23〕 · within the chapter)
• 〔T25 0698b25〕著【大】｜〔－〕【聖】
• 〔T25 0698b25〕無【大】｜〔－〕【石】
• 〔T25 0698b26〕離【大】｜雜【聖】 (star re-citation · the shared note is at〔T25 0698b23〕 · within the chapter)
• 〔T25 0698b28〕果【大】｜福【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0698c05〕空【大】｜定【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【聖】
• 〔T25 0698c06〕實性【大】｜性實【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【石】
• 〔T25 0698c06〕法【大】｜〔－〕【聖】【石】
• 〔T25 0698c14〕外【大】｜內【石】
• 〔T25 0698c19〕不【大】｜不得【石】
• 〔T25 0698c21〕提【CB】｜處【大】 (CBETA collation type · see the special list in Section VIII)
• 〔T25 0699a07〕甞命【大】｜常命【宋】【元】【明】【宮】【石】｜常念【聖】
• 〔T25 0699a08〕襞【大】｜褺【元】【明】｜擗【宮】｜辟【石】
• 〔T25 0699a11〕息【大】｜自【宋】【宮】
• 〔T25 0699a19〕不【大】｜非【聖】｜〔－〕【宮】【石】
• 〔T25 0699b10〕汝【大】｜〔－〕【宮】
• 〔T25 0699b21〕法【大】｜法若法【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0699b21〕當【大】｜尚【宋】【元】【明】【宮】
• 〔T25 0699b23〕生【大】｜生釋第七十九品竟【石】
• 〔T25 0699b24〕論【大】｜經論【聖】｜論經【石】
• 〔T25 0699b24〕九十【大】｜九十釋第七十九品【聖】｜九十一【石】