大智度論 薩陀波崙品·卷九十六Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Sadāprarudita, Part 1 of 4

Sadāprarudita, Fascicle 96: Why, the Emptiness of Nature Having Been Called Hard to Obtain, the Text Suddenly Turns to Tell a Jātaka; How a Mind Scattered by Grief and Weeping Can Seek the Signless, Ultimately Empty Prajñā; Why Newly Arousing the Mind and Obtaining the Samādhis Do Not Hinder Each Other; Why Austerities of One Lifetime, Not Enough to Become a Buddha, Are Still Taken as Proof; Why One Who Has Not Yet Obtained the State of Avaivartika Is Called a Bodhisattva-mahāsattva; Why Three Explanations of the Name Ever Weeping Stand Side by Side without Judgement; Whose Voice the Voice in the Sky Really Was; Why an Old Story of Sudatta Is Inserted Here; Why the Phrases from "Do Not Think of Weariness" On Must Each Be Explained; Why "Do Not Destroy the Mark of the Body" Is the Middle Way and Not a Refusal to Contemplate the Body; Whether Saying One Accepts the Teaching without Seeing Its Form Is Credulity; Why the Three Gates of Liberation, Included in Prajñā, Are Spoken of Separately; Why, Having Taught Vigour and Prajñā, It Still Teaches Drawing Near to the Good Friend; Whether Giving Rise to the Notion of a Buddha toward the Place from Which One Hears the Dharma Exalts the Teacher or Safeguards the Dharma; Whether Raising No Resentment on Seeing the Teacher's Faults Is Indulgence

What Is Being Asked

The previous chapter spoke of the emptiness of nature, and at the very end Subhūti asked one question on behalf of those who have newly aroused the mind: how is such a dharma to be taught? The Buddha only asked back in a single sentence: 「法先有今無耶」 tr. "were dharmas existent before and non-existent now". With the talk come this far, it ought to have pushed the principle one layer further; instead the Buddha suddenly changes his tone and begins to tell the story of a person—a bodhisattva seeking prajñāpāramitā should be like Sadāprarudita. The way this chapter looks as soon as it opens is just such a turn: from speaking of a dharma to speaking of a person, from doctrine to jātaka (birth-story).

This turn is itself the first question this unit has to answer. As soon as he opens, the treatise-author lays bare the Buddha's intention: the dharma of the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain or hard to know—「本來常無，更無新異」 tr. "from the first it has always been non-existent; there is nothing new and strange"; the hearer is alarmed not because the dharma is too deep, but because he himself has first set up, out of nowhere, a terror of ‘once having it and now losing it’. To counteract this terror, when reasoning has come to its end, another way of teaching is put in its place—among the twelve divisions of the scriptures there is from the first a division of jātaka, and a person who really and truly walked this road is brought forward, so that the hearer gives rise to the one thought 「彼人能得，我亦應得」 tr. "that person could obtain it; I too should obtain it". So the genre of this chapter is itself doctrine: it is not an interlude of narrative; it is another medicine used when reasoning has reached its limit.

This man Sadāprarudita does not at first look like someone who could obtain the very deep prajñā. He grieves, he weeps, in the secluded forest he has not even had time to ask the way, and hearing only a voice in the sky whose form cannot be seen, he says 「我當從教」 tr. "I shall follow the teaching". The treatise-author picks out for the reader, one by one, the bluntest doubts: the signless, ultimately empty dharma is hard to obtain even sitting in meditation—by what right could a scattered, weeping mind obtain it? Since he had newly aroused the mind, why were the buddhas of the ten directions present before him, why did he obtain immeasurable samādhis? Since by such austerities he obtained the samādhis, why is he still to this day practising the bodhisattva's practice in the presence of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound, and has not become a Buddha? Not yet having obtained the state of avaivartika, why is he called a bodhisattva-mahāsattva? Asked in a whole string, these in fact ask only one thing: on what is it judged whether a person has a share or not. The treatise-author's answer always lands in the same place—on 「深心發意」 tr. "arousing intent with a deep mind", on 「一心不惜身」 tr. "with one mind not sparing the body", not on his rank at this moment, and not on whether he weeps or does not weep.

Having answered about the person, what must be answered next is the road. What the voice in the sky taught is, in its first half, the gate of practice—do not think of weariness, sleep, food and drink, day and night, cold and heat, inside and outside; do not look left or right; do not destroy the mark of the body, the mark of form, the marks of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness; in its second half it is the gate of the teacher—give rise to faith in emptiness, the signless, and non-action; be far from the evil friend; draw near to the good friend; toward the place from which one hears the Dharma give rise in one's mind to the notion of a Buddha; do not follow the Dharma teacher out of a mind for worldly gain; and be aware of the deeds of Māra. The treatise-author explains the first half phrase by phrase, and at the phrase 「莫壞身相」 tr. "do not destroy the mark of the body" points out the joint: it does not tell people not to contemplate the body; it tells them to leave the extremes of one and different, existence and non-existence, and practise the middle way—to cling to 「有身」 tr. "there is a body" of course destroys the mark, and to cling to 「無身」 tr. "there is no body" destroys the mark just the same. For the second half he uses the longest passage in this unit—what to do when the teacher has faults, what to do when the teacher receives the five desires, what to do when the teacher pays one no attention—answering all the way to the last sentence, 「如完牢之器，所受不漏」 tr. "like a whole and sound vessel, which does not leak what it receives".

So this unit, from beginning to end, is in fact only the two things a person new to the training needs in order to set out on the road: a mind that does not retreat, and a person on whom one can rely. As for what happens after he goes east, this unit has not yet begun it—the sūtra text at the end leaves only one sentence, 「薩陀波崙聞空中聲已，從是東行」 tr. "after Sadāprarudita heard the voice in the sky, he went east from here"; the rest is in what follows.

Passage by Passage

1. The Buddha holds up Sadāprarudita as the model for seeking prajñā. The Buddha tells Subhūti that a bodhisattva-mahāsattva seeking prajñāpāramitā 「當如薩陀波崙菩薩摩訶薩」 tr. "should be like the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Sadāprarudita"; and he expressly adds a sentence: this bodhisattva is now still practising the bodhisattva path in the presence of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound. From the first word it is a person in the present tense, not a legend of remote antiquity—what is held up is a ‘model’, not an ‘event’. Why must a person be held up as the model for seeking prajñā? Because what is to be learned is not a line of reasoning but a way of walking.

2. Subhūti asks how he sought. Subhūti at once says to the Buddha: 「薩陀波崙菩薩摩訶薩云何求般若波羅蜜？」 tr. "How did the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Sadāprarudita seek prajñāpāramitā?" What he asks is precisely the three Chinese characters ‘how did he seek’. The Buddha brought out a person; what Subhūti wants is the dharma—this question turns a jātaka from an allusion into teaching material: it does not ask who he was; it asks what he did.

3. The Buddha tells of the time he first sought, and of the admonitions of the voice in the sky. The Buddha answers that at the time he first sought prajñā, 「不惜身命，不求名利」 tr. "he did not spare body or life and did not seek fame or gain", and in a secluded forest he heard a voice in the sky. The first layer of what the voice in the sky taught is 「莫念」 tr. "do not think of"—weariness, sleep, food and drink, day and night, cold and heat, inside and outside, six named in a row, followed by 「行時莫觀左右」 tr. "as you go, do not look left or right"; the second layer is 「莫壞」 tr. "do not destroy"—do not destroy the mark of the body, the mark of form, the marks of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness; and it states the reason itself: 「若壞是諸相，則於佛法有礙」 tr. "if you destroy these marks, you have an obstruction in the Buddha-Dharma"; having an obstruction, one goes and comes within the births and deaths of the five destinies and cannot obtain prajñā. 「莫念」 tr. "Do not think of" treats the body's attachments; 「莫壞」 tr. "do not destroy" treats the inversion of views; the former lets him walk at all, the latter lets him walk rightly. From the very first words, the two gates of practice and of view are put into his hands at once.

4. Sadāprarudita answers the voice in the sky and states his three vows. Sadāprarudita at once answers the voice in the sky, 「我當從教」 tr. "I shall follow the teaching", and himself states the reason: 「欲為一切眾生作大明」 tr. "I wish to make a great light for all beings", I wish to gather all the dharmas of the buddhas, I wish to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Accepting the teaching is not a matter of yes-saying; on the spot he declares his own reasons for accepting it—since the teaching he accepts is accepted for the sake of beings, weariness, hunger, thirst, and the like are already outside his reckoning. When the vow is great, the teaching is easily accepted; this is where the real strength under the four Chinese characters 「我當從教」 tr. "I shall follow the teaching" lies.

5. The voice in the sky praises and teaches again: faith in the three gates of liberation, drawing near to the good friend, and the notion of a Buddha toward the place from which one hears. The voice in the sky speaks again, first praising, 「善哉」 tr. "Excellent", then teaching three things: first, toward the dharmas of emptiness, the signless, and non-action one should give rise to faith, 「以離相心求般若波羅蜜」 tr. "seek prajñāpāramitā with a mind apart from marks", apart from the mark of a self and so on up to the marks of a knower and a seer; second, be far from the evil friend, and draw near to and make offerings to the good friend—and at once it gives the good friend a definition: 「能說空、無相、無作、無生、無滅法及一切種智」 tr. "one who can speak the dharmas of emptiness, the signless, non-action, non-arising, and non-ceasing, and the omniscience of all kinds", causing people's minds to enter joy, faith, and delight; third, toward the place from which one hears prajñā 「應生心如佛想」 tr. "you should give rise in your mind to the notion of a Buddha", should know the debt of kindness, and should think that the one from whom one hears is one's good friend, since by hearing this Dharma one swiftly becomes non-retrogressing, draws near to the buddhas, and is always born in lands where there is a Buddha. Faith, the teacher, and gratitude, the three things are spoken in one breath: faith establishes his understanding, the teacher establishes his road, knowing the debt of kindness establishes his perseverance—lacking any one of the three, the 「莫念」 tr. "do not think of" and 「莫壞」 tr. "do not destroy" before have nothing to rest on.

6. Do not follow the Dharma teacher for worldly gain; be aware of the deeds of Māra. The voice in the sky goes on teaching: 「莫以世利心故隨逐法師」 tr. "do not follow the Dharma teacher out of a mind for worldly gain", but follow the bodhisattva who teaches the Dharma only out of love of the Dharma and reverence for the Dharma; and moreover 「當覺知魔事」 tr. "you should be aware of the deeds of Māra". The deeds of Māra are of two types: in the first, evil Māra produces the causes and conditions of the five desires for the bodhisattva who teaches the Dharma, making him receive them under the pretext of the Dharma—here the sūtra text at once takes it apart for the hearer: if the bodhisattva who teaches the Dharma has already entered the gate of the real Dharma, then because of the power of his virtue he receives them and is not defiled, and further his receiving is for three reasons (because of the power of skilful means, to cause beings to plant roots of goodness, and to share an endeavour with beings); therefore the disciple should raise the notion of purity, and think to himself that he does not yet know upāya-kauśalya; and it teaches him here to contemplate the real mark of all dharmas, namely 「一切法不垢不淨」 tr. "all dharmas are neither stained nor pure"—why? 「一切法自性空」 tr. "all dharmas are empty of self-nature", like an illusion, like a dream, like an echo, like a shadow, like a mirage, like a conjuration. In the second, the bodhisattva who teaches the Dharma, seeing a person who wishes to receive prajñā, pays him no heed in his mind; the disciple should not raise resentment, but should only be reverent for the sake of the Dharma. Of the two types of the deeds of Māra, one lies in the teacher's receiving desires, the other in the teacher's coldness; the sūtra text judges both in the same way—not on the teacher's person, but on whether, in that one thought of the disciple, defilement arises or not, resentment arises or not.

7. The treatise-author opens his explanation, taking up the question of the newly aroused mind from the previous chapter. The treatise-author explains, first taking up the end of the previous chapter: in the previous chapter it was said, 「新發意菩薩云何教性空法」 tr. "how is a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind to be taught the dharma of the emptiness of nature", because the dharma of the emptiness of nature is ultimately without anything existent and empty, hard to understand and hard to obtain. This chapter does not arise from this chapter; it arises from that question of the previous chapter that was not answered to the end—the telling of the jātaka is the continuation of the answer above, not a new topic started afresh.

8. Taking up the Buddha's counter-question—were dharmas existent before and non-existent now? The treatise-author goes on to take up the Buddha's answer: 「法先有今無耶？」 tr. "Were dharmas existent before and non-existent now?" The Buddha does not say directly whether the emptiness of nature is hard or not hard; he only asks back in one sentence: are dharmas existent before and non-existent now? All terror is built on the premise of ‘once having it and now losing it’; once the question is picked out, the terror has already lost its root.

9. The Buddha's meaning—the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain; seeking diligently with one mind, it can be obtained. The treatise-author sets out the Buddha's meaning on his behalf: the dharma of the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain or hard to know—why? 「本來常無，更無新異」 tr. "from the first it has always been non-existent; there is nothing new and strange"; why are you alarmed in mind and call it hard to obtain? Although this dharma of the emptiness of nature is very deep, if only the bodhisattva can 「一心勤精進，不惜身命」 tr. "with one mind diligently exert vigour, not sparing body or life", seeking with one mind in this way, then it can be obtained. 「此中說薩陀波崙本生為證」 tr. "Here the jātaka of Sadāprarudita is told as proof." This passage is the pivot of the whole unit: hard or not hard lies not in the dharma but in the mind; and since it lies in the mind, the proof needed is not more reasoning but a person. Why the jātaka appears here—at this point the reason has been told in full.

10. Why the jātaka scriptures are used—that person could obtain it; I too should obtain it. The treatise-author further explains the reason for the genre: the Buddha-Dharma has the twelve divisions of the scriptures, and some are delivered through the sūtra, the verse scriptures, or the jātaka scriptures; now the Buddha takes the jātaka scriptures as proof. If there are hearers, they have this thought, 「彼人能得，我亦應得」 tr. "that person could obtain it; I too should obtain it"; therefore the causes and conditions of the bodhisattva Sadāprarudita's jātaka are told. One who does not get in by way of principle gets in by way of an event. The one sentence 「彼人能得，我亦應得」 tr. "that person could obtain it; I too should obtain it" is precisely the whole medicinal power of the division of jātaka scriptures.

11. Taking up the sūtra—a bodhisattva seeking prajñā should be like Sadāprarudita. The treatise-author takes up the sūtra text: 「菩薩求般若波羅蜜，應如薩陀波崙。」 tr. "A bodhisattva seeking prajñāpāramitā should be like Sadāprarudita." Taken up but not explained, precisely to lay the ground for the four rounds of question and answer below—this sentence sounds plain and easy, but beneath it four difficulties are hidden.

12. The first question and answer—how a scattered, weeping mind can obtain ultimate emptiness. Question: If prajñāpāramitā is signless and ultimate emptiness, 「行禪定猶尚難得」 tr. "even by practising meditative concentration it is still hard to obtain", how much less can it be obtained by grieving and weeping and seeking it with a scattered mind! Answer: 「為新發意菩薩說薩陀波崙。」 tr. "Sadāprarudita is told for the sake of bodhisattvas who have newly aroused the mind." The question is very sharp: if even a concentrated mind finds it hard to obtain, how could a scattered mind obtain it? The answer is very brief: this jātaka was never told for those who have already obtained concentration; it is told for those who have newly aroused the mind. What is held up is the mark of the beginning mind, not the mark of the ultimate; to hold the matter of the beginning mind to the measure of the ultimate is to take the wrong ruler.

13. The second question and answer—since he had newly aroused the mind, why did the buddhas appear before him and why did he obtain the samādhis? Question: If Sadāprarudita had newly aroused the mind, how could the buddhas of the ten directions be present before him, and how did he obtain the samādhis? He did not spare his body, and moreover saw Dharmodgata and further obtained immeasurable asaṃkhyeya samādhis; how can he be called one who has newly aroused the mind? Answer: 「新學菩薩有二種」 tr. "bodhisattvas new to the training are of two kinds"—first, those who in their deep mind cling to worldly pleasure and arouse intent with a soft mind; second, those who arouse intent with a deep mind and do not cling to worldly pleasure; 「軟心發意者，佛不以為發心；深心發意者，乃名為發心」 tr. "one who arouses intent with a soft mind the Buddha does not count as having aroused the mind; one who arouses intent with a deep mind is alone named as having aroused the mind". And it cites as proof the Buddha's words to two bhikṣus in the śrāvaka dharma, 「於我法中，乃至無如毛釐煖法」 tr. "in my Dharma there is not even so much as a hair's breadth of the dharma of warmth": the Buddha regards the dharma of warmth as most minute, while ordinary people regard it as great; just as a king seeing a single piece of fine cotton cloth does not take it as much, while a poor person seeing it takes it as much. 「以一心不惜身故，說薩陀波崙為證」 tr. "Because with one mind he did not spare his body, Sadāprarudita is told as proof." This passage establishes the whole chapter's way of judging persons: being new to the training is not a low rank; it is a distinction between two kinds of mind. The one with a soft mind, however long, does not count as having aroused the mind; the one with a deep mind, however early, has already aroused the mind; the same Chinese character 「新」 tr. "new" is vastly different in size in the Buddha's eyes and in the eyes of ordinary people, just as a single piece of fine cotton cloth is vastly different in the eyes of a king and of a poor person.

14. The third question and answer—having obtained the samādhis by such austerities, why has he not yet become a Buddha? Question: If Sadāprarudita could perform such austerities and obtain the samādhis from Dharmodgata, he should have become a Buddha; why is he now still cultivating the bodhisattva's practice in the presence of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound? Answer: 「佛法無量無邊」 tr. "The Buddha-Dharma is immeasurable and boundless"; if even by cultivating the practice of austerities for thousands of myriads of asaṃkhyeya kalpas it is still unfindable, how much less by Sadāprarudita's austerities of one lifetime! This answer confines the 「證」 tr. "proof" of the jātaka to the place it ought to prove: what the jātaka proves is ‘this road can be walked through’, not ‘it can be walked to the end in one lifetime’. To hold it against him that his austerities of one lifetime did not make him a Buddha is to take the model for the whole journey.

15. A further explanation—perhaps, like Mañjuśrī, complete yet not taking the limit of reality. The treatise-author offers another explanation: further, there are bodhisattvas who are complete in the bodhisattva path, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, and the rest, yet for the sake of beings dwell in the world and 「未取實際」 tr. "have not taken the limit of reality", such as Mañjuśrī and others; Sadāprarudita may perhaps be like this, and so has not become a Buddha. The former explanation says his work is not yet full; this explanation says his work is already full and he deliberately does not take realisation—the same 「未作佛」 tr. "has not become a Buddha" may be a cannot, and may also be a will not. The treatise-author puts out the two explanations together and does not fix a judgement; this is precisely the measure customary in this treatise: on a person's rank, better to keep two sayings than lightly to pass one judgement.

16. A further explanation—how could sixty thousand samādhis count as many? The treatise-author further speaks of the number of samādhis: the samādhis of a bodhisattva are as many as the atoms in the lands of the ten directions; the sixty thousand samādhis that Sadāprarudita obtained, 「何足為多」 tr. "how could they count as many"? The questioner took ‘obtaining immeasurable samādhis’ as his ground for doubting that he had newly aroused the mind; here that ground is loosened at its root—what is called many and few depends on what is taken as the denominator. Measured by the number of atoms, sixty thousand is only a first obtaining; measured by ordinary feeling, sixty thousand is already inconceivable. The simile of the single piece of fine cotton cloth above is seen here once again.

17. Explaining the name of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound. The treatise-author explains the Buddha's name: the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound should be like a great nāga king about to send down rain, who shakes forth the sound of great thunder, and crows, sparrows, and small creatures are all afraid; when this Buddha first turned the Dharma wheel, the beings of the ten directions all aroused the mind, and those of the outside paths and of wrong views were all terrified and subdued; therefore gods, humans, and beings called this Buddha Great Thunder-Sound. And he records one sentence: 「是佛今現在」 tr. "this Buddha is present now". The name is set up from an event—the name of thunder-sound does not describe the loudness of a sound; it records the two effects that arose when he first turned the Dharma wheel: for those with the capacity, the arousing of the mind; for those of wrong views, being subdued. The three Chinese characters of the last sentence, 「今現在」 tr. "present now", must especially not be passed over: the place where Sadāprarudita is, is a present Buddha-land; the jātaka has not ended with the ending of the story.

18. Taking up Subhūti's question. The treatise-author takes up the sūtra: Subhūti asks 「薩陀波崙菩薩摩訶薩云何求般若波羅蜜」 tr. "how did the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Sadāprarudita seek prajñāpāramitā". Taking up this question lays the ground for the explanation below of the title 「菩薩摩訶薩」 tr. "bodhisattva-mahāsattva"—the form of address within the question has itself become the next question.

19. The fourth question and answer—not yet having obtained the state of avaivartika, why is he named a bodhisattva-mahāsattva? Question: Sadāprarudita had not yet obtained the state of avaivartika; why is he named a bodhisattva-mahāsattva? Answer: 「以有大菩薩故，小者亦名大。」 tr. "Because there are great bodhisattvas, the small ones too are called great." Further, because, although he had not yet obtained real wisdom, he could deeply bind his thought to prajñāpāramitā, and because he did not spare body or life and had great merit, he too is named a bodhisattva-mahāsattva. Two layers of reason: the first speaks of the assembly—within an assembly there are great ones, and the small ones receive the name by following them; the second speaks of the person—though he has not yet obtained real wisdom, the merit of deeply binding his thought to prajñā and not sparing body or life is already great. The setting-up of a name follows either the assembly one follows or the mind one has aroused—neither needs to wait until realisation is perfect before the title is allowed.

20. Asking the origin of his name—given by his parents, or obtained from causes and conditions? Question: Why is he named 「薩陀波崙」 tr. "Sadāprarudita"? 「為是父母與作名字？是因緣得名字？」 tr. "Is it a name his parents made for him? Or is it a name obtained from causes and conditions?" The question is asked cleanly: a name is either put on one at birth, or comes about from an event. The three sayings below all come out of this question—and from beginning to end the treatise-author does not judge between the two, but only sets the three sayings side by side.

21. The first saying—as a small child he liked to weep, so he was named Ever Weeping. Someone says: 「以其小時喜啼，故名常啼。」 tr. "Because as a small child he liked to weep, he was named Ever Weeping." This is the plainest saying: the name is set up from his habitual residues and has nothing to do with the path. The treatise-author lists it first and does not omit it for being shallow—a person's name may arise from the most ordinary of reasons, and this does not hinder his later becoming the model for seeking prajñā.

22. The second saying—great compassion and softness; named for weeping in sorrow for beings. Someone says: this bodhisattva, 「行大悲心柔軟故」 tr. "because he practised the mind of great compassion and was soft", saw beings in an evil age, poor, old and sick, grieved and suffering, and wept for them in sorrow; therefore the crowd called him 「薩陀波崙」 tr. "Sadāprarudita". The same weeping, with its object changed: not weeping for the sufferings of his own body, but weeping for the sufferings of beings. The name is unchanged, the meaning wholly changed—in this saying the weeping is not habitual residue but the mark of great compassion.

23. The third saying—losing the voice in the secluded forest and weeping for seven days and seven nights. Someone says: for the sake of seeking the Buddha path, this bodhisattva was far from the crowds of people; in a secluded place he sought the seclusion of the mind, reflected and weighed with one mind, and diligently sought the Buddha path, while at that time there was no Buddha in the world; this bodhisattva had practised the mind of kindness and compassion life after life, and because of a small cause and condition was born in an age without a Buddha; this person had a compassionate mind toward beings and wished to be vigorous without losing it, and therefore was in a secluded forest. Through the two causes and conditions—the causes and conditions of merit from former lives, together with the one mind, the great desire, and the great vigour of this present life—he heard the voice of teaching in the sky, and 「不久便滅」 tr. "before long it ceased"; then he thought in his mind 「我云何不問」 tr. "why did I not ask", and because of this cause and condition 「憂愁啼哭，七日七夜」 tr. "he grieved and wept for seven days and seven nights", and because of this 「天、龍、鬼神號曰常啼」 tr. "the gods, nāgas, and spirits called him Ever Weeping". The third saying is the most detailed and also the closest to the matter of this chapter: the weeping arose because he heard the teaching and had no time to ask; the voice had ceased and the road was not yet clear. The three sayings are set side by side, and the treatise-author judges none of them—the origin of a name may have three sayings standing together without hindering it from being one and the same person; keeping them here without judgement is itself the custom of this treatise.

24. Taking up the Buddha's answer—in a past age there was Sadāprarudita. The treatise-author takes up the Buddha's answer to Subhūti: 「過去世有薩陀波崙菩薩，不惜身命，不貪財利。」 tr. "In a past age there was the bodhisattva Sadāprarudita, who did not spare body or life and did not covet wealth or gain." The words of the sūtra as taken up differ slightly from the original sentence of the sūtra text while the meaning is the same; what the treatise-author takes is its headrope—the two phrases, not sparing body or life and not coveting wealth or gain, are precisely the root of all the austerities that follow.

25. Taking up the passage of hearing the voice in the secluded forest, and pointing back to the text above. The treatise-author further takes up: 「求般若波羅蜜時，在空閑林中，聞空中聲，到空林中」 tr. "when he sought prajñāpāramitā, in a secluded forest he heard the voice in the sky, and came into an empty forest", as said above. What has already been explained is not explained again; he only points back with the three Chinese characters 「如上說」 tr. "as said above"—this is this treatise's usual way of sparing words, and it is also a place where the reader should look back at the text above.

26. The fifth question and answer—what voice was the voice in the sky? Question: 「空中聲為是何聲？」 tr. "What voice was the voice in the sky?" Answer: Perhaps the buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods, or nāga kings, out of pity for beings, seeing that this person 「不著世間法、一心求佛道」 tr. "did not cling to worldly dharmas and sought the Buddha path with one mind", and because at that time there was no Buddha-Dharma, wishing to show him the causes and conditions for obtaining prajñā, sent forth a voice in the sky. The question is asked at the crux: from where does the authority of the admonition come? The answer says it comes from the pity of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods, and nāga kings. So hearing the voice and accepting the teaching is not credulously believing a voice of unknown origin—in an age without a Buddha, this is the only road of stimulus and response that remains.

27. Another saying—a person with good causes and conditions from former lives, become a spirit, sent forth the voice. Someone says: it was a person with good causes and conditions with Sadāprarudita from former lives, who was a spirit in this forest and saw his grief and suffering; because he had causes and conditions with him from former lives, 「又是神亦求佛道」 tr. "and moreover this spirit too was seeking the Buddha path"—because of these two causes and conditions he sent forth the voice. This saying pulls the one who sent forth the voice back to a concrete old acquaintance: one cause is a bond from former lives, the other is the shared aspiration of seeking the Buddha path. The two causes named together show that stimulus and response do not descend without reason: there is an old bond, and a shared aspiration, and then the voice is sent forth.

28. The simile of Sudatta hearing the voice—a good friend showing the way: one principle, past and present. To prove this principle the treatise-author cites an old story: when the brahmin Mibo, for the sake of Sudatta, went to Rājagṛha and visited the house of a great elder to seek a wife for his son, he ate and drank to excess among the great assembly of brahmins, his belly swelled, and he died; he became a spirit and dwelt above the city gate of Rājagṛha. Sudatta, hearing that he had died, went himself to the elder's house to lodge; the elder rose in the last watch of the night and prepared food and drink, and Sudatta asked why he was managing affairs so hurriedly; the elder answered, 「我欲請佛及僧」 tr. "I wish to invite the Buddha and the Saṅgha". Sudatta, hearing the name of the Buddha, was 「驚喜毛竪」 tr. "startled and glad, with his hair standing on end"; the elder had already obtained the traces of the path, and spoke widely to him of the Buddha's merit; Sudatta's love and delight reached their utmost, and he longed to see the Buddha; carried by the mind of recollecting the Buddha he dozed a little, woke in a moment, and seeing the moonlight in the night took it for sunrise, rose at once and hurried toward the gate, and saw that the city gate was already open—and the treatise-author, with the same stroke of the brush, records why it was open: the city gates of Rājagṛha are not closed in the first watch of the night, for the sake of guests arriving, and are opened early in the last watch, for the sake of guests departing. Having seen the gate open, he went straight toward the Buddha; the Buddha was then dwelling in the Cold Forest; halfway along the road the moon set and it became dark again, and Sudatta was regretful and hesitant in mind and wished to go back into the city; at this moment the spirit Mibo emitted light from his body, illuminating the woods and fields, and told him: 「莫怖莫畏，直去莫還，去得大利」 tr. "do not be frightened, do not be afraid; go straight on and do not turn back—going on, you will obtain great benefit". Sudatta then saw the Buddha and obtained the path of the srota-āpanna, invited the Buddha and the Saṅgha in the city of Śrāvastī and made offerings to them for the rest of his life; the Buddha had Śāriputra act as Sudatta's teacher, and build a monastic dwelling in Śrāvastī. The treatise-author concludes: 「如須達知識神示導，薩陀波崙知識示導亦如是」 tr. "just as the spirit who was Sudatta's good friend showed him and guided him, so too the good friend of Sadāprarudita showed him and guided him"; therefore, seeing his grief and suffering, it showed and guided him, speaking these words: Good man, go east from here; as you go, do not think of weariness and the rest. This passage is inserted at great length, yet not a word is idle: what it proves is precisely the two causes of the twenty-seventh passage—the spirit who was an old acquaintance, and the person seeking the path; the two conditions come together and the voice comes forth. And the episode within it, of the moon setting and the dark returning, of regret and hesitation, further paints a portrait for all who seek the Dharma: halfway along, the light goes dark and one wants to turn back—it is just at this moment that the voice comes.

29. The sixth question and answer—when weariness, hunger, and thirst press upon the body, how can one not think of them? Question: 「疲極、飢渴，交來切身，云何不念？」 tr. "When weariness, hunger, and thirst press in together upon the body, how can one not think of them?" Answer: Because of the power of great desire and vigour, with one mind he loves and delights in the Buddha path and does not spare body or life; rest, food and drink, and the like are all dharmas that aid the body; though these things come, they do not disturb his mind, 「知皆虛誑無常、無實，如怨、如賊」 tr. "knowing that they are all false, deceptive, and impermanent, without reality, like an enemy, like a thief", merely for the comfort of the body—how are they worth keeping in mind; do not abandon the Buddha path for the sake of hunger, thirst, weariness, and the like. What the questioner asks about is a factual impossibility—when the body presses, how can one not think of it simply by not thinking of it? The answerer does not say that the body does not press; he only says that the mind does not follow: food, drink, and rest are from the first dharmas that aid the body, and only aid the body; to regard them as enemies and thieves is not to loathe the body, but to refuse to let the things that aid the body turn round and become master. Only the last sentence, 「莫為飢渴、疲極等故而捨佛道」 tr. "do not abandon the Buddha path for the sake of hunger, thirst, weariness, and the like", is where the whole answer lands—it does not forbid thinking of them; it forbids abandoning the path because of them.

30. Explaining "do not think of day and night"—in fact there is no day or night. The treatise-author explains 「莫念晝夜」 tr. "do not think of day and night": do not think, 「晝是行法，夜應止息」 tr. "the daytime is the dharma for walking the path; at night one should stop and rest". 「實無晝夜」 tr. "In fact there is no day or night"; why? 「日依須彌，影翳故名夜」 tr. "The sun depends on Sumeru; because it is screened by the shadow, it is named night." The division of day and night is from the first only the name of a shadow between the sun and the mountain, yet the practitioner takes it as the law of working and resting. What is broken here is not working and resting, but taking a dependently arisen provisional name as the boundary of walking the path.

31. Explaining "do not think of inside and outside", "do not look left or right", and "do not destroy the mark of the body". The treatise-author explains them one phrase after another: as for 「莫念內外」 tr. "do not think of inside and outside", beings mostly cling to inner dharmas—「內法名身，外法名五欲」 tr. "inner dharmas are named the body; outer dharmas are named the five desires"; inner and outer dharmas are not fixed, and because they are empty of nature one should not cling to them. As for 「莫觀左右」 tr. "do not look left or right", because people walk the path with a scattered mind they look round to left and right; the practitioner has no occasion to look behind him, and what is in front he cannot help seeing, so it only says not to look round to left and right; further, evil Māra often deludes and disturbs the practitioner, sometimes taking all kinds of shapes, sometimes making beautiful forms, sometimes making fearsome beasts, on the left and right of the road, therefore it says not to look—「是皆止其麁念」 tr. "all these stop his coarse thoughts". As for 「莫壞身相」 tr. "do not destroy the mark of the body", do not destroy the mark of form and the other marks: 「五眾和合故假名為身」 tr. "because of the coming together of the five aggregates, it is provisionally named a body"; if one says there is a separate and definitely existing dharma of the body, this destroys the mark of the body; if one clings to the dharma of no body, this too destroys the mark of the body; 「離是一異、有無等邊，行於中道」 tr. "leaving these extremes of one and different, existence and non-existence, and the like, and practising the middle way", one swiftly obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Here the Buddha himself states the causes and conditions: if one destroys these marks, one has an obstruction in the Buddha-Dharma; one who has an obstruction goes and comes within the births and deaths of the five destinies, and cannot obtain prajñāpāramitā. The three phrases are explained in one sweep, growing finer layer by layer: "do not think of inside and outside" blocks what he clings to; "do not look left or right" blocks what he takes as object; while "do not destroy the mark of the body" is no longer about blocking coarse thoughts but about blocking views. Most crucial is the two-way explanation of the two Chinese characters ‘destroying the mark’: to set up a definite body destroys the mark, and to hold to a body that does not exist destroys the mark just the same—what the sūtra text teaches is not refusing to contemplate the body, but contemplating the body without falling to either side. What the first two phrases stop is 「麁念」 tr. "coarse thoughts"; what this phrase stops is subtle views; walking on in one line, the gate of practice and the gate of view at last become one thing on the middle way.

32. Taking up Sadāprarudita's own statement of his three vows. The treatise-author takes up his answer to the voice in the sky and his own statement of the causes and conditions: seeing all beings fallen into the darkness of ignorance, I wish to kindle for them the light of wisdom; all beings have all the afflictions, I wish to set out for them the medicine of all the dharmas of the Buddha; all beings have fallen into wrong paths, for the sake of these beings I seek the unsurpassed path. Each of the three vows answers one sickness: ignorance is answered with light, the afflictions with the medicine of the Dharma, wrong paths with the unsurpassed path. One vow, one medicine, in orderly correspondence—the reasons for accepting the teaching turn out to be a prescription written out for beings.

33. The three vows and the fitness of accepting the teaching. The treatise-author judges: 「是三種願」 tr. "these three kinds of vow" can be made complete when prajñāpāramitā is obtained; therefore it says that he accepts the teaching. Why does stating the three vows count as accepting the teaching? Because what is vowed cannot be fulfilled without prajñā. Only when the vow fits what is sought are the two Chinese characters ‘accepting the teaching’ not empty talk—this sentence locks the vow above and the practice below tightly together.

34. The seventh question and answer—not seeing its form, why does he at once say he accepts the teaching? Question: Sadāprarudita did not see its form and only heard its voice; why does he at once say that he accepts the teaching? Answer: 「人所求事急故，聞聲則應」 tr. "Because what a person seeks is urgent, on hearing a voice he responds"; Sadāprarudita too was like this; further, hearing that the principle it spoke was good, he knew that the speaker too was good, and so there was no need to see with the eyes—just as in the dark there are all kinds of beings, and though the eye does not see them, hearing their sounds one knows their kinds. What is asked about is the suspicion of credulity; what is answered is a twofold reason: first, the matter is urgent, and urgency has no leisure to wait for seeing; second, the person is tested by the principle—if the principle is good, the person is good. The simile of hearing sounds in the dark and knowing the kinds is the most apt—to discern a person one need not wait for the eyes; listening to what he says is enough. This also answers the fifth question and answer: what is believed is not the origin of that voice, but the Dharma that the voice speaks.

35. Taking up the voice in the sky praising him again: "Excellent". The treatise-author takes up the sūtra: at that time the voice in the sky again praised him, saying 「善哉」 tr. "Excellent". The praise comes after his acceptance of the teaching and before the instruction—first sealing what he has already accepted, then giving what he does not yet know.

36. Explaining why it praises "Excellent". The treatise-author explains why it praised him: because, though he did not see its form, he could believe and accept good words; and further because, wishing to deliver all beings, he sought anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi and his mind was not slack and did not stop. Because of such causes and conditions as these, it praised him, saying 「善哉」 tr. "Excellent". What is praised is two things: one, that he can believe; two, that his mind is not slack and does not stop. The former is the virtue of entering the gate, the latter the virtue of persevering—this praise is not a commendation; it points out for the reader the two points in this person truly worth learning.

37. Explaining giving rise to faith in the three gates of liberation and seeking prajñā with a mind apart from marks. The treatise-author explains 「於三解脫門中應生信心」 tr. "toward the three gates of liberation you should give rise to faith": these gates are 「諸法實相所入門」 tr. "the gates by which one enters the real mark of all dharmas"; apart from these three gates, all is false and deceptive, without reality. Though you have not yet obtained them, 「應生大信根力」 tr. "you should give rise to the power of the great faculty of faith"; because of the power of the faculty of faith, little by little you become complete in the faculties. He explains 「以離相心求般若波羅蜜」 tr. "seek prajñāpāramitā with a mind apart from marks": this means contemplating all dharmas as ultimately empty, apart from the mark of beings and apart from the mark of dharmas. This passage answers the most practical question of one new to the training: not yet having realised, how is one to relate to it? The answer: relate to it by faith. Faith does not replace realisation; it is the root that gives rise to the faculties—because of the power of the faculty of faith one little by little becomes complete in the faculties; faith's being a root lies precisely here. And the content of what is believed has also been marked out: the three gates are the only doors for entering the real mark; apart from these, all is false and deceptive. Only when faith has something it believes does it not become blind faith.

38. The eighth question and answer—are the three gates of liberation included within prajñā? Question: Are the three gates of liberation included within prajñā? If they are included, why are they spoken of separately? If they are not included, why does the sūtra say 「一切助道法，皆攝在般若中」 tr. "all dharmas that aid the path are included within prajñā"? Answer: 「一切法皆入般若中。」 tr. "All dharmas enter into prajñā." People all fear suffering and therefore seek liberation; so within the portion of prajñā the three gates of liberation are spoken of first; by what causes and conditions is this liberation obtained? By leaving the pairs of extremes—namely the mark of beings and the mark of dharmas—and practising prajñāpāramitā. The questioner lays down a dilemma: if included, speaking of them separately is superfluous; if not included, it contradicts what was said before. The answerer takes neither horn, but speaks only of before and after: included they are, and speaking of them separately is to accord with beings' fear of suffering by first bringing out what they most urgently need. Within the teaching, being included and being spoken of separately do not contradict each other—once the general mark is settled, there must still be a sequence according to the capacities. And the last sentence still returns to prajñā: the obtaining of liberation still depends on leaving the two extremes and practising prajñā.

39. The ninth question and answer—having taught vigour and prajñā, why further teach drawing near to the good friend? Question: At first he was taught 「精進」 tr. "vigour", and afterwards he was taught 「三解脫門、般若」 tr. "the three gates of liberation and prajñā"; now for what reason is he further taught to draw near to the good friend? Answer: 「雖有好法，若無教者，行時多錯」 tr. "although there is a good dharma, if there is no one to teach it, one goes wrong often in practising it", just as, though there is good medicine, one still needs a good physician; further, Sadāprarudita was a bodhisattva who had newly aroused the mind, and prajñāpāramitā is very deep—how could he, merely by hearing a brief teaching from the sky, be complete in it by himself? Therefore he is taught and told to draw near to the good friend. The simile that good medicine needs a good physician states the good friend's place with great precision: the medicine does not become medicine because of the physician, but the one who takes the medicine does not go wrong because of the physician. The two earlier teachings gave the dharma; this one gives the person who uses the dharma—what the voice in the sky can give is only a brief teaching, a brief teaching is not enough for being complete by oneself, and therefore there must be a person.

40. The two marks of the good friend. The treatise-author says: the meaning of the good friend is as said before; now two marks of the good friend are briefly told—first, he teaches one to tend with one mind toward sarvajñā; second, he teaches the dharma of prajñāpāramitā—emptiness, the signless, non-action, non-arising, non-ceasing, and the rest. Of the two marks, one is where one tends, the other is what one contemplates: tending toward sarvajñā fixes his direction; teaching the dharmas of emptiness gives him right contemplation. With these two marks as the ruler, the judging of a good friend is no longer tied to name, rank, or reputation; it asks only where he teaches you to tend and how he teaches you to contemplate dharmas.

41. Like a physician telling the method of taking medicine. The treatise-author continues the simile: if one can practise thus, before long one obtains prajñāpāramitā; just as a physician tells a sick person the method of taking medicine, and if you can take it according to the method, the illness is cured. It carries on from the earlier 「譬如雖有好藥，亦須良醫」 tr. "just as, though there is good medicine, one still needs a good physician" and goes one layer further—having found the physician, one must still take it according to the method. What a teacher can do is exhausted in teaching the Dharma; whether one practises or not still rests with oneself; this sentence draws clearly the line between relying on a teacher and one's own strength.

42. Explaining hearing from scrolls of the sūtra and hearing from a bodhisattva—prajñā is found in two places; giving rise to the notion of a Buddha toward the teacher. The treatise-author explains 「若從經卷聞，從菩薩說聞」 tr. "whether hearing from scrolls of the sūtra, or hearing from what a bodhisattva says": he is sending Sadāprarudita to the presence of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, where prajñā is found in two places—「一、寶臺上金牒書，二、曇無竭所說」 tr. "first, the writing on golden tablets upon the jewelled dais; second, what Dharmodgata says"; a person of much merit hears it from what Dharmodgata says, one of little merit hears it from the scrolls of the sūtra. Toward the teacher one gives rise to the notion of a Buddha, because he can teach the causes and conditions of the Buddha path. Petty people of the world, once the matter for which they needed someone is finished, forget his kindness and good turn, and have this thought: 「如人乘船度水，既到彼岸，何用船為」 tr. "it is like a person crossing water in a boat; having reached the other shore, what use is the boat any more"; therefore it says you should know the debt of kindness, and should have this thought: the one from whom I hear prajñā is my good friend. Prajñā is found in two places, and merit divides from which one hears—this does not exalt the one who teaches the Dharma; it makes clear that the Dharma's sources are nearer and farther. As for the thought of crossing water in a boat, it is precisely the pretext of the ungrateful: the words are spoken with great breadth of understanding, but in fact it is pulling down the bridge once the river is crossed. The treatise-author holds it up as a warning, and what he warns against is not the boat but that turn in the human mind.

43. The benefit of prajñā is the most excellent; therefore one regards the teacher with the notion of a Buddha. The treatise-author goes on: among all benefits, 「般若利最勝」 tr. "the benefit of prajñā is the most excellent"; practising this prajñā, one swiftly obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi and is non-retrogressing; further, because of the causes and conditions of practising prajñā, one draws near to the buddhas, is always born in lands where there is a Buddha, 「離於八難」 tr. "is far from the eight difficulties", and meets with a Buddha in the world. The bodhisattva should have this thought: the merits such as these that I obtain are all obtained from prajñā; prajñāpāramitā is obtained from a teacher; therefore I regard the teacher with the notion of a Buddha. This passage pushes the reason for 「生佛想」 tr. "giving rise to the notion of a Buddha" to the bottom: one reveres the teacher not because the teacher is a Buddha, but because the Dharma one obtains comes from the Buddha in the first place and arrives by way of the teacher. What the reverence is tied to is the Dharma, not the person—and precisely because of this, even if the teacher below has faults, this reverence is not spoiled along with them.

44. Why one should not follow the Dharma teacher for worldly gain. The treatise-author explains why this sentence is spoken: one who can proclaim prajñāpāramitā has great merit, has many acquaintances, and receives many offerings; disciples at first follow him for the sake of prajñā, and afterwards little by little for the sake of the gain of offerings; therefore it says 「莫以世利故隨逐法師」 tr. "do not follow the Dharma teacher for the sake of worldly gain". The change of quality does not lie in the first intention; it lies in the two Chinese characters 「漸漸」 tr. "little by little": at first one came for the sake of the Dharma, and after attending long, what one is after has changed without one's noticing. What the sūtra text guards against is precisely this unseen sliding.

45. The tenth question and answer—why not merely say to draw near to the good friend, but tell various causes and conditions? Question: Why does it not merely say to draw near to the good friend, but tells these various causes and conditions? Answer: Because there are people who, having found a good friend, cannot grasp his intent, but on the contrary turn it into enmity and fall into hell, slandering one another; 「唯佛一人無有過失」 tr. "only the Buddha alone is without fault"; among all others, who can be without it? If a disciple sees the teacher's faults, whether real or unreal, his own mind is spoiled, and he can no longer obtain the benefit of the Dharma. Therefore the voice in the sky taught: if you see the teacher's faults, do not raise resentment; you should have this thought—because my merit from former lives was not complete, I did not get to meet a Buddha, and now I meet this teacher of mixed conduct; I should not think of his faults and so hinder myself and lose prajñā; 「師之過失，不著於我」 tr. "the teacher's faults do not attach to me"; I only receive from the teacher the dharma of prajñāpāramitā. The question strikes the crux exactly: since it says to draw near, why go on at such length? The answer: because it is after drawing near that the real difficulty begins. The sentence 「唯佛一人無有過失」 tr. "only the Buddha alone is without fault" establishes the premise—apart from the Buddha, the one relied on will certainly have faults to be seen; since one is certain to see them, one must first teach the disciple what to do after seeing them. And the key to its teaching lies in the four Chinese characters 「不著於我」 tr. "do not attach to me": the teacher's faults are the teacher's causes and conditions, while the disciple's losing the Dharma is his own loss; the two things are from the first unrelated, and it is resentment that joins them into one.

46. Three similes making clear that one should not discard the Dharma because of the teacher's faults. The treatise-author brings out three similes in a row: 「如狗皮囊盛好寶物」 tr. "as when a dog-skin bag holds fine jewels", one should not discard the jewels because of the bag; as when a criminal holds a torch to light the road, one may not, because the person has committed a crime, refuse his light and fall oneself into the ditch; and again, as when on a journey a lowly person is sent to lead the way, one may not, because the person is lowly, refuse to follow his words. For such causes and conditions as these, one should not be far from the teacher. Even if the teacher really has committed an offence, one still should not leave him; how much less when here it is causes and conditions made by Māra, causing the one who teaches the Dharma to have deep and wondrous five desires; so that disciples do not become stained and attached to dharmas, the one who teaches the Dharma, by reason of skilful means, shows himself receiving them—skilful means meaning wishing to cause beings to plant the causes and conditions of merit, and also taking in beings through shared endeavour. Each of the three similes breaks one kind of feeling that slights the teacher: to one who dislikes the shabbiness of the vessel, the simile is the dog-skin bag; to one who dislikes the evil of his conduct, the simile is the criminal's torch; to one who dislikes the lowness of his rank, the simile is the lowly person's guidance. What the three share is mixing up the Dharma and the person who holds the Dharma as one thing. And the four Chinese characters 「自墜溝壑」 tr. "fall oneself into the ditch" weigh especially heavily—what one who discards the light loses does not lie with the other person; it is oneself who falls into the pit.

47. Those who penetrate the real mark are without fault or offence—the two similes of a man in his prime with heat in his belly and of good medicine with poison added. The treatise-author speaks of a further kind: further, there are bodhisattvas who, because they penetrate the real mark of all dharmas, are without obstruction and without fault or offence; though they commit a fault or offence, it does no harm. It is like a person in the prime of strength with great heat in his belly: though he eats unsuitable food and drink, it cannot make him ill; and again, like a good medicine: though evil poison is added to it, the poison cannot harm it. Because of such causes and conditions as these, the sūtra says: toward your teacher do not raise resentment and so lose prajñā yourself. Both similes take the sense of ‘when the inner strength is strong, outer conditions cannot do harm’: it does not say that bad food and poison are not bad; it says that when they meet the most robust body and the best medicine, they cannot take effect. What is spoken of here is the power of the real mark, not words that license evil—the positions must be clearly distinguished: this says there are such bodhisattvas; it does not say that a disciple may rely on this to excuse anyone.

48. A teacher pure in the precepts who pays no attention—do not give rise to resentment either. The treatise-author brings out yet another type: further, there is the one who teaches the Dharma who keeps the precepts purely, is far from the five desires, has much knowledge and many acquaintances, has a good reputation, and is of awesome virtue and honoured, yet when the disciple receives his Dharma he pays the disciple no attention; toward this you should not give rise to resentment; you should have this thought—because of my offences in former lives I have now become a petty person; the teacher does not look down on me; it is I myself who have no merit and cannot obtain the path; further, toward the teacher I should break down arrogance in order to seek the benefit of the Dharma. In the first two types the teacher seems to have faults; in this type the teacher has no fault that can be pointed to, and the disciple still gives rise to resentment—the resentment arises only from his own being left out in the cold. The treatise-author's remedy is still to turn the causes and conditions round and look at them: 「師不輕我，我自無福」 tr. "the teacher does not look down on me; it is I myself who have no merit"; and on this he points out a positive use—this is exactly the place to break down arrogance. What a person seeking the Dharma most needs when left out in the cold is precisely not comfort, but this move.

49. Toward all the various teachers be reverent with one mind, like a whole and sound vessel. The treatise-author gathers it all up: there are teachers of all these kinds; the bodhisattva, for the sake of seeking prajñāpāramitā, is only reverent with one mind, and should not think of their strengths and shortcomings; if one can be patient in this way, and with one mind toward the teacher raise no increase or decrease, then from the teacher you obtain the wondrous Dharma entirely—「如完牢之器，所受不漏」 tr. "like a whole and sound vessel, which does not leak what it receives". The three types of teacher having been told in full, here only one general rule is given: do not think of strengths and shortcomings. And the four Chinese characters 「不起增減」 tr. "raise no increase or decrease" are the eye of this passage—to increase on seeing his strengths is likewise a kind of leaking; praise him beyond measure, and what is received leaks away just the same. The final simile gathers it up most beautifully: whether what the teacher gives is more or less, if the disciple is a whole and sound vessel, not a drop of what is received is lost; if the vessel has a crack, however much Dharma there is, it cannot be kept. The way of relying on a teacher has here turned back from the teacher's person to oneself.

50. The end of the sūtra text—having heard the voice in the sky, he went east from here. The treatise-author finally takes up the sūtra text: 「薩陀波崙聞空中聲已，從是東行」 tr. "after Sadāprarudita heard the voice in the sky, he went east from here", as is told at length in the sūtra. This unit stops here—the admonitions are finished, and the person has only just set out. Everything said above, whether "do not think of" and "do not destroy", or faith, the teacher, and knowing the debt of kindness, only begins to be tested after the two Chinese characters 「東行」 tr. "went east"; and what follows the going east is in what comes below.

Do Not Misread

Do not read Sadāprarudita's weeping as weakness. The questioner raises exactly this as a difficulty—how could a mind scattered by grief and weeping seek and obtain the prajñā of ultimate emptiness; the treatise-author's way of answering is not to make excuses for him but to change the standard of judgement: what he is judged by is 「深心發意，不著世間樂」 tr. "arousing intent with a deep mind and not clinging to worldly pleasure" and 「一心不惜身」 tr. "with one mind not sparing the body", not whether he weeps or does not weep. And among the three sayings there is one that points straight to his weeping as being 「行大悲心柔軟故」 tr. "because he practised the mind of great compassion and was soft", weeping for the sufferings of beings. The same weeping may be habitual residue, may be great compassion, and may also be losing the voice while seeking the Dharma; to read it as weakness is to spoil in advance the very person this chapter means to set up.

Do not read the telling of the jātaka as an interlude in the story. The treatise-author states plainly why it is so: the dharma of the emptiness of nature is 「本來常無，更無新異」 tr. "from the first it has always been non-existent; there is nothing new and strange"; the hearer's alarm lies not in the depth of the dharma, but in there first being in his mind a terror of losing; the jātaka is told to counteract this terror, so that he gives rise to the one thought 「彼人能得，我亦應得」 tr. "that person could obtain it; I too should obtain it". So this jātaka is another way of teaching put in place when reasoning has reached its limit; it is medicine, not ornament. To read it as a story for lightening the atmosphere is to miss exactly the move by which the Buddha changed his tone.

Do not read 「莫壞身相」 tr. "do not destroy the mark of the body" as forbidding the contemplation of the body. The treatise-author explains it with great clarity: because of the coming together of the five aggregates it is provisionally named a body; if one sets up separately a definite dharma of the body, this destroys the mark of the body; if one holds to a dharma of no body, 「是亦壞身相」 tr. "this too destroys the mark of the body". What is blocked is the two extremes; what is practised is the middle way. If it were read as forbidding the observation of the mark of the body, it would clash head-on with the contemplation of impermanence and falsity taught earlier; what this phrase breaks is views, not contemplation.

Do not read the setting side by side of three sayings as the treatise-author's hesitation. On the origin of the name, the treatise-author brings out three sayings in a row and judges none of them; below, in explaining the voice in the sky and in explaining why he has not become a Buddha, two sayings are likewise kept together. This is not an inability to decide; it is this treatise's consistent measure on a person's deeds and rank—wherever two may be kept without harm to doctrine, it records the different sayings and does not force a single judgement. If the reader is impatient for a settled conclusion, he will instead read the treatise-author's caution as vagueness.

Do not read 「於師生佛想」 tr. "giving rise to the notion of a Buddha toward the teacher" as the teacher being a Buddha. The reason the treatise-author gives is very clear: all the merits obtained are obtained from prajñā, 「般若波羅蜜從師而得」 tr. "prajñāpāramitā is obtained from a teacher", therefore one regards the teacher with the notion of a Buddha. What is revered is the source from which the Dharma comes, not an assertion about the teacher's level of realisation. Precisely because it is tied to the Dharma, when the teacher has faults, receives the five desires, or pays no attention, as said below, this reverence can stand without wavering; if it were read as the teacher being a Buddha, then on seeing a single fault, the notion of a Buddha and faith would collapse together, falling exactly into the sickness the treatise-author describes, 「其心自壞，不復能得法利」 tr. "his own mind is spoiled, and he can no longer obtain the benefit of the Dharma".

Do not read ‘raising no resentment on seeing the teacher's faults’ as indulgence. The treatise-author's premise is 「唯佛一人無有過失」 tr. "only the Buddha alone is without fault"; among all others, who can be without it—since one is certain to see them, the question does not lie in whether there are faults or not, but in how the disciple conducts himself after seeing them. His verdict is 「師之過失，不著於我」 tr. "the teacher's faults do not attach to me": because they do not attach to me, I need not lose the Dharma because of them; because they do not attach to me, there is also no intent to cover up for anyone. What is taught is not letting oneself be harmed, not teaching people to call a deer a horse. As for the passage 「說法者以方便故現受」 tr. "the one who teaches the Dharma, by reason of skilful means, shows himself receiving them", it speaks of the position of a bodhisattva who has already penetrated the real mark; it is not a general rule for excusing people—to cite it indiscriminately without distinguishing positions is to read a teaching that guards the disciple against losing the Dharma as words that shield someone's shortcomings.

Bearing on Practice

Raise faith with 「彼人能得，我亦應得」 tr. "that person could obtain it; I too should obtain it", without measuring oneself high or low. Whenever one reads a jātaka or reads a biography, the two minds most easily born are, first, admiring its wonder and not daring to learn from it, and second, discussing its events and not being willing to practise. The treatise-author points out that the Buddha's intention in telling the jātaka is only one sentence—to make the hearer have this thought, 「彼人能得，我亦應得」 tr. "that person could obtain it; I too should obtain it". The method of taking it up lies just here: when reading of Sadāprarudita going east without sparing body or life, one need not first ask whether one has the strength; first raise this thought, and the strength grows along with the thought.

Test the truth or falsity of one's arousing of the mind by the deep mind and the soft mind. 「軟心發意者，佛不以為發心；深心發意者，乃名為發心」 tr. "One who arouses intent with a soft mind the Buddha does not count as having aroused the mind; one who arouses intent with a deep mind is alone named as having aroused the mind"—this is a very sharp ruler. One who aroused the mind long ago and still clings to worldly pleasure does not yet count in the Buddha's eyes; one who aroused the mind only recently and does not cling to worldly pleasure is already counted. When testing oneself day by day, one need not reckon how long or how recent in years and months; ask only one thing: when this mind meets worldly pleasure, does it retreat or not?

Restrain the body's attachments with the six matters of 「莫念」 tr. "do not think of", and let it land on the one sentence 「莫為飢渴、疲極等故而捨佛道」 tr. "do not abandon the Buddha path for the sake of hunger, thirst, weariness, and the like". Weariness, sleep, food and drink, day and night, cold and heat, inside and outside—the treatise-author explains them very plainly: these are dharmas that aid the body; they are not forbidden to exist, they are forbidden to become master; knowing them as 「虛誑無常、無實，如怨、如賊」 tr. "false, deceptive, and impermanent, without reality, like an enemy, like a thief", when the things come the mind is not disturbed. When working at practice and constantly tugged by bodily matters, take this sentence and ask oneself: is this one thing aiding the body, or is it already trading away my path?

Choose a teacher by the two marks of the good friend, and examine oneself by 「完牢之器」 tr. "a whole and sound vessel". In choosing a teacher, do not look at name, rank, or reputation; ask only two things: whether he teaches me to tend with one mind toward sarvajñā, and whether he teaches me the dharmas of emptiness, the signless, non-action, non-arising, and non-ceasing. Once one relies on him, turn back and examine this vessel of one's own—「於師一心不起增減」 tr. "with one mind toward the teacher raise no increase or decrease", neither decreasing on seeing faults nor increasing out of admiration; if the vessel is whole and sound, not a drop of what the teacher gives leaks away. How much Dharma one gets often lies not in the teacher but in the vessel.

When the teacher has faults, hold to the one sentence 「師之過失，不著於我」 tr. "the teacher's faults do not attach to me" and do not be moved. This is the most practical move this unit gives to one who relies on a teacher. To see the teacher's shortcomings and give rise to resentment spoils one's own benefit of the Dharma and has nothing to do with the teacher; at this time one should have this thought: what I receive from the teacher is the dharma of prajñāpāramitā; the rest is none of my concern. The three similes can be kept constantly in mind—the jewels in the dog-skin bag, the torch in the criminal's hand, the road led by the lowly person: what is to be taken is the jewels, the light, the road.

When the teacher pays no attention, use exactly this to break down arrogance. To give rise to resentment on being left out in the cold is a very common barrier on the road of seeking the Dharma. What the treatise-author gives is not comfort but a use: 「師不輕我，我自無福」 tr. "the teacher does not look down on me; it is I myself who have no merit", and further 「應破憍慢以求法利」 tr. "I should break down arrogance in order to seek the benefit of the Dharma". Turn one instance of being left out in the cold into one opportunity to break down pride, and this barrier is no longer an obstacle; it is homework ready-made at the pass.

Further Resonances

The single unit of Fascicle 96, one sūtra section and one treatise section, establishes why the jātaka of Sadāprarudita enters the chapter, and the two things one new to the training needs before setting out on the road. The sūtra text begins with the Buddha holding up Sadāprarudita as the model for seeking prajñā; through one question of Subhūti's, the Buddha tells how at the time he first sought he did not spare body or life and did not seek fame or gain, and in a secluded forest heard a voice in the sky; the voice in the sky first teaches not to think of weariness and so on up to not looking left or right, and not to destroy the mark of the body and the other marks, and then teaches giving rise to faith in the three gates of liberation, being far from the evil friend and drawing near to the good friend, giving rise in one's mind to the notion of a Buddha toward the place from which one hears the Dharma, and not following the Dharma teacher out of a mind for worldly gain but being aware of the deeds of Māra—stopping at the sentence 「薩陀波崙聞空中聲已，從是東行」 tr. "after Sadāprarudita heard the voice in the sky, he went east from here". The treatise-author's explanation first answers its genre: the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain or hard to know; the difficulty lies in the terror of 「先有今無」 tr. "existent before and non-existent now" in the hearer's mind, so the Buddha takes the jātaka scriptures as proof, so that the hearer gives rise to the thought 「彼人能得，我亦應得」 tr. "that person could obtain it; I too should obtain it"; next, with four rounds of question and answer he settles the person—the scattered, weeping mind is spoken of for the sake of those who have newly aroused the mind; those new to the training are of two kinds, the deep mind and the soft mind; austerities of one lifetime are not enough to become a Buddha, and what the jātaka proves is the road, not the length of the journey; one who has not yet obtained the state of avaivartika yet deeply binds his thought to prajñā and does not spare body or life is also named a bodhisattva-mahāsattva; then he explains that the three sayings on the name Ever Weeping stand together, and that the voice in the sky was sent forth by two causes, and cites the old story of Sudatta hearing a spirit show him the way as its analogy; next he explains phrase by phrase "do not think of day and night", "do not think of inside and outside", "do not look left or right", and "do not destroy the mark of the body", and gathers them up with leaving the two extremes of one and different, existence and non-existence, and practising the middle way; at the end, with the longest passage, he explains the way of relying on a teacher—the three gates of liberation and prajñā, included yet spoken of separately; why drawing near to the good friend is further taught; the two marks of the good friend; prajñā found in two places and giving rise to the notion of a Buddha toward the teacher; why one should not follow the Dharma teacher for worldly gain—and with the three types, the teacher with faults, the teacher showing himself receiving the five desires, and the teacher who pays no attention, he exhausts its difficulties, judging it with 「師之過失，不著於我」 tr. "the teacher's faults do not attach to me" and gathering it up with 「如完牢之器，所受不漏」 tr. "like a whole and sound vessel, which does not leak what it receives". Within one fascicle, the gate of practice and the gate of view are given together, and the one matter of relying on a teacher is told in the greatest detail—precisely because what awaits below is a road that must really be walked. As for what comes after going east: grieving and weeping, and again from the sky a Buddha's voice telling him where the City of Many Fragrances is and what Dharmodgata teaches; the distance of five hundred yojanas, the city adorned sevenfold, the palace of sixty-eight thousand court maidens, the Dharma seat where prajñā is taught three times a day; and Sadāprarudita, abiding in thought at that place, obtaining immeasurable gates of samādhi and at once seeing the immeasurable asaṃkhyeya buddhas of the ten directions teaching prajñā to the bodhisattvas—all these unfold in the next unit, continuing from this; they are not anticipated here.

Of the explanations of the ancient masters, one school is worth recording for this unit. Jizang, explaining this chapter in his Commentary on the Larger Sūtra, first joins this chapter with the next and makes clear the intention in setting up the chapters, saying: 「故初品就行法者為名，後品就說法者為目也。」 tr. "Therefore the first chapter is named after the one who practises the Dharma, and the later chapter is titled after the one who teaches the Dharma." He also opens a general division: 「今就二品總開三段：第一、初求般若如薩陀波羅崙，第二、於其求法之相，第三、結勸修行。今是初文。」 tr. "Now the two chapters are opened together into three sections: first, the beginning, seeking prajñā as Sadāprarudita did; second, the marks of his seeking the Dharma; third, the conclusion encouraging practice. This is now the first passage." On why this chapter comes, he cites the treatise's own account of its arising directly, saying: 「上品未明云何離始行菩薩，令知生死涅槃悉如化佛，答諸法本有今無耶？佛意明性空非是難得，雖知諸法本性清淨，若能一心求者，必得薩陀婆崙，即其人也。為此因緣故說此品。」 tr. "The previous chapter had not yet made clear how the bodhisattva who begins to practise is to be set free, so that he knows that birth and death and nirvāṇa are all like conjured buddhas, and answered: were all dharmas existent from the first and non-existent now? The Buddha's meaning makes clear that the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain; though one knows that the original nature of all dharmas is pure, if one can seek with one mind, one will surely obtain it—Sadāprarudita is that very person. For this cause and condition this chapter is spoken." [Note: the glyph forms of his text, 「薩陀婆崙」 tr. "Satuopolun" and 「薩陀波羅崙」 tr. "Satuoboluolun", differ from the 「薩陀波崙」 tr. "Satuobolun" used in this treatise; they are recorded as they are without change; in the same passage the form of this treatise is also seen three times.] This accords with the treatise-author's explanation in this unit, 「性空法非難得難知」 tr. "the dharma of the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain or hard to know", with the jātaka taken as proof. On the name Ever Weeping, he likewise gives three explanations: 「一云：其人小現時好啼，故父母為之立字，名曰常啼。此常啼是表菩薩大悲之相也。」 tr. "The first says: as a small child this person liked to weep, so his parents gave him a name, calling him Ever Weeping. This 'Ever Weeping' expresses the mark of a bodhisattva's great compassion." 「二解：此菩薩見惡世眾生生老病死大悲心，所以名常啼也。」 tr. "The second explanation: this bodhisattva, seeing the birth, old age, sickness, and death of beings in an evil age, had the mind of great compassion; that is why he is named Ever Weeping." 「三解云：其人七日空困林中悲，後天龍鬼神為其立字，名常啼也。」 tr. "The third explanation says: this person grieved for seven days, destitute in an empty forest; afterwards the gods, nāgas, and spirits gave him a name, calling him Ever Weeping."—the order of the three explanations broadly corresponds to the three sayings of this treatise, except that under the first explanation he adds a further phrase, 「表菩薩大悲之相」 tr. "expresses the mark of a bodhisattva's great compassion", which this treatise does not have. On 「今在大雷音佛所」 tr. "is now in the presence of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound" he likewise gives two explanations: 「一解云：菩薩法無量，其人雖曠劫積行猶未得佛，故為菩薩也。」 tr. "The first explanation says: the dharma of the bodhisattva is immeasurable; though this person has accumulated practice through vast kalpas he has still not obtained buddhahood, and so he is a bodhisattva." 「二解：久成佛如文殊之流，為物故迹居不足地也。」 tr. "The second explanation: he became a Buddha long ago, like those of Mañjuśrī's kind, and for the sake of beings leaves his traces dwelling at a ground that is not full." These correspond to this treatise's two explanations, 「佛法無量無邊」 tr. "the Buddha-Dharma is immeasurable and boundless" and 「如文殊師利等」 tr. "such as Mañjuśrī and others". In dividing the sūtra text, he begins from 「白佛下，第二、於其人求般若相，為三三：第一、廣明其人求法之相使物喜之」 tr. "from 'said to the Buddha' onward is the second, the marks of this person's seeking prajñā, in three times three: first, broadly making clear the marks of this person's seeking the Dharma, so that beings delight in it", and judges the whole section as three stimuli and three responses: 「第一、精誠致感空聲應；二、悲啼致感空中佛現；三、得三昧感十方佛現。」 tr. "First, his sincerity stirs a response, and the voice in the sky answers; second, his grieving and weeping stir a response, and a Buddha appears in the sky; third, his obtaining the samādhis stirs a response, and the buddhas of the ten directions appear." What this unit corresponds to is the first stimulus and response among them. [Note: below this he himself writes 「今初兩感兩應」 tr. "now the first two stimuli and two responses", and only at 「爾時薩陀波崙下」 tr. "from 'At that time Sadāprarudita' onward" does he judge the second stimulus and response; the two places differ slightly; this is recorded without judgement.] On the admonitions of the voice in the sky, he explains 「勿念內外」 tr. "do not think of inside and outside", saying: 「誡勿念內外，外是五塵、內是己身，內外無空性，空不應念也。」 tr. "The admonition not to think of inside and outside: outside is the five dusts, inside is one's own body; inside and outside are without nature and empty; what is empty should not be thought of." He explains 「勿壞身相」 tr. "do not destroy the mark of the body", saying: 「勿壞身相，此細誡也，是總身一異見有無皆壞身相也，色受想行勿壞別相也。」 tr. "Do not destroy the mark of the body: this is a fine admonition; it means that, of the body as a whole, the views of one and different and of existence and non-existence all destroy the mark of the body; form, feeling, perception, and constructions—do not destroy their separate marks."—judging this phrase a fine admonition and tying it to the views of one and different, existence and non-existence, which has the same direction as this treatise's explanation, 「離是一異、有無等邊」 tr. "leaving these extremes of one and different, existence and non-existence, and the like". He poses the question of where the voice in the sky came from, saying: 「問：空中聲聞應是誰聲耶？答：一解，佛菩薩天龍等愍云故應塵也。二解云，是常啼善友作鬼神，此鬼神又求佛道以曉示之，始如須達善友鬼神示須達令往見佛也。」 tr. "Question: whose voice should the voice heard in the sky be? Answer: one explanation: the buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods, nāgas, and others, out of pity, respond to the world of dust. The second explanation says: it was a good friend of Ever Weeping who had become a spirit; this spirit, also seeking the Buddha path, made it plain to him, just as the spirit who was Sudatta's good friend showed Sudatta the way and made him go to see the Buddha." The two explanations agree with the two sayings of this treatise, and likewise raise the matter of Sudatta as the analogy. On the three vows he explains: 「報空中聲下，第二、戒發三願：一者、一切眾生墮在無明暗，我為燃大智明；二、一切眾生有煩惱病，我欲集一切法藥；三者、一切眾生墮在耶道，我今為求無上道。」 tr. "From 'answered the voice in the sky' onward is the second: admonished, he makes three vows: first, all beings have fallen into the darkness of ignorance, and I will kindle the light of great wisdom for them; second, all beings have the sickness of the afflictions, and I wish to gather all the medicines of the Dharma; third, all beings have fallen into wrong paths, and I now seek the unsurpassed path for them." Next he explains the weighty contemplation of the marks of the Dharma, saying: 「二空入道之要，故先明也。」 tr. "The two emptinesses are the essentials of entering the path, so they are made clear first." And he points out the difference in fullness between sūtra and treatise: 「離相求般若，經久唯明離人相，論解具明離人法二相也。」 tr. "Seeking prajñā apart from marks: the sūtra, at length, makes clear only being apart from the mark of persons; the treatise's explanation makes clear in full being apart from the two marks of persons and dharmas." This remark is something this treatise does not get round to saying of itself, and may be read alongside the thirty-seventh passage of this unit. As for the section on relying on a teacher, his division says: 「當親近善知識下，第二、觀尊人尊人中為二：初、觀；次、誡也。法中但觀不誡者，初感中以誡意念，故今不煩也。」 tr. "From 'you should draw near to the good friend' onward is the second, contemplating the honoured person; within the honoured person there are two: first, contemplating; next, admonishing. That within the Dharma there is only contemplating and no admonishing is because in the first stimulus the admonitions were given concerning thought, so now they are not repeated." On the admonition about worldly gain he explains: 「初誡以世利者，既觀親近好好師，必滅名利，明身子始初為求法，後詶名利也。」 tr. "As for the first admonition, about worldly gain: having contemplated drawing near to a good teacher, one must extinguish fame and gain; it makes clear that Śāriputra at the very start was seeking the Dharma, and later answered to fame and gain." And of the types of teacher he distinguishes two teachers: 「此中有兩師：一者、魔作五欲亂說法者，弟子見之但取其法，勿見師受欲過。」 tr. "Here there are two teachers: first, where Māra produces the five desires to disturb the one who teaches the Dharma, the disciple, seeing this, takes only his Dharma and does not see a fault in the teacher's receiving desires." 「若說法菩薩入實法門下，此是高行之人示受五欲，為利眾生而無所詶，汝不應故行心意，是不淨行師也。」 tr. "From 'if the bodhisattva who teaches the Dharma has entered the gate of the real Dharma' onward: this is a person of lofty practice who shows himself receiving the five desires; for the benefit of beings he seeks no return; you should not deliberately turn your mind and intention; this is the teacher of impure conduct." Finally he explains the teacher who pays no attention, saying: 「脫重住高名重德之師不領錄汝者，勿生怨恨，應自破慢心，自責是我宿世罪報，得小人故，師不領錄也，非師過也。」 tr. "If perhaps a teacher of lofty name and weighty virtue, dwelling in high esteem, pays you no attention, do not give rise to resentment; you should yourself break the mind of pride and reproach yourself: it is the retribution of my offences in former lives; because I have become a petty person the teacher pays me no attention; it is not the teacher's fault." This accords with the teaching of this treatise's forty-eighth passage, 「師不輕我，我自無福」 tr. "the teacher does not look down on me; it is I myself who have no merit" and 「應破憍慢以求法利」 tr. "I should break down arrogance in order to seek the benefit of the Dharma". Of these explanations, some take a meaning close to what this treatise says, some are not in this treatise; all are the explanations of one school, recorded side by side without judgement. The extant part of Huiying's Commentary stops at the earlier part of this treatise and does not reach this chapter; this unit has no text of his explanation to cite, and this is marked as lacking according to the facts, not filled with text from elsewhere; Junzheng's book is not in the form of a chapter-by-chapter divided explanation, and has no hits for any of the names this chapter involves. The different names of this unit's chapter title in the various editions, and matters of collation, are detailed in the Apparatus.