大智度論 義疏通講 · 冊27Dazhidulun — Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa · Exposition Throughout · Vol. 27

Overview

"Sadāprarudita" is, among the Commentary on the Remaining Chapters of the whole treatise, the chapter least like a treatise: it sets up no numbered lists of dharmas and arranges no stages; it only tells the beginning and end of one person's seeking of the Dharma. At the opening of the chapter the Buddha himself makes plain why one person is to be told of—「菩薩摩訶薩求般若波羅蜜，當如薩陀波崙菩薩摩訶薩。是菩薩今在大雷音佛所行菩薩道。」 tr. "A bodhisattva-mahāsattva seeking prajñāpāramitā should be like the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Sadāprarudita. This bodhisattva is now practising the bodhisattva path in the presence of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound." Subhūti at once 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?", and the Buddha's answer is a whole jātaka: 「薩陀波崙菩薩摩訶薩本求般若波羅蜜時，不惜身命，不求名利。」 tr. "When the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Sadāprarudita originally sought prajñāpāramitā, he did not spare body or life and did not seek fame or gain." In explaining this, the treatise-author first joins this chapter back to the end of the preceding chapter—what the preceding chapter, "Nirvāṇa Is Like a Conjuration", asked at the very last was 「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?" together with the Buddha's question in return, 「法先有今無耶？」 tr. "Were dharmas existent before and non-existent now?"; the treatise-author then speaks the one sentence of judgement from which this chapter arises: 「性空法非難得難知。何以故？本來常無，更無新異，汝何以心驚謂為難得？」 tr. "The dharma of the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain or hard to know. Why? From the first it has always been non-existent; there is nothing new and strange; why are you startled in mind and call it hard to obtain?" Whether the emptiness of nature is hard to obtain or not, the difficulty lies not in the dharma but in the person; so the next sentence falls at once on the place of practice—「是性空法雖甚深，菩薩但能一心勤精進，不惜身命，作如是一心求，便可得。此中說薩陀波崙本生為證。」 tr. "Though this dharma of the emptiness of nature is very deep, if the bodhisattva can only with one mind diligently exert vigour, not sparing body or life, and seek with one mind in this way, it can be obtained. Here the jātaka of Sadāprarudita is told as proof." Why must a jātaka serve as proof? The treatise-author says it very plainly: 「佛法有十二部經，或因修妬路、偈經、本生經得度；今佛以本生經為證。」 tr. "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." And the use of a jātaka lies only in giving rise to one thought in the reader's mind—「彼人能得，我亦應得。」 tr. "That person could obtain it; I too should obtain it." The whole chapter, three sūtra segments and three treatise segments, spans the three fascicles ninety-six, ninety-seven, and ninety-eight, and by the boundaries of the fascicles and the boundaries of sūtra and treatise it is divided into four parts: Fascicle 96, one part, tells of hearing the voice and receiving the teaching, and of the warnings about choosing a teacher; Fascicle 97, one part, tells of the seven days of weeping, the Buddha appearing in his body to point the way, and the entry into the samādhis; Fascicle 98, Sūtra Section, tells of the consolation of the buddhas of the ten directions, the selling of himself to make offerings, and the elder's daughter arousing the mind, up to his seeing Dharmodgata and putting his question; Fascicle 98, Treatise Section, turns back to explain, item by item, why this whole road is as it is, and ends with a most unsparing question it puts to itself: why one who has obtained the samādhis can still cling deeply to the mark of a Buddha.

Fascicle 96, one part, speaks of setting out and of choosing a teacher. The warnings of Sūtra ① come in two layers. The first layer is the warning about the dharma of going: 「汝善男子！從是東行，莫念疲極，莫念睡眠，莫念飲食，莫念晝夜，莫念寒熱，莫念內外。」 tr. "You, good man! Go east from here; do not think of weariness, do not think of sleep, do not think of food and drink, do not think of day and night, do not think of cold and heat, do not think of inside and outside." At once it turns from the coarse to the fine—「善男子！行時莫觀左右。汝行時莫壞身相，莫壞色相，莫壞受、想、行、識相。」 tr. "Good man! As you go, do not look left or right. As you go, do not destroy the mark of the body, do not destroy the mark of form, do not destroy the marks of feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness." And the reason for it the sūtra text itself states: 「若壞是諸相，則於佛法有礙；若於佛法有礙，便往來五道生死中，亦不能得般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "If you destroy these marks, you have an obstruction in the Buddha-Dharma; if you have an obstruction in the Buddha-Dharma, you go and come within the birth and death of the five destinies, and also cannot obtain prajñāpāramitā." Sadāprarudita's reply is not merely to assent; it is to speak out his own vow: 「我當從教！何以故？我欲為一切眾生作大明，欲集一切諸佛法，欲得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提故。」 tr. "I shall follow the teaching! Why? Because I wish to make a great light for all beings, wish to gather all the dharmas of the buddhas, and wish to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." The second layer is the warning about choosing a teacher: first it sets up the mind that seeks—「汝於空、無相、無作之法，應生信心，以離相心求般若波羅蜜，離我相乃至離知者、見者相。」 tr. "Toward the dharmas of emptiness, the signless, and non-action you should give rise to faith, and seek prajñāpāramitā with a mind apart from marks—apart from the mark of a self, and so on up to apart from the marks of a knower and a seer." Next it sets up the person to rely on—「當遠離惡知識，當親近供養善知識」 tr. "you should be far from the evil friend; you should draw near to and make offerings to the good friend", and what the good friend is, the sūtra defines without ambiguity: 「能說空、無相、無作、無生、無滅法及一切種智，令人心入歡喜信樂，是為善知識。」 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 into joy, faith, and delight—this is the good friend." Once there is a teacher, there is the dharma of serving the teacher: 「汝所從聞是般若波羅蜜處，應生心如佛想」 tr. "toward the place from which you hear this prajñāpāramitā, you should give rise in your mind to the notion of a Buddha", and its reverse side is warned against at the same time—「莫以世利心故隨逐法師，但為愛法、恭敬法故，隨逐說法菩薩。」 tr. "Do not follow the Dharma teacher out of a mind for worldly gain; only out of love of the Dharma and reverence for the Dharma follow the bodhisattva who teaches the Dharma." The last passage is the hardest to read and also the most essential: if evil Māra produces the causes and conditions of the five desires for the bodhisattva who teaches the Dharma, what should the disciple do? The sūtra text does not teach him to judge; it teaches him to contemplate—first to know that the one who teaches the Dharma may receive the five desires for three reasons, 「以方便力故，欲令眾生種善根故，欲與眾生同其事故」 tr. "because of the power of skilful means; because he wishes to cause beings to plant roots of goodness; and because he wishes to share an endeavour with beings"; then to come back and look at the dharma, 「一切法自性空，無眾生、無人、無我，一切法如幻、如夢、如響、如影、如炎、如化」 tr. "all dharmas are empty of self-nature, without beings, without a person, and non-self; all dharmas are like an illusion, like a dream, like an echo, like a shadow, like a mirage, like a conjuration". Treatise ① explains difficulty by difficulty, and what it explains is almost entirely the doubts a reader would raise. Since prajñā is signless and ultimately empty, and is hard to obtain even in the practice of meditative concentration, 「何況憂愁啼哭散心求覓而當可得」 tr. "how much less could it be obtained by grieving, weeping, and searching with a scattered mind"? The answer is only one sentence: 「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." Since he has newly aroused the mind, why did the buddhas of the ten directions appear before him, and why did he obtain immeasurable samādhis? The answer lies in the depth or shallowness of the arousing of the mind, not in seniority: 「新學菩薩有二種：一者、深心著世間樂，軟心發意；二者、深心發意，不著世間樂」 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", and 「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". Since he could practise austerities like this, why is he still now practising the bodhisattva path in the presence of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound, and has not become a Buddha? The answer does not shield him either: 「佛法無量無邊，若千萬阿僧祇劫修勤苦行尚不可得，何況薩陀波崙一世苦行！」 tr. "The Buddha-Dharma is immeasurable and boundless; even cultivating diligent austerities for thousands of myriads of asaṃkhyeya kalpas one still cannot obtain it, how much less by Sadāprarudita's austerities of a single lifetime!" And 「菩薩三昧如十方國土中塵數，薩陀波崙所得六萬三昧何足為多！」 tr. "The samādhis of bodhisattvas are as many as the atoms in the lands of the ten directions; how could the sixty thousand samādhis Sadāprarudita obtained count as many!" As for the explanation of the name, three explanations are set side by side without judgement: 「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"; or it is because he 「行大悲心柔軟故，見眾生在惡世，貧窮、老病、憂苦，為之悲泣」 tr. "practised the mind of great compassion and was soft, so that seeing beings in an evil age, poor, old, sick, grieved, and suffering, he wept for them in sorrow"; or it is because, seeking the path and finding no place to ask, he 「憂愁啼哭，七日七夜。因是故，天、龍、鬼神號曰常啼」 tr. "grieved and wept for seven days and seven nights. Because of this the gods, nāgas, and spirits called him Ever Weeping". The single warning against thinking of weariness the treatise-author explains in the most usable way: when hunger, thirst, and weariness come pressing upon the body, how can one not think of them? The answer is 「大欲精進力故，一心愛樂佛道，不惜身命」 tr. "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", while rest and food and drink 「皆是助身法」 tr. "are all dharmas that support the body", 「知皆虛誑無常、無實，如怨、如賊，但為身樂故，何足存念」 tr. "knowing that they are all false, deceptive, and impermanent, without reality, like an enemy, like a thief, only for the body's pleasure, what is there in them worth keeping in mind". The warning against thinking of day and night breaks an excuse that most resembles reason—one must not have the thought 「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", because 「實無晝夜，所以者何？日依須彌，影翳故名夜」 tr. "in fact there is no day or night. Why is that? The sun depends on Sumeru; because it is screened by the shadow, it is named night". The warning not to destroy the mark of the body guards against two extremes: 「五眾和合故假名為身。若說別更決定有身法，是則壞身相；若著無身法，是亦壞身相」 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", and only 「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" attains it. How can one receive teaching without seeing a form, and believe it? There are two answers: 「人所求事急故，聞聲則應」 tr. "because what a person seeks is urgent, on hearing a voice he responds"; and 「聞其所說理好，則知其人亦好故，不須眼見」 tr. "hearing that the principle of what is said is good, one knows that the person too is good, and so there is no need to see with the eyes". Since vigour and the three gates of liberation have already been taught, why must drawing near to the good friend be taught as well? The simile of the answer is the easiest to remember: 「雖有好法，若無教者，行時多錯；譬如雖有好藥，亦須良醫。」 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." And the weightiest section of the whole part is what a disciple should do on seeing a fault in the teacher. The treatise-author first states the source of the sickness: 「有人既得善知識，不得其意，反成讎隙而墮地獄，更相謗毀故」 tr. "there are people who, having found the good friend, do not grasp his intent, and on the contrary become enemies and fall into hell, because they slander and revile one another", and 「唯佛一人無有過失，餘人誰能無者」 tr. "only the Buddha alone is without fault; among other people, who can be without them"; the harm lies not in the teacher but in oneself—「若弟子見師之過若實、若虛，其心自壞，不復能得法利」 tr. "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". So one should think: 「師之過失，不著於我，我但從師受般若波羅蜜法」 tr. "the teacher's faults do not attach to me; I only receive from the teacher the dharma of prajñāpāramitā". Three similes follow one after another, all taking up the folly of ‘discarding the jewel because of the vessel’: 「如狗皮囊盛好寶物，不應以囊故而棄其寶」 tr. "as when a dog-skin bag holds fine jewels, one should not discard the jewels because of the bag"; 「如罪人執燭照道，不可以人罪故，不受其明，自墜溝壑」 tr. "as when a criminal holds a torch to light the road, one may not, because of the person's crime, refuse his light and fall oneself into the ditch"; and again, as when a petty person is sent to guide one on the road, one may not refuse to follow his words because the person is petty. It goes so far as to decide: 「師若實有罪，尚不應離」 tr. "even if the teacher really has offences, one still should not leave him". Conversely, if the teacher keeps the precepts purely but pays the disciple no attention, resentment is not permitted either—one should think to oneself 「我宿世罪故，今為小人，師不輕我，我自無福，不能得道」 tr. "because of my offences in former lives I am now a petty person; the teacher does not look down on me; it is I myself who have no merit and cannot obtain the path". The closing stroke of the part is a sentence one can carry away: toward the teacher 「但一心恭敬，不應念其長短」 tr. "only revere him with one mind; one should not think of his strengths and shortcomings", and one who can be like this is 「如完牢之器，所受不漏」 tr. "like a whole and sound vessel, which does not leak what it receives".

Fascicle 97, one part, speaks of how to seek when one does not find. Sūtra ② begins from a most ordinary mistake—after receiving the teaching and going east, he suddenly remembers that there were three things he had not asked: 「我當何處去？去當遠近？當從誰聞般若波羅蜜？」 tr. "Where should I go? Is the place I am going far or near? From whom should I hear prajñāpāramitā?" This mistake forces out the first great barrier of the whole chapter: what to do when there is nowhere to ask. Sadāprarudita's way is not to look elsewhere but to set up an oath right where he is: 「我住是中，過一日一夜，若二、三、四、五、六、七日七夜，不念疲極，乃至不念飢渴、寒熱，不聞聽受般若波羅蜜因緣，終不起也！」 tr. "I shall stay here, through one day and one night, or two, three, four, five, six, or seven days and seven nights, not thinking of weariness, and so on up to not thinking of hunger and thirst, cold and heat; until I hear of the causes and conditions for listening to and receiving prajñāpāramitā, I shall never rise!" The urgency of his grief the Buddha states with a simile: 「譬如人有一子卒死，憂愁苦毒，唯懷懊惱，不生餘念。」 tr. "It is as when a person's only son suddenly dies, and he is grieved and in bitter pain, harbouring only anguish and giving rise to no other thought." At the end of the seven days there is a Buddha in the sky, who first consoles and then points the way: 「過去諸佛行菩薩道時，求般若波羅蜜，亦如汝今日。」 tr. "When the buddhas of the past practised the bodhisattva path and sought prajñāpāramitā, they too were as you are today." The words pointing the way are very concrete—「從是東行，去此五百由旬，有城名眾香」 tr. "go east from here; five hundred yojanas from here there is a city named Many Fragrances"; that city is 「縱廣十二由旬，豐樂安靜，人民熾盛；五百市里，街巷相當，端嚴如畫，橋津如地，寬博清淨」 tr. "twelve yojanas in length and breadth, rich, joyful, peaceful, and calm, its people flourishing; five hundred market quarters, their streets and lanes facing one another, upright and orderly as a painting, its bridges and fords level as the ground, broad and clean"; and where this whole expanse of adornment comes from, the sūtra text itself accounts for, not permitting it to be read as a paradise without a cause: 「是諸眾生宿業所致，長夜信樂深法，行般若波羅蜜因緣故，受是果報。」 tr. "It is what these beings' deeds of former lives have brought about: through the long night they have believed in and delighted in the deep Dharma, and because they practised prajñāpāramitā, they receive such retribution." The person in the city is pointed out along with it: 「曇無竭菩薩與六萬八千婇女，五欲具足，共相娛樂」 tr. "the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, with sixty-eight thousand court maidens, complete with the five desires, takes his pleasure together with them", and the same person 「日三時說般若波羅蜜」 tr. "teaches prajñāpāramitā three times a day"; the assembly in his gathering the sūtra text lists item by item in their stations—「中有聽者，中有受者，中有持者，中有誦者，中有書者，中有正觀者，中有如說行者」 tr. "among them are those who listen, among them those who receive, among them those who retain, among them those who recite, among them those who write it out, among them those who rightly contemplate, among them those who practise as it is taught", while the benefit for the same gathering is one: 「眾生以是因緣故，皆不墮惡道，不退轉於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "Because of these causes and conditions, beings all do not fall into the evil destinies, and do not retrogress from anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." At the end the Buddha adds one more instruction, which is precisely the remedy for that empty wait before: 「汝去莫計晝夜，莫生障礙心，汝不久當得聞般若波羅蜜！」 tr. "Go, and do not reckon day and night; do not give rise to a mind of obstruction; before long you shall hear prajñāpāramitā!" After this Sadāprarudita stays and thinks of Dharmodgata, obtains unobstructed knowledge and vision in all dharmas, and 「即得無量三昧門現在前」 tr. "at once immeasurable gates of samādhi appeared before him", and Sūtra ② then lists the names of more than fifty samādhis, ending at 「即見十方無量阿僧祇諸佛為諸菩薩摩訶薩說般若波羅蜜」 tr. "at once he saw immeasurable asaṃkhyeya buddhas of the ten directions teaching prajñāpāramitā for the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas". Treatise ②'s explanation opens by asking an unsparing question: how could he forget to ask? The answer is 「薩陀波崙大歡喜覆心故忘；如人大憂愁、大歡喜，以此二事故忘。」 tr. "Sadāprarudita forgot because great joy covered his mind; just as when people are in great sorrow or great joy, by reason of these two things they forget." The voice had already ceased; why did he still stay here seven days? The answer is that the road he knew was only one: just as, when he had first sought with one mind, there was a voice in the sky, so now he was of one mind as before and hoped to hear it again. His state the treatise-author likens to a small child: 「如小兒得少美味，著是味故，更復啼泣，而欲得之」 tr. "just as a small child who has had a little taste of something delicious, clinging to that taste, cries again and wants to have it". Why exactly seven days? The answer pins it from both sides: 「譬如人大渴故，乃知水美」 tr. "just as only when a person is greatly thirsty does he know how sweet water is", so it should not be too quick; 「若二日、三日，精進欲未深；若過七日，恐其憂愁妨心，不任求道」 tr. "if it were two or three days, his desire for vigour would not yet be deep; if it went beyond seven days, it was feared that his sorrow would obstruct his mind so that he could not bear to seek the path", so it should not be too long. The simile of losing a son the treatise-author is unwilling to let go lightly, and he compares likeness and difference item by item: speaking by the general mark, it is like one who has lost a beloved son and 「念其長大，多所成辦，冀得其力」 tr. "thinks of how, when he grew up, he would accomplish much, and hoped to obtain his help"; but in fine distinction it falls short at every point—「父雖愛子，不能以頭目與之；菩薩為般若波羅蜜故，無量世中，以頭目髓腦施與眾生」 tr. "though a father loves his son, he cannot give him his head and eyes; the bodhisattva, for the sake of prajñāpāramitā, through immeasurable lifetimes gives his head, eyes, marrow, and brain to beings"; 「子但是假名，虛誑不實之法；般若波羅蜜真實聖法，無有虛誑」 tr. "the son is only a provisional name, a false, deceptive, and unreal dharma; prajñāpāramitā is the real holy Dharma, without deception". Why the simile is taken, the last sentence says completely: 「世人皆知喪子憂愁故，以此為喻。」 tr. "Because people of the world all know the grief of losing a son, this is taken as the simile." What kind of Buddha appeared in the sky? The treatise-author sets the differing explanations side by side and does not force a decision: 「有人言：非真佛，但是像現耳——或諸佛遣化，或大菩薩現作。」 tr. "Someone says: it was not a true Buddha, only an image appearing—either a conjuration sent by the buddhas, or something manifested and made by a great bodhisattva." And the difference between the voice first and the form afterwards depends on the ripening of merit: 「以先善根福德未成就故，但聞聲；今七日七夜一心念佛，功德成就故，得見佛身。」 tr. "Because earlier his roots of goodness and merit were not yet accomplished, he only heard a voice; now, having recollected the Buddha with one mind for seven days and seven nights, because his merit is accomplished, he gets to see the Buddha's body." Since the Buddha had appeared in his body, why did he not deliver him at once? The answer depends on the causes and conditions not lying here: 「佛所以不即度者，以其與曇無竭世世因緣，應當從彼度故」 tr. "the reason the Buddha did not deliver him at once is that he had causes and conditions with Dharmodgata life after life, and should be delivered by him", just as 「有人應從舍利弗度，假使諸佛現身，不能令悟」 tr. "there are people who should be delivered by Śāriputra; even if the buddhas appeared in their bodies, they could not open their understanding". Dharmodgata's name and station are also settled here: the meaning of his name is Dharma Flourishing, because in the City of Many Fragrances he 「為眾生隨意說法，令眾生廣種善根」 tr. "teaches the Dharma for beings according to their minds and makes beings widely plant roots of goodness"; his country 「無王，此中人民皆無吾我，如欝單越人，唯以曇無竭菩薩為王」 tr. "has no king; its people are all without I and self, like the people of Uttarakuru; they take only the bodhisattva Dharmodgata as king". And the place in the whole part where doubt most easily arises is here: how can a person complete with the five desires among sixty-eight thousand court maidens be a teacher who teaches prajñā? The treatise-author records both explanations. One explanation is that he is a bodhisattva in a fleshly body with keen faculties, 「為攝眾生故，受五欲而不失禪定」 tr. "for the sake of gathering beings, receiving the five desires without losing meditative concentration", and its simile is very vivid—「如人避熱故，在泥中臥，還洗則如故」 tr. "just as a person, to escape the heat, lies in mud, and on returning washes clean and is as before"; and 「雖是生身，未離煩惱而能修行善法，為眾生故不盡結使」 tr. "though in a fleshly body and not yet apart from the afflictions, he can cultivate and practise wholesome dharmas, and for the sake of beings does not exhaust the fetters". The other explanation is that he is 「法性生身，為度眾香城人故，變化而度」 tr. "a body born of the Dharma-nature, who, to deliver the people of the City of Many Fragrances, transforms himself to deliver them", and its proof lies in the buddhas of the ten directions praising him and sending Sadāprarudita to receive the Dharma from him. The simile of the poisoned arrow the treatise-author explains for why it is urgent: the arrow is wrong doubt, the poison is greed and desire, and if not quickly drawn out it 「遍滿身中而失命」 tr. "spreads through the whole body and he loses his life"; and as for what is called 「斷諸有心」 tr. "sever every mind that clings to existence", the treatise-author warns: 「所有心者，取相著，乃至善法中亦有是病」 tr. "a mind that clings to existence is grasping at marks and clinging; even within wholesome dharmas there is this sickness"—even grasping and clinging toward wholesome dharmas is counted in. The more than fifty samādhis at the end, given their meaning one by one, are where this part most shows its skill, and also where the reader most easily skips: 「諸法性觀三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of contemplating the nature of dharmas" is 「能觀一切諸法實性」 tr. "being able to contemplate the real nature of all dharmas"; 「諸法不異三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of dharmas not being different" is 「觀一切法一相，所謂無相」 tr. "contemplating all dharmas as of one mark, namely the signless"; the difference between being free from darkness and breaking ignorance lies in thickness and thinness—「無明有二種：一者、厚，二者、薄」 tr. "ignorance is of two kinds: first, thick; second, thin", therefore 「破厚無明故名離闇，先破薄無明故名破諸法無明」 tr. "because it breaks thick ignorance it is named being free from darkness; because it first breaks thin ignorance it is named breaking the ignorance of dharmas"; the use of 「諸法無分別見三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of seeing dharmas without discrimination" lies in severing the root of hatred and love, 「見一切法，不作分別」 tr. "seeing all dharmas without making discriminations"; what 「離諸見三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of being free from all views" is free from is not only the outside paths: 「六十二邪見，及色等法中取相，乃至佛見、法見、僧見、涅槃見，皆名為見。所以者何？取相能生著心故」 tr. "the sixty-two wrong views, and grasping at marks in form and the other dharmas, and so on up to the view of the Buddha, the view of the Dharma, the view of the Saṅgha, the view of nirvāṇa—all are named views. Why is that? Because grasping at marks can give rise to a clinging mind"; 「破魔三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of breaking Māra" makes clear where its power lies—「魔雖是欲界主，菩薩以人身能破魔事」 tr. "though Māra is the lord of the desire realm, the bodhisattva with a human body can break the deeds of Māra"; 「不著三界三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of not clinging to the three realms" is 「身雖在三界中，心常在涅槃故不著」 tr. "though the body is within the three realms, because the mind is always in nirvāṇa it does not cling"; and 「見諸佛三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of seeing the buddhas" bears most closely on the matter of this chapter: 「雖未得天眼、天耳，而能見十方諸佛，聞十方諸佛所說法，諮問所疑」 tr. "though he has not yet obtained the divine eye and the divine ear, he can see the buddhas of the ten directions, hear the Dharma the buddhas of the ten directions teach, and consult them about his doubts". Within this there is also tucked one question that can serve as the eye of the whole chapter: since he has already broken the ignorance in all dharmas, why must he still go to where Dharmodgata is? The treatise-author answers 「破無明不唯一種——有遮令不起亦名為破，有得諸法實相故破無明」 tr. "breaking ignorance is not of only one kind—there is blocking it so that it does not arise, which is also named breaking, and there is breaking ignorance because one obtains the real mark of all dharmas", and the kinds of ignorance are very many, belonging respectively to new learners, small bodhisattvas, great bodhisattvas, and buddhas, up to 「佛無明盡破無餘」 tr. "the Buddha, in whom ignorance is broken completely without remainder". What is obtained is not what is exhausted—this judgement is precisely the foreshadowing of the last question of Fascicle 98, Treatise Section.

Fascicle 98, Sūtra Section, speaks of the road that must still be walked after something has been obtained. The consolation of the buddhas of the ten directions, from its very start, runs contrary to what was obtained: first they confirm it, 「我等本行菩薩道時，求般若波羅蜜，得是諸三昧，亦如汝今所得」 tr. "when we first practised the bodhisattva path, seeking prajñāpāramitā, we obtained these samādhis, just as you have now obtained them", and at once they dismantle the mark of what was obtained—「我等觀是諸三昧性，不見有法出三昧、入三昧者，亦不見行佛道者，亦不見得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提者。」 tr. "Contemplating the nature of these samādhis, we do not see any dharma that emerges from samādhi or enters samādhi, nor do we see anyone who practises the Buddha path, nor do we see anyone who obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." And the definition of prajñā comes out here in its simplest form: 「是名般若波羅蜜，所謂不念有是諸法。」 tr. "This is called prajñāpāramitā; it is namely not thinking that these dharmas exist." Its fruit too is established from this: 「我等於無所念法中住，得是金色身、丈六光明、三十二相、八十隨形好、不可思議智慧、無上戒、無上三昧、無上智慧，一切功德皆悉具足。」 tr. "Dwelling in the dharma of recollecting nothing, we obtained this golden body, the light of sixteen feet, the thirty-two marks, the eighty minor marks, inconceivable wisdom, unsurpassed morality, unsurpassed samādhi, and unsurpassed wisdom, and were complete with all merits." Since nothing is recollected and yet merit is complete, what is taught is only one thing—「於是佛法中，倍應恭敬愛念，生清淨心；於善知識中，應生如佛想。」 tr. "Toward this Buddha-Dharma you should redouble your reverence and love and give rise to a pure mind; toward the good friend you should give rise to the notion of a Buddha." Sadāprarudita at once asks 「何等是我善知識所應親近供養者」 tr. "who is my good friend, the one I should draw near to and make offerings to", and what the buddhas answer is still Dharmodgata, and the measure of repaying his kindness is stated very weightily: 「汝供養曇無竭菩薩，若一劫、若二劫、若三劫，乃至過百千劫，頂戴恭敬；以一切樂具，三千世界中所有妙色、聲、香、味、觸，盡以供養，未能報須臾之恩。」 tr. "Though you make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata for one kalpa, two kalpas, or three kalpas, and so on up to more than hundreds of thousands of kalpas, carrying him on the crown of your head in reverence, and offer him with all the means of pleasure all the wondrous forms, sounds, scents, flavours, and tangibles in the three-thousand world, you still could not repay his kindness of a single moment." The buddhas suddenly vanish, and what they leave behind is precisely the question of the latter half of the whole chapter: 「是諸佛從何所來？去至何所？」 tr. "From where did these buddhas come? And where have they gone?" What follows proceeds from the question to the offering, and from the offering to selling himself. The state of his poverty the sūtra text lists item by item: 「今我貧窮，無華香、瓔珞、燒香、澤香、衣服、幡蓋、金、銀、真珠、琉璃、頗梨、珊瑚、虎珀」 tr. "now I am poor; I have no flowers and incense, necklaces, burning incense, scented ointment, clothing, banners and canopies, gold, silver, pearls, beryl, sphaṭika, coral, or amber"; and the reason he will not go empty-handed is that one thought of his own he cannot get past—「我法不應空往曇無竭菩薩所，我若空往，喜悅心不生。」 tr. "By my own rule I should not go empty-handed to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata; if I go empty-handed, a joyful mind will not arise." The reason for selling himself is also stated bluntly: 「我世世喪身無數，無始生死中或死、或賣，或為欲因緣故，世世在地獄中受無量苦惱，未曾為清淨法故、為供養說法師故喪身。」 tr. "Life after life I have lost my body countless times: in beginningless birth and death I have sometimes died, sometimes been sold, sometimes, because of the causes and conditions of desire, life after life undergone immeasurable suffering and vexation in the hells; but I have never lost my body for the sake of the pure Dharma, or for the sake of making offerings to the teacher who teaches the Dharma." So in the market there came one voice crying three times: 「誰欲須人？誰欲須人？誰欲買人？」 tr. "Who needs a person? Who needs a person? Who will buy a person?" And Māra appears only at this moment—as for Māra's thought, the sūtra text records in full what he fears: he fears that Sadāprarudita will be able to ask rightly about prajñā and the power of skilful means, fears that he 「當得多聞具足，如大海水」 tr. "will become complete in much learning, like the water of the great ocean", fears that he will 「過我境界，亦教餘人出我境界」 tr. "pass beyond my domain, and will also teach other people to leave my domain", and therefore says 「我今當壞其事！」 tr. "I shall now ruin his affair!" His way of ruining it is not killing, only screening: 「爾時，惡魔隱蔽諸婆羅門、居士，令不聞其自賣聲；除一長者女，魔不能蔽。」 tr. "At that time evil Māra screened the brahmins and householders, so that they did not hear the sound of his selling himself; only an elder's daughter Māra could not screen." Selling himself and finding no buyer, his self-reproach is also only one sentence: 「我為大罪，賣身不售。」 tr. "Great is my offence, that selling my body I cannot sell it." Śakra's test rises after it—「我當試之，知是善男子實以深心愛法故，捨是身不？」 tr. "I shall test him, to know whether this good man truly, out of love of the Dharma with a deep mind, can give up this body." Transformed into a brahmin, he demands what is least possible to give: 「我不須人，我今欲祠天，當須人心、人血、人髓，汝能賣與我不？」 tr. "I have no need of a person; I now wish to sacrifice to the gods, and must use a human heart, human blood, and human marrow. Can you sell them to me?" And what arises in Sadāprarudita on hearing this is not fear but joy: 「我得大利，得第一利！」 tr. "I have obtained great benefit; I have obtained the foremost benefit!" His words in answer about the price hold back not a hair: 「汝所須者，我盡與汝！」 tr. "Whatever you need, I shall give you all of it!" Asked how much the price was, he says 「隨汝意與我！」 tr. "Give me whatever you please!", and at once 「右手執利刀，刺左臂出血，割右髀肉，復欲破骨出髓」 tr. "took a sharp knife in his right hand, pierced his left arm and drew blood, cut the flesh of his right thigh, and was about to break the bone to take out the marrow". The elder's daughter's arousing of the mind rises precisely at this moment—seeing from afar on the upper storey, she thinks 「是善男子何因緣故，困苦其身？我當往問」 tr. "for what cause and condition does this good man afflict his body so? I should go and ask him"; and when she hears the Dharma he seeks, she comes to know for what the body he gives up is given up: of Dharmodgata, 「是人善學般若波羅蜜及方便力，是人當為我說菩薩所應作、菩薩所應行道」 tr. "this one trains well in prajñāpāramitā and the power of skilful means; this one will proclaim to me what a bodhisattva should do and the path a bodhisattva should practise", and what is obtained in the end returns to being shared with others—「以無上法寶分布與一切眾生」 tr. "distributing the unsurpassed Dharma Jewel to all beings". Having heard, she is startled in mind, her hair standing on end, and her words are very decisive: 「甚希有！汝所說者，微妙難值！為是一一功德法故，應捨如恒河沙等身。」 tr. "Most rare! What you say is wondrous and hard to meet! For the sake of each single one of these dharmas of merit, one should give up bodies as many as the sands of the Ganges." Śakra then returns to his own body and praises him, saying 「善男子！汝堅受是事，其心不動」 tr. "Good man! You hold firmly to this matter; your mind does not move", and confesses his test himself: 「我實不用人心、血、髓，但來相試；汝願何等，我當相與。」 tr. "I in fact have no need of a human heart, blood, or marrow; I came only to test you; whatever you wish, I shall give you." Sadāprarudita asks for his wish in only one sentence: 「與我阿耨多羅三藐三菩提！」 tr. "Give me anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi!" Śakra cannot give it and states truthfully that he cannot—「此非我力所辦，是諸佛境界。必相供養，更索餘願」 tr. "this is not something my power can accomplish; this is the domain of the buddhas. Since I must make you an offering, ask for another wish"; so he instead asks that his body be restored, 「是時，薩陀波崙身即平復，無有瘡瘢，如本不異」 tr. "at that time Sadāprarudita's body was at once restored, without sore or scar, no different from how it was at first". After this the elder's daughter tells her parents and obtains their permission, loads five hundred carriages and goes east, enters the City of Many Fragrances, and sees Dharmodgata teaching the Dharma on the Dharma seat upon a high dais. As they draw near, a very small act shows their mind best: 「我等儀不應載車趣曇無竭菩薩」 tr. "by our rule of conduct, we should not go to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata riding in carriages"—and so they get down from the carriages and go forward on foot. What is offered on the dais is the scroll of the sūtra, and Śakra Devānām Indra makes plain for them the place of prajñā: 「此是《摩訶般若波羅蜜》，是諸菩薩摩訶薩母，能生諸佛、攝持菩薩」 tr. "this is the Mahāprajñāpāramitā, the mother of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, which can give birth to the buddhas and holds and sustains bodhisattvas"; and as for that scroll, 「曇無竭菩薩以七寶印印之，我等不能得開以示汝」 tr. "the bodhisattva Dharmodgata has sealed it with a seal of the seven jewels; we cannot open it to show you". At the time of making offerings, Sadāprarudita himself divides his means of offering into two—「一分供養《般若波羅蜜》，一分供養法座上曇無竭菩薩」 tr. "one portion as an offering to the Prajñāpāramitā, one portion as an offering to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata on the Dharma seat". The flowers and incense scattered transform into a flower dais and a jewelled tent, and the maidens, seeing it, exclaim 「未曾有也！曇無竭大師神德乃爾！」 tr. "Never before has there been such a thing! The divine virtue of the great teacher Dharmodgata reaches even to this!", and thereupon 「皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心」 tr. "all aroused the mind of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi". At the end of the sūtra segment, Sadāprarudita tells the whole story from beginning to end and puts his question, and what he seeks is not merely one answer: 「大師！當為我說諸佛所從來、所至處，令我得知；知已，亦常不離見諸佛！」 tr. "Great teacher! Please proclaim to me the place from which the buddhas come and the place to which they go, so that I may come to know it; and having known it, may I too never part from seeing the buddhas!"—this chapter stops just at this question; the answer is in the next chapter.

Fascicle 98, Treatise Section, turns back to ask, item by item, why things are as they are, and its way of asking is the most unsparing. Why do the buddhas of the ten directions, at their first words, not first give the Dharma but first break what was obtained? The treatise-author answers clearly: 「爾時，薩陀波崙大得諸三昧力，其心深著；是故諸佛為說求諸三昧性，不見實體，亦不見入三昧、出三昧者，眾生空、法空故。」 tr. "At that time Sadāprarudita had greatly obtained the power of the samādhis, and his mind clung to them deeply; therefore the buddhas told him that when one searches for the nature of the samādhis, no real substance is seen, nor is anyone seen who enters a samādhi or comes out of a samādhi, because beings are empty and dharmas are empty." Since he had already heard that Dharmodgata was his good friend, why did he ask again 「何等是我善知識」 tr. "who is my good friend"? The answer is 「以佛勅於善知識中倍應恭敬愛念故」 tr. "because the Buddha commanded him that toward the good friend he should redouble his reverence and loving regard", and also because he wished to hear his merits from the buddhas of the ten directions so as to make his faith firm. Before, not seeing the voice in the sky, he wept for seven days; this time, not seeing the buddhas of the ten directions, why on the contrary does he not grieve greatly? The answer lies in his state having changed: 「薩陀波崙先時但有肉眼，未得三昧，以深心信著善法故，大啼哭；今得諸三昧力，又見十方佛，諸煩惱微薄，著心已離故」 tr. "Sadāprarudita earlier had only the fleshly eye and had not yet obtained samādhi; because in his deep mind he believed in and clung to wholesome dharmas, he wept greatly; now, because he has obtained the power of the samādhis and has also seen the buddhas of the ten directions, his afflictions have become slight and thin, and his clinging mind has already parted", and he only thinks with one mind of when he will see Dharmodgata. Since he could enter samādhi and see the buddhas of the ten directions, why did he not enter samādhi again and ask the buddhas himself, but insist on asking Dharmodgata? The answer still lies in causes and conditions: since the buddhas of the ten directions had already in all sorts of ways praised Dharmodgata as his teacher life after life, he therefore wished to ask him. On the section about offering, the treatise-author gives four answers in a row, deepening layer by layer. First, though offering the Dharma is the higher, 「世間眾生見遠來求法而空無所有，則不發喜心；以世法故，求供養具」 tr. "when worldly beings see one who has come from afar seeking the Dharma with nothing at all, they do not give rise to a joyful mind; it is because of worldly dharmas that he seeks means of offering". Second, 「五波羅蜜為助般若波羅蜜法，助法中檀波羅蜜為首」 tr. "the five perfections are dharmas that help prajñāpāramitā, and among the helping dharmas dānapāramitā is the first", so with the root he makes offerings to the honoured field of merit; and he also wished to stir up the multitude. Third, 「諸善法行時、思惟時，其味各異；薩陀波崙欲行布施味，是故求供養具」 tr. "wholesome dharmas have flavours that differ from one another at the time of practising them and at the time of reflecting on them; Sadāprarudita wished to practise the flavour of giving, and therefore sought means of offering". Fourth, why is a great bodhisattva poor? Two explanations are kept side by side—either he left home to seek the path and 「一身獨去，不齎財物」 tr. "went alone by himself and carried no wealth", or 「雖是大人，宿世小罪因緣故，生貧窮家」 tr. "although he is a great person, because of the causes and conditions of small offences in former lives he was born into a poor family"; and here the treatise-author inserts a judgement on poverty and wealth, one of the most memorable in the whole treatise: 「貧有二種：一者、財貧，二者、功德法貧。功德法貧，最大可恥！財貧，好人亦有；法貧，好人所無。」 tr. "Poverty is of two kinds: first, poverty in wealth; second, poverty in the dharmas of merit. Poverty in the dharmas of merit is the greatest shame! Poverty in wealth even good people may have; poverty in the Dharma good people do not have." The doubts about selling himself are also explained one by one: having sold his body to someone, who would then take it to make offerings? The answer is 「捨身即是大供養，去住無在」 tr. "giving up the body is itself a great offering; going and staying are both without any place", or else he entrusts the offering to someone, or his master permits him to make the offerings and come back; and the root principle lies in weight—「於外、內物中，內施為重，惜之深故」 tr. "among outer things and inner things, inner giving is the weightier, because one cherishes it more deeply". The passage on Māra, four questions and four answers, shows the order best. Why does Māra wish to ruin him? 「魔常為諸佛、菩薩怨家，故欲來破」 tr. "Māra is always the enemy of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and therefore he wishes to come and ruin him", and a small bodhisattva who has not obtained the real mark can be ruined: 「如小樹栽，小兒能破；大，不可破」 tr. "it is like the seedling of a small tree, which a small child can ruin; once it has grown large, it cannot be ruined". Why did Māra not come before, but come only now? The answer depends on whether the mind is settled or not: 「薩陀波崙先心未定，惜身未盡；見十方佛已，得諸三昧，其心乃定」 tr. "Sadāprarudita's mind was earlier not yet settled, and his sparing of his body not yet exhausted; having seen the buddhas of the ten directions and obtained the samādhis, his mind then became settled"; and the appearing of a settled mind is precisely the time when Māra is alarmed—「若菩薩心未定，未能動魔；若大菩薩其心已定，魔亦不來」 tr. "if a bodhisattva's mind is not yet settled, he cannot yet move Māra; if he is a great bodhisattva whose mind is already settled, Māra does not come either", while now 「欲定心出魔境界，是故魔來」 tr. "with a settled mind he is about to leave Māra's realm, and therefore Māra comes", and the simile is 「譬如負債人，未欲遠去，債主不遮；欲出他界，則不聽去」 tr. "it is like a debtor: while he does not yet wish to go far away, the creditor does not block him; when he is about to leave for another realm, he is not allowed to go". Māra has great power; why does he not kill but only ruin? 「魔本不嫉其壽命，但憎其作佛心，是故欲壞」 tr. "Māra from the first is not jealous of his life; he only hates his mind of becoming a Buddha, and therefore wishes to ruin it", and 「諸天神法，人無重罪，不得妄殺，但得壞亂恐怖」 tr. "by the dharma of the gods and spirits, if a person has no grave offence, they may not kill him recklessly, and may only disrupt and terrify him". Why was the elder's daughter alone not screened? Three explanations are kept side by side, and the first is 「以其為佛道世世集功德故，魔不能蔽」 tr. "because for the sake of the Buddha path she had gathered merit life after life, Māra could not screen her". Since he did not spare his body, he should not have been distressed when no one bought it; why was he greatly distressed? The answer is 「既發大心，不滿其願，是故大愁」 tr. "having aroused the great mind and being unable to fulfil his vow, he therefore grieved greatly"—what he grieved over was not the body but the vow. On Śakra's test, the treatise-author does not shield its questionable points either. Śakra obtains as retribution the knowledge of others' minds; why need he come to test? The answer is 「諸天但知世間人心，作佛、不作佛心，非其所知」 tr. "the gods know only the minds of worldly people; a mind of becoming a Buddha and a mind of not becoming a Buddha are not something they can know"; and he 「欲多所引導故來試之，令聞見者，皆發心求佛」 tr. "came to test him because he wished to lead many, so that those who heard and saw would all arouse the mind and seek buddhahood". And why the test had to take the heaviest thing, the simile lies in forging gold: 「又如金銀等諸寶，不以輕賤故燒鍛磨打；菩薩亦如是，若能割肉出血、破骨出髓，其心不動，是正定菩薩。」 tr. "Further, it is like gold, silver, and the other jewels, which are not burnt, forged, ground, and beaten because they are cheap; the bodhisattva is also like this: if he can cut his flesh and draw blood, break his bone and draw out marrow, and his mind does not move, this is a bodhisattva rightly assured." Is Śakra's lie not an offence? The answer judges by the mind and not by the words: 「若以慳貪、瞋恚煩惱欲求自利故妄語，是故為罪」 tr. "if one lies because, through the afflictions of avarice and anger, one wishes to seek one's own benefit, only then does it become an offence"; and 「帝釋若作實身、實語，菩薩則不信；是故如其國法，天祠所須，為其信受故」 tr. "if Śakra had shown his real body and spoken real words, the bodhisattva would not have believed him; so, according to the dharma of their country, he said it was what a sacrifice to the gods required, in order to make him believe and accept it". On the sentence 「我得大利，得第一利」 tr. "I have obtained great benefit; I have obtained the foremost benefit", the treatise-author makes six successive distinctions to show how it can advance layer by layer—「大利者，阿鞞跋致地；第一利者，是佛道」 tr. "great benefit is the ground of avaivartika; the foremost benefit is the Buddha path", and so on up to 「大利者，菩薩地；第一利者，佛地」 tr. "great benefit is the bodhisattva ground; the foremost benefit is the Buddha ground"; and as for what is called then being complete, 「雖未具足，已住具足因緣」 tr. "though not yet complete, he already abides within the causes and conditions of completeness". On the elder's daughter's arousing of the mind, the treatise-author points out where its trigger lay: earlier, when he cried that he was selling himself, she did not come; now, seeing him cut his body, she came, because 「但空言賣身事輕，破身出心髓事重故，長者女發心」 tr. "merely to speak with empty words of selling oneself is a light matter; to break the body and draw out the heart and marrow is a heavy matter; therefore the elder's daughter aroused the mind"; her thought is recorded too—「一切眾生皆求樂畏苦、貪愛其身；薩陀波崙而自割刺，是為希有！」 tr. "All beings seek pleasure and fear suffering, and greedily love their bodies; yet Sadāprarudita cuts and pierces himself—this is rare!" And the Dharma he speaks, which can cause people to arouse the mind, takes things that can be seen: 「譬如厚葉樹多所蔭覆；又如熱時曠野險道清涼大池」 tr. "it is like a tree with thick leaves that gives much shade and cover; and again, like a great cool pool on a dangerous road in the wilderness in the time of scorching heat". Having already cut himself, how could he teach the Buddha-Dharma broadly to the maiden? The answer is also plain and solid: 「是菩薩心力大，雖有身苦不能覆心」 tr. "this bodhisattva's power of mind was great; although there was bodily suffering, it could not cover his mind", and 「始以刀割肉流血，方欲破骨出髓，而長者女來，未大悶故，能得說法」 tr. "he had only just begun to cut his flesh with the knife and let the blood flow, and was about to break his bone and draw out the marrow, when the elder's daughter came; because he had not yet greatly swooned, he was able to teach the Dharma". How could his body be restored? The treatise-author returns it to the inconceivable and does not force an explanation: 「佛說有五不可思議。龍事所作，尚不可思議，何況天！」 tr. "The Buddha said there are five inconceivables. Even what nāgas do is inconceivable, how much more the gods!" Why did the elder, on hearing it once, permit his daughter to go along? The answer lies in former causes: 「長者亦植德本，以少因緣故生無佛國；暫聞佛德，發其宿識，心即開悟，故能發遣。譬如蓮花，生長具足，見日開敷」 tr. "the elder too had once planted roots of virtue; because of a small share of causes and conditions, he was born in a country without a Buddha. On briefly hearing the Buddha's merits, his knowing from former lives was roused and his mind at once awoke; therefore he could send them off. It is like the lotus flower, which, when its growth is complete, opens on seeing the sun"; the parents' permission also came because they 「知女心淳熟，無不淨行，持操不妄，不樂世樂，但求法利」 tr. "knew that their daughter's mind was pure and mature, that she had no impure conduct, kept her integrity and was not false, did not delight in worldly pleasures, and sought only the benefit of the Dharma". As for why, when Dharmodgata had already mastered prajñā, he needed to write out the sūtra on the seven-jewelled dais and make offerings to it, the treatise-author answers with two meanings: 「一者、眾生心行不同，或樂見經卷，或樂聞演說。二者、曇無竭身為白衣，現有家屬」 tr. "First, the workings of beings' minds differ: some delight in seeing scrolls of the sūtra, some delight in hearing it expounded. Second, Dharmodgata is himself one of the white-robed and at present has a household"; those of dull faculties, seeing him, might doubt 「此有居家，必有染著，何能以畢竟清淨無著般若波羅蜜利益眾生」 tr. "this man has a household, so he must have stains and attachments; how can he benefit beings with prajñāpāramitā, which is of ultimate purity and without clinging", and therefore the scroll is shown to them. Why make offerings first to the scroll and afterwards to the person? The answer lies in the order of the Three Jewels: 「所書般若，入法寶中。佛寶次第有法寶故，應先供養；曇無竭一人故，僧寶所不攝，是故先供養法寶」 tr. "the prajñā that is written out is included within the Dharma Jewel. Because the Dharma Jewel comes in sequence after the Buddha Jewel, it should be offered to first; because Dharmodgata is a single person, he is not included in the Saṅgha Jewel; therefore he first made offerings to the Dharma Jewel"; and 「曇無竭菩薩所說者雖是法，而眾生取人相故，多生著心」 tr. "though what the bodhisattva Dharmodgata teaches is the Dharma, because beings grasp at the mark of a person, they mostly give rise to a clinging mind", whereas on seeing the prajñā that is written out they do not give rise to the mark of a person, and the clinging mind is lighter. He decides it further: 「經法諸佛尚供養，何況曇無竭及薩陀波崙！」 tr. "Even the buddhas make offerings to the Dharma of the sūtra, how much more Dharmodgata and Sadāprarudita!" On the meaning of the seal of the seven jewels two explanations are kept side by side, the latter being 「有求佛道七大神，是執金剛杵，常給曇無竭菩薩使守護經文，不令魔及魔民改更錯亂，為貴敬般若故」 tr. "there are seven great spirits who seek the Buddha path; these hold vajras, are always at the service of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, and guard the sūtra text, not letting Māra and Māra's people alter or confuse it, because they value and revere prajñā". The maidens aroused the mind on seeing supernormal powers—is this not entering without a compassionate mind? Here the treatise-author sets down a judgement very broad but not loose: 「發心有種種：有聞說法而發心者，有於眾生起慈悲而發心者，有見神通力、大威德而發心者，然後漸漸而生悲心」 tr. "arousing the mind is of all kinds: there are those who arouse the mind on hearing the Dharma taught; there are those who arouse the mind by giving rise to kindness and compassion toward beings; there are those who arouse the mind on seeing the power of supernormal abilities and great majestic virtue, and only afterwards give rise little by little to a compassionate mind"; and the reason it can be allowed lies in a still more fundamental principle—「依愛而斷愛，依慢而斷慢」 tr. "relying on love one severs love; relying on pride one severs pride", so he cites scripture to prove it, saying 「愛、慢等諸煩惱，皆是佛道根本」 tr. "love, pride, and the other afflictions are all the root of the Buddha path", and sums up with a simile: 「因是愛、慢，後得清淨好心，故言佛道根本，譬如蓮花生污泥。」 tr. "Because of this love and this pride, they afterwards obtained a pure and good mind; therefore it is said to be the root of the Buddha path, just as the lotus flower is born in mud." The order of offering and bowing is not passed over idly either: 「花、香等供養不貴故，先以供養；身貴重，故後禮拜。」 tr. "Because offerings of flowers, incense, and the like are not weighty, they offered them first; because the body is weighty, they bowed afterwards." The last question is the weightiest, and also shows best that the treatise-author does not shield his man: having obtained the great samādhis of breaking ignorance, of contemplating the nature of dharmas, and the rest, why does he still grasp at the mark of a Buddha and give rise to deep love and clinging? The answer is 「若新發意菩薩雖能總相知諸法空、無相，於諸佛所深愛著故，不能解佛相畢竟空，雖知空而不能與空合」 tr. "if he is a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind, although he can know by the general mark that dharmas are empty and signless, because he deeply loves and clings to the buddhas he cannot understand that the mark of a Buddha is ultimately empty; though he knows emptiness he cannot be united with emptiness"; the reason is that 「諸佛有無量無邊實功德，是菩薩利根故，深入、深著」 tr. "the buddhas have immeasurable, boundless real merits, and because this bodhisattva's faculties are keen, he enters deeply and clings deeply". And its danger is pointed out along with it: 「若佛不為是菩薩說空者，是菩薩為愛佛故，能自滅親族，何況餘人！但以解空故無是事。」 tr. "If the Buddha did not teach emptiness to this bodhisattva, this bodhisattva, out of love for the Buddha, could even destroy his own kin, how much more other people! Only because he understands emptiness does no such thing happen." The end of the chapter thus comes to rest on that self-statement of Sadāprarudita's—「我見佛身無厭足故，常不離見諸佛」 tr. "because I look at the Buddha's body without ever being satisfied, I never part from seeing the buddhas"—the question already put and the answer not yet come.

Viewing the four parts together, their arc can be decided in a word: Fascicle 96 speaks of whom to trust, Fascicle 97 of how long to wait, Fascicle 98, Sūtra Section, of what to give up, and Fascicle 98, Treatise Section, of how neither what is given up nor what is obtained may be clung to. The first two parts are the going, the latter two the arriving; and in every part one 「不可念」 tr. "not to be thought of" and one 「不可少」 tr. "not to be lacking" stand facing each other. In Fascicle 96, what is not to be thought of is the pain and pleasure of the body and the strengths and shortcomings of the teacher, and what is not to be lacking is the good friend; in Fascicle 97, what is not to be thought of is day and night and the mind of obstruction, and what is not to be lacking is single-minded seeking that does not retreat; in Fascicle 98, Sūtra Section, what is not to be thought of is body and life and wealth, and what is not to be lacking is offering and drawing near; in Fascicle 98, Treatise Section, what is not to be thought of is the samādhis obtained and the mark of a Buddha seen, and what is not to be lacking is the wisdom of emptiness. Among the four parts one thread runs through, namely the layer-by-layer deepening of the four Chinese characters 「不惜身命」 tr. "not sparing body and life": the not-sparing when he first heard the voice was only not thinking of weariness; the not-sparing in the seven days of weeping was not thinking of food and drink; the not-sparing in selling himself was really cutting himself with a knife; and the last layer that the treatise segment dismantles is that even the one thought ‘I give up the body for the Dharma’ may not be kept as real—「不見有法出三昧、入三昧者」 tr. "not seeing any dharma that emerges from samādhi or enters samādhi", and so there is no self either who gives up the body to seek the Dharma. So the whole chapter tells of one who practises austerities, yet where it returns to is not austerity: at the opening of the chapter the treatise-author says 「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", and at the end he says that one who has obtained the samādhis still clings to the mark of a Buddha; on one end he says the Dharma is not hard, on the other end he says the person is himself hard, and what the jātaka proves lies exactly between these.

Therefore, in reading each passage of this chapter, one can ask at least three layers. First, is what this passage speaks of a state attained or a cause—this chapter is most easily read as a string of marvels: hearing the voice in the sky, seeing the Buddha appear in his body, obtaining sixty thousand samādhis, the wounds of the body restored. Yet the treatise-author's explanation pushes every one of them back onto causes: seeing the Buddha's body is 「七日七夜一心念佛，功德成就故」 tr. "because, having recollected the Buddha with one mind for seven days and seven nights, his merit was accomplished"; not being screened by Māra is 「為佛道世世集功德故」 tr. "because for the sake of the Buddha path she had gathered merit life after life"; the elder's being able to permit his daughter to go along is that he 「亦植德本」 tr. "too had once planted roots of virtue". Whenever one sees a wondrous matter, first ask where its cause lies, and one will not read it as another person's luck. Second, if this passage were read in reverse, what would it become—there are three places in this chapter that can be read in reverse. One is reading 「應生心如佛想」 tr. "you should give rise in your mind to the notion of a Buddha" without reading the next sentence, and so taking the teacher to be beyond discussion and abandoning the choosing of him; yet the sūtra at the same time warns 「莫以世利心故隨逐法師」 tr. "do not follow the Dharma teacher out of a mind for worldly gain", and the treatise too says directly 「唯佛一人無有過失，餘人誰能無者」 tr. "only the Buddha alone is without fault; among other people, who can be without them", which shows that giving rise to the notion of a Buddha guards against one's own loss; it is not a judgement that the teacher is without fault. Two is reading 「師若實有罪，尚不應離」 tr. "even if the teacher really has offences, one still should not leave him" and taking it that no teacher whatever may be left; yet what this saying addresses is the one sickness of the disciple, that 「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"; what it protects is one's own benefit of the Dharma, not the teacher's fault. Three is reading the selling of the body and the cutting of the flesh and taking suffering to be the path; yet the treatise-author says plainly that what is valued is the mind of giving up, 「內施為重，惜之深故」 tr. "inner giving is the weightier, because one cherishes it more deeply", and again and again he returns merit to causes and conditions and to the settled mind, not to pain. Third, I do not now have this state; of what use is this chapter to me—the use this chapter gives lies exactly in the most ordinary places: if you forgot to ask, go back to where you were and seek again with one mind; if you seek and have not yet obtained, know that 「若二日、三日，精進欲未深」 tr. "if it were two or three days, the desire for vigour would not yet be deep", and do not judge your sincerity by speed; on seeing a fault in the teacher, remember 「師之過失，不著於我」 tr. "the teacher's faults do not attach to me"; feeling yourself poor and with nothing to offer, remember 「貧有二種」 tr. "poverty is of two kinds", and that what is shameful is only poverty in the Dharma; and even on seeing someone enter the path because of seeing supernormal powers, because of admiring majestic virtue, remember 「依愛而斷愛，依慢而斷慢」 tr. "relying on love one severs love; relying on pride one severs pride", and do not cut off their end because their beginning was impure. Reading on along the four parts, one will in the end come to rest on that most unsparing judgement of the treatise-author's: even one who has obtained the samādhis 「雖知空而不能與空合」 tr. "though he knows emptiness cannot be united with emptiness"—the more one has obtained has never meant the less one clings.

Reading On in the Order of the Treatise

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.

Sadāprarudita, Fascicle 97: Forgetting to Ask Where to Go and Weeping for Seven Days, the Buddha in the Sky Appearing to Point Out the City of Many Fragrances and Dharmodgata's Palace, the Simile of the Poisoned Arrow, and Entering the Samādhi Gates

What Is Being Asked

Fascicle 96 set up the origin of the jātaka: the Buddha answers the difficulty raised in the previous chapter, 「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", not by saying the emptiness of nature over once more in terms of principle, but by putting forward a person—Sadāprarudita—as proof, saying that the dharma that 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" is not hard to obtain, and that one who with one mind diligently makes vigour and does not spare body or life can obtain it; then the sūtra text sets out the admonitions of the voice in the sky: go east, and do not think of weariness, sleep, food and drink, day and night, cold and heat, inside and outside; as you go do not look left or right, do not destroy the mark of the body or the marks of form, feeling, perception, constructions, and consciousness; keep far from the evil friend, draw near to and make offerings to the good friend; toward the place from which you hear the Dharma give rise to the notion of a Buddha; do not follow the Dharma teacher with a mind for worldly gain; and it warns him in advance to be aware of the deeds of Māra. The treatise-author for his part analyses point by point what is meant by the 「深心」 tr. "deep mind" and the 「軟心」 tr. "soft mind" of one who has newly aroused intent, and why this person is still now practising the bodhisattva path in the place of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound.

Fascicle 97 carries on downward from this, and is the second turn of this jātaka thread. The admonitions of the previous fascicle have already been received, and he has already set out on the road; yet before he has gone far, this person suddenly realises that he has forgotten to ask the three most important things—where to go, how far it is, and from whom to hear. So the sūtra text stops at an exceedingly undignified picture: a bodhisattva whom the buddhas had praised as excellent sits down right where he is and weeps, and moreover takes an oath not to rise for seven days and seven nights unless he hears the Dharma. The two questions of the whole fascicle both arise from here. The first is the shape of the mind that seeks the Dharma: why is it 「忘」 tr. "forgetting"? Why does he not look for someone else to ask, but insists on sitting there dry for seven days? Why does the Buddha appear neither earlier nor later but exactly at the end of the seven days? Why does the sūtra text take something like 「喪愛子」 tr. "losing a beloved son", the most painful thing in the world, as its simile, and not a more stately simile? The second is the shape of the realm that is sought: what kind of Buddha is it that appears in the sky, and having appeared, why does he not deliver him at once? Since the City of Many Fragrances is in Jambudvīpa, why is it adorned with the seven jewels and governed without a king? Since Dharmodgata takes his pleasure in the five desires with sixty-eight thousand court maidens, is he in the end a fleshly body or a body born of the Dharma-nature? And when at the end fifty-odd samādhi gates are present all at once, what sort of function does each of them have?

The two questions are in fact two faces of one question. The treatise-author answers 「忘」 tr. "forgetting" not by laying the blame on distraction but by attributing it to 「大歡喜覆心」 tr. "great joy covering the mind"—like great sorrow, the same kind of loss of mindfulness from an excess of force; he answers the dry sitting for seven days not by calling him foolish but by saying 「如本於空閑處一心求般若故，空中有聲；今亦欲一心如本」 tr. "just as it was because he had originally sought prajñā with one mind in a secluded place that there was a voice in the sky, so now too he wished to be of one mind as before"—he is not waiting; he is re-enacting the posture that once evoked the voice. To answer the measure of seven days he uses a thirsty person's knowing the sweetness of water: too few, and vigour is not yet deep; too many, and sorrow obstructs the mind. To answer the simile of losing a son he first sets out the general mark and then sets out eight layers of specific marks, comparing the deepest love in the world with the benefit of prajñā item by item, and when the comparison reaches the point where 「子但是假名」 tr. "the son is only a provisional name" and prajñā's 「空無定實，但有假名」 tr. "empty and without fixed reality, having only a provisional name" shine on each other, simile and Dharma become one matter. As for the City of Many Fragrances and Dharmodgata, the treatise-author on the one hand answers factually the causes and conditions of its geography—the bequeathed Dharma of a past Buddha did not reach throughout Jambudvīpa, and only to places with the causes and conditions for hearing the Dharma did the bequeathed Dharma reach; on the other hand he lets the two accounts, ‘fleshly body / Dharma body’, stand side by side without judging, and only attributes the possibility of 「受五欲而不失禪定」 tr. "receiving the five desires without losing meditative concentration" to the power of skilful means and keen faculties. And the whole fascicle closes on the item-by-item explanation of the fifty-odd samādhis: this long string of names is not a list of merits; it is a map of the realms that appear after 「一心求」 tr. "seeking with one mind"—starting from 「觀一切諸法實性」 tr. "contemplating the real nature of all dharmas", on to 「不著是性」 tr. "not clinging to this nature", on to breaking ignorance, being free from darkness, knowing continuity, entering association with emptiness, and then on to the various functions of transforming others, and closing at the end with 「見諸佛三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of seeing the buddhas", which links back exactly to the sūtra sentence 「即見十方無量阿僧祇諸佛」 tr. "at once saw immeasurable asaṃkhyeya buddhas of the ten directions". The seeker of the Dharma opens the fascicle weeping and closes it seeing the buddhas; what lies between is everything this fascicle teaches.

Passage by Passage

1. Having received the teaching he goes east, and forgets to ask three things. Having received the teaching in the sky, Sadāprarudita went east, and only after he had gone a short way did he remember: why did I not ask the voice in the sky—where I should go, whether the going is far or near, from whom I should hear prajñāpāramitā? So he stopped right where he was, weeping and sorrowing, and took an oath that for one day and one night, and so on up to seven days and seven nights, not thinking of weariness and exhaustion, and so on up to not thinking of hunger and thirst, cold and heat, he would never rise unless he heard the causes and conditions of prajñā. The first stroke of the fascicle writes one Chinese character, 「忘」 tr. "forgetting". The sūtra text does not cover for him, nor does it write this forgetting as a fault; the three things to be asked—where to go, how far, the person from whom to hear—are exactly the three most practical matters for a seeker of the Dharma, and he asked not one of them. From this it can be seen that 「受教」 tr. "receiving the teaching" and ‘knowing how to walk this road’ are two different things: at the time of receiving the teaching his whole strength of mind was on 「我當從教」 tr. "I shall follow the teaching", and not one of the matters of the road had been thought of. This passage sets up the opening move of the whole fascicle.

2. The simile of an only son suddenly dying. The Buddha tells Subhūti: it is as if a person had only one son, and he suddenly died; grieved and in bitter pain, he harbours only anguish and gives rise to no other thought; Sadāprarudita at that time had no other mind, but thought only of when he would be able to hear prajñāpāramitā, and he restates those three questions he had not asked. What is most to be seen in this simile is the four Chinese characters 「不生餘念」 tr. "gives rise to no other thought"—the pain of losing a son is taken as the simile not for its misery but for its singleness. The worldly mind is ordinarily scattered over a hundred matters; only this one pain can gather it into a single bundle. With this the sūtra text depicts the mind that seeks the Dharma, and it means: the seeking of prajñā counts only when it reaches the point of 「更無餘念」 tr. "having no other thought". The restating of the three questions is not a repetition of words; it writes that thought circling in the mind and not leaving.

3. The Buddha appears in the sky and says ‘Excellent’, and points out the adornments of the City of Many Fragrances. While he was thinking thus in sorrow, there was a Buddha in the sky who spoke to him: Excellent, excellent; when the buddhas of the past practised the bodhisattva path and sought prajñā, they too were as you are today; because you practise vigour diligently and love and delight in the Dharma, go east from here; five hundred yojanas from here there is a city named Many Fragrances. What follows describes the adornments of the city to the utmost: sevenfold, of the seven jewels, with terraces and lookouts and railings, moats of the seven jewels and rows of trees surrounding it all round in seven layers; the city twelve yojanas in length and breadth, rich and joyful, peaceful and calm, its people flourishing, with five hundred market wards, streets and lanes matching one another, upright and beautiful as if painted, bridges and fords level as the ground, broad and clean; on the city towers and turrets of the seven jewels, jewelled trees with gold, silver, giant clam, agate, coral, beryl, sphaṭika, and red pearls as their branches and leaves, jewelled cords joined one to another, nets of bells made of gold covering the city, and when the wind blows, the sound of the bells harmonious and refined, like the five kinds of music skilfully played; on the four sides of the city flowing pools, clear and pure, cool and warm in due measure, with boats adorned with the seven jewels enjoyed according to the deeds of former lives; in the pools blue, yellow, red, and white lotus flowers covering everything, and all the flowers there are in the three-thousand great-thousand world within them; on the four sides of the city five hundred parks, each park with five hundred pools, each pool ten li in length and breadth, lotus flowers as large as cartwheels each of the four colours giving off its own light, and wild ducks, wild geese, mandarin ducks, and flocks of birds of other kinds, their voices answering one another. The misunderstanding most easily born in reading this passage is to take it as a display of the pleasures of a reward-land; the sūtra text itself has already blocked this road—「是諸園觀適無所屬，是諸眾生宿業所致，長夜信樂深法，行般若波羅蜜因緣故，受是果報」 tr. "these parks belong to no one at all; they are what these beings' deeds of former lives have brought about—through the long night they have believed in and delighted in the deep Dharma, and because they practised prajñāpāramitā, they receive such retribution". The four Chinese characters 「適無所屬」 tr. "belong to no one at all" are the eye: such adornment is not tied to any possessor; it is the look of the retribution of 「長夜信樂深法」 tr. "through the long night believing in and delighting in the deep Dharma". So this great passage of scenery in fact writes the virtues of the fruit of prajñā; to let the seeker of the Dharma first see the place he is heading for is precisely the way of comforting him.

4. Dharmodgata's palace, the four parks and eight pools, and teaching prajñā three times a day. In the City of Many Fragrances there is a great high terrace, and the palace of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata is upon it: one yojana in length and breadth, made of the seven jewels; its walls sevenfold, its railings sevenfold, towers and pavilions, jewelled moats sevenfold, rows of trees sevenfold; in the palace four kinds of pleasure parks—Ever Joyful, Free from Sorrow, Flower Adornment, Fragrance Adornment; in each park eight pools—Worthy, Supreme Worthy, Joy, Supreme Joy, Peace and Security, Much Peace and Security, Separation, Avaivartika; each side of the pools of one jewel, meigui jade forming the bottom with golden sand spread over it, eight flights of steps adorned with wondrous jewels, rows of plantain trees of jambūnada gold between the flights of steps, lotus flowers of the four colours spread over the pools, fine flowering trees on the four sides whose flowers the wind blows down into the water, the pools complete with eight kinds of merit, fragrant like sandalwood and complete in colour and flavour. Then Dharmodgata, with sixty-eight thousand court maidens, complete with the five desires, takes his pleasure together with them, and the men and women of the city all enter the parks and the pools and share in the pleasure; having played and taken his pleasure, three times a day he teaches prajñāpāramitā. The men and women of the city set out a great Dharma seat in a place where many people gather, its four legs of gold or silver or beryl or sphaṭika, spread with embroidered coverlets and cushions of mingled colours, hung with curtains and sashes, covered with fine white cotton cloth, scattered with mingled wondrous flowers and incense, the seat five li high, with a canopy of white pearls set up over it; on the four sides of the pool flowers of five colours are scattered, many famous incenses are burnt, and the ground is smeared with perfumed ointment, for the sake of making offerings to and revering prajñāpāramitā. Thereupon a great assembly of hundreds of thousands of myriads, gods and people of the world, gathers in one place; among them there are those who hear, those who receive, those who hold, those who recite, those who write out, those who rightly contemplate, and those who practise as it is taught; at this time, by these causes and conditions, none of the beings falls into the evil destinies, and they do not retrogress from anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The sequence of this passage deserves attention: first the pleasure is described, then the teaching of the Dharma, then the seven kinds of hearers and their fruit—「不墮惡道，不退轉」 tr. "do not fall into the evil destinies, do not retrogress". The names of the eight pools especially deserve notice: beginning from 「賢」 tr. "Worthy", passing through Joy, Peace and Security, and Separation, and closing at the end with 「阿鞞跋致」 tr. "Avaivartika"—the names of the pools are the stages of the path, and the very names of the gardens are a map of practice and realisation. As for the doubt raised by the sentence 「五欲具足，共相娛樂」 tr. "complete with the five desires, taking their pleasure together", the treatise-author below (sections 26 to 28) sets up a question specially in order to answer it; here the sūtra text only narrates and does not explain.

5. He is urged to go to Dharmodgata—life after life he is your good friend. The Buddha in the sky urges him: go to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, and you shall hear prajñāpāramitā; life after life Dharmodgata has been your good friend, and can teach you anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, showing, teaching, benefiting, and gladdening; this Dharmodgata, when he originally sought prajñāpāramitā, was also as you are now; go, and do not reckon day and night, do not give rise to a mind of obstruction; before long you shall hear prajñāpāramitā. Here the third of those three questions is answered—from whom he should hear. And the sentence 「世世是汝善知識」 tr. "life after life he has been your good friend" puts this stretch of road before his eyes back into the context of immeasurable lifetimes: the good friend is not a chance meeting; he is the continuation of a past-life affinity. The four Chinese characters 「亦如汝今」 tr. "also as you are now" appear for the second time—first it was said that the buddhas of the past, seeking prajñā, were also as you are now; now it is said that Dharmodgata, originally seeking prajñā, was also as you are now; the hardship of seeking the Dharma is not an exception for him alone; it is the original shape of this road. The closing 「莫計晝夜，莫生障礙心」 tr. "do not reckon day and night, do not give rise to a mind of obstruction" goes straight at the sickness of his sitting dry for seven days just now: those seven days were utmost sincerity, and were also stagnation and clinging; the Buddha, while commending his sincerity, also loosens his stagnation.

6. Glad and delighted in mind, and the simile of the poisoned arrow. Sadāprarudita, glad and delighted in mind, thought: when shall I be able to see this good man and hear prajñāpāramitā? The Buddha uses the poisoned arrow as a simile: as a person struck by a poisoned arrow has no other thought, thinking only of when he will be able to meet a good physician to draw out the poisoned arrow and remove this pain of his; Sadāprarudita too had no other thought, and made only this vow—when shall I be able to see the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, so that I may hear prajñāpāramitā; when I hear this prajñāpāramitā, I shall sever every mind that clings to existence. This is the second simile of this fascicle, set against the simile of losing a son in section 2: the simile of losing a son takes its 「不生餘念」 tr. "gives rise to no other thought", the simile of the poisoned arrow takes its 「急」 tr. "urgency". The former is the pain of losing what one loves, the latter the danger of having poison in the body; one writes longing, the other writes saving one's life. Taking the two similes together, the mind that seeks prajñā thereby has both faces—as keen as thinking of one's son, and as urgent as drawing out an arrow. And the sentence 「斷諸有心」 tr. "sever every mind that clings to existence" is where this passage comes home: what is sought is not to obtain one thing more; it is to sever that mind that everywhere clings to existence.

7. Abiding in thought of Dharmodgata, he obtains unobstructed knowledge and vision, enters immeasurable samādhi gates, and sees the buddhas of the ten directions. Sadāprarudita then, abiding in this place and thinking of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, having obtained unobstructed knowledge and vision within all dharmas, at once obtained immeasurable samādhi gates present before him, and the sūtra text enumerates fifty-odd gates—starting from the samādhi of contemplating the nature of dharmas, the samādhi of the nature of dharmas being unfindable, and the samādhi of breaking the ignorance of dharmas, passing through dharmas not being different, indestructible and sovereign, able to illuminate, free from darkness, continuity without difference, unfindable, scattering flowers, non-self, illusion-like majestic power, like mirror images, the languages of all beings, the joy of all beings, entering into the discrimination of sounds, the adornment of all kinds of words, letters, and phrases, fearlessness, a nature ever silent, unobstructed liberation, free from dust and defilement, the adornment of names, words, and phrases, seeing dharmas, the unobstructed summit of dharmas, like space, like a vajra, not fearing clinging to form, gaining victory, turning the eye, culmination in the nature of dharmas, able to give peace and security, the lion's roar, surpassing all beings, flower adornment, severing doubt, following all that is firm, going beyond dharmas and obtaining supernormal power and fearlessness, able to penetrate dharmas, the wealth-seal of dharmas, seeing dharmas without discrimination, free from all views, free from all darkness, free from all marks, liberation from all clinging, removing all slackness, obtaining the light of the deep Dharma, cannot be taken away, breaking Māra, not clinging to the three realms, and giving rise to light, and ending with the samādhi of seeing the buddhas; abiding in these samādhis, he at once saw immeasurable asaṃkhyeya buddhas of the ten directions teaching prajñāpāramitā for the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas. In this passage two things must be seen. First, the cause of obtaining the samādhis is 「住念曇無竭菩薩」 tr. "abiding in thought of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata"—not a technique of entering concentration but one thought of the good friend; second, the order of the fifty-odd gates is not a random heap: it starts from contemplating the nature, continues with not clinging to the nature, in between are gates of breaking the defilements and gates of transforming others, and it closes with 「見諸佛」 tr. "seeing the buddhas", while the sūtra text immediately follows with 「即見十方無量阿僧祇諸佛」 tr. "at once saw immeasurable asaṃkhyeya buddhas of the ten directions"—the names and the events interlock here. The treatise-author below (section 33 onward) explains them item by item; this is the backbone of the latter half of the fascicle.

8. Why he forgot and did not ask the voice in the sky. The treatise-author poses the question: why did Sadāprarudita forget, and not ask the voice in the sky? The answer: he forgot because great joy covered his mind; just as when people are in great sorrow or great joy, by reason of these two things they forget. This answer moves 「忘」 tr. "forgetting" from a fault over to the force of the mind: sorrow and gladness are two opposite feelings, yet their effect of losing mindfulness is the same—in both, the mind is for a time filled by one matter, and other matters then do not enter. In reading this one need not make excuses for Sadāprarudita, but must know that what sūtra and treatise write is the true face of the mind of one seeking the path, not a flawless model.

9. Why he stayed here seven days and did not go on to seek a place to ask. The question: the voice in the sky had already ceased; why did he stay here seven days, and not go on to seek a place to ask? The answer: just as it was because he had originally sought prajñā with one mind in a secluded place that there was a voice in the sky, so now too he wished to be of one mind as before, hoping to hear the voice again and sever his doubts. This answer brings out the line of reasoning behind his dry sitting: it is not that he did not know he could look elsewhere; it is that he knew where that voice came from—it came from 「一心」 tr. "one mind". So what he did was return to that posture that can evoke. Herein lies a general rule of seeking the Dharma: matters of stimulus and response cannot be forced from outside; they can only be sought again within.

10. The simile of a small child who gets a little taste of something delicious. The treatise-author goes on with ‘further’: Sadāprarudita had already relinquished worldly pleasure and entered deeply into the Buddha path, and his love and delight had reached the utmost; the voice in the sky told him and showed him a little, and before his doubts had ever been severed, the voice ceased. Just as a small child who has had a little taste of something delicious, because it clings to that taste, cries again wanting to get it; Sadāprarudita too was like this: having obtained the flavour of the causes and conditions of prajñāpāramitā, unable to penetrate it, not knowing where to go, he therefore stayed and wept. This simile is extremely honest: in his weeping there is an element of 「著味」 tr. "clinging to the taste". Having obtained a little flavour of the Dharma without having penetrated it, he gives rise to thirsting admiration and also to stagnation and clinging—the treatise-author does not hide this. This is more beneficial than simply praising his vigour: the purity and impurity of the mind that seeks the path are often present at the same time.

11. Why it was only when it came to seven days that the Buddha's body appeared. The question: why was it only when it came to seven days that the Buddha's body appeared? The answer: it is like a person who knows the sweetness of water only because of great thirst. If it were two or three days, his desire for vigour would not yet be deep; if it went beyond seven days, it was feared that his sorrow would obstruct his mind so that he could not bear to seek the path. Therefore he sorrowed for seven days. This answer sets up a 「量」 tr. "measure": seven days is not a mysterious number; it is the dividing line between vigour and sorrow. Too few, and his desire is not yet deep, and the flavour of the Dharma cannot show its preciousness; too many, and sorrow becomes an obstruction, and he can no longer bear to seek the path. It can be seen that the response of the buddhas looks not only at whether one is sincere, but also at whether one can bear it.

12. As for the simile, the sūtra speaks of it. The treatise-author notes: as for the simile, the sūtra speaks of it. This is a phrase citing authority—the simile cited has its own separate source. The treatise-author's writing is often like this: he does not take his own words as sufficient; whatever has a source he always returns to its source.

13. Why he sorrowed like one who has lost a beloved son. The question: why did Sadāprarudita sorrow to such a degree, like one who has lost a beloved son? The answer: prajñāpāramitā is the foremost reality among all dharmas, the real Dharma Jewel of the buddhas of the ten directions; Sadāprarudita had obtained only a little of its scent and flavour and was not yet complete with it, so he sorrowed. Just as one who has lost a beloved son thinks how, when the son had grown up, he would have accomplished many things, and hoped to obtain his help; the bodhisattva too is like this: he thinks of increasing the power of prajñāpāramitā, and, having become avaivartika, accomplishing the Buddha's work. This answer first sets up the preciousness of what is sought—「第一實」 tr. "the foremost reality", 「真實法寶」 tr. "the real Dharma Jewel"—and next sets up the reason for sorrow—「得少氣味，未具足」 tr. "had obtained only a little of its scent and flavour and was not yet complete with it". And the first point of the simile lies in 「冀得其力」 tr. "hoped to obtain his help": what the one who has lost a son grieves for is not only the loss of the person but the loss of what he would accomplish in the future; the bodhisattva's sorrow is the same—what he sorrows over is not having obtained nothing, but that what he has obtained is not yet enough to accomplish the Buddha's work.

14. The three matters of the causes and conditions of the general mark. The treatise-author goes on to list: just as a son toward his father is filial all his life and has no other mind; prajñāpāramitā toward the bodhisattva is also like this: if he can enter it, then even until he becomes a Buddha, it is never far from him. Just as a father rejoices in his heart when he sees his son; though the bodhisattva obtains all kinds of dharmas, none is like the gladness of seeing prajñāpāramitā. Just as a son is a name set up by borrowing; prajñāpāramitā too is like this: empty and without fixed reality, having only a provisional name. Such things as these are the causes and conditions of the general mark. The three matters are: never far from him all his life, rejoicing on seeing, having only a provisional name. The first two take the simile on the side of feeling; the third, however, takes the simile on the side of the Dharma—the son's name is provisionally set up, and prajñā too is 「空無定實，但有假名」 tr. "empty and without fixed reality, having only a provisional name". When the simile is taken to this layer, the simile is no longer only rhetoric: even the name of the dearest and most real thing in the world is provisional, and what makes prajñā 「第一實」 tr. "the foremost reality" is precisely this 「空無定實」 tr. "empty and without fixed reality". Here the general mark comes to its knot.

15. The specific marks, in eight layers. The treatise-author further sets out the differences: though a father loves his son, he cannot give him his head and eyes; the bodhisattva, for the sake of prajñā, through immeasurable lifetimes gives his head, eyes, marrow, and brain to beings. A son may perhaps be unable to repay his father's kindness; if he can repay the kindness, it is no more than a small benefit in the present life, of clothing, food, pleasure, and the like; the bodhisattva within prajñā obtains everything, even all wisdom—how much more the bodhisattva's power and might and worldly wealth and pleasure. A son's repaying his father extends his kindness to one lifetime at most; the benefit of prajñā reaches through immeasurable lifetimes, even until becoming a Buddha. A son toward his father may be good or bad; prajñāpāramitā has none of these faults. The son is only a provisional name, a false, deceptive, and unreal dharma; prajñāpāramitā is the real holy Dharma, without deception. Though a son repaying kindness gains a small happiness in the present life, there is the immeasurable suffering of sorrow, distress, suffering, and vexation; prajñāpāramitā gives only the real happiness of gladness, even the happiness of the Buddha. A son can only benefit his father by providing for him; he cannot free him from birth, old age, sickness, and death; prajñāpāramitā makes the bodhisattva ultimately pure, no longer having the calamities of old age, sickness, and death. A son can only enable his father to obtain worldly happiness and be at ease; prajñāpāramitā can make the bodhisattva the lord of gods and humans in all the world. Such things as these are the marks of difference among the causes and conditions and similes of all kinds. This passage is a model of the method of taking similes: whenever a simile is taken, something is taken and something is not taken. The previous passage took the likeness in ‘not far from, rejoicing, provisional name’; this passage counts the differences in eight or nine layers in ‘giving up the body, what is obtained, long and short, good and bad, false and real, suffering and happiness, birth and death, being at ease’. If a reader of similes remembers only the likenesses and not the differences, he will read prajñā as a bigger worldly good thing; the treatise-author distinguishes them item by item precisely to guard against this. One may further notice the fifth layer: the previous passage took the likeness between 「子但是假名」 tr. "the son is only a provisional name" and prajñā's 「但有假名」 tr. "having only a provisional name", while this passage takes the difference between 「子但是假名，虛誑不實」 tr. "the son is only a provisional name, false, deceptive, and unreal" and 「般若波羅蜜真實聖法，無有虛誑」 tr. "prajñāpāramitā is the real holy Dharma, without deception"—taking likeness and difference together for the same matter is not self-contradiction; it speaks separately of the two meanings 「無定實」 tr. "without fixed reality" and 「不虛誑」 tr. "not deceptive"; that a provisional name does not obstruct reality is exactly what makes prajñā prajñā.

16. Worldly people all know the sorrow of losing a son, so this is used as a simile. The treatise-author concludes this portion: worldly people all know that losing a son is sorrowful, so this is used as a simile. This one sentence explains why the simile was taken—not for its being lamentable, but for its being known to everyone. The use of a simile lies in its being commonly understood; if the matter used as a simile is not understood by the many, the simile is of no use.

17. The question of what kind of Buddha appeared in the sky. The treatise-author poses three questions in one place: the Buddha who appeared in the sky—what kind of Buddha was he? Why was there earlier only a voice, while now he appears in his body? Since the Buddha appeared in his body, why did he not deliver him at once, but instead send him to Dharmodgata's place? These three questions press one upon another layer by layer: the first asks about his substance, the second asks why before and after differ, the third asks why, being able to appear in his body, he could not accomplish the matter. Below, the answer is given in four sections.

18. Someone says it was not a true Buddha, only an image appearing. The first part of the answer: someone says: it was not a true Buddha, only an image appearing—either a conjuration sent by the buddhas, or something manifested and made by a great bodhisattva. This is the account of one school; the treatise-author records it and does not judge. One must know that 「像現」 tr. "an image appearing" is not the same as false: whether a conjuration sent by the buddhas or a manifestation made by a great bodhisattva, the teaching and admonition is in each case true; what is distinguished lies only in whether its substance is conjured or true.

19. Earlier he only heard a voice, and now he is able to see the body. The second part of the answer: because his earlier roots of goodness and merit were not yet accomplished, he only heard a voice; now, because for seven days and seven nights he was mindful of the Buddha with one mind and his meritorious virtue was accomplished, he was able to see the Buddha's body. This answers the second question. The difference between voice and body does not lie on the Buddha's side; it lies in the merit of the one who evokes. Here the seven days of dry sitting gain their real meaning: that was not sitting in vain; it was what brought his meritorious virtue to accomplishment.

20. Why he did not deliver him at once, and why he praised him as excellent. The third part of the answer: the reason the Buddha did not deliver him at once is that he had causes and conditions with Dharmodgata life after life, and should be delivered by him. There are people who should be delivered by Śāriputra; even if the buddhas appeared in their bodies, they could not open their understanding. The Buddha's praise, saying ‘Excellent’, was because Sadāprarudita, with utmost sincerity, sought to know where to go and the causes and conditions for hearing prajñā; so the Buddha appeared in his body and praised him, ‘Excellent’. This answers the third question, and explains along with it the reason for 「善哉」 tr. "Excellent". The account of the conditions for deliverance most deserves attention: whether one is delivered or not is not tied to the height of the one who teaches the Dharma, but to the matching of capacity and condition—so even if the buddhas appear in their bodies, those for whom they are not the condition cannot be brought to understanding. This is precisely the reason the Buddha sends him to Dharmodgata's place, and is also the treatise's explanation of the phrase in the passage above, 「世世是汝善知識」 tr. "life after life he has been your good friend".

21. The buddhas of the past likewise toiled in hardship, and the Buddha's words of comfort. The fourth part of the answer: when the buddhas of the past practised the bodhisattva path and sought this prajñā, there were likewise all kinds of diligent hardship, because at the first arousing of the mind the sinful deeds of former lives were heavy and merit was not yet accumulated. The Buddha comforts his mind: 「汝求般若波羅蜜，雖勤苦，莫懈怠，莫生退沒心！一切眾生行異，因時皆苦，受果時樂。當思惟諸佛無量功德果報，以自勸勉。」 tr. "Although you seek prajñāpāramitā with diligent hardship, do not be slack, do not give rise to a mind of retreat and sinking! What all beings practise differs; in the causal stage it is all suffering, and when receiving the fruit it is happiness. You should think on the retribution of the immeasurable merit of the buddhas, and use it to encourage yourself." This part explains the meaning of the sūtra sentence 「過去諸佛行菩薩道時，求般若波羅蜜，亦如汝今日」 tr. "when the buddhas of the past practised the bodhisattva path and sought prajñāpāramitā, they too were as you are today". What is comforted is twofold: one is that the diligent hardship is attributed to 「先罪厚重，福德未集」 tr. "the sinful deeds of former lives were heavy and merit was not yet accumulated", not to the path being unfindable; the other is that the general rule 「因時皆苦，受果時樂」 tr. "in the causal stage it is all suffering, and when receiving the fruit it is happiness" is set up, so that he encourages himself by the fruit. The way of comforting lies not in lessening his suffering but in changing his way of understanding suffering.

22. Having comforted him, he tells him to go east. The treatise-author continues: having comforted him thus, he spoke these words: 「汝從是東行，去此五百由旬，有城名眾香，乃至不久當聞般若波羅蜜。」 tr. "Go east from here; five hundred yojanas from here there is a city named Many Fragrances; and so on up to: before long you shall hear prajñāpāramitā." These are the treatise-author's words taking up the sūtra text to connect with what follows. First to settle his mind and then to show him the road—the order cannot be reversed; if the road is shown while the mind is not yet settled, the road too becomes a sorrow.

23. Where is the City of Many Fragrances? The question: where is the City of Many Fragrances? The answer: after a Buddha of the past had passed into extinction, there was only the bequeathed Dharma; this Dharma did not reach throughout Jambudvīpa, but reached the places where beings had the causes and conditions for hearing the Dharma. At that time the land of Many Fragrances was rich and joyful, and because it produced the seven jewels in abundance, the city was built of the seven jewels. At that time, though Sadāprarudita was likewise in Jambudvīpa, he was born in a place without the Buddha's Dharma and without the seven jewels, and had only heard by report the Buddha's name and that prajñāpāramitā is the Buddha path. Because this person had widely gathered merit in former lives and his afflictions were slight, as soon as he heard he believed and delighted in it, loathed worldly pleasure, left his relatives, went to dwell in an empty forest, and wished to go to a land where there was the Buddha's Dharma. As for showing and telling him by a voice, it was for fear that he would go elsewhere and not reach the place of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, so he was told; afterwards the Buddha appeared in his body for him and pointed out where to go. This answer brings a place-name that seems mythical back down into the human world: the City of Many Fragrances is likewise in Jambudvīpa; the abundance of its seven jewels comes from the land producing the seven jewels in abundance, and its having the Buddha's Dharma comes from 「有聞法因緣處則到」 tr. "reaching the places where there were the causes and conditions for hearing the Dharma". Within one continent, one place has the Dharma and one place does not; what distinguishes them is only the causes and conditions of beings. And the reason Sadāprarudita 「聞即信樂」 tr. "believed and delighted in it as soon as he heard" the treatise-author attributes to 「先世廣集福德，煩惱輕微」 tr. "had widely gathered merit in former lives and his afflictions were slight"—this runs through with the 「深心發意」 tr. "arousing intent with a deep mind" set up in Fascicle 96. At the end he explains the order of the voice and the appearing of the body: first with the voice to keep him from going the wrong way, afterwards with the body to show him the right road; the two are two stages of one matter.

24. What now are the causes and conditions of Dharmodgata? The question: the causes and conditions of Sadāprarudita have been fully heard above; what now are the causes and conditions of Dharmodgata? This question takes up what precedes and turns: the protagonist of the first half of the fascicle is the seeker of the Dharma; where the second half heads is the teacher of the Dharma; since the sūtra text has already described his city and his palace to the utmost, the treatise-author then supplies the causes and conditions of the person. Seeking the Dharma is from the first a matter of two people.

25. The name Dharma Flourishing, and his country having no king. The answer: 「欝伽陀」 tr. "Yujiatuo" in the language of Qin is 「盛」 tr. "flourishing"; 「達磨」 tr. "Dharma" in the language of Qin is 「法」 tr. "Dharma". This bodhisattva, in the City of Many Fragrances, teaches the Dharma for beings according to their minds and makes beings widely plant roots of goodness; therefore he is called 「法盛」 tr. "Dharma Flourishing". That country has no king; its people are all without I and self, like the people of Uttarakuru; they take only the bodhisattva Dharmodgata as king. That country is hard to reach; Sadāprarudita did not spare body and life, and also obtained the guidance and help of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and so could reach it. The great bodhisattva, for the sake of delivering beings, is born in such a country, because the beings there lack nothing, their minds are tamed and gentle, and they are easy to deliver. This part has three matters: first, it explains the name, and the name comes from his practice—because he 「隨意說法，令眾生廣種善根」 tr. "teaches the Dharma according to their minds and makes beings widely plant roots of goodness" he is called Dharma Flourishing; the name is not set up in vain. Second, it explains how his country is governed: 「人民皆無吾我」 tr. "its people are all without I and self" and yet 「唯以曇無竭菩薩為王」 tr. "they take only the bodhisattva Dharmodgata as king"—to have no king is not to have no master; it is to take the Dharma as master, and so the king set up is the person who teaches the Dharma. Third, it explains why a great bodhisattva is born in this country so easy to deliver—not choosing ease to dwell in, but because 「眾生無所乏短，其心調柔，易可得度」 tr. "the beings lack nothing, their minds are tamed and gentle, and they are easy to deliver", speaking in accord with capacity. Further, the sentence 「其國難到」 tr. "that country is hard to reach" shines on the sūtra text's 「去此五百由旬」 tr. "five hundred yojanas from here": the difficulty lies not in the distance but in its being unreachable except by merit and help.

26. The question: a fleshly body or the Dharma body? The question: is the bodhisattva Dharmodgata in a fleshly body? Or is he the Dharma body, transforming into this body by supernormal power for the sake of delivering beings? If it is a transformation body, why must he use sixty thousand court maidens, parks, bathing pools, and all kinds of adornment to take his pleasure? If it is a fleshly body, how could he make Sadāprarudita's offerings all transform in the sky into a great terrace, and enter the samādhis for as long as seven years? This question is set very tightly: each end has its difficulty—if it is a transformation body there is no need to receive the five desires; if it is a fleshly body he could not manifest such supernormal transformations. The questioner takes events from two places in the sūtra text and sets them against each other as an objection, which is precisely the treatise-author's habitual method. The two matters cited, 「供養具皆在空中化成大臺」 tr. "the offerings all transformed in the sky into a great terrace" and 「入諸三昧乃至七歲」 tr. "entered the samādhis for as long as seven years", lie in a later sūtra section; citing them here first to make an objection is the treatise-author asking with a view over the whole chapter.

27. The first explanation: a fleshly body that receives the five desires by the power of skilful means. The first school of the answer: someone says: this is a bodhisattva in a fleshly body; because he has obtained the real mark of all dharmas and the power of meditative concentration and supernormal powers, he wishes to deliver the beings of this city. Just as other bodhisattvas, because of keen faculties, can enter meditative concentration and can also enter the dharmas of the desire realm; for the sake of gathering beings, they receive the five desires without losing meditative concentration. Just as a person, to escape the heat, lies in mud, and on returning washes clean and is as before. Ordinary people, because of dull faculties, cannot do this. Therefore he, by supernormal power, transformed things into a flower-terrace and entered concentration for seven years; and because of the power of skilful means, he can receive the five desires, as the meaning was explained before. The bodhisattva does not practise only one path; for the sake of beings he practises all kinds of paths to guide them. Just as a nāga raises clouds and can send down great rain, thunder and lightning, and thunderbolts; the bodhisattva too is like this: though he is in a fleshly body, not yet apart from the afflictions, he can cultivate wholesome dharmas, and for the sake of beings does not exhaust the fetters. The key of this explanation lies in the two matters 「利根」 tr. "keen faculties" and 「方便力」 tr. "the power of skilful means". The simile of lying in mud and on returning washing clean and being as before speaks of freedom in going in and out: entering the dharmas of the desire realm without being detained by the dharmas of the desire realm. The simile of the nāga raising clouds speaks of one body being able to perform many functions. And the last sentence is the weightiest—「為眾生故不盡結使」 tr. "for the sake of beings does not exhaust the fetters": it is not that he cannot exhaust them; it is that he does not exhaust them; this stands in exact contrast with the two vehicles' haste to exhaust the outflows. Yet this explanation still keeps its measure: it says he is 「未離煩惱」 tr. "not yet apart from the afflictions", and does not hide that he is a fleshly body.

28. The second explanation: a body born of the Dharma-nature that delivers by transformation. The second school of the answer: someone says: this bodhisattva is a body born of the Dharma-nature; for the sake of delivering the people of the City of Many Fragrances, he transforms himself to deliver them. If he were in a fleshly body, how could he cause the buddhas of the ten directions to praise him and send Sadāprarudita to receive the Dharma from him, obtaining sixty thousand samādhis? Therefore it is known that this is the transformation body of a great bodhisattva. It is like this: in the great ocean, when the mark of a nāga's death appears, like fruit that is ripe and should fall, the golden-winged bird comes and devours it; beings too are like this: because the causes and conditions of their deeds have ripened, the great bodhisattva comes to deliver them. This explanation turns the second difficulty in the question around into proof: to be praised by the buddhas of the ten directions and have someone sent to receive from him, with what is obtained reaching sixty thousand samādhis, is not something a fleshly body can do. The simile of the mark of a nāga's death appearing and the golden-winged bird devouring it speaks of response when the capacity is ripe—it is not that the great bodhisattva chooses people to come to; it is that the causes and conditions of beings' deeds have ripened, and the one who comes comes of himself. The two explanations are set side by side, and the treatise-author does not judge; the reader too need not judge. What should be taken is the meaning both explanations allow: Dharmodgata's receiving the five desires is undefiled for himself and beneficial to beings.

29. Great joy, and a mind of great desire arises. The treatise-author explains the sūtra text: at that time Sadāprarudita, hearing the teaching of the Buddha in the sky, was greatly glad, and because a mind of great desire arose: 「我何時當得見曇無竭菩薩——說般若波羅蜜者，能令我心中愛、見等諸煩惱箭出？」 tr. "When shall I be able to see the bodhisattva Dharmodgata—the one who teaches prajñāpāramitā—who can draw out from my mind the arrows of love, views, and the other afflictions?" Here the three Chinese characters 「大欲心」 tr. "mind of great desire" must not be misread as greedy desire: desire is wholesome and unwholesome, and desire for the Dharma is the wholesome kind, precisely the root of vigour. And what he desires is also marked clearly—to 「愛、見等諸煩惱箭出」 tr. "draw out the arrows of love, views, and the other afflictions". Love and views: the one is the bondage of feeling, the other the bondage of understanding; with these two the treatise-author sums up all the afflictions.

30. The simile of the poisoned arrow, and the mind of possession. The treatise-author explains the simile: to make this matter clear, here the Buddha tells the simile of the poisoned arrow: just as a person with a poisoned arrow in his body has no other thought: first, the pain is pressing; second, if the poison is not quickly drawn out, it spreads through the whole body and he loses his life. Sadāprarudita too is like this: the arrows of wrongness, doubt, and the rest have entered his mind, and the poison of greed and the rest is smeared on the arrows. He heard that the bodhisattva Dharmodgata could draw out these arrows. This person's mind was wounded by the poison of the arrow of wrong views; people fear the poison of greed and the rest spreading into the body, taking away the life of wisdom, and dying the same as ordinary people; therefore he urgently wished to see the bodhisattva Dharmodgata and had no other thought. What is spoken of here is severing every mind of possession. The mind of possession means grasping at marks and clinging, and even within wholesome dharmas there is this sickness. In this passage one must look closely at its assignment: the arrow is wrongness and doubt, the poison is greed and the rest—the arrow is the view that pierces the heart, the poison is the defilement that follows it and spreads through the body. What is feared is not the pain of a moment, but 「奪智慧命，與凡人同死」 tr. "taking away the life of wisdom, and dying the same as ordinary people"—the death of the life of wisdom is more to be feared than the death of the fleshly body. And at the end 「斷諸所有心」 tr. "severing every mind of possession" is explained as 「取相著」 tr. "grasping at marks and clinging", with one sentence added, 「乃至善法中亦有是病」 tr. "even within wholesome dharmas there is this sickness"—this sentence is one of the things most to be remembered in the whole fascicle: the sickness of the mind of possession is not limited to evil; grasping at marks and clinging upon wholesome dharmas is equally the mind of possession.

31. Unobstructed knowledge and vision is not the Buddha's unobstructedness. The treatise-author explains: Sadāprarudita saw the Buddha's body with his own eyes, which he had never seen before; because he heard the teaching from the Buddha and obtained the joy of the Dharma, he parted from the joy of the five desires, and at once obtained unobstructed knowledge and vision in all dharmas. Unobstructed knowledge and vision is the unobstructedness obtained by Sadāprarudita's power, not the Buddha's unobstructedness. This part has two matters: one is 「得法喜故，離五欲喜」 tr. "because he obtained the joy of the Dharma, he parted from the joy of the five desires"—exchanging joy for joy; it is not forcibly suppressing the five desires, but obtaining a greater joy and letting them go of themselves; the other is the four Chinese characters 「非佛無礙」 tr. "not the Buddha's unobstructedness", which fix in advance the limit for the long string of samādhis below. The names listed in the sūtra text are exceedingly lofty; if this one limit were not set first, the reader would mistake what a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind obtains for the ultimate. Whenever the treatise-author meets such a place he always sets down a limiting word; this is his consistent care.

32. At this time he could enter the samādhi gates. The treatise-author marks the start of what follows: at this time he could enter the samādhi gates—this one sentence is the general heading, and the fifty items below are all fastened to it. One should notice the word 「門」 tr. "gate": the samādhis are called gates, meaning that they are places of entry and not places of abiding; entering without abiding is what makes them run through with 「不著是性」 tr. "not clinging to this nature" above.

33. The samādhi of contemplating the nature of dharmas. 「諸法性觀三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of contemplating the nature of dharmas" means being able to contemplate the real nature of all dharmas. As for the real nature, it is as was said before by all kinds of causes and conditions. This is the first of the fifty items, and what it contemplates is 「實性」 tr. "the real nature". The treatise-author does not say again here what the real nature is, but points back to the earlier text—the explanation of the real mark has appeared repeatedly in this treatise, and not repeating it is its form. Making this the first gate shows exactly that the order of the whole list begins from contemplating the nature.

34. The samādhi of the nature of dharmas being unfindable. 「諸法性不可得三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the nature of dharmas being unfindable" means: the samādhis obtained at first are, namely, emptiness, non-arising, and non-ceasing; now, having obtained this samādhi, he does not cling to this nature and does not grasp its fixed mark. The second gate overturns the first: the first gate contemplates the nature; this gate does not cling to its nature. Why must it be overturned? Because once 「性」 tr. "nature" is set up, there is a mark that can be found; contemplating emptiness and clinging to emptiness, emptiness becomes a bond. These two gates following one upon the other are the skeleton of the teaching of prajñā—setting up and at once breaking, and the breaking does not destroy what is set up; it keeps it from becoming an attachment.

35. The samādhi of breaking the ignorance of dharmas. 「破諸法無明三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of breaking the ignorance of dharmas" means: dharmas, in the minds of ordinary people, because of the causes and conditions of ignorance, are crooked and not upright, namely permanence, happiness, self, and purity; because he has obtained this samādhi, the ignorance associated with the inversions of permanence and the rest is broken, and he contemplates only that all dharmas are impermanent, empty, and non-self. What this gate breaks is the ignorance associated with the four inversions. The key is in the phrase 「於凡夫人心中」 tr. "in the minds of ordinary people": dharmas themselves are not crooked; the crookedness is in their shadow in the mind. So breaking ignorance is not remaking dharmas; it is removing what covers them.

36. If he has broken the ignorance in all dharmas, why go to Dharmodgata's place? The question: if this bodhisattva has broken the ignorance in all dharmas, this person need not even see the Buddha; why must he go to the place of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata? The answer: breaking ignorance is not of only one kind—there is restraining it so that it does not rise up, which is also named breaking, and there is breaking ignorance by obtaining the real mark of all dharmas. Further, the kinds and numbers of ignorance are very many: there are portions broken by bodhisattvas and portions broken by buddhas, portions broken by small bodhisattvas and portions broken by great bodhisattvas; as in the simile of the lamp spoken of before. Further, a srota-āpanna is also named as having broken ignorance, while only with the arhat is it truly broken; in the dharma of the Great Vehicle it is also like this: a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind, because he has obtained the real mark of all dharmas, is also named as having broken ignorance, and so on up to the Buddha, in whom ignorance is broken completely without remainder. Therefore Sadāprarudita, because within the Buddha's Dharma wrong views, ignorance, and the view of self were all removed, obtained the name of the samādhi of breaking ignorance, and there is no fault. This question arises from making names absolute, and the answer breaks it with 「分」 tr. "portions": breaking is of two kinds, breaking by restraint and true breaking; ignorance differs in portions for bodhisattvas, for buddhas, for small bodhisattvas, and for great bodhisattvas; in the śrāvaka dharma a srota-āpanna is already named as breaking while only the arhat truly breaks, and the Great Vehicle is the same. So the same name 「破無明」 tr. "breaking ignorance" is in reality uneven in depth. The two Chinese characters 「無咎」 tr. "no fault" in the last sentence are a verdict—the name is not at fault; the fault lies in the reader reading the name as a full score. This part is the pivot of the way of reading the whole fascicle: the names of the forty-odd gates below should all be understood in this way.

37. The samādhi of dharmas not being different. 「諸法不異三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of dharmas not being different" means: having obtained this samādhi, he contemplates all dharmas as of one mark, namely the signless. What is called 「不異」 tr. "not different" is not seeing the myriad dharmas as one and the same thing; it is seeing that they return alike to the signless. One mark is precisely the signless—if 「一」 tr. "one" becomes a mark, it is difference again.

38. The samādhi of dharmas being indestructible and sovereign. 「諸法不壞自在三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of dharmas being indestructible and sovereign" means: having obtained this samādhi, because he contemplates the marks of suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, and the unconditioned in all dharmas, it is named indestructible. Having obtained this dharma, he attains sovereign mastery and knows dharmas clearly and distinctly; for the sake of the Buddha path, he does not realise this dharma. 「不壞」 tr. "Indestructible" is said with respect to suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, and the unconditioned—these four are not dharmas that can be destroyed. And the last sentence, 「為佛道故，不證是法」 tr. "for the sake of the Buddha path, he does not realise this dharma", is the most crucial: able to realise and yet not realising is where the bodhisattva and the two vehicles part ways. Only attaining sovereign mastery and not taking realisation is named the bodhisattva's sovereign mastery.

39. The samādhi of being able to illuminate dharmas. 「諸法能照明三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of being able to illuminate dharmas" means knowing all dharmas by the general mark and the specific mark. The meaning of illumination lies in ‘knowing both the general and the specific’: knowing only the general mark is vague; knowing only the specific mark is fragmentary. The illumination of prajñā lies precisely in leaning toward neither of the two.

40. The samādhi of dharmas being free from darkness. 「諸法離闇三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of dharmas being free from darkness" means: ignorance is of two kinds: first, thick; second, thin. The thin is named ignorance; the thick is named black darkness. Because thick ignorance is broken, it is named being free from darkness; because thin ignorance is broken first, it is named breaking the ignorance of dharmas. This part turns back to draw a distinction from the gate of section 35: both are breaking ignorance, yet the thin is named ignorance and the thick black darkness, so two gates are set up. It can be seen that the profusion of names in the sūtra text is not repetition but demarcation; first breaking the thin and then breaking the thick—this order too cannot be reversed. This is exactly the concrete working-out of 「無明種數甚多」 tr. "the kinds and numbers of ignorance are very many" above.

41. The samādhi of the continuity of dharmas without difference. 「諸法無異相續三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the continuity of dharmas without difference" means: the five aggregates cease from thought to thought and arise in continuity resembling one another; at the time of death, they arise in continuity but do not resemble one another. Having obtained this samādhi, he knows that the dharma of the thought-to-thought continuity of dharmas is not different. This gate discerns continuity: the five aggregates arise and cease from thought to thought and continue resembling one another, so ordinary people see them as one; at the time of death they continue but do not resemble one another, so ordinary people see them as cut off. One who obtains this samādhi knows that 「相續法不異」 tr. "the dharma of continuity is not different"—falling neither into the view of permanence nor into the view of annihilation. At the juncture of birth and death the notion of being cut off arises most easily, and this gate counteracts precisely that.

42. The samādhi of dharmas being unfindable. 「諸法不可得三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of dharmas being unfindable" is precisely the samādhi associated with the emptiness of all dharmas. This gate points directly with one sentence: being unfindable is association with emptiness. The earlier gate of section 34 is 「性不可得」 tr. "the nature being unfindable"; this gate is 「法不可得」 tr. "dharmas being unfindable"; one speaks of the nature, the other of dharmas, and they do not overlap.

43. The samādhi of scattering flowers. 「散華三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of scattering flowers" means: one who has obtained this samādhi can, before the buddhas of the ten directions, scatter flowers of the seven jewels upon the buddhas. From here on it gradually turns into the gates of function. Scattering flowers seems a matter of ceremony, but it is in fact the power to appear before the buddhas of the ten directions and make offerings—without supernormal powers it cannot be done. The mind of making offerings anyone can have; the matter of making offerings requires its power; what the samādhi gives is precisely this power.

44. The samādhi of the non-self of dharmas. 「諸法無我三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the non-self of dharmas" means contemplating all dharmas as non-self. This gate is the simplest, and the treatise-author adds no words to it either. Simple is not shallow—non-self is the pivot of the three seals of the Dharma; the permanence, happiness, self, and purity broken by the gates before and after, and the grasping at marks they part from, are all established by this one contemplation.

45. The samādhi of illusion-like majestic power. 「如幻威勢三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of illusion-like majestic power" means: one who has obtained this samādhi can make all kinds of transformation bodies. Just as a great conjurer can lead beings to give rise to a mind of wonder; just as a great conjurer, by the power of conjuring, can transform the minds of the people of a whole country. This gate puts forward two similes of the conjurer side by side: one likens his being able to make people give rise to a mind of wonder, the other his being able to transform the minds of the people of a whole country. What is taken is the 「威勢」 tr. "majestic power" of illusion, not the deceptiveness of illusion—though the transformation bodies are like an illusion, their effect of transforming people's minds is real.

46. The samādhi of obtaining the likeness of mirror images. 「得如鏡像三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of obtaining the likeness of mirror images" means: one who has obtained this samādhi contemplates all that exists in the three realms as like images in a mirror, false and deceptive and without reality. It forms an exact pair with the previous gate: the previous gate is oneself being able to make illusions to transform others; this gate is contemplating others as all illusion and not being deluded by them. Being able to make and being able to contemplate—lacking either, one is lopsided: able only to make and not to contemplate, one is oneself deluded by what one manifests; able only to contemplate and not to make, one has no means of delivering people.

47. The samādhi of obtaining the languages of all beings. 「得一切眾生語言三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of obtaining the languages of all beings" means: because he has obtained this samādhi, he can understand the languages of all beings. The several gates from here on are all instruments for transforming others. Before teaching the Dharma, one must be able to understand their language; teaching without understanding their language, though the Dharma is wondrous, it does not go in.

48. The samādhi of the joy of all beings. 「一切眾生歡喜三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the joy of all beings" means: having entered this samādhi, he can transform the angry minds of beings and make them glad. After understanding their language, one must remove their anger. While the angry mind has not subsided the Dharma cannot be received—what this gate prepares is the ground before the teaching of the Dharma.

49. The samādhi of entering into the discrimination of sounds. 「入分別音聲三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of entering into the discrimination of sounds" means: having entered this samādhi, he can discriminate all the sounds of gods and humans, great and small, coarse and fine, and so forth. Its difference from the gate of section 47 is: that one understands their meaning; this one distinguishes the greatness and smallness, coarseness and fineness of their sounds. The coarseness and fineness of sound is where the keenness and dullness of capacity appears; only after distinguishing it can one respond to it.

50. The samādhi of obtaining the adornment of all kinds of words, letters, and phrases. 「得種種語言字句莊嚴三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of obtaining the adornment of all kinds of words, letters, and phrases" means: one who has obtained this samādhi, even if the meaning is shallow, can adorn the letters, phrases, and words and make people glad—how much more with deep meaning! What this gate gives is the power of expression. The treatise-author specially marks 「義理雖淺」 tr. "even if the meaning is shallow", and yet one can still make people glad—saying that expression has its own independent effect; and with the turn 「何況深義」 tr. "how much more with deep meaning" he again does not permit expression to stand in for meaning. The dividing line between expression and meaning lies within this one sentence.

51. The samādhi of fearlessness. 「無畏三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of fearlessness" means: one who has obtained this samādhi does not fear any of Māra's people, those of the outside paths, treatise masters, or the afflictions. What is not feared is four: Māra's people, those of the outside paths, treatise masters, the afflictions—the first three are outside, the last one inside. Outer difficulties are easy to see; inner difficulties are hard to notice; putting the four together says that fearlessness does not stop at daring to teach the Dharma before the assembly.

52. The samādhi of a nature ever silent. 「性常默然三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of a nature ever silent" means: one who has entered this samādhi is always silent and gathers the mind; for the sake of delivering beings, he utters sounds according to what they ought to hear, like the music of the heavens, which sounds forth in response to the mind. This gate forms an exact pair with the 「能語」 tr. "being able to speak" of the previous several gates: by nature ever silent, uttering sound only to deliver beings. The simile of the music of the heavens sounding forth in response to the mind is most apt—not prepared in advance, not forced, arising in response to capacity. The silence of one who teaches the Dharma is not not speaking; it is not speaking of himself.

53. The samādhi of obtaining unobstructed liberation. 「得無礙解脫三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of obtaining unobstructed liberation" means: one who has obtained this samādhi obtains unobstructed wisdom within all dharmas. What this gate gives is wisdom without stagnation. It must be read together with the limiting word of section 31 above: what is called unobstructed is the unobstructedness within the reach of his portion of power, not the Buddha's unobstructedness.

54. The samādhi of being free from dust and defilement. 「離塵垢三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of being free from dust and defilement" means: for one who has obtained this samādhi, the afflictions, fetters, and dust and defilement are all extinguished; this is precisely the samādhi of the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. At this gate the treatise-author sets down a verdict—this is precisely the samādhi of the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. Among the fifty items, only this gate is tied directly to the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas, and its position is the highest. It can be seen that this list is not laid out flat; within it there is lighter and weightier.

55. The samādhi of the adornment of names, words, and phrases. 「名字語句莊嚴三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the adornment of names, words, and phrases" means: one who has obtained this samādhi can adorn verses, phrases, and words in all kinds of ways and teach the Dharma. It is close to the gate of section 50 and yet different: that one speaks in terms of 「種種語言」 tr. "all kinds of words", this one in terms of ‘names and verse-phrases’; the one lies in the manifoldness of responding to capacity, the other in the beauty and excellence of composed text.

56. The samādhi of seeing dharmas. 「見諸法三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of seeing dharmas" means: one who has entered this samādhi knows dharmas by seeing worldly truth and the truth of the highest meaning. This gate sets up the two truths. The reason 「見諸法」 tr. "seeing dharmas" forms a samādhi is precisely that what is seen includes both worldly truth and the truth of the highest meaning—seeing only the highest meaning abandons the conventional; seeing only worldly truth does not get out. Only seeing the two truths together is named seeing dharmas.

57. The samādhi of the unobstructed summit of dharmas. 「諸法無礙頂三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the unobstructed summit of dharmas" means: just as a person on a mountain summit looks out over all four directions; the bodhisattva, abiding in this samādhi, sees all dharmas everywhere without obstruction. The simile of the mountain summit takes its being 「高而遍」 tr. "high and all-pervading": without dwelling high, what is seen is screened. This gate follows on from the gate of section 56—that one sets up the two truths of what is seen; this one speaks of the all-pervadingness of what is seen.

58. The like-space samādhi. 「如虛空三昧」 tr. "The like-space samādhi" means: for one who has entered this samādhi, his body and outer dharmas are all like space, and he attains sovereign mastery over all. Putting body and outer dharmas together is the emptiness of both inner and outer. The reason sovereign mastery arises is precisely that there is nothing obstructing—space is taken as the simile because it refuses no mark and no mark can obstruct it.

59. The like-vajra samādhi. 「如金剛三昧」 tr. "The like-vajra samādhi" means: just as the vajra can break mountains; this samādhi too is like this: it can break the dharmas that obstruct the six perfections, all the way to the Buddha path. What it breaks is marked very concretely—「障礙六波羅蜜法」 tr. "the dharmas that obstruct the six perfections". It can be seen that this gate is not speaking generally of firmness and sharpness; it is aimed specifically at the obstructions to the gates of practice. The four Chinese characters 「直至佛道」 tr. "all the way to the Buddha path" speak of the thoroughness of its power.

60. The samādhi of not fearing clinging to form. 「不畏著色三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of not fearing clinging to form" means: one who has obtained this samādhi does not cling even to the forms of the heavens, how much less to other forms! The name of this gate must be read closely: what is not feared is the trouble of 「著色」 tr. "clinging to form". The forms of the heavens are the most clingable among forms; if even these are not clung to, other forms need no saying. Taking the most excellent as the standard is an inference the treatise-author often uses.

61. The samādhi of gaining victory. 「得勝三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of gaining victory" means: whatever he wishes to do, he can gain victory in all of it and not be defeated. This gate speaks in terms of 「作事」 tr. "doing things". Cultivating the path is not only sitting at peace; whatever one does—teaching the Dharma, subduing Māra, delivering people—has success and failure; what this samādhi gives is its certain success.

62. The samādhi of turning the eye. 「轉眼三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of turning the eye" means: for one who has obtained this samādhi, when Māra and Māra's people wish to see the bodhisattva's shortcomings, he turns this and makes them see what is good. This gate is quite remarkable: what is turned is not oneself but other people's seeing. Māra wishes to see his shortcomings and is instead made to see what is good. It can be seen that the bodhisattva's protection is not only protecting himself; he can also turn others' evil seeing—this too is one gate of transforming others.

63. The samādhi of the culmination in the nature of dharmas. 「畢法性三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the culmination in the nature of dharmas" means: one who has obtained this samādhi sees all dharmas entering completely into the nature of dharmas. 「畢」 tr. "Culmination" has the meaning of the ultimate: all dharmas in the end enter into the nature of dharmas, and not one dharma is outside the nature of dharmas. This follows on from the gate of section 38, 「觀一切法如、法性、實際、無為相」 tr. "contemplates the marks of suchness, the nature of dharmas, the limit of reality, and the unconditioned in all dharmas", and goes one layer further—that one contemplates their marks; this one sees their final return.

64. The samādhi of being able to give peace and security. 「能與安隱三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of being able to give peace and security" means: having obtained this samādhi, though he comes and goes and turns round within the six destinies, he knows of himself that he will surely become a Buddha, and is at peace and joyful, without worry. What this gate gives is the peace of 「自知」 tr. "knowing of himself". It is not that the bodhisattva coming and going within the six destinies does not undergo suffering; it is that he undergoes suffering without worry—what he relies on is only the one self-knowledge, 「必當作佛」 tr. "he will surely become a Buddha". This answers exactly the weeping at the opening of the fascicle: the source of sorrow is 「未具足」 tr. "not yet complete"; the source of peace is 「自知必當」 tr. "knowing of himself that he surely will".

65. The samādhi of the lion's roar. 「師子吼三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the lion's roar" means: one who has entered this samādhi can subdue all Māra's people and those of the outside paths, and none dare match him. It stands against the gate of section 51, 「無畏」 tr. "fearlessness": fearlessness is not being afraid; the lion's roar is being able to subdue. Not being afraid keeps oneself; being able to subdue reaches to others; the two gates are one inner and one outer.

66. The samādhi of surpassing all beings. 「勝一切眾生三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of surpassing all beings" means: having obtained this samādhi, he is the most excellent among all beings. All is of two kinds: first, all in name; second, all in reality. He surpasses ordinary people whose minds cling within the three realms, as well as śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and those at the first arousing of intent who have not yet obtained this samādhi; therefore it says all. At this gate the treatise-author specially distinguishes the two meanings of 「一切」 tr. "all", precisely to keep readers from reading 「勝一切眾生」 tr. "surpassing all beings" as surpassing the buddhas and bodhisattvas. What he surpasses is in fact limited—ordinary people with clinging minds, the two vehicles, and those at the first arousing of intent who have not yet obtained this samādhi. This is the same pattern as the limiting word of section 31, 「非佛無礙」 tr. "not the Buddha's unobstructedness", and is said in more detail. Wherever the sūtra text uses extreme words such as 「一切」 tr. "all", 「最」 tr. "most", 「無上」 tr. "unsurpassed", one should seek their dividing line.

67. The samādhi of flower adornment. 「花莊嚴三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of flower adornment" means: one who has obtained this samādhi sees the buddhas of the ten directions seated upon lotus flowers of the seven jewels, while in space he rains jewelled lotus flowers upon the buddhas. This gate is close to the scattering of flowers of the gate of section 43 but broader: that one says only that before the buddhas of the ten directions he scatters flowers of the seven jewels upon the buddhas; this one says both that he sees the buddhas of the ten directions seated on lotus flowers of the seven jewels and that in space he rains flowers upon them. Seeing and making offerings are both present, so it is named adornment.

68. The samādhi of severing doubt. 「斷疑三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of severing doubt" means: one who has obtained this samādhi, though he has not yet attained Buddhahood, can sever the doubts of all beings. The four Chinese characters 「雖未得佛」 tr. "though he has not yet attained Buddhahood" are again a limit—severing the doubts of others does not wait for becoming a Buddha. For one who teaches the Dharma this is most essential: knowing oneself not yet to have reached the ultimate, and being able, within the portion one has understood, to sever doubts for people—the two things do not hinder each other.

69. The samādhi of following all that is firm. 「隨一切堅固三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of following all that is firm" means: the real mark of all dharmas is named the firm; one who has obtained this samādhi follows the real mark of all dharmas and does not follow other dharmas. This gate first explains 「堅固」 tr. "the firm" as the real mark of all dharmas, and only then does the word 「隨」 tr. "follow" have something to rest on: what is followed is only the real mark, not other dharmas. If this name were not fixed first, the three Chinese characters 「隨一切」 tr. "following all" could very easily be read as going along with everything.

70. The samādhi of going beyond dharmas and obtaining supernormal power and fearlessness. 「出諸法得神通力無畏三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of going beyond dharmas and obtaining supernormal power and fearlessness" means: one who has obtained this samādhi goes beyond all the dharmas of ordinary people and obtains the bodhisattva's six supernormal powers, ten powers, and four fearlessnesses. The name of this gate is long and its meaning has three stages: going beyond the dharmas of ordinary people, obtaining supernormal powers, obtaining fearlessness. The ten powers and four fearlessnesses obtained are all tied to the two Chinese characters 「菩薩」 tr. "bodhisattva"—they are not the Buddha's ten powers and four fearlessnesses, and this is still a word of limit.

71. The samādhi of being able to penetrate dharmas. 「能達諸法三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of being able to penetrate dharmas" means: one who has obtained this samādhi, even within the suchness, the nature of dharmas, and the limit of reality of all dharmas, penetrates and does not abide, and so on up to the equality of all dharmas. The four Chinese characters 「通達不住」 tr. "penetrates and does not abide" are the eye: to penetrate and abide becomes something attained; only to penetrate without abiding is penetrating. The last phrase 「乃至諸法平等」 tr. "and so on up to the equality of all dharmas" is where it arrives.

72. The samādhi of the wealth-seal of dharmas. 「諸法財印三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of the wealth-seal of dharmas" means: wealth is named wholesome dharmas, and the seal is named the mark. Just as when a person has obtained a seal and ribbon of office, no one dares to offend or slight him; the bodhisattva who has obtained the wealth-seal of wholesome dharmas likewise has no one who can make a hindrance for him. The treatise-author first glosses the two Chinese characters—wealth is wholesome dharmas, the seal is the mark—and then takes the seal and ribbon of office as a simile. One who has obtained the seal and ribbon is not offended by people, not because the person is strong but because of the credential he holds. The bodhisattva's meeting no hindrance is the same: what he relies on is the mark of wholesome dharmas, not his own power.

73. The samādhi of seeing dharmas without discrimination. 「諸法無分別見三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of seeing dharmas without discrimination" means: if one discriminates dharmas, one gives rise to a mind of hatred and love; one who has obtained this samādhi sees all dharmas and does not discriminate. This gate points directly at the joint liability of discrimination with hatred and love: hatred and love have no separate root; they arise from discrimination. So the counteraction lies not in enduring one's hatred and love but in stilling one's discrimination. Yet it must be read together with the earlier gate of section 39, 「以總相、別相知一切法」 tr. "knowing all dharmas by the general mark and the specific mark"—the 「別相」 tr. "specific mark" there is illumination, the 「分別」 tr. "discrimination" here is delusion; the same character with a different meaning, not to be confused.

74. The samādhi of being free from all views. 「離諸見三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of being free from all views" means: 「見」 tr. "views" are the sixty-two wrong views, and grasping at marks within form and the other dharmas, and so on up to the view of the Buddha, the view of the Dharma, the view of the Saṅgha, the view of nirvāṇa—all are named views. Why? Because grasping at marks can give rise to a clinging mind. What most needs attention in this gate is that it brings 「佛見、法見、僧見、涅槃見」 tr. "the view of the Buddha, the view of the Dharma, the view of the Saṅgha, the view of nirvāṇa" all together into the 「見」 tr. "views" to be parted from. Why must the views of the Three Jewels and of nirvāṇa also be parted from? The treatise-author answers himself—「取相能生著心故」 tr. "because grasping at marks can give rise to a clinging mind". What is parted from is not the Three Jewels but the mind that grasps at marks with regard to the Three Jewels. This seals exactly with section 30's 「乃至善法中亦有是病」 tr. "even within wholesome dharmas there is this sickness".

75. The samādhi of being free from all marks. 「離一切相三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of being free from all marks" is precisely the samādhi associated with the signless gate of liberation. The treatise-author matches this samādhi directly with the gate of signlessness among the three gates of liberation. Its difference from the gate of section 74: that one parts from 「見」 tr. "views", this one parts from 「相」 tr. "marks"; views are what grasps, marks are what is grasped, so the two gates follow each other without overlapping.

76. The samādhi of being free from all clinging. 「離一切著三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of being free from all clinging" means: because he is free from all marks, he does not cling to any dharma either. This gate follows down from the previous gate: once marks are parted from, clinging is of itself absent. The two gates complete each other as cause and effect—if one seeks to part from clinging without first parting from marks, clinging will surely arise again.

77. The samādhi of removing all slackness. 「除一切懈怠三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of removing all slackness" means: one who has obtained this samādhi is like what is said here—even for seven years neither sitting nor lying down. The bodhisattva who has obtained this samādhi is always without a slack mind, and even until he attains Buddhahood never ceases at all. At this gate the treatise-author cites an event from later in this chapter as proof—seven years neither sitting nor lying down. It can be seen that the names of the samādhis are not set up in vain; the sūtra text itself has their events. The sentence 「乃至得佛，初不止息」 tr. "even until he attains Buddhahood, he never ceases at all" marks the measure of vigour to the utmost.

78. The samādhi of obtaining the light of the deep Dharma. 「得深法明三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of obtaining the light of the deep Dharma" means: the deep Dharma is named the dharmas of the buddhas, all wisdom, and so forth; the bodhisattva, because he has obtained this samādhi, can see the Buddha's dharmas from afar, ponders and weighs them, and knows that they are deep and wondrous beyond compare. The two Chinese characters 「遙見」 tr. "see from afar" are the limit of this gate: not yet arrived and yet able to see, having seen able to ponder and weigh, having weighed knowing their depth and wonder. The mind that seeks the Dharma arises precisely from this—one who has never seen from afar has no way to give rise to thirsting admiration.

79. The samādhi that cannot be taken away. 「不可奪三昧」 tr. "The samādhi that cannot be taken away" means: one who has obtained this samādhi practises the bodhisattva's dharma, and no one can take away his resolve. What cannot be taken away is 「志」 tr. "resolve". The preceding gates mostly speak in terms of wisdom and of power; this gate alone speaks in terms of resolve. The bodhisattva path is long and far; wisdom and power are at times not yet enough; if resolve could be taken away, everything would be lost.

80. The samādhi of breaking Māra. 「破魔三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of breaking Māra" means: by the power of having obtained this samādhi, although Māra is the lord of the desire realm, the bodhisattva can, with a human body, break the deeds of Māra. The wonder of this gate lies in the contrast: Māra is the lord of the desire realm, the bodhisattva no more than a human body; to break the lord of the desire realm with a human body, what he relies on is not the superiority of the body but the power of the samādhi. The admonition in the sky in the preceding fascicle has already foretold being aware of the deeds of Māra; this gate is what accomplishes it.

81. The samādhi of not clinging to the three realms. 「不著三界三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of not clinging to the three realms" means: having obtained this samādhi, though his body is within the three realms, his mind is always in nirvāṇa, and therefore he does not cling. The body is there and the mind does not cling—this is the same line of reasoning as 「如人避熱故，在泥中臥，還洗則如故」 tr. "just as a person, to escape the heat, lies in mud, and on returning washes clean and is as before" cited in section 27, and is precisely the ground on which Dharmodgata receives the five desires without losing meditative concentration.

82. The samādhi of giving rise to light. 「起光明三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of giving rise to light" means: one who has obtained this samādhi can emit immeasurable light, illuminating the ten directions. Emitting light is the mark of transforming others, and what it illuminates is the ten directions—shining against the next gate, 「見諸佛」 tr. "seeing the buddhas", with its seeing of the ten directions: one going and one coming, the light goes out and the buddhas are seen.

83. The samādhi of seeing the buddhas. 「見諸佛三昧」 tr. "The samādhi of seeing the buddhas" means: having obtained this samādhi, though he has not yet obtained the divine eye and the divine ear, he can see the buddhas of the ten directions, hear the Dharma taught by the buddhas of the ten directions, and consult them about his doubts. This is the last of the fifty items, and also the destination of the whole list. The sentence 「雖未得天眼、天耳」 tr. "though he has not yet obtained the divine eye and the divine ear" is most noteworthy: seeing the buddhas and hearing the Dharma do not wait upon the completeness of supernormal powers—what he relies on is the samādhi, not eye and ear. And the reason he can 「諮問所疑」 tr. "consult them about his doubts" comes straight from the severing of doubt of the gate of section 68: only when one's own doubts are severed can one sever doubts for others.

84. Abiding in these samādhis, he sees the buddhas of the ten directions teaching prajñā. The treatise-author concludes: Sadāprarudita, abiding in such samādhis as these, at once saw immeasurable asaṃkhyeya buddhas of the ten directions teaching prajñāpāramitā for the bodhisattvas in the great assembly. This one sentence gathers up the whole fascicle: the fascicle opens with one person sitting dry on empty ground and weeping, and closes with the buddhas of the ten directions present before him teaching the Dharma in the great assembly. What lies between is seven days of utmost sincerity, the teaching of one appearance of the body, the destination of one stretch of road, and the opening of fifty-odd gates. And the buddhas seen are 「為諸菩薩說般若波羅蜜」 tr. "teaching prajñāpāramitā for the bodhisattvas"—what is sought is prajñā, and what is seen is also an assembly teaching prajñā; the seeking and what is sought here match each other.

Do Not Misread

Do not read Sadāprarudita's 「忘」 tr. "forgetting" as a scattered mind. The treatise-author says it clearly: 「薩陀波崙大歡喜覆心故忘；如人大憂愁、大歡喜，以此二事故忘。」 tr. "Sadāprarudita forgot because great joy covered his mind; just as when people are in great sorrow or great joy, by reason of these two things they forget." Sorrow and gladness can alike cover the mind; this is a lapse from an excess of the mind's force, not a lapse of slackness. If on reading the sūtra up to this point one first gives rise to disdain, one will not see the sincerity of the seven days of dry sitting below.

Do not read the seven days without rising as the Buddha being slow to respond. The treatise-author sets up its measure: 「若二日、三日，精進欲未深；若過七日，恐其憂愁妨心，不任求道。」 tr. "If it were two or three days, his desire for vigour would not yet be deep; if it went beyond seven days, it was feared that his sorrow would obstruct his mind so that he could not bear to seek the path." Seven days is the dividing line between vigour and sorrow; earlier, and the flavour of the Dharma does not show its preciousness; later, and sorrow of itself becomes an obstruction. Whether stimulus and response come slow or fast looks to whether the capacity can bear it or not.

Do not read the seven-jewelled adornment of the City of Many Fragrances as a realm of pleasure to be coveted. The sūtra text itself explains where it comes from: 「是諸園觀適無所屬，是諸眾生宿業所致，長夜信樂深法，行般若波羅蜜因緣故，受是果報。」 tr. "These parks belong to no one at all; they are what these beings' deeds of former lives have brought about—through the long night they have believed in and delighted in the deep Dharma, and because they practised prajñāpāramitā, they receive such retribution." The four Chinese characters 「適無所屬」 tr. "belong to no one at all" have already cut off the thought of possession; what is described is the mark of the virtues of the fruit of prajñā, not an exhortation to seek birth within it.

Do not read 「曇無竭菩薩與六萬八千婇女，五欲具足，共相娛樂」 tr. "the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, with sixty-eight thousand court maidens, complete with the five desires, takes his pleasure together with them" as meaning that a holy one may indulge his passions. The treatise-author lets two explanations stand together: one says he is a fleshly body that by the power of skilful means 「受五欲而不失禪定」 tr. "receives the five desires without losing meditative concentration"; the other says he is a body born of the Dharma-nature that 「變化而度」 tr. "transforms himself to deliver them". What the two explanations both allow is that it is undefiled for himself and beneficial to beings; whoever compares it with the clinging mind of ordinary people is permitted by neither explanation.

Do not read 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" as this treatise's settled judgement. The two accounts of fleshly body and Dharma body are set side by side and the treatise-author does not judge; the reader too should record them side by side without judging. Whatever this treatise puts forward with 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" is preserving an account, not establishing a tenet.

Do not read 「破諸法無明三昧」 tr. "the samādhi of breaking the ignorance of dharmas" as ignorance being already exhausted. The treatise-author himself sets up this difficulty and answers it: breaking is breaking by restraint and true breaking; ignorance has portions for bodhisattvas, for buddhas, for small bodhisattvas, and for great bodhisattvas, 「乃至佛無明盡破無餘」 tr. "and so on up to the Buddha, in whom ignorance is broken completely without remainder". The same name is uneven in depth—this point is the master key for reading the names of the forty-odd gates that follow.

Do not read 「勝一切眾生」 tr. "surpassing all beings" as surpassing all. The treatise-author divides 「一切」 tr. "all" into all in name and all in reality, and himself limits the sphere of what is surpassed: 「於三界著心凡夫及聲聞、辟支佛及初發意未得是三昧者中勝，故言一切。」 tr. "He surpasses ordinary people whose minds cling within the three realms, as well as śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and those at the first arousing of intent who have not yet obtained this samādhi; therefore it says all." Wherever the sūtra text uses extreme words, first seek their dividing line.

Do not read 「無礙知見」 tr. "unobstructed knowledge and vision" as the Buddha's unobstructedness. The treatise-author follows at once with a sentence: 「如薩陀波崙力所得無礙，非佛無礙。」 tr. "It is the unobstructedness obtained by Sadāprarudita's power, not the Buddha's unobstructedness." Though the realm obtained by a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind is high, it is still an attainment within a portion.

Do not read 「所有心」 tr. "the mind of possession" as a mind of evil dharmas. The treatise-author explains it as 「取相著」 tr. "grasping at marks and clinging", and adds 「乃至善法中亦有是病」 tr. "even within wholesome dharmas there is this sickness". Grasping at marks and clinging is especially hard to notice upon wholesome dharmas—this is also why the gate of section 74 brings even 「佛見、法見、僧見、涅槃見」 tr. "the view of the Buddha, the view of the Dharma, the view of the Saṅgha, the view of nirvāṇa" into the 「見」 tr. "views" to be parted from.

Do not read 「諸法無分別見」 tr. "seeing dharmas without discrimination" and 「以總相、別相知一切法」 tr. "knowing all dharmas by the general mark and the specific mark" as contradicting each other. The 「分別」 tr. "discrimination" negated by the former is the delusion that gives rise to hatred and love; the 「別相」 tr. "specific mark" taken up by the latter is the illumination that clearly understands dharmas; the same character with different meanings, not to be mixed into one matter.

Bearing on Practice

Take 「大歡喜覆心故忘」 tr. "he forgot because great joy covered his mind" and examine yourself in favourable circumstances. People mostly set up defences in adversity and drop their guard in favourable circumstances. When things go smoothly and the joy of the Dharma wells up, it is easiest to leave out the three things most needing to be asked—where to go, how far it is, from whom to learn. When gladness is at its height, add one question: what is the next step after this step of mine?

Take 「今亦欲一心如本」 tr. "so now too he wished to be of one mind as before" and settle the method of seeking the Dharma. In whatever way of applying the mind you once gained benefit, go back into that way of applying the mind; do not look elsewhere for something new and strange. Sadāprarudita did not go and ask someone else; he only returned to the place of secluded one-mindedness—this is the plainest and also the most effective move.

Take 「如小兒得少美味」 tr. "just as a small child who has had a little taste of something delicious" and shine it on your own mind for the path. In obtaining a little flavour of the Dharma and giving rise to thirsting admiration, there is mixed within it clinging to the taste as well. The treatise-author does not hide it, and neither need we. Being aware of this portion of clinging to the taste keeps thirsting admiration from turning into greed for realms.

Take 「因時皆苦，受果時樂」 tr. "in the causal stage it is all suffering, and when receiving the fruit it is happiness" to understand the diligent hardship before you. When you apply yourself and see no result, do not first doubt the path, but remember this general rule; then 「思惟諸佛無量功德果報，以自勸勉」 tr. "think on the retribution of the immeasurable merit of the buddhas, and use it to encourage yourself"—the way of comforting lies not in lessening the suffering but in changing the way of understanding suffering.

Take 「應當從彼度故」 tr. "because he should be delivered by him" and put down comparison in choosing a teacher. Being delivered is not tied to the height of the one teaching the Dharma, but to the matching of capacity and condition—「有人應從舍利弗度，假使諸佛現身，不能令悟。」 tr. "There are people who should be delivered by Śāriputra; even if the buddhas appeared in their bodies, they could not open their understanding." Rather than comparing who is more brilliant, recognise the one with whom you have affinity and give your whole heart.

Take 「毒不疾出，則遍滿身中而失命」 tr. "if the poison is not quickly drawn out, it spreads through the whole body and he loses his life" and look at procrastination. Wrongness and doubt are the arrows, greed and the rest are the poison; what is feared is not the pain of a moment but 「奪智慧命」 tr. "taking away the life of wisdom". Knowing what arrow has struck your own mind, do not wait—the person urgently seeking to have the arrow drawn out is the whole teaching of this simile.

Take 「乃至善法中亦有是病」 tr. "even within wholesome dharmas there is this sickness" and examine your own goodness. After keeping the precepts, giving, reciting sūtras, applying yourself, that bit of grasping at marks in the mind, ‘I have done it’, is the sprout of the mind of possession. Clinging upon wholesome dharmas, because it wears the skin of goodness, is the hardest to notice in oneself.

Take 「為佛道故，不證是法」 tr. "for the sake of the Buddha path, he does not realise this dharma" and caution yourself when realms appear. Able to realise and yet not realising is where the bodhisattva and the two vehicles part ways. When your practice gains strength and realms appear, remember that what is sought is the Buddha path, not a good place in which you can abide at ease.

Take 「雖未得佛，能斷一切眾生所疑」 tr. "though he has not yet attained Buddhahood, he can sever the doubts of all beings" and settle your own mind for teaching the Dharma. Knowing oneself not yet to have reached the ultimate, and severing doubts for people within the portion one has understood, do not hinder each other. There is no need to wait until one has penetrated everything before being willing to open one's mouth, nor to think, because one is willing to open one's mouth, that one has already penetrated everything.

Take 「乃至得佛，初不止息」 tr. "even until he attains Buddhahood, he never ceases at all" and measure the span of vigour. Seven years neither sitting nor lying down is a matter of one period; 「乃至得佛」 tr. "even until he attains Buddhahood" is the true measure of this gate of samādhi. Measure today's diligence and laxity against this measure, and you will not become self-satisfied because of a moment's progress.

Further Resonances

Among the explanations of the ancient masters, one can be recorded for this unit. Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra divides the latter half of this chapter into two layers of stimulus and response; his text says: 「爾時薩陀波崙下，第二、感應。」 tr. "From ‘At that time Sadāprarudita’ onward: second, stimulus and response." And again: 「住是諸三昧中下，第三、感應，以三昧能感故十方佛應也。」 tr. "From ‘abiding in these samādhis’ onward: third, stimulus and response—because the samādhis can evoke, the buddhas of the ten directions respond." —with the two Chinese characters 「感應」 tr. "stimulus and response" he threads together the bones of this fascicle: grieving and weeping evoke, and the Buddha in the sky appears; obtaining the samādhis evokes, and the buddhas of the ten directions appear. This takes a different route from this treatise's analysis point by point through question and answer: this treatise asks why things are so; Jizang marks the order of the divisions; the two do not hinder each other.

On the measure of seven days, Jizang says: 「就應中為二：初、秤歎安；次、答其三問。今是初所以七日方應者，自少則精進未深，過多則愁憂妨心，故七日而應。」 tr. "Within the response there are two: first, praise and comfort; next, answering his three questions. This is now the first. The reason the response comes only after seven days is that with fewer, vigour is not yet deep, and with too many, sorrow obstructs the mind; therefore the response comes at seven days." —his explanation of why seven days agrees in sense with this treatise's 「若二日、三日，精進欲未深；若過七日，恐其憂愁妨心，不任求道」 tr. "if it were two or three days, his desire for vigour would not yet be deep; if it went beyond seven days, it was feared that his sorrow would obstruct his mind so that he could not bear to seek the path", and he further divides the words of the Buddha in the sky into two stages with 「秤歎安」 tr. "praise and comfort" and 「答其三問」 tr. "answering his three questions", which is the fineness of his divisions.

On the passage where the Buddha appears and does not deliver him at once, Jizang poses a question and answers: 「問間：空中既感佛現，何不即為說般若耶？答：以其人與法尚有深重因緣，故佛不能度之。」 tr. "The question: since in the sky the Buddha was evoked to appear, why did he not at once teach him prajñā? The answer: because that person has deep and weighty causes and conditions with Dharma-Esteeming, the Buddha cannot deliver him." —its ground is the same as this treatise's 「以其與曇無竭世世因緣，應當從彼度故」 tr. "because he had causes and conditions with Dharmodgata life after life, and should be delivered by him"; only, this treatise has 「不即度」 tr. "did not deliver him at once" while Jizang has 「不能度之」 tr. "cannot deliver him", a difference of weight in tone, recorded side by side without judgement. Further, in this chapter Jizang uses both names for this bodhisattva, 「法尚」 tr. "Dharma-Esteeming" and 「曇無竭」 tr. "Dharmodgata": 「法尚」 tr. "Dharma-Esteeming" follows the chapter name of the sūtra version he used, while 「曇無竭」 tr. "Dharmodgata" is the same as this treatise's transliteration.

On the substance of the Buddha in the sky, Jizang says: 「問：空中是何等佛？答：有解云：非真佛，是諸化佛身及大菩薩化作佛取。或云：即是真佛也。」 tr. "The question: what kind of Buddha is the one in the sky? The answer: one explanation says: not a true Buddha; it is the bodies of conjured buddhas, and Buddha-forms made by the transformation of great bodhisattvas. Another says: it is in fact a true Buddha." —the former explanation corresponds to what this treatise records, 「有人言：非真佛，但是像現耳——或諸佛遣化，或大菩薩現作」 tr. "someone says: it was not a true Buddha, only an image appearing—either a conjuration sent by the buddhas, or something manifested and made by a great bodhisattva"; while the explanation 「或云：即是真佛也」 tr. "another says: it is in fact a true Buddha" is not given here in this treatise; it is a separate account handed down by Jizang, recorded without judgement.

On where the City of Many Fragrances is, Jizang says: 「問：眾香城在何處？答：過去佛滅後，遺法未滅，爾時佛法不遍閻浮提，故閻浮提中別有眾香國土也。」 tr. "The question: where is the City of Many Fragrances? The answer: after a Buddha of the past had passed into extinction, his bequeathed Dharma had not yet perished; at that time the Buddha's Dharma did not pervade Jambudvīpa; therefore within Jambudvīpa there was separately the land of Many Fragrances." —the same line of reasoning as this treatise's answer, and more concise. As for the passage of Dharmodgata taking his pleasure with the court maidens, Jizang does not pose the question of fleshly body or Dharma body, but explains it directly by what it signifies: 「先受俗樂，次明受樂。此意顯般若能生世出世樂」 tr. "first he receives worldly pleasure, next it makes clear the receiving of pleasure; the intent of this is to show that prajñā can give rise to worldly and world-transcending pleasure" —by the order 「先受俗樂，次明受樂」 tr. "first he receives worldly pleasure, next it makes clear the receiving of pleasure" he shows that prajñā can give rise to both the worldly and the world-transcending pleasures; this treatise, at this place, sets up the difficulty of fleshly body or Dharma body and gives the divergent accounts of two schools. What the two ask differs: Jizang asks what the text signifies, this treatise asks to what kind of body he belongs; both may stand.

On the simile of the only son, Jizang says: 「譬中一子正喻波若也。」 tr. "In the simile, the only son is precisely a simile for prajñā." And again: 「論云以三義喻也」 tr. "The treatise says it is a simile by three meanings" —gathering it under three meanings; while this treatise here first sets out the three matters of 「總相因緣」 tr. "the causes and conditions of the general mark", and then sets out eight or nine layers of 「種種因緣譬喻差別相」 tr. "the marks of difference among the causes and conditions and similes of all kinds", its distinctions far finer. On the simile of the poisoned arrow, Jizang says: 「譬中毒箭者，以邪見云毒，疑為箭」 tr. "As for the poisoned arrow in the simile, wrong views are called the poison, and doubt is the arrow" —wrong views as the poison and doubt as the arrow; this treatise says 「諸邪、疑等箭入心，貪欲等毒塗箭」 tr. "the arrows of wrongness, doubt, and the rest have entered his mind, and the poison of greed and the rest is smeared on the arrows", taking wrongness and doubt together as the arrows and greed and the rest as the poison. The two assign them differently; recorded side by side without judgement.

On the samādhis, Jizang's explanation does not reach the completeness of this treatise; he gives only a few items: 「論云得六萬三昧也。諸法性觀三昧者，了法無生滅也。」 tr. "The treatise says he obtained sixty thousand samādhis. The samādhi of contemplating the nature of dharmas: understanding that dharmas are without arising and ceasing." 「法性不可得三昧者，亦不著無生滅觀也。」 tr. "The samādhi of the nature of dharmas being unfindable: not clinging even to the contemplation of no arising and ceasing." 「破無明三昧者，由破無明故得上三昧也。」 tr. "The samādhi of breaking ignorance: it is by breaking ignorance that the samādhis above are obtained." 「離暗三昧者，上破輕無明，今破重無明也。」 tr. "The samādhi of being free from darkness: above, light ignorance was broken; now heavy ignorance is broken." 「無相續三昧者，五陰一期念念相似相續，故言無異也。」 tr. "The samādhi of non-continuity: the five aggregates through one lifetime continue from thought to thought resembling one another, therefore it says without difference." —among these, the gate of being free from darkness divides ignorance by light and heavy, the same in intent as this treatise's dividing it by thick and thin; while the explanation 「破無明三昧者，由破無明故得上三昧也」 tr. "the samādhi of breaking ignorance: it is by breaking ignorance that the samādhis above are obtained" differs from this treatise's establishing a meaning gate by gate—it speaks of the order in which the samādhis give rise to one another. The other gates Jizang does not give.

Huiying's Commentary lacks an explanation of this chapter—what his extant commentary covers does not reach this far, so for this fascicle there is no text of his to cite; Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises is not in the form of a chapter-by-chapter commentary, and for this chapter nothing is found in it. All are recorded according to the facts, and are not filled with text from elsewhere.

Sadāprarudita, Fascicle 98, Sūtra Section: Within the Nature of the Samādhis No One Is Seen Emerging or Entering, and toward the Good Friend One Gives Rise to the Notion of a Buddha; the Sincerity of Selling His Body, Māra's Screening, Śakra's Test, and the Elder's Daughter's Arousing of the Mind; the Offerings at the City of Many Fragrances and the Question Where the Buddhas Come From and Where They Go

What Is Being Asked

In the previous unit, Sadāprarudita received the teaching of the voice in the sky and went east, and halfway along entered the samādhis and saw the buddhas of the ten directions. This unit runs from the moment the buddhas open their mouths to comfort him up to the point where, before Dharmodgata's seat in the City of Many Fragrances, he tells the whole course of his seeking of the Dharma over again and closes with one question—the sūtra text runs straight through in one breath, without a single sentence of the treatise's explanation set in between, and this is the longest stretch of narrative in the whole chapter, and the one least given any explanation.

To be given no explanation is not to be without doctrine. What this passage has to answer is in fact the plainest of doubts: since prajñā is 「不念有是諸法」 tr. "not thinking that these dharmas exist", why must the one who seeks prajñā walk five hundred yojanas, sell his body, cut his flesh and draw out his marrow, and bring five hundred carriages to make offerings to a sūtra written on tablets of gold? The buddhas' very first words lay this tension bare—contemplating the nature of the samādhis, they 「不見有法出三昧、入三昧者」 tr. "do not see any dharma that emerges from samādhi or enters samādhi", and do not see even the one who obtains awakening; and yet within the very same speech they teach Sadāprarudita 「於是佛法中，倍應恭敬愛念」 tr. "toward this Buddha-Dharma you should redouble your reverence and love" and 「於善知識中，應生如佛想」 tr. "toward the good friend you should give rise to the notion of a Buddha". Not seeing a single dharma and redoubled reverence—the sūtra text says them side by side and does not reconcile them.

Each of the episodes that follow serves as a note to this one sentence. Because he does not see the buddhas, doubt arises; because doubt arises and he cannot settle it himself, he must ask the good friend; because he must ask the good friend and dares not go empty-handed, he sells his body; because he sells his body and Māra screens the buyers, he cannot sell it; because he cannot sell it and weeps, Śakra comes to test him; tested and asked for heart, blood, and marrow, he on the contrary takes it as obtaining the foremost benefit; he cuts his body, and the elder's daughter comes down from the upper storey to ask, and with one question hears of the Buddha's merits, whereupon five hundred women together arouse the mind of awakening; the wealth and requisites now sufficient, he goes east to the city of twelve yojanas, sees the dais of the seven jewels and the prajñā written on tablets of gold, and divides the offerings into two portions; at the end he bows with head and face, lays out the road he came by point by point, and asks only one thing: 「是諸佛何處來、去至何處？」 tr. "From where do these buddhas come, and where do they go?"

So the bone of this unit is how the two ends, ‘not thinking’ and ‘seeking with all one's life’, are present together in one person. What the reader is to look at is not the strangeness of the episodes but how, at each pass, Sadāprarudita's mind turns—in poverty it turns out into selling his body; where he cannot sell it, it turns out into weeping without retreating; where heart, blood, and marrow are demanded, it turns out into 「我得大利」 tr. "I have obtained great benefit"; where the lord of the heavens grants a wish, it turns out into asking only for awakening. This whole way of turning is precisely the demonstration the sūtra text gives for 「云何求般若波羅蜜」 tr. "how prajñāpāramitā is sought".

Passage by Passage

1. The buddhas of the ten directions comfort him—within the nature of the samādhis no one emerging or entering is seen, and this is named prajñā. The buddhas first put themselves at one seat with him: 「我等本行菩薩道時，求般若波羅蜜，得是諸三昧，亦如汝今所得。」 tr. "When we first practised the bodhisattva path, seeking prajñāpāramitā, we obtained these samādhis, just as you have now obtained them." This sentence is the real meaning of the comfort—not praising him as a rarity, but telling him that the buddhas have all walked this road, and that what you have obtained is exactly what we obtained. Next, taking up the samādhis, they speak of prajñā: 「我等觀是諸三昧性，不見有法出三昧、入三昧者，亦不見行佛道者，亦不見得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提者。善男子！是名般若波羅蜜，所謂不念有是諸法。」 tr. "Contemplating the nature of these samādhis, we do not see any dharma that emerges from samādhi or enters samādhi, nor do we see anyone who practises the Buddha path, nor do we see anyone who obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. Good man! This is called prajñāpāramitā; it is namely not thinking that these dharmas exist." The sickness that most easily arises in one who has obtained samādhi is to take samādhi as a thing got in hand, and emerging and entering as a matter to boast of; the buddhas, not waiting for him to give rise to the thought, break it first—even the one who emerges and the one who enters are unfindable, how much less the samādhi that is emerged from and entered. Yet at the end they do not abide in breaking; on the contrary, with 「我等於無所念法中住」 tr. "we dwell in the dharma of recollecting nothing" they bring out the golden body, the sixteen-foot radiance, the thirty-two marks, the eighty minor marks, and so on up to all merits complete: recollecting nothing is not having nothing whatsoever; it is precisely the place from which all merits come forth. As to their being beyond telling to the end, the sūtra text uses its weightiest sentence: 「佛尚不能取相說盡，何況聲聞、辟支佛及諸餘人！」 tr. "Even a Buddha cannot, grasping at marks, tell them to the end—how much less the śrāvakas, the pratyekabuddhas, and other people!" The reason they cannot be told to the end lies in the two Chinese characters 「取相」 tr. "grasping at marks"—merits cannot be grasped by way of marks, so one who grasps at marks cannot tell them to the end; and this runs straight through with 「不念有是諸法」 tr. "not thinking that these dharmas exist" above. Then it turns back to admonition: 「於是佛法中，倍應恭敬愛念，生清淨心；於善知識中，應生如佛想。」 tr. "Toward this Buddha-Dharma you should redouble your reverence and love and give rise to a pure mind; toward the good friend you should give rise to the notion of a Buddha." The reason is only one sentence: 「為善知識守護故，菩薩疾得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "Because, protected by the good friend, a bodhisattva swiftly obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." Not seeing a single dharma and yet redoubling reverence—this is not a contradiction between before and after; it is the two faces of prajñā: seeing that there is nothing to be attained, one gives rise to no self-conceit; knowing that it is obtained from conditions, one does not abandon reverence.

2. Sadāprarudita asks who his good friend is. Having heard them out, he does not ask about samādhi and does not ask about awakening; he asks only one sentence: 「何等是我善知識所應親近供養者？」 tr. "Who is my good friend, the one I should draw near to and make offerings to?" The buddhas have just said 「於善知識中，應生如佛想」 tr. "toward the good friend you should give rise to the notion of a Buddha", and he at once takes this sentence to make it real—he does not hear the admonition as words of praise but as a matter to be carried out. The quickness of one who seeks the Dharma lies exactly here: wherever the Dharma is spoken up to, his question follows up to there.

3. The buddhas of the ten directions point to Dharmodgata as the good friend—offerings exhausting the three-thousand world do not repay a single moment's kindness. The buddhas answer with the utmost clarity: 「曇無竭菩薩世世教化成就汝阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；曇無竭菩薩守護汝，教汝般若波羅蜜、方便力，是汝善知識。」 tr. "The bodhisattva Dharmodgata has life after life taught you and brought your anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi to accomplishment; the bodhisattva Dharmodgata protects you and teaches you prajñāpāramitā and the power of skilful means; he is your good friend." The two Chinese characters for ‘life after life’ draw this bond of teacher and disciple out from the present life across vast kalpas. Next comes the weighing of the measure of offering: for one kalpa, two kalpas, three kalpas, 「乃至過百千劫，頂戴恭敬」 tr. "and so on up to more than hundreds of thousands of kalpas, carrying him on the crown of your head in reverence", offering him all the wondrous forms, sounds, scents, flavours, and touches there are in the three-thousand world—and the verdict is 「未能報須臾之恩」 tr. "you still could not repay his kindness of a single moment". Why is it so? The sūtra text answers itself: 「曇無竭菩薩摩訶薩因緣故，令汝得如是等諸三昧，得般若波羅蜜、方便力。」 tr. "Because it is through the causes and conditions of the bodhisattva-mahāsattva Dharmodgata that you have obtained all these kinds of samādhi, and obtained prajñāpāramitā and the power of skilful means." The measure of repaying kindness is not taken from how much is given but from the weight of what is received—what is received is samādhi, is prajñā, is skilful means, none of which wealth and treasure can repay. This weighing is not meant to make people not make offerings; it is exactly meant to make people make offerings without holding the thought ‘already repaid’. When the buddhas had taught, comforted, and gladdened him, 「忽然不現」 tr. "they suddenly vanished"—coming and going without a trace, which plants the root for the doubt below.

4. Arising from samādhi he gives rise to doubt—from where do the buddhas come, and where do they go? The moment the buddhas vanish, his first thought is: 「是諸佛從何所來？去至何所？」 tr. "From where did these buddhas come? And where have they gone?" Next he is 「惆悵不樂」 tr. "disconsolate and unhappy" and asks himself 「誰斷我疑？」 tr. "Who can cut off this doubt of mine?" To obtain samādhi and see the buddhas is a matter of great joy, yet to come out of samādhi and not see the buddhas becomes great doubt—from which it can be seen that the buddhas seen were still tied to the concentration that sees them, and when the concentration goes the seeing goes. He does not force an explanation on himself, nor does he retreat because of the doubt; instead he at once thinks of Dharmodgata: that person 「久遠已來，常行般若波羅蜜，得方便力及諸陀羅尼，於菩薩法中得自在」 tr. "has from long ago always practised prajñāpāramitā, has obtained the power of skilful means and all kinds of dhāraṇī, and has attained mastery within the bodhisattva dharmas", and moreover 「世世為我師，常利益我」 tr. "life after life has been my teacher and has always benefited me", and therefore 「我當問曇無竭菩薩」 tr. "I shall ask the bodhisattva Dharmodgata". When doubt arises, to know whom to ask is the first-rank equipment of one who seeks the Dharma; when doubt arises, to make up one's own explanation, or to stop once doubt arises, is in either case not the way. This one question is the origin of all his austerities from here on, and is also the topic that the chapters after this chapter set out to answer directly.

5. Poor and without requisites of offering, he resolves to sell his body—life after life he has lost bodies, but never for the Dharma. Having settled on going to ask, the first matter is nevertheless 「我當以何供養曇無竭菩薩？」 tr. "With what shall I make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata?" So he counts out his poverty: he has no flowers and incense, necklaces, burning incense, scented ointment, clothing, banners and canopies, gold, silver, pearls, beryl, sphaṭika, coral, or amber. Next he sets himself a rule: 「我法不應空往曇無竭菩薩所，我若空往，喜悅心不生。」 tr. "By my own rule I should not go empty-handed to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata; if I go empty-handed, a joyful mind will not arise." The two Chinese characters 「我法」 tr. "my own rule" are a rule he himself lays down for himself—no one demands that he bring a gift; he knows that if he goes empty-handed, this thought of reverence of his will not land on solid ground. So he resolves to sell his body. And the reason he dares to sell it lies not in making light of the body but in having settled an account: 「我世世喪身無數，無始生死中或死、或賣，或為欲因緣故，世世在地獄中受無量苦惱，未曾為清淨法故、為供養說法師故喪身。」 tr. "Life after life I have lost my body countless times: in beginningless birth and death I have sometimes died, sometimes been sold, sometimes, because of the causes and conditions of desire, life after life undergone immeasurable suffering and vexation in the hells; but I have never lost my body for the sake of the pure Dharma, or for the sake of making offerings to the teacher who teaches the Dharma." One and the same body has from beginningless time been lost countless times to death, to sale, to desire, and those losses bought only the suffering and vexation of the hells; this time today is the first time it is exchanged for the Dharma. The difficulty of giving up the body lies in the giving up; yet the meaning of this passage lies in ‘it has been given up countless times anyway; this time at last it is given up in its proper place’—turning a heroic matter into a clear account; this is the measure with which the sūtra text teaches the giving up of the body.

6. In the market he cries aloud to sell himself. 「中道入一大城，至市肆上，高聲唱言：『誰欲須人？誰欲須人？誰欲買人？』」 tr. "Halfway along the road he entered a great city, went up into the market among the shops, and cried aloud: ‘Who needs a person? Who needs a person? Who will buy a person?’" The resolve was made in the mountain forest, but it is made real in the marketplace. A man who is to accomplish the Buddha path stands among the shops crying himself up for sale—the sound of the three cries is, in every word, the direct perception of the four Chinese characters 「不惜身命」 tr. "not sparing body and life". If the sincerity of seeking the Dharma were only in the heart, no one could test whether it was true or false; the sūtra text deliberately has him cry it out in the market.

7. Evil Māra screens the buyers—knowing that he will obtain much learning and leave his domain. Māra's thought the sūtra text writes with the utmost fineness. What Māra fears is not his selling his body but what comes after the selling: 「當得正問般若波羅蜜及方便力」 tr. "he will be able to ask rightly about prajñāpāramitā and the power of skilful means", and what he will ask is 「云何菩薩摩訶薩行般若波羅蜜，疾得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提？」 tr. "How does a bodhisattva-mahāsattva practise prajñāpāramitā so as swiftly to obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi?"; moreover he will obtain much learning complete, 「如大海水」 tr. "like the water of the great ocean", 「是時不可沮壞」 tr. "and then he cannot be destroyed", and further 「得具足一切功德，饒益諸菩薩摩訶薩」 tr. "he will obtain all merits complete and benefit the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas". And the most crucial sentence is: 「為阿耨多羅三藐三菩提故，過我境界，亦教餘人出我境界」 tr. "for the sake of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi he will pass beyond my domain, and will also teach other people to leave my domain". What Māra guards is a domain—the region of birth and death in the desire realm; one person going out of it can still be borne, but going out and then teaching others to go out must at all costs be ruined. So Māra's move is not to take his life and not to disturb his mind, but only 「隱蔽諸婆羅門、居士，令不聞其自賣聲」 tr. "to screen the brahmins and householders, so that they did not hear the sound of his selling himself". The cleverness of hindrance lies exactly here: it does not make you suffer; it only keeps your suffering from accomplishing anything. Yet the sūtra text, in passing, leaves one thread: 「除一長者女，魔不能蔽。」 tr. "Only an elder's daughter Māra could not screen." Though Māra's power can screen the ears of a whole city, it cannot screen this one person—the foreshadowing is laid down, and what follows shows it of itself.

8. Unable to sell his body, he weeps and blames himself. 「賣身不售，憂愁啼哭，在一面立，涕泣而言」 tr. "Unable to sell his body, he sorrowed and wept, stood to one side, and said with tears flowing", and what he said was 「我為大罪，賣身不售」 tr. "Great is my offence, that selling my body I cannot sell it". He does not suspect Māra and does not resent others; he only lays the blame on himself—this is the constant course of his mind (before the failure to sell had even arisen, he had already thought to himself that his merit was thin). The name Ever Weeping comes to its real ground at this place: his weeping is not that he cannot bear the suffering; he weeps because he seeks the Dharma and does not obtain it. And within the weeping he still states the reason plainly: 「我自賣身，為般若波羅蜜故，供養曇無竭菩薩。」 tr. "I am selling myself for the sake of prajñāpāramitā, to make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata." Weeping and not retreating never obstruct each other in him.

9. Śakra Devānām Indra resolves to test him—to know whether he loves the Dharma with a deep mind. What Śakra doubts is not whether he dares, but 「實以深心愛法故，捨是身不」 tr. "whether he truly, out of love of the Dharma with a deep mind, can give up this body"—the two Chinese characters for ‘deep mind’ are the target of the test. Those who love the Dharma are many; those who love the Dharma with a deep mind are few; there may be some willing to give up the body, but to give it up for the Dharma, and give it up gladly, is rare. So he 「化作婆羅門身，在薩陀波崙菩薩邊行」 tr. "transformed himself into the form of a brahmin and passed by beside the bodhisattva Sadāprarudita", and first asks an irrelevant question: 「汝善男子！何以憂愁啼哭，顏色焦悴，在一面立？」 tr. "You, good man! Why do you sorrow and weep, your face haggard, standing to one side?" The one who tests a person does not ask his aim directly but first asks about his countenance—drawing him by the outer appearance to set out his own case.

10. Sadāprarudita sets out his case truthfully. He answers without concealing anything: 「我愛敬法，欲自賣身為般若波羅蜜故，欲供養曇無竭菩薩。」 tr. "I love and revere the Dharma, and wish to sell my own body; for the sake of prajñāpāramitā I wish to make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata." And he says once more that there is no buyer, that he thinks to himself that his merit is thin, that he has no wealth or treasure. To a stranger brahmin he lays out his straits in full—one who seeks nothing from others also hides nothing from others. The directness of this answer is precisely what the 「我盡與汝」 tr. "I shall give you all of it" below rests on.

11. The brahmin asks for a human heart, human blood, and human marrow. 「我不須人，我今欲祠天，當須人心、人血、人髓，汝能賣與我不？」 tr. "I have no need of a person; I now wish to sacrifice to the gods, and must use a human heart, human blood, and human marrow. Can you sell them to me?" What is asked for is not labour but the heart, blood, and marrow of a living person—this is the price of death, not the price of a body. What makes the test a test is that it lays wholly bare the vagueness beneath the word 「賣身」 tr. "selling one's body": the selling of the body you speak of—is it selling oneself into servitude, or selling oneself to one's death?

12. Sadāprarudita takes it as obtaining the foremost benefit and gladly gives. An ordinary person hearing this would surely be startled and afraid, yet he has this thought: 「我得大利，得第一利！」 tr. "I have obtained great benefit; I have obtained the foremost benefit!" Why is this? 「我今便為具足般若波羅蜜方便力，得是買心、血、髓者！」 tr. "I am now, as it were, complete in the power of skilful means of prajñāpāramitā, that I have been able to meet this buyer of heart, blood, and marrow!"—no one being willing to buy was his dead end; now that someone is willing to buy, the road is open. He does not see the knife; he sees only the gate; and so 「心大歡喜，悅樂無憂；以柔和心，語婆羅門言：『汝所須者，我盡與汝！』」 tr. "his mind was greatly glad, delighted and without sorrow; with a gentle mind he said to the brahmin: ‘Whatever you need, I shall give you all of it!’" Glad, delighted, without sorrow, gentle—the sūtra text gives four marks of mind in a row, and describes to the full this person's bearing in the face of the matter. The test having come to this point, victory and defeat are in fact already settled.

13. The brahmin asks the price. 「善男子！汝須何價？」 tr. "Good man! What price do you want?" The tester presses one step further—since you are willing to sell, you ought at least to haggle over a price. This question is the last pass: if one gives up one's life and still wants a price, then what is given up is still a buying and selling.

14. He answers ‘as you please’, and at once pierces his arm and cuts his thigh. 「隨汝意與我！」 tr. "Give me whatever you please!"—five Chinese characters answer it all. Not even discussing the price, what he gives is not for the sake of getting things but only for the sake of accomplishing the matter. And having answered, he does not wait for another to lift a hand: 「即時，薩陀波崙右手執利刀，刺左臂出血，割右髀肉，復欲破骨出髓」 tr. "Then and there Sadāprarudita took a sharp knife in his right hand, pierced his left arm and drew blood, cut the flesh of his right thigh, and was about to break the bone to take out the marrow"—holding the knife himself, piercing and cutting himself. If giving up the body waits for another's hand, there is still a share of passivity; if one lays hand on oneself, there is not a share of a way back. 「復欲破骨出髓」 tr. "Was about to break the bone to take out the marrow" yet did not get to it—this is exactly the opening for the elder's daughter to come and ask below.

15. The elder's daughter sees from afar on the upper storey and comes down to ask. What she saw was 「自割身體、不惜壽命」 tr. "cutting his own body, not sparing his life", and what moved in her was a single thought: 「是善男子何因緣故，困苦其身？我當往問。」 tr. "For what cause and condition does this good man afflict his body so? I should go and ask him."—not alarm, not pity, but wanting to ask the cause and condition. And as soon as the thought arose she acted: 「長者女即下閣，到薩陀波崙所」 tr. "the elder's daughter then came down from the upper storey and came to where Sadāprarudita was". The one person Māra could not screen in the earlier text makes her entrance here; her first question, 「何因緣困苦其身？用是心、血、髓，作何等？」 tr. "For what cause and condition do you afflict your body? What will you do with this heart, blood, and marrow?", asks about both ends, the deed and the intent. The turning point of the whole passage falls on just one person willing to come down from the upper storey and ask.

16. Sadāprarudita answers the matter directly. 「賣與婆羅門，為般若波羅蜜故，供養曇無竭菩薩。」 tr. "I am selling them to the brahmin, for the sake of prajñāpāramitā, to make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata." It is still that one sentence, said the same way to anyone. The brevity of the answer shows that in his mind there is no second matter at all.

17. The elder's daughter asks again about the merit and benefit to be obtained. 「作是賣身，欲自出心、血、髓，欲供養曇無竭菩薩，得何等功德利益？」 tr. "Selling your body in this way, wishing to take out your own heart, blood, and marrow, wishing to make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata—what kind of merit and benefit can you obtain?" The first question asked about the cause and condition; this question asks about the retribution. This question is asked at a most crucial point—had there been no such question, Sadāprarudita would not have spoken the great passage of Buddha-Dharma below, and the arousing of the mind by five hundred people would have had nothing from which to arise. One good at asking can draw the Dharma out; this is what that means.

18. He answers with the Dharma sought and the fruit hoped for—to be a support for beings. First he speaks of the person from whom he will obtain the Dharma: 「是人善學般若波羅蜜及方便力，是人當為我說菩薩所應作、菩薩所應行道。」 tr. "This one trains well in prajñāpāramitā and the power of skilful means; this one will proclaim to me what a bodhisattva should do and the path a bodhisattva should practise." Next he speaks of his own training: 「我學是法、學是道」 tr. "I train in this dharma and train in this path". Next he speaks of the fruit hoped for, and the first meaning of the fruit is not his own realisation but 「為眾生作依止」 tr. "to be a support for beings". Only then does he list the merits of a Buddha: a golden body, the thirty-two marks, the eighty minor marks, great light, immeasurable illumination; great kindness, great compassion, great joy, great equanimity; the four fearlessnesses; the ten powers of a Buddha, the four unobstructed knowledges, the eighteen unshared dharmas; the six supernormal powers; inconceivable pure morality, meditative concentration, and wisdom. At the end it comes back to 「於諸法中得無礙一切知見」 tr. "within all dharmas obtaining unobstructed knowledge and vision of all", and ends with 「以無上法寶分布與一切眾生」 tr. "distributing the unsurpassed Dharma Jewel to all beings". Both ends of the one speech, head and tail, land on beings—seeking the merits of a Buddha and not for his own enjoyment; this is the place in his answer where the bone shows most. He calls this whole set 「如是等諸功德利，我當從彼得之」 tr. "merits and benefits of all such kinds as these I shall obtain from him": what he calls merits and benefits means these, not the price of heart, blood, and marrow.

19. The elder's daughter, startled in mind with her hair on end, gives him all her jewels and vows to go with him. Her response is 「即大歡喜，心驚毛竪」 tr. "at once greatly glad, startled in mind, her hair standing on end"—gladness and being startled arising together is the true look of one who first hears the great Dharma. Her words of praise are two: 「甚希有！汝所說者，微妙難值！」 tr. "Most rare! What you say is wondrous and hard to meet!" And from the praise comes a judgement: 「為是一一功德法故，應捨如恒河沙等身。」 tr. "For the sake of each single one of these dharmas of merit, one should give up bodies as many as the sands of the Ganges." Note the two Chinese characters 「一一」 tr. "each single one"—not that for this whole set of merits one gives up one body, but that for any single merit among them one ought to give up bodies as many as the sands of the Ganges; that being so, Sadāprarudita's giving up of one body becomes, on the contrary, a small matter. So what she gives is everything: gold, silver, pearls, beryl, sphaṭika, amber, coral, and all kinds of precious things, together with flowers and incense, necklaces, perfumed ointment, burning incense, banners and canopies, clothing, music, and other requisites of offering. And she urges him to stop his suffering: 「莫自困苦其身！」 tr. "Do not afflict your own body!" At the end she goes a step further: 「我亦欲往曇無竭菩薩所，共汝植諸善根」 tr. "I too wish to go to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, to plant all kinds of roots of goodness together with you". To give wealth is one layer; to go together in seeking the Dharma is another layer—the one who has heard the Dharma is by now no longer only a donor but a fellow learner.

20. Śakra resumes his own body and praises his unmoving mind—he grants a wish. The test now sufficient, he 「即復本身」 tr. "at once resumed his own form", and his words of praise are two: 「汝堅受是事，其心不動。」 tr. "You hold firmly to this matter; your mind does not move." Holding firmly and not moving answer exactly to the ‘greatly glad’, the ‘delighted and without sorrow’, and the ‘gentle mind’ of the earlier text—glad and yet with a mind that does not move: only this is holding firmly. Next he cites proof: 「諸過去佛行菩薩道時，亦如是求般若波羅蜜及方便力，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "When the buddhas of the past practised the bodhisattva path, they too sought prajñāpāramitā and the power of skilful means in this way, and obtained anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi." This is woven on the same loom as the buddhas' 「我等本行菩薩道時」 tr. "when we first practised the bodhisattva path" in section 1: telling him this is not a special case but the common road. At the end he declares himself: 「我實不用人心、血、髓，但來相試」 tr. "I in fact have no need of a human heart, blood, or marrow; I came only to test you", and promises 「汝願何等，我當相與」 tr. "whatever you wish, I shall give you".

21. Sadāprarudita asks for anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The lord of the heavens grants a wish, and he asks for only one thing: 「與我阿耨多羅三藐三菩提！」 tr. "Give me anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi!" He does not ask for wealth, does not ask for long life, does not ask for supernormal powers—he does not even ask for the requisites of offering he lacks most at this moment. What he seeks being settled, everywhere there is only this one seeking.

22. Śakra says this is not something his power can accomplish. 「此非我力所辦，是諸佛境界。必相供養，更索餘願。」 tr. "This is not something my power can accomplish; this is the domain of the buddhas. Since I must make you an offering, ask for another wish." The power of the lord of the gods can give whatever people in the human world desire; awakening alone it cannot give. This sentence draws the boundary between heavenly power and the Buddha path: fortune can be sought from others; awakening can only be accomplished by oneself. The four Chinese characters 「必相供養」 tr. "I must make you an offering" still keep faith with his promise of a wish, and so he has him ask again.

23. He turns to asking that his body be restored. 「汝若於此無力，汝必見供養，令我是身平復如故。」 tr. "If you have no power in this, and since you must make me an offering, make this body of mine restored as it was before."—what he asks is still not for his own pleasure; he wants this body, which is about to go to the City of Many Fragrances, to be fit for use. The earlier asking for awakening is where his aim lies; this asking for restoration is what the matter needs; the aim is not changed by not obtaining, and the matter is not made extravagant by obtaining.

24. His body is at once restored, and Śakra suddenly vanishes. 「身即平復，無有瘡瘢，如本不異。」 tr. "His body was at once restored, without sore or scar, no different from how it was at first." The marks of piercing the arm and cutting the thigh are gone all at once, which shows precisely that what was given up before was truly given up, and what is restored now is truly restored—because the giving up was true, the return is whole. 「釋提桓因與其願已，忽然不現」 tr. "Śakra Devānām Indra, having fulfilled his wish, suddenly vanished" is the same closing stroke as the buddhas' 「忽然不現」 tr. "suddenly vanished" in section 3: the one who came to test goes, and the ones who came to comfort go too; what can always accompany one is only the good friend and the Dharma.

25. The elder's daughter invites him to her house. 「來到我舍，有所須者，從我父母索之，盡當相與。」 tr. "Please come to my house; whatever you need, ask my parents for it, and all of it shall be given you." Her earlier promise of giving comes here to the pass of her parents—she can make the vow to go with him herself, but she is not the master of the family's wealth, and so she must tell her parents. And at the same time she states her own matter: 「我亦當辭我父母，與諸侍女，共往供養曇無竭菩薩，為求法故。」 tr. "I too will take leave of my parents and, bringing my attendant maidens, go together with you to make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, for the sake of seeking the Dharma." Wealth and people—the two matters are requested together, and the line of reasoning is clear.

26. They arrive together at her house, and the girl goes in and tells her parents. Sadāprarudita 「在門外住」 tr. "stood outside the gate"—not entering within another's house, keeping to his proper bounds. What the girl goes in and tells is two matters: one is the requisites of offering, the other is people; the requisites are many fine flowers and incense, necklaces, perfumed ointment, burning incense, banners and canopies, clothing, gold, silver, beryl, sphaṭika, pearls, coral, amber, and all kinds of music; the people are 「我身及五百侍女先所給使」 tr. "me myself and the five hundred attendant maidens whom you formerly gave me to serve me". And in the telling she states her own aim: 「曇無竭菩薩當為我等說法，我當如說行，當得諸佛法。」 tr. "The bodhisattva Dharmodgata will teach us the Dharma; I shall practise as it is taught, and shall obtain the dharmas of the buddhas." The four Chinese characters for ‘practise as it is taught’ are the words of her proper portion in seeking the Dharma—she is not going to watch a spectacle; she is going to receive the Dharma and practise it.

27. Her parents ask what kind of person Sadāprarudita is. 「薩陀波崙菩薩是何等人？」 tr. "What kind of person is the bodhisattva Sadāprarudita?" Her parents do not first discuss the wealth; they first ask about the person. This question is most in keeping with reason, and also most crucial—precisely because there is this question, the girl's long account below is drawn out; without this question, the matter would in her household have been only a daughter wanting to travel far.

28. The girl gives a full account of the person and the matter—his selling himself, the test of his mind, his cutting his body, the merits he answered with, and the cause of her own vow. Answering her parents, the girl first establishes the person: 「以深心求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，欲度一切眾生無量生死苦。」 tr. "With a deep mind he seeks anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, wishing to deliver all beings from the suffering of immeasurable birth and death." Next she recounts the matter, and from the crying aloud in the market, the failure to sell his body, Śakra's transforming himself and coming to test him, the asking for heart, blood, and marrow, the answer ‘as you please’, to the taking of the knife and piercing and cutting, she tells it all over again point by point; in the middle she also attaches a note of her own: 「般若波羅蜜名菩薩所學道。」 tr. "Prajñāpāramitā is called the path in which bodhisattvas train." Next she recounts what she heard, reciting once more the great passage on merits with which Sadāprarudita answered her, and within it the four phrases 「此是菩薩所應學、菩薩所應作、菩薩所應住、菩薩所行道」 tr. "this is what a bodhisattva should train in, what a bodhisattva should do, what a bodhisattva should abide in, the path a bodhisattva practises" are more distinct than the time before. At the end she sets out the traces of her own mind: 「我聞是微妙不可思議諸佛功德，聞其大願，我心歡喜」 tr. "hearing these wondrous and inconceivable merits of the buddhas, and hearing his great vow, my mind was glad", and the thought that arose was a comparison in the manner of self-reproach—「今善男子為法能受苦行難事，所謂不惜身命；我多有妙寶，云何不生願，勤求如是法」 tr. "now this good man, for the sake of the Dharma, can bear austerities and hard things—namely, not sparing body and life; I have many fine precious things—how could I not arouse a mind of vowing, and diligently seek such a Dharma". He, without wealth, gives up his body; I, with wealth, am unwilling to make a vow—once this comparison arises, the mind of vowing is settled. The sūtra text uses a whole passage of retelling to write her account; it looks like repetition, but in fact it is a demonstration: a person truly moved by the Dharma will tell it to others from beginning to end; and her parents' permission is exactly what this passage of speech moved them to. Further, within it, Sadāprarudita is said to call her 「姊」 tr. "sister"—his only form of address to her in the whole passage, which appears twice within the retelling.

29. The girl asks her parents for permission, and to take the requisites of offering with her. 「父母今聽我并五百侍女先所給者」 tr. "father and mother, now do permit me and the five hundred attendant maidens—those you formerly gave me", and she further asks to take many fine flowers and incense, necklaces, perfumed ointment, powdered incense, clothing, banners and canopies, music, gold, silver, beryl, and requisites of offering with her, and what it is for is 「得如是等清淨微妙諸佛法故」 tr. "for the sake of obtaining such kinds of pure and wondrous dharmas of the buddhas". The previous passage set out the matter; this passage is the formal request; within the request she marks once more the target of what she seeks, so that her parents do not think it is only following someone on a distant journey.

30. Her parents answer the girl, give permission, and rejoice. Her parents first praise what she praises: 「汝所讚者，希有難及！」 tr. "What you praise is rare and hard to reach!" Next they state three reasons it is worthy of praise: 「是善男子為法精進，大樂法相」 tr. "this good man is vigorous for the sake of the Dharma, and greatly loves and delights in the substance and marks of the Dharma", 「是諸佛法不可思議，一切世間最為第一」 tr. "these dharmas of the buddhas are inconceivable, foremost in all the world", 「一切眾生歡喜因緣」 tr. "the cause and condition of the gladness of all beings". Next they permit her: 「我等聽汝往見曇無竭菩薩，親近供養。」 tr. "We permit you to go and see the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, to draw near to him and make offerings." At the end they close with rejoicing: 「汝發大心，為得諸佛法故如是精進，我等云何當不隨喜？」 tr. "You have aroused the great mind and are vigorous in this way for the sake of obtaining the dharmas of the buddhas—how could we not rejoice?" Lay parents who have never once seen Sadāprarudita, relying only on their daughter's account, grant five hundred attendant maidens and carriages full of precious things—the reach of the power of hearing the Dharma does not stop at the one person who hears.

31. The girl answers her parents: she will never cut off the causes and conditions of other people's wholesome dharmas. 「我等亦隨是心歡喜，我終不斷人善法因緣。」 tr. "We too rejoice in accord with this mind; I shall never cut off the causes and conditions of other people's wholesome dharmas." Her parents rejoice with her, and she in turn rejoices in her parents' mind; and the last sentence, 「終不斷人善法因緣」 tr. "never cut off the causes and conditions of other people's wholesome dharmas", is an oath she sets for herself out of this experience—she saw with her own eyes Māra screening people's ears and nearly cutting off a great good matter, and so she swears never to be one who cuts off other people's wholesome dharmas. All the girl's words in the passage arrive here at the setting up of the discipline of her whole life.

32. Five hundred carriages adorned, they go east, see the City of Many Fragrances, get down from the carriages, and go forward on foot. The travelling outfit now prepared: five hundred carriages of the seven jewels, all kinds of flowers born in water and on land, as well as gold, silver, jewelled flowers, jewelled garments of many colours, fine incense, pounded incense, scented ointment, necklaces, and all kinds of flavoured food and drink; as for the people, Sadāprarudita and the five hundred attendant maidens each ride in a carriage, 「恭敬圍繞，漸漸東去」 tr. "reverently surrounding him, they went little by little toward the east". The earlier going east was a solitary man weeping; this going east is five hundred carriages—the same 「東行」 tr. "going east", and the difference between before and after is precisely the reward of seeking the Dharma. Next it depicts the City of Many Fragrances: adorned with the seven jewels and encircled sevenfold, its moats of the seven jewels and rows of trees of the seven jewels also each sevenfold, the city twelve yojanas in length and breadth, 「豐樂安靜，甚可喜樂，人民熾盛」 tr. "rich and joyful, peaceful and quiet, exceedingly delightful, its people flourishing", its hundred thousand market wards 「街巷相當，端嚴如畫，橋津如地，寬博清淨」 tr. "their streets and lanes facing one another, upright and orderly as a painting; its bridges and fords level as the ground, broad and clean". Entering the city they see Dharmodgata 「坐高臺法座上，無量百千萬億眾恭敬圍繞說法」 tr. "seated on the Dharma seat of a high dais, reverently surrounded by an immeasurable assembly of hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭi, teaching the Dharma". And when Sadāprarudita sees him, the sūtra text writes his mind with a simile: 「心即歡喜，譬如比丘入第三禪，攝心安隱」 tr. "his mind was at once glad, like a bhikṣu who has entered the third dhyāna, his mind gathered and at peace". It is not wild joy; it is the happiness of the third dhyāna—at peace and unmoving. Beneath the gladness a thought at once arises: 「我等儀不應載車趣曇無竭菩薩。」 tr. "By our rule of conduct, we should not go to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata riding in carriages." So he gets down from his carriage and goes forward on foot, and the elder's daughter and the five hundred attendant maidens also all get down from their carriages. Having been able to see the person he sought, what he thinks of first is the rule of conduct—this getting down from the carriage shows more reverence than the offering of five hundred carriages.

33. The dais of the seven jewels and the prajñā written on tablets of gold. Dharmodgata's dais: adorned with red ox-head sandalwood, a net of pearls covering its top, maṇi jewels hung at its four corners as lamps, censers of four jewels always burning famous incense—and the sūtra text specially marks what it is for: 「為供養般若波羅蜜故。」 tr. "For the sake of making offerings to prajñāpāramitā." In the dais there is a great couch of the seven jewels with a small couch of four jewels laid in layers upon it, 「以黃金牒書《般若波羅蜜》，置小床上」 tr. "the Prajñāpāramitā written on tablets of gold and placed on the small couch", with all kinds of banners and canopies adorning it, hanging down over it. This dais is not a seat for teaching the Dharma; it is a place for making offerings to a sūtra; a great teacher who is a bodhisattva makes offerings to a sūtra with such a dais—this is the very first lesson he gives Sadāprarudita: the Dharma teacher himself also makes offerings to the Dharma.

34. Seeing Śakra and the gods scattering flowers to delight the dais, he asks the cause and condition. What he sees is Śakra Devānām Indra with immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of gods 「以天曼陀羅花、碎末栴檀、磨眾寶屑以散臺上，鼓天伎樂於虛空中娛樂此臺」 tr. "scattering heavenly māndārava flowers, powdered sandalwood, and ground jewel-dust upon the dais, and playing heavenly music in the sky to delight this dais". Sadāprarudita at once asks: 「憍尸迦！何因緣故……娛樂此臺？」 tr. "Kauśika! For what cause and condition … delight this dais?" When he met Śakra the time before, Śakra was the tester transformed into a brahmin; meeting this time before the Dharma dais, he addresses him straightaway as 「憍尸迦」 tr. "Kauśika" and asks where the Dharma is—one test and one question, two turns of affinity.

35. Śakra answers that this is the Mahāprajñāpāramitā, the mother of the bodhisattvas. 「此是《摩訶般若波羅蜜》，是諸菩薩摩訶薩母，能生諸佛、攝持菩薩。」 tr. "This is the Mahāprajñāpāramitā, the mother of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, which can give birth to the buddhas and holds and sustains bodhisattvas." The meaning of ‘mother’ is twofold: able to give birth, and able to hold and sustain—it gives birth to them, so the buddhas come forth from it; it sustains them, so the bodhisattvas rely on it to stand. Next it brings out its effect: 「菩薩學是般若波羅蜜，成就一切功德，得諸佛法、一切種智。」 tr. "Bodhisattvas who train in this prajñāpāramitā accomplish all merits and obtain the dharmas of the buddhas and the omniscience of all kinds." The prajñā he had sought along the whole road—only here does someone tell him plainly what it is; and the one who tells him is not Dharmodgata but the lord of the heavens; the preciousness of the Dharma is known in the heavens too.

36. He asks where prajñā now is. Having heard the passage on 「諸菩薩摩訶薩母」 tr. "the mother of the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas", he at once recites Śakra's words back without changing a word, and at the end adds only one question: 「今在何處？」 tr. "Where is it now?"—not debating its meaning, not praising its excellence, only asking where it is. Coming along the whole road, what he wanted was always that one thing itself.

37. Śakra answers that it is sealed with a seal of the seven jewels and cannot be opened. Prajñā is right in this dais, in the golden tablets on the great couch of the seven jewels and the small couch of four jewels; and yet 「曇無竭菩薩以七寶印印之，我等不能得開以示汝」 tr. "the bodhisattva Dharmodgata has sealed it with a seal of the seven jewels; we cannot open it to show you". Close before his eyes and yet not to be opened—at this point in seeking the Dharma another pass is set up. And the key to this pass is not with the lord of the heavens but with Dharmodgata; the sūtra text thereby of itself pushes him toward the Dharma teacher. The Dharma sought and the person one should draw near to here become one.

38. The requisites of offering are divided into two portions. 「華香、瓔珞、幡蓋分作二分：一分供養《般若波羅蜜》，一分供養法座上曇無竭菩薩。」 tr. "Flowers and incense, necklaces, banners and canopies were divided into two portions: one portion as an offering to the Prajñāpāramitā, one portion as an offering to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata on the Dharma seat." The Dharma and the person are offered to together, neither neglected: to make offerings only to the person makes the Dharma light; to make offerings only to the Dharma is not to know where the Dharma comes from. This dividing is exactly the making real of the two sentences the buddhas taught, 「於是佛法中，倍應恭敬」 tr. "toward this Buddha-Dharma you should redouble your reverence" and 「於善知識中，應生如佛想」 tr. "toward the good friend you should give rise to the notion of a Buddha".

39. They make offerings to Dharmodgata, and the flowers and incense transform into a dais, a tent, a canopy, and banners; the five hundred women all arouse the mind of awakening. Having first made offerings to prajñā, 「然後到曇無竭菩薩所」 tr. "then they went to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata"; seeing him seated on the Dharma seat, they scatter flowers and incense, necklaces, pounded incense, scented ointment, gold, silver, jewelled flowers, banners and canopies, and jewelled garments upon his body, 「為法故供養」 tr. "making offerings for the sake of the Dharma". And the things scattered do not fall to the ground: the flowers and incense and jewelled garments 「於曇無竭菩薩上虛空中化成華臺」 tr. "in the sky above the bodhisattva Dharmodgata transformed into a flower dais", the powdered sandalwood, jewel-dust, gold, silver, and jewelled flowers 「化成寶帳」 tr. "transformed into a jewelled tent", the jewelled garments scattered above the jewelled tent 「化為寶蓋」 tr. "transformed into a jewelled canopy", and from the four sides of the jewelled canopy 「垂諸寶幡」 tr. "hung all kinds of jewelled banners". All who saw it were greatly glad and thought: 「未曾有也！曇無竭大師神德乃爾！行菩薩道時，神通力尚能如是，何況得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提時！」 tr. "Never before has there been such a thing! The divine virtue of the great teacher Dharmodgata reaches even to this! While he practises the bodhisattva path his supernormal power can be like this—how much more when he obtains anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi!" The one phrase 「何況」 tr. "how much more" leads what is seen before the eyes toward the fruit not yet seen—this is the road by which faith arises from a matter. So the elder's daughter and the five hundred women 「清淨信心敬重曇無竭菩薩，皆發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心」 tr. "revering the bodhisattva Dharmodgata with pure faith, all aroused the mind of anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi". And the vow they make takes Dharmodgata as its pattern in every phrase: as he has obtained the bodhisattva's many deep dharmas, as he makes offerings to prajñāpāramitā, as he in the great assembly expounds and reveals the meaning of prajñāpāramitā, as he has obtained prajñāpāramitā and the power of skilful means, accomplished the supernormal powers, and attained mastery in the affairs of a bodhisattva—「我等亦當如是」 tr. "so too should we be". The four occurrences of the Chinese character 「如」 tr. "as" are the four matters they saw: understanding, offering, teaching, and using. When the arousing of the mind has a concrete person to emulate, the vow does not fall into emptiness.

40. Bowing with head and face at his feet, standing to one side, he speaks. The offerings finished, 「頭面禮曇無竭菩薩，合掌恭敬，一面立。一面立已，白曇無竭菩薩言」 tr. "they bowed with head and face to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, joined their palms in reverence, and stood to one side. Having stood to one side, he addressed the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, saying". The sūtra text, untiring, writes 「一面立」 tr. "stood to one side" over again, precisely so that one looks at the order of this courtesy: bowing at the feet, joining the palms, standing settled, and only then opening the mouth. The courtesy of seeking the Dharma fully done, what is asked is then weighty.

41. He sets out the whole course of his seeking of the Dharma—the voice in the sky, the seven days of weeping, the appearing of the Buddha's body, the journey east, the samādhis, the buddhas comforting him and vanishing. He tells the events of the previous two units over again to Dharmodgata: in a secluded forest he heard the voice in the sky teach him to go east; not long after going east he regretted not having asked 「我當何處去？去是遠近？當從誰聞？」 tr. "Where should I go? Is the place I am going far or near? From whom should I hear it?"; whereupon he greatly sorrowed and wept, 「於是處住七日七夜」 tr. "and stayed in that place seven days and seven nights", and because of his sorrow did not even think of food and drink, but only thought 「我何時當得聞般若波羅蜜？」 tr. "When shall I be able to hear prajñāpāramitā?"; thinking of prajñā with one mind, he saw the Buddha's body in the sky, which taught him 「大欲、大精進心莫放捨」 tr. "do not let go of your mind of great desire and great vigour", pointed out to him his destination, the City of Many Fragrances five hundred yojanas away, and the person, named Dharmodgata, and further said 「是菩薩世世是汝善知識，常守護汝」 tr. "this bodhisattva has life after life been your good friend and always protects you"; having received the teaching, he went east, with no other thought; halfway along he stopped and 「於一切法中得無礙知見、得觀諸法性等諸三昧現在前」 tr. "obtained unobstructed knowledge and vision within all dharmas, and the samādhi of contemplating the nature of dharmas and all kinds of other samādhis appeared before him", and dwelling in these samādhis he saw immeasurable asaṃkhyeya buddhas of the ten directions proclaiming prajñā; the buddhas praised what he had obtained as being like their own of old, widely taught the essentials of the Dharma, and having comforted him, suddenly vanished; arising from samādhi he gave rise to the doubt 「諸佛從何處來？去至何所？」 tr. "From where do the buddhas come? Where do they go?", greatly sorrowed, and then thought of Dharmodgata, 「是我善知識，守護我」 tr. "he is my good friend and protects me", and that he should ask him about this matter. This retelling and the text of the previous two units are the inside and outside of each other—there the sūtra text narrates from outside; here the person concerned tells it himself from the beginning. And reading the two against each other, what most deserves attention is what he chooses and leaves out in telling it himself: of the glory of seeing the buddhas in samādhi he says little; of the straits of weeping for seven days he hides nothing; all that he records along the road is ‘how I went from not knowing to knowing’. One who seeks the Dharma, telling his own story, does not make a ledger of merits; he makes a record of the journey.

42. He asks directly the place from which the buddhas come and the place to which they go—having known it, never to part from seeing the buddhas. At the end he asks directly: 「我今問大師」 tr. "Now I ask the great teacher", and what he asks is 「是諸佛何處來、去至何處？」 tr. "From where do these buddhas come, and where do they go?" And why he needs to know, the sūtra text itself brings out: 「當為我說諸佛所從來、所至處，令我得知；知已，亦常不離見諸佛！」 tr. "Please proclaim to me the place from which the buddhas come and the place to which they go, so that I may come to know it; and having known it, may I too never part from seeing the buddhas!"—to ask about coming and going is not to satisfy a bout of curiosity but to obtain a 「常不離見」 tr. "never parting from seeing". Seeing the buddhas within samādhi and losing them on coming out of concentration is because what is seen is tied to the concentration; if one knows the real mark of the buddhas' coming and going, the seeing is not tied to concentration, and therefore it is said ‘never parting from seeing’. This question is both the conclusion of his austerities along the whole road and the closing gate of the doctrine of the whole chapter—and the answer comes after it; this unit lays down its brush here. The sūtra text ends with a question, and the reader too should carry this question as he goes on.

Do Not Misread

Do not read 「不見有法出三昧、入三昧者」 tr. "they do not see any dharma that emerges from samādhi or enters samādhi" as saying that samādhi is useless. The place where the buddhas speak this sentence is exactly after they themselves 「得是諸三昧，善入般若波羅蜜，成就方便力，住阿鞞跋致地」 tr. "obtained these samādhis, were well able to enter prajñāpāramitā, accomplished the power of skilful means, and dwelt on the ground of avaivartika"; what is broken is the grasping at the mark of samādhi, not samādhi itself. To obtain and not grasp, and not to obtain, are two different things.

Do not take 「倍應恭敬愛念」 tr. "you should redouble your reverence and love" and 「不念有是諸法」 tr. "not thinking that these dharmas exist" as two sets of teaching and choose one. The sūtra text puts them in the same speech, with no words of turning between them. Not thinking is not grasping at marks toward dharmas; reverence is not forgetting kindness toward conditions. To take ‘since everything is empty, why make offerings?’ as penetration is exactly the misreading this passage most guards against.

Do not read the selling of the body as the sūtra text urging people to destroy the body. The sūtra text writes of his cutting himself, and also writes of the elder's daughter's 「莫自困苦其身」 tr. "do not afflict your own body", of Śakra's 「我實不用人心、血、髓，但來相試」 tr. "I in fact have no need of a human heart, blood, or marrow; I came only to test you", and of his body being 「即平復，無有瘡瘢」 tr. "at once restored, without sore or scar". Looking at the three places together, one can know that what is prized is that one thought of not sparing, not that one stroke of the knife. To take this passage as proof of austerities and imitate the deed is to take its traces and lose its mind.

Do not read evil Māra's screening as an outer force being able to cut off a person's roots of goodness. What Māra can do is only 「隱蔽諸婆羅門、居士，令不聞其自賣聲」 tr. "to screen the brahmins and householders, so that they did not hear the sound of his selling himself"—it obstructs his conditions; it cannot obstruct his aim; and moreover 「除一長者女，魔不能蔽」 tr. "only an elder's daughter Māra could not screen". Hindrance can make the matter slow; it cannot make the mind retreat; and if the mind does not retreat, the conditions in the end come of themselves.

Do not read the refusal of 「與我阿耨多羅三藐三菩提」 tr. "give me anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi" as the lord of the heavens being stingy. Śakra himself says 「此非我力所辦，是諸佛境界」 tr. "this is not something my power can accomplish; this is the domain of the buddhas", and still keeps his promise, saying 「必相供養，更索餘願」 tr. "since I must make you an offering, ask for another wish". What is distinguished here is the reach of power, not the willingness or unwillingness of the mind—awakening is from the first not obtained from another's hand, and this refusal is, on the contrary, true speech.

Do not read the elder's daughter's long account as repetition in the sūtra text. Before, it was the narrator speaking; this time, it is she telling it to parents who did not see the matter; precisely because she tells it from beginning to end, her parents permit the five hundred attendant maidens and carriages full of precious things to go along. The fullness of the retelling is the reality of her arousing of the mind, and is also the gate by which this family enters into an affinity with the Dharma.

Do not read the final question as having already obtained its answer. This unit stops at the place of the question; the answer comes after it. The sūtra text closes its brush with a question so that the reader first asks this question in earnest—from where do the buddhas come, and where do they go; if one has no such doubt in one's own mind, the answer in the later text will be only a passage of words.

Bearing on Practice

Use 「不念有是諸法」 tr. "not thinking that these dharmas exist" to check where one's own practice has gained strength. Whenever one's practice has a little attainment, a little accord, first take this sentence of the buddhas and shine it on oneself: can the dharma obtained be thought of or not? Who is it that emerges and enters? If, as soon as there is something obtained, one wants to hold on to it, wants to tell people, wants to use it to prove something, that thought is grasping at marks. Only when one obtains and can not think of it does the attainment become provisions for the path.

Use 「於善知識中，應生如佛想」 tr. "toward the good friend you should give rise to the notion of a Buddha" to set the measure of drawing near. Giving rise to the notion of a Buddha is not worshipping a person as a Buddha; it is giving rise, toward the Dharma he transmits, to the notion of the Buddha-Dharma, and toward the kindness of his protection, to the notion that it is hard to repay. The words of weighing say that offerings exhausting the three-thousand world 「未能報須臾之恩」 tr. "still could not repay his kindness of a single moment", exactly to guard against the mind of ‘I have already made enough offerings’. Make offerings as before; do not hold the notion that repaying kindness is finished.

Use Sadāprarudita's account to cut off the thought of sparing the body. When one wants to apply effort and the body fears hardship and the matter fears difficulty, take up his counting of himself in this passage: this body has from beginningless time been lost countless times to death, to sale, to desire—when has it ever once been lost to the Dharma? There is no need to imitate his cutting his body; one need only recognise this account—a share of strength used on the Dharma is, among those countless times, the first time it is used in its proper place.

Use 「除一長者女，魔不能蔽」 tr. "only an elder's daughter Māra could not screen" to hold a mind that does not retreat. When one sets out to do a Dharma matter and it fails at every turn and no one responds, remember that what one meets is mostly obstructing conditions and not severing conditions: conditions can be screened; the aim cannot be screened; and within the screening one thread is always left. When it does not succeed, do not change one's cry; when one has cried long, a hearer of itself comes down from the upper storey.

Use the elder's daughter's two questions to learn to be one who hears the Dharma. Her first question asked about the cause and condition, her second about the merit and benefit—and through this a whole passage of Buddha-Dharma was drawn out, and the arousing of the mind by five hundred people was drawn out too. Hearing the Dharma is not sitting quietly and enjoying it; asking well is itself helping the Dharma. When one meets a person and a matter worth asking about, be willing to come down from the upper storey and willing to open one's mouth, and the Dharma comes out from there.

Use 「分作二分」 tr. "divided into two portions" to hold the twofold reverence for the Dharma and the person. In training, one either leans toward the scrolls of the sūtra and makes light of the person who teaches the Dharma, or leans toward the teacher and is remote from the teaching of the sūtras. Take this section as a constant lesson: the requisites of offering divided into two portions, one portion to the Dharma, one portion to the person; when reading the sūtra think of the person who transmits the Dharma; when drawing near to the teacher think of the Dharma transmitted; neglect neither.

Use the final question to nurture one's own doubt. What is most to be feared in seeking the path is to have no doubt; next most is to have doubt and make up one's own explanation. Not seeing the buddhas, he gave rise to doubt; doubting, he did not explain it for himself and did not retreat, but only kept in mind that he must go and ask the good friend—this is the right use of doubt. If in one's mind there is a true question one cannot answer oneself, there is no need to hurry to smooth it over; holding it and seeking is exactly the place of practice.

Further Resonances

This unit is sūtra from end to end, with no treatise explanation following it; the treatise-author's explanation lies in the next unit, and all the sections narrated in this passage—the deeds of Māra and his transformations, the selling of the heart and the buying of the heart, the elder's daughter's arousing of the mind, the deep clinging to the mark of the Buddha—are brought out there one by one in question and answer, and are not anticipated here. As to the momentum of the sūtra text itself, the whole passage starts from the buddhas' comforting, passes through the arising of doubt, the selling of the body, the meeting with the test, the obtaining of wealth, the journey east, and the offerings, and stops at the one question 「是諸佛何處來、去至何處」 tr. "from where do these buddhas come, and where do they go"—the question already set up and the answer not yet come forth; so the end of this unit is not the completion of a passage but the opening of the latter half of the whole chapter. And the answer to this question is not exhausted within this chapter; Dharmodgata's direct answer to the meaning of coming and going lies in the chapters following this one, and the reader should look at them together before seeing head and tail.

Of the explanations of the ancient masters, one school can be recorded for this passage. Jizang, in Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra, divides the sūtra text from here on into sections, making the place where, not seeing the buddhas, he gives rise to doubt the second major section, saying: 「見諸佛下，大段第二、更勸尋善友求般若也。」 tr. "From ‘seeing the buddhas’ onward is the second major section: he is further urged to seek out the good friend and seek prajñā." Below this he marks a heading for each section: 「復作是念下，第二、賣身供養。」 tr. "From ‘again he had this thought’ onward is the second: selling his body to make offerings." 「時有長者女下，第三、值善友得財物也。」 tr. "From ‘at that time there was an elder's daughter’ onward is the third: meeting a good friend and obtaining wealth." 「是時長者女下，第四、正法香城，為法尋善友也。」 tr. "From ‘at this time the elder's daughter’ onward is the fourth: the Fragrant City of the true Dharma—seeking out the good friend for the sake of the Dharma." 「既入城下，第五、到所至處。」 tr. "From ‘having entered the city’ onward is the fifth: arriving at the place he was going to." 「因曇無竭言下，第六、自護求法請決疑也。」 tr. "From ‘because of Dharmodgata's words’ onward is the sixth: guarding himself in seeking the Dharma, and requesting the resolution of his doubt." This agrees with the sequence of the sūtra text in this treatise and can be consulted alongside it. His explanation of why the requisites of offering had to be prepared brings out three meanings, saying: 「一、為他人見其遠來，空無有物，則不生喜心，故須供養具；二者、欲引導眾人，其是貧窮，尚辦供養等，云何而不行耶？二者、欲明般若，檀為其初。」 tr. "First, because when others see him come from afar empty-handed with nothing at all, they do not give rise to a joyful mind, so requisites of offering are needed; second, he wishes to guide the many—he is poor and still provides offerings and so on, so how could they not practise? Second, he wishes to make clear that of prajñā, dāna is the beginning." [Note: its text itself has 「二者」 tr. "second" repeated; it is recorded as it is, without change.] Further, he sets a question and answer himself to explain his poverty: 「問：常啼得六萬三昧，見十方佛，何故貧耶？答：其人雖有見佛之緣，過去復少罪，生貧窮家，故無財物；二者、雖生富家，去家遠，在深山學道，故不取財物也。」 tr. "Question: Ever Weeping obtained sixty thousand samādhis and saw the buddhas of the ten directions; why was he poor? Answer: although that person had the conditions for seeing the Buddha, in the past he also had a small offence, and was born into a poor household, so he had no wealth; second, although he was born into a rich household, he was far from home, training in the path in the deep mountains, so he did not take wealth." His explanation of what Māra did says: 「問：魔何故不煞常啼而惱亂之耶？答：魔不減其壽命，但破其求佛心也。」 tr. "Question: why did Māra not kill Ever Weeping but harass him instead? Answer: Māra does not reduce his lifespan; he only breaks his mind of seeking buddhahood." He further explains why Māra did not come before but comes now, saying: 「爾時未得諸三昧，未能決定忘身，故不能動魔」 tr. "at that time he had not yet obtained the samādhis and could not yet decisively forget his body, so he could not move Māra", and closes it with 「將出魔境，將入道門，故魔來也」 tr. "he was about to leave Māra's domain and about to enter the gate of the path, so Māra came". His explanation of why the elder's daughter alone heard the sound of his selling himself lists three explanations: 「一解：是人不死因緣故其得聞。二解：是法尚神力今其得取。三云：與常啼宿世善友，善根既深魔不能弊也。」 tr. "One explanation: this person had the causes and conditions of not dying, so she got to hear. A second explanation: it was Dharma-Esteeming's supernormal power that now let her obtain it. The third says: she had been Ever Weeping's good friend in past lives; her roots of goodness being deep, Māra could not obstruct her."—「法尚」 tr. "Dharma-Esteeming" is the one this treatise calls Dharmodgata, a variant-translation name within one line of the sūtra text. He further explains why Śakra, already knowing his mind, still came to test him, saying: 「天主但知世人心，世人以作佛必非其知」 tr. "the lord of the gods knows only the minds of worldly people; that a worldly person would become a Buddha is surely beyond his knowing", and brings out a second explanation, saying: 「雖知其心，為欲發起眾人示希有事故誡也。」 tr. "Though he knew his mind, it was in order to rouse the many and show them a rare matter that he admonished him." On the meaning of the prajñā written on tablets of gold, he first cites the treatise's explanation, saying: 「善根深人者，從曇無竭聞般若；善根淺者，從經卷中，故有金牒書般若也。」 tr. "People whose roots of goodness are deep hear prajñā from Dharmodgata; those whose roots of goodness are shallow, from the scrolls of the sūtra; therefore there is the prajñā written on tablets of gold." And on the meaning of the seal of the seven jewels he lists two explanations, one taking the seal to be in Dharmodgata's hand, the other taking it that 「是求佛道七大神王，如金剛神之類，守護金牒，不令魔等，改汎其文，故言七印也」 tr. "these are seven great spirit-kings who seek the Buddha path, of the kind of the vajra spirits, guarding the golden tablets so that Māra and the like do not alter its text; therefore it speaks of seven seals". Of these explanations, some take a meaning close to what this treatise says, and some are not found in this treatise; all are the explanations of one school, recorded side by side without judgement. The extant portion of Huiying's Commentary stops at the earlier part of this treatise and does not reach this chapter; there is no explanatory text of his to cite for this passage, and the gap is marked according to the facts, not filled with text from elsewhere; Junzheng's book is not in the form of a chapter-by-chapter sectional commentary and has nothing touching this chapter. The variant titles in the various editions bearing on the chapter of this passage, and matters of collation, are detailed in the apparatus layer.

Sadāprarudita, Fascicle 98, Treatise Section: Why the Buddhas, at the Very Place Where He Obtained the Samādhis, Instead Teach That the Samādhis Have No Real Substance; Why, Having Already Heard That Dharmodgata Is His Good Friend Life after Life, He Asks Again Who His Good Friend Is; Why, Having Earlier Wept for Seven Days, He Now Does Not Grieve When He No Longer Sees the Buddhas; Why, Offering the Dharma Being the Higher, He Still Seeks Flowers and Incense; Why a Great Bodhisattva Is Poor, and Why, of the Two Kinds of Poverty, Poverty in the Dharma Is the Most Shameful; Why the Doubt as to Who Buys Him When He Sells Himself Is Answered by Saying That Giving Up the Body Is Itself a Great Offering; Why Māra Comes to Ruin Him and Why He Does Not Kill Him; Why a Mind Not Yet Settled Cannot Move Māra; Why the Names Brahmin and Householder Must Be Distinguished Just Here; Why the Elder's Daughter Alone Could Hear the Voice; Why Śakra, Having Obtained the Knowledge of Others' Minds, Still Has to Come and Test Him; Why False Speech Does Not Become an Offence Here; Why Great Benefit and the Foremost Benefit Must Be Distinguished Step by Step; Why the Elder's Daughter Comes Only When He Breaks His Body and Draws Out the Marrow; Why the Five Explanations of the Unsurpassed Dharma Jewel Stand Side by Side without Judgement; How He Could Teach the Dharma for Others While Cutting His Body; How the Wounds Could Be Made Whole as Before; Why, Having First Said to Ask Her for It, She Changes to Saying to Ask Her Parents; Why the Elder, on Once Hearing the Buddha's Merits, Could Send His Daughter Off; Why Dharmodgata, Having Already Mastered It, Needs a Terrace of the Seven Jewels to Write Out the Scroll of the Sūtra; Why He First Goes to the Terrace and Only Afterwards Bows to the Person; Why Arousing the Mind on Seeing Supernormal Power and Majestic Virtue Does Not Go against the Bodhisattva's Dharma of First Giving Rise to a Compassionate Mind; Why Relying on Love to Sever Love and Relying on Pride to Sever Pride Is Not Taking the Afflictions as the Path; Why, in the Final Explanation, One Who Has Obtained the Great Samādhis Still Grasps at the Mark of a Buddha and Gives Rise to Deep Love and Clinging

What Is Being Asked

This segment is the treatise-author's explanatory text on the long story of seeking the Dharma that precedes it. Anyone can read the story itself through—going east, weeping, selling himself, cutting his flesh, the elder's daughter arousing the mind, the terrace of the seven jewels, seeing Dharmodgata—but being able to read it through is not the same as understanding it. What the treatise-author does is precisely to drag out, one by one, the places that are ‘readable, yet in fact without footing’ and ask about them. The whole segment has twenty-three rounds of question and answer, together with fifteen places where divergent explanations are set out side by side (「有人言」 tr. "someone says" fourteen times, 「又人言」 tr. "again someone says" once); what is asked is not the plot of the story but the Dharma beneath the plot.

The very first question is asked at the place that looks smoothest. Sadāprarudita had already heard from the mouth of the conjured buddha 「曇無竭是汝世世善知識」 tr. "Dharmodgata is your good friend life after life", yet now, seeing the buddhas of the ten directions, he asks again 「何等是我善知識」 tr. "Who is my good friend?"—since he already knows, why ask again? The treatise-author's answer is only two sentences: one says that the Buddha commanded that toward the good friend one should redouble one's reverence; the other says that he wished to hear Dharmodgata's merits in person before the buddhas of the ten directions, so as to make his own faith firm and free of doubt. When one who seeks the Dharma asks once more about a matter already known, it is not a bad memory; it is that faith has to be set up once again before the highest of witnesses.

The next question shows its sense of measure still more. Earlier, he had only heard the voice in the sky and did not manage to ask, and so he wept for seven days; now the buddhas of the ten directions appear and vanish again, yet he is not greatly grieved, and only thinks with one mind of when he will see Dharmodgata. If this contrast between before and after is not asked about, the reader takes it only as the rise and fall of the story. The treatise-author's answer connects it back to the Dharma: earlier he had only the fleshly eye and had not yet obtained samādhi, so his clinging mind was heavy and he wept; now he has obtained the power of the samādhis and has also seen the buddhas of the ten directions, his afflictions have become slight and thin, and his clinging mind has already parted, and so he does not weep. Weeping and not weeping measure the depth of the mind-ground, not the rise and fall of emotion.

Further on, what the treatise-author asks is almost all of one type: this person is plainly already thus, so why would he still be like that?—Having obtained the power of samādhi, why does he not turn back and enter samādhi to ask the buddhas himself, but runs off to ask a person? Since he does not cling to worldly matters, why does he belittle himself as poor and seek flowers and incense? Being a great bodhisattva who can see the buddhas of the ten directions, why is he poor? Since he does not cherish his body, why does he still grieve when he cries out three times and no one buys? Śakra knows the minds of others by what he has obtained as retribution, so why must he still come to test him? Śakra is a great heavenly king, so why does he lie? Having already cut and severed his own body, how can he still teach the elder's daughter so much of the Buddha-Dharma? The flesh having already been cut, how can it be made whole as before? Since Dharmodgata has already mastered and retains prajñā, why use a terrace of the seven jewels to write out the scroll of the sūtra?—Every question points to the same sickness in reading: taking a state already accomplished as a fixed label stuck on a person, and then using the label to measure the plot that follows. The treatise-author's way of answering is uniformly to divide into layers: this person is accomplished in this layer and not yet accomplished in that layer; at this time his mind is not yet settled, at that time his mind is already settled; for himself it is not needed, for beings it is needed.

There is another line of questions and answers, which asks not about the person but about the marks of dharmas. At the moment when he cries out three times and no one buys, the treatise-author suddenly stops to distinguish the names 「婆羅門」 tr. "brahmin" and 「居士」 tr. "householder"—one who has received the precepts is named a brahmin, all others are commonly named householders, and this householder is 「居舍之士」 tr. "a gentleman who dwells in a house", not the householder among the four castes. When Śakra comes to test him and Sadāprarudita, rejoicing, says of himself 「我得大利」 tr. "I have obtained a great benefit", the treatise-author distinguishes great benefit and the foremost benefit step by step, giving six pairs in all, ranging from the avaivartika and the Buddha path all the way to the bodhisattva ground and the Buddha ground. When the elder's daughter asks what benefit he will obtain and Sadāprarudita answers with the unsurpassed Dharma Jewel, the treatise-author sets side by side five 「有人言」 tr. "someone says": the Dharma Jewel among the Three Jewels, the eighty-four thousand collections of the Dharma, anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, nirvāṇa, and the path to nirvāṇa—set side by side and not judged. This kind of question and answer pins down the names and marks that flash past in the story, so that they have a definite boundary of meaning to rely on.

The final question is the eye of the whole segment. Sadāprarudita has already obtained the great samādhis of breaking ignorance, of contemplating the nature of dharmas, and the rest; why does he still not know emptiness, but grasp at the mark of a Buddha and give rise to deep love and clinging? The treatise-author answers with the utmost honesty: a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind, although he can know by the general mark that dharmas are empty and signless, because he deeply loves and clings to the buddhas, 「不能解佛相畢竟空，雖知空而不能與空合」 tr. "cannot understand that the mark of a Buddha is ultimately empty; though he knows emptiness he cannot be united with emptiness". Knowing emptiness and being united with emptiness are two matters. This one sentence points out at a stroke the station of the whole story of seeking the Dharma—what Sadāprarudita practises is the practice of a person who knows emptiness but is not yet united with emptiness; he is able not to cherish his body precisely because he clings; and he still has to ask 「諸佛從何所來」 tr. "From where do the buddhas come?" also precisely because he clings. The questions and answers of the whole segment are gathered up here, and the answer to what is asked lies in the next chapter.

Passage by Passage

1. The buddhas teach the Dharma, and Sadāprarudita's mind rejoices and his intent is fulfilled. As he begins his explanation the treatise-author first sets down a sentence that holds the whole: 「薩陀波崙渴仰欲聞般若故，見十方諸佛為大眾說法，其心歡喜、其意得滿。」 tr. "Because Sadāprarudita thirsted and yearned to hear prajñā, he saw the buddhas of the ten directions teaching the Dharma for the great assembly; his mind rejoiced, and his intent was fulfilled." The reader must keep an eye on what the two Chinese characters 「渴仰」 tr. "thirsted and yearned" are tied to: it is 「欲聞般若」 tr. "to hear prajñā", not wishing to see the buddhas. What he rejoices in is that the Dharma is about to be obtainable, not that a state has appeared before him; the ground on which the buddhas below set about breaking his clinging to the samādhis lies right here: his original vow was from the first in the Dharma.

2. Because his power of faith is firm and his vigour hard to shake, the buddhas console him and praise him. The treatise-author points out the reason for the buddhas' consolation as lying in 「信力堅固、精進難動」 tr. "his power of faith was firm and his vigour hard to shake". The words of consolation are 「善哉！我本初行菩薩道求般若時，亦如汝今。汝莫憂愁自謂福薄！」 tr. "Excellent! When I first practised the bodhisattva path and sought prajñā, I too was as you are now. Do not grieve, calling yourself of thin merit!"—the buddhas do not say that he is already very good, but that I too was like this at the beginning. For anyone who feels himself to be of thin merit, the most powerful remedy is not praise but the testimony of one who has gone ahead on the same road. This way of speaking the reader can take up directly when encouraging people in daily life.

3. The buddhas teach him that when one searches for the nature of the samādhis, no real substance is seen. This is the first reversal of the whole segment. Sadāprarudita 「大得諸三昧力，其心深著」 tr. "greatly obtained the power of the samādhis, and his mind clung to them deeply"; the buddhas do not go along with his joy and add praise, but instead tell him 「求諸三昧性，不見實體，亦不見入三昧、出三昧者」 tr. "when one searches for the nature of the samādhis, no real substance is seen, nor is anyone seen who enters a samādhi or comes out of a samādhi", and the principle relied on is 「眾生空、法空故」 tr. "because beings are empty and dharmas are empty". Look clearly: what is broken is not samādhi but the mind that clings to samādhi; the medicine used is no other dharma but precisely the two emptinesses he can already know by the general mark. For anyone who gives rise to clinging toward a dharma he has obtained, the remedy has always lain in the dharma he himself already knows.

4. The buddhas briefly teach him the mark of prajñāpāramitā. The mark of prajñā the buddhas point out with only one passage: 「不念有是法，所謂一切法無相故不可念著。我等住是無所念法中，能具足六波羅蜜；具足六波羅蜜故，得佛金色身。」 tr. "Do not think that this dharma exists; that is, because all dharmas are signless, they cannot be thought of and clung to. We, abiding in this dharma of recollecting nothing, are able to be complete with the six perfections; because we are complete with the six perfections, we obtain the golden body of a Buddha." There is a gradation in these words that may not be passed over—recollecting nothing is not doing nothing at all; it is being able, within recollecting nothing, to be complete with the six perfections, and only after being complete with the six perfections is there the body of a Buddha. If 「不念」 tr. "do not think" is read as stopping everything, then the six perfections and the golden body both have nowhere to stand. At the end the treatise-author ties its source with 「如經中說」 tr. "as said in the sūtra", and records 「諸佛教化利喜，安慰其心」 tr. "the buddhas taught and transformed him, caused him to obtain benefit and joy, and consoled his mind".

5. The question: having already heard that Dharmodgata is his good friend life after life, why does he ask again who his good friend is? The treatise-author's first question asks about the repeated question. What he takes up is what the conjured buddha said earlier, 「曇無竭是汝世世善知識」 tr. "Dharmodgata is your good friend life after life", together with the present question 「何等是我善知識」 tr. "Who is my good friend?" Whenever the treatise-author sets up a question about a repeated sentence, he is reminding the reader: the sūtra text writes no idle strokes, and where something is repeated there is always a purpose.

6. The answer: because he should redouble his reverence, and because he wished to hear Dharmodgata's merits in the presence of the buddhas of the ten directions so as to make his faith firm. The answer has two layers: one layer is tied to the Buddha's command—「以佛勅於善知識中倍應恭敬愛念故」 tr. "because the Buddha commanded him that toward the good friend he should redouble his reverence and loving regard"; one layer is tied to his own mind—wishing to hear Dharmodgata's merits in person in the presence of the buddhas of the ten directions, 「欲自令信心堅固不疑故問」 tr. "he asked because he wished to make his own faith firm and free of doubt". The second layer is most worth taking as a model: knowing a matter and being able to trust a matter are two layers; one whose faith is insufficient should ask once more at the most trustworthy place—this is not superfluous; it is the work of turning knowing into faith.

7. The answer of the buddhas of the ten directions, and the meaning of the buddhas' assisting and guiding. Explaining why the buddhas of the ten directions were willing to answer, the treatise-author gives a general rule: 「薩陀波崙是曇無竭所度因緣人故，諸佛佐助示導。」 tr. "Sadāprarudita is a person whose causes and conditions are to be delivered by Dharmodgata, so the buddhas assisted and guided him." He also extends it: 「或有諸菩薩佐助佛所應度者，令至佛所。」 tr. "Or there are bodhisattvas who assist those whom a Buddha is to deliver, causing them to reach the Buddha's presence." This mutual help, going one way and coming the other, shows that delivering and transforming is not each acting on his own: one who has an affinity with this person leads the way for that one, and one who has an affinity with that person leads the way for this one. Here the reader can resolve the doubt ‘why is my good friend not the Buddha but a certain person?’

8. The question: earlier he wept for seven days; why now, no longer seeing the buddhas of the ten directions, is he instead not grieved? The treatise-author sets the earlier and later conduct side by side as a question: then, 「上聞虛空聲不問故，七日啼哭」 tr. "above, when he heard the voice in the sky, because he had not asked, he wept for seven days"; now, no longer seeing the buddhas of the ten directions, he is 「不大憂愁、更求見佛，但欲於曇無竭所問諸佛去來事」 tr. "not greatly grieved and does not seek again to see the buddhas, but wishes only to ask, in Dharmodgata's presence, about the coming and going of the buddhas". This question is asked with great fineness—the same person, with what he seeks equally absent, why are his reactions opposite?

9. The answer: earlier he had only the fleshly eye; now he has obtained the power of samādhi and his afflictions are slight and thin. The answer ties each of the two reactions to its cause: earlier, 「但有肉眼，未得三昧，以深心信著善法故，大啼哭」 tr. "he had only the fleshly eye and had not yet obtained samādhi; because in his deep mind he believed in and clung to wholesome dharmas, he wept greatly"; now, 「得諸三昧力，又見十方佛，諸煩惱微薄，著心已離故」 tr. "because he has obtained the power of the samādhis and has also seen the buddhas of the ten directions, his afflictions have become slight and thin, and his clinging mind has already parted", so he only thinks with one mind: 「我當何時見曇無竭？」 tr. "When shall I see Dharmodgata?" Take note of the four Chinese characters 「信著善法」 tr. "believed in and clung to wholesome dharmas"—the root of the weeping lay not in sorrow but in clinging; when the clinging lessens, the weeping stops, and the vow remains. A practitioner need not take his being unable to weep as retreat, nor may he take his being able to weep as progress.

10. The question: having obtained the power of samādhi, why does he not turn back and enter samādhi to ask the buddhas himself, but wishes to ask Dharmodgata? The treatise-author presses one question further: since he has the power to see the buddhas of the ten directions, would it not be straight and quick to enter concentration himself and ask? Why seek a person? This question is raised on the reader's behalf; anyone who, relying on having a small share of concentration and wisdom, makes light of seeking a teacher is thinking precisely this question.

11. The answer: the buddhas of the ten directions, by all kinds of causes and conditions, praised Dharmodgata as his teacher life after life. The answer offers no theory and points only to the fact: since the buddhas of the ten directions had already, by all kinds of causes and conditions, praised him, saying 「曇無竭世世是汝師」 tr. "Dharmodgata has been your teacher life after life", to ask the teacher is precisely to follow the buddhas' teaching. From this the reader can know: having the ability to ask oneself and properly relying on a teacher are two different matters; where one's own power reaches, one does not abandon taking support—this is the rule of seeking the Dharma.

12. He recollects that Dharmodgata is a cause and condition of his former lives, and so gives rise to reverence and honour. Here the treatise-author separates two layers of the mind's conduct: 「以有大功德故尊重，是先世因緣故恭敬愛樂。」 tr. "Because he had great merit, he honoured him; because he was a cause and condition of his former lives, he revered, loved, and delighted in him." Honour is tied to the other's virtue; reverence, love, and delight are tied to the affinity between them. The two arise together but rest on different things—virtue everyone can revere; affinity belongs to each where it belongs. When the reader chooses teachers and friends, if these two layers are clearly separated, he will neither make light of a person's virtue nor force an affinity that is not there.

13. The question: since he does not cling to worldly matters, why does he belittle himself as poor and seek flowers and incense? The treatise-author takes up the earlier text, 「薩陀波崙不大著世間事，深愛般若波羅蜜故，愁憂啼哭」 tr. "Sadāprarudita did not greatly cling to worldly matters; because he deeply loved prajñāpāramitā, he grieved and wept", and asks why he now 「自鄙貧窮，無以供養」 tr. "belittles himself as poor, having nothing to offer". Within the question he also sets up a solution himself: 「但以好心隨師意，則是法供養，何用華香為？」 tr. "If only he follows the teacher's intent with a good mind, that is offering the Dharma; why must he use flowers and incense?" This posited solution is very forceful—it is almost exactly what an ordinary reader has in mind; the treatise-author first says it out in full, and only then answers—this is the treatise-author's habitual way of questioning: first saying the objector's words out in full for him.

14. The answer: although offering the Dharma is the higher, when worldly beings see one with nothing at all they do not give rise to a joyful mind. The first layer of the answer does not fall on himself but on the onlookers: 「世間眾生見遠來求法而空無所有，則不發喜心；以世法故，求供養具。」 tr. "When worldly beings see one who has come from afar seeking the Dharma with nothing at all, they do not give rise to a joyful mind; it is because of worldly dharmas that he seeks means of offering." One must keep an eye on the four Chinese characters 「以世法故」 tr. "because of worldly dharmas"—seeking means of offering is not because offering the Dharma is not enough, but because one must accord with what worldly people see and hear and cause them to give rise to joy. This is for others, not for oneself.

15. The answer, second: the five perfections aid prajñā, and giving is the first among them. The second layer is tied to the sequence of the Dharma: 「五波羅蜜為助般若波羅蜜法，助法中檀波羅蜜為首。」 tr. "The five perfections are dharmas that help prajñāpāramitā, and among the helping dharmas dānapāramitā is the first." So Sadāprarudita reflected: 「我得尊重福田曇無竭菩薩，當以助道法根本供養。」 tr. "I have found the honoured field of merit, the bodhisattva Dharmodgata; I should make offerings to him with the root of the dharmas that aid the path." He also had the intent of rousing the multitude: 「薩陀波崙是智人、善人，貧窮而能供養，何況我等！」 tr. "Sadāprarudita is a wise person and a good person; poor as he is, he can still make offerings—how much more we!"—that a poor person can give is precisely the most powerful encouragement. The reader may not read this layer as competing with others; what the treatise-author takes is its use as encouragement.

16. The answer, third: wholesome dharmas have different flavours at the time of practising them and at the time of reflecting on them. The third layer is the subtlest: 「諸善法行時、思惟時，其味各異；薩陀波崙欲行布施味，是故求供養具。」 tr. "Wholesome dharmas have flavours that differ from one another at the time of practising them and at the time of reflecting on them; Sadāprarudita wished to practise the flavour of giving, and therefore sought means of offering." Reflecting on giving and actually practising giving have different flavours—this sentence is a true word about practice. Anyone who excuses himself with ‘it is enough that I have this intention in my heart’ can look at himself in just this sentence.

17. The question: a great bodhisattva who can see the buddhas of the ten directions and has also obtained the deep samādhis—why is he poor? The treatise-author raises another question, asking about the mismatch between one's state and one's retribution. The reason this question must be asked is that readers mostly assume tacitly that one whose path is high must have abundant merit; if this tacit assumption is not dragged out, the two divergent explanations that follow have no use.

18. Someone says: he left home to seek the path, and although born into a rich family he went alone by himself and carried no wealth. The first explanation is tied to the outward matter: 「此人捨家求佛道，雖生富家，道里懸遠，一身獨去，不齎財物。」 tr. "This person left home to seek the Buddha path; although he was born into a rich family, the road was long and distant, he went alone by himself, and carried no wealth."—it is not that he had nothing; it is that he did not bring it. This explanation is the most plain and solid, and the reader may not make light of it because it is plain: that a person on the path has nothing on him is mostly from causes and conditions of this kind.

19. Someone says: because of small offences in former lives he was born into a poor family; and the two kinds of poverty are distinguished. The second explanation is tied to the cause in deeds: 「雖是大人，宿世小罪因緣故，生貧窮家。有雖是小人，先世少行布施因緣故，生大富家。」 tr. "Although he is a great person, because of the causes and conditions of small offences in former lives he was born into a poor family. And some, although they are small people, because of the causes and conditions of having practised a little giving in former lives, are born into greatly rich families." And it cites as proof 「如蘇陀夷、尼陀等，是諸天所供養人，而生小家」 tr. "like Sutuoyi, Nituo, and others, who were people to whom the gods made offerings, yet were born into lowly families". Below this it further sets up a boundary of meaning: 「貧有二種：一者、財貧，二者、功德法貧。功德法貧，最大可恥！財貧，好人亦有；法貧，好人所無。」 tr. "Poverty is of two kinds: first, poverty in wealth; second, poverty in the dharmas of merit. Poverty in the dharmas of merit is the greatest shame! Poverty in wealth even good people may have; poverty in the Dharma good people do not have." At the end it explains the words 「無有華香」 tr. "having no flowers and incense", saying 「無有上妙寶華，又以少故言無」 tr. "having no supremely wondrous jewelled flowers; and further, because what he had was little, it is said that he had none". Here the reader obtains a standard of judgement: what is shameful lies not in having no wealth but in having no Dharma.

20. If I go empty-handed, although the teacher has no need of it, my mind will not obtain great joy—therefore he wishes to sell himself. The treatise-author closes this section with Sadāprarudita's own thought: 「我若空往，師雖不須，我心不得大喜，是故欲賣身。」 tr. "If I go empty-handed, although the teacher has no need of it, my mind will not obtain great joy; therefore I wish to sell myself."—what offering aims at lies not in whether the teacher needs it or not, but in whether one's own mind is fulfilled or not. These words are the true starting point of the whole matter of selling himself in this segment; if the reader skips this sentence, the cutting of the body and drawing out of marrow below become a performance of austerities.

21. The question: if he sells himself to another, who is it that buys this thing to make offerings to the teacher? This question is asked very concretely: the body obtained by selling oneself already belongs to the buyer, and the buyer will not necessarily be willing to take it to make offerings—so how does the matter of selling oneself to make offerings stand in fact and in principle? The treatise-author does not dodge this objection, which comes close to quibbling, precisely because the reader will think this way in his own mind.

22. The answer: giving up the body is itself a great offering; going and staying are without any place. The first layer of the answer is only eight Chinese characters: 「捨身即是大供養，去住無在。」 tr. "Giving up the body is itself a great offering; going and staying are both without any place."—the offering is already accomplished in the one thought of giving up, and whether the body goes or stays does not hinder its accomplishment. This answer moves the place where an offering is established from the thing to the mind, and it is the pivot of the whole section; the two explanations set out side by side below (one each under 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" and 「又人言」 tr. "again someone says") supplement it on the side of the outward matter; they do not overturn this answer.

23. Someone says: he sells himself to obtain wealth and makes offerings by means of another. One explanation says 「是人賣身取財，因人供養，我為供養故，賣身為奴」 tr. "this person sells himself to obtain wealth and makes offerings by means of another person; I, for the sake of making offerings, sell myself as a slave"—the price obtained is precisely the thing offered, and the body becomes a slave in repayment. This explanation lets selling oneself and making offerings connect in the outward matter, and the reader can know that the treatise-author does not, because of the answer on the side of the mind, abandon the principle on the side of the matter.

24. Again someone says: at that time the world was good, and the master would certainly allow him to make offerings and return. Another explanation is tied to the times: 「爾時世好，人皆知法，雖自賣身，主必能聽供養而還。」 tr. "At that time the world was good, and everyone knew the Dharma; although he sold himself, his master would certainly allow him to go and make offerings and then return."—the buyer too knew the Dharma, so he would certainly permit him to go and make offerings and afterwards come back. What this explanation relies on is the custom of the time; the treatise-author sets it side by side and does not judge, and the reader need not force a ranking among the three explanations either.

25. Further, inner giving is the weightier, so he sells the inner thing. The treatise-author gives his own correct explanation: this person aroused a deep mind and wished to practise dānapāramitā, 「為供養法及法師，而無外物，唯有己身，是故賣是內物。於外、內物中，內施為重，惜之深故。是故欲不破布施願故，賣身供養。」 tr. "for the sake of making offerings to the Dharma and to the Dharma teacher he had no outer things, only his own body, and therefore he sold this inner thing. Among outer things and inner things, inner giving is the weightier, because one cherishes it more deeply. Therefore, so as not to break his vow of giving, he sold himself to make offerings." One must keep an eye on the four Chinese characters 「惜之深故」 tr. "because one cherishes it more deeply"—the reason inner giving is weighty is precisely that what is given up is what one cherishes most. The weight of a gift is not reckoned by the value of the thing but by the depth of one's cherishing; this is the true standard of judgement for dānapāramitā.

26. Here he himself states the causes and conditions of his having no regret. The treatise-author points out that the sūtra text carries its own reason for having no regret: 「我世世喪身無數，未曾為清淨法故，今為供養說法者故喪是身，大得法利。」 tr. "Life after life I have lost my body countless times, yet never for the sake of the pure Dharma; now, losing this body for the sake of making offerings to the one who teaches the Dharma, I greatly obtain the benefit of the Dharma."—it is the same losing of the body, but the former times were lost in vain, while this time there is a gain. Here the reader can see that this person is not making light of life; what he is reckoning is a very clear account.

27. With a settled mind he severs the intent of greedily cherishing his body, enters a great city, and cries out Who needs a person? The treatise-author narrates his entering the city, and points out the purpose of each step: entering a great city is 「欲得賣買如意故」 tr. "because he wished his buying and selling to go as he wished"; wishing with one mind to sell himself and crying out 「誰須人？」 tr. "Who needs a person?" is 「除羞愧、破憍慢故」 tr. "in order to remove shame and break down arrogance". To cry oneself for sale before the crowd is hard to bear as an outward matter, yet in the Dharma it is precisely a counteraction—for anyone who holds himself in esteem this step is the hardest, and the place of difficulty is the place of use.

28. The question: why does Māra wish to break his intent? The deeds of Māra suddenly break in here, and the treatise-author first asks the reason. Whenever one reads a sūtra to the place where Māra appears, it is fitting first to follow the treatise-author in asking 「何以」 tr. "why", and not to take it merely as plot.

29. The answer: Māra is always the enemy of the buddhas and bodhisattvas. The first layer of the answer is a general rule: 「魔常為諸佛、菩薩怨家，故欲來破。」 tr. "Māra is always the enemy of the buddhas and bodhisattvas, and therefore he wishes to come and ruin him."—there is no need to seek any other cause and condition; hostility is his normal state. This sentence first fixes Māra's position, and only then can what follows speak of what kind of person can be ruined and what kind cannot.

30. Further, small bodhisattvas can be ruined; those who have obtained the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas cannot be ruined. The second layer sets up a standard of judgement: 「諸小菩薩未得諸法實相，魔及惡人能壞；若得無生法忍、住諸菩薩神通力，無能破者。」 tr. "Small bodhisattvas have not yet obtained the real mark of all dharmas, and Māra and evil people can ruin them; if they have obtained the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas and abide within the supernormal power of the bodhisattvas, there is nothing that can ruin them." And it makes this clear with a simile: 「如小樹栽，小兒能破；大，不可破。」 tr. "It is like the seedling of a small tree, which a small child can ruin; once it has grown large, it cannot be ruined." From this the reader can measure himself: the reason one is easily carried off by circumstances is not that Māra's power is great, but that one is oneself still at the seedling stage.

31. Further, here he himself states the causes and conditions of Māra's ruining. The third layer is tied to the sūtra text itself: namely 「是薩陀波崙愛法故，自賣身供養般若波羅蜜及法盛菩薩，當得正聞般若波羅蜜」 tr. "This Sadāprarudita, because he loves the Dharma, sells himself to make offerings to prajñāpāramitā and to the bodhisattva Dharma Flourishing; he will rightly hear prajñāpāramitā", as is told at length in the sūtra. The reason Māra comes is precisely that this matter is about to be accomplished—the greater what is about to be accomplished, the plainer the obstruction that comes. The reader can turn these words around and use them: where obstructions appear is mostly where a matter is about to be accomplished.

32. The question: why did he not ruin him earlier, but only now screens the brahmins and householders? The treatise-author again asks about timing: when he heard the voice in the sky and saw the buddhas of the ten directions, Māra did not stir at all; why, precisely at this time, does he screen the brahmins and householders so that they do not hear his cry of sale? This question draws out the timing of the deeds of Māra, and it is the most useful question of this section.

33. The answer: a mind not yet settled cannot move Māra; now the mark of a settled mind appears, and therefore Māra is alarmed. The answer sets up three divisions: 「若菩薩心未定，未能動魔；若大菩薩其心已定，魔亦不來。薩陀波崙今欲定心出魔境界，是故魔來。」 tr. "If a bodhisattva's mind is not yet settled, he cannot yet move Māra; if he is a great bodhisattva whose mind is already settled, Māra does not come either. Sadāprarudita now, with a settled mind, is about to leave Māra's realm, and therefore Māra comes."—one who is not yet settled is not enough to alarm Māra; one who is already settled Māra cannot reach; just at the moment of turning from not yet settled to settled, Māra exerts all his strength. It is concluded with a simile: 「譬如負債人，未欲遠去，債主不遮；欲出他界，則不聽去。」 tr. "It is like a debtor: while he does not yet wish to go far away, the creditor does not block him; when he is about to leave for another realm, he is not allowed to go." This simile fits exactly: what the creditor is anxious about is not that you owe, but that you are about to leave. When a practitioner suddenly meets adverse conditions just where his effort is growing tighter, he can read this and be at peace.

34. The question: Māra has great power; why does he not kill him but only ruin him? Since he wants to obstruct him, why not kill him outright? The treatise-author knows full well that the reader will think this way, and so sets up this question.

35. The answer: Māra is not jealous of his life but only hates his mind of becoming a Buddha; and by the dharma of the gods and spirits, a person without grave offence may not be killed recklessly. The answer has two layers: one layer is tied to Māra's intent—「魔本不嫉其壽命，但憎其作佛心，是故欲壞」 tr. "Māra from the first is not jealous of his life; he only hates his mind of becoming a Buddha, and therefore wishes to ruin it"; one layer is tied to the common dharma of the gods and spirits—「人無重罪，不得妄殺，但得壞亂恐怖」 tr. "if a person has no grave offence, they may not kill him recklessly, and may only disrupt and terrify him", and it is proved by the converse: 「若神無此法，則人無活者，是故不殺。」 tr. "If spirits did not have this dharma, then no person could live; therefore he does not kill him." From this the reader learns that what Māra hates has its fixed place, and what he is able to do also has its fixed limits.

36. Distinguishing the names brahmin and householder. Here the treatise-author stops to distinguish names: 「婆羅門性中生，受戒故，名婆羅門；除此，通名居士。居士，真是居舍之士，非四姓中居士。」 tr. "One who is born in the brahmin caste and has moreover received the precepts is named a brahmin; all others are commonly named householders. What is called a householder truly means a gentleman who dwells in a house; it is not the householder among the four castes."—the householder spoken of here takes the root meaning of a gentleman who dwells in a house, not that rank in the classification of the four castes. Once the name and mark are distinguished, the people meant by 「隱蔽諸婆羅門、居士」 tr. "screened the brahmins and householders" in the preceding text are without ambiguity. Wherever the reading of a sūtra meets a single name used in two ways, the treatise-author always distinguishes it; this is one example.

37. The one exception is an elder's daughter, because she had gathered merit life after life and so Māra could not screen her. Why could one person alone hear? The treatise-author first gives the correct explanation: 「以其為佛道世世集功德故，魔不能蔽。」 tr. "Because for the sake of the Buddha path she had gathered merit life after life, Māra could not screen her."—the place Māra's power does not reach is a person's own merit. These words are most solid for the reader: what one relies on is not outer protection but what one has oneself accumulated.

38. Again someone says: it is because Sadāprarudita was not to die that one woman was caused to hear. One explanation is tied to Sadāprarudita's allotted span: he was not to die, so someone had to hear and come to rescue him. The treatise-author records it alongside.

39. Someone says: it is because of the supernormal power of Dharmodgata that the elder's daughter was caused to hear. Another explanation is tied to Dharmodgata's supernormal power. The three explanations stand side by side—one belongs to the woman's merit, one to Sadāprarudita's allotted span, one to Dharmodgata's power—and the treatise-author does not judge which is right. The reader should learn this method of recording side by side without judging: where causes and conditions are intertwined, forcing a single cause into place often goes astray.

40. When he had cried out three times and no one bought, he grieved greatly. Having narrated the matter to this point, the treatise-author touches in a single sentence on the lack of response to the three cries and on his great grief, precisely to lay the ground for the next question. When reading this sentence the reader can first ask himself: has he not already ceased to cherish his body—why does he still grieve?—What the treatise-author asks below is exactly this.

41. The question: since he does not cherish his body, he should not grieve even though no one buys. This question is asked very directly, almost voicing it on the reader's behalf: not cherishing his body and yet still grieving—is that not self-contradictory? Whenever one sees a person whose conduct is inconsistent from before to after, it is mostly that what he cherishes and what he seeks are not in the same place; the treatise-author points this out below.

42. The answer: having aroused the great mind, he could not fulfil his vow, and therefore he grieved greatly. The answer is only ten Chinese characters: 「既發大心，不滿其願，是故大愁。」 tr. "Having aroused the great mind and being unable to fulfil his vow, he therefore grieved greatly."—what he grieves over is not that his body cannot be sold, but that his vow cannot be carried out. What he cherishes lies in the vow, not in the body; so not cherishing the body and grieving greatly do not contradict each other. Here the reader can distinguish clearly: grieving for oneself is clinging; grieving because one's vow is not accomplished is the power of the mind.

43. Śakra Devānām Indra has this thought, as is told at length in the sūtra. The treatise-author takes up Śakra's thought: 「薩陀波崙欲賣其身，無有買者。」 tr. "Sadāprarudita wishes to sell himself, and there is no buyer." And with 「如經中廣說」 tr. "as is told at length in the sūtra" he points to the details. This taking-up is the lead-in to the three questions that follow, and here the reader should note the boundary between the treatise-author's taking up the sūtra and his own explanation: what is taken up is the sūtra text; only what is explained is the treatise-author's own words.

44. The question: Śakra knows the minds of others by what he has obtained as retribution; why does he come to test him? Since Śakra has obtained the knowledge of others' minds through retribution, he should know of himself that Sadāprarudita's mind is already settled; why does he need to test him? This question forces out the limits of 「知他心」 tr. "knowing the minds of others".

45. The answer: the gods know only the minds of worldly people; the mind of becoming a Buddha or not becoming a Buddha is not something they know. The answer draws a boundary: 「諸天但知世間人心，作佛、不作佛心，非其所知。」 tr. "The gods know only the minds of worldly people; a mind of becoming a Buddha and a mind of not becoming a Buddha are not something they can know." And it takes the prediction as proof: 「除佛，無有能知其為佛道故與授記。」 tr. "Apart from the Buddha, there is no one who can know that he is for the sake of the Buddha path and give him the prediction."—what the knowledge of others' minds reaches is the worldly mind; the truth or falsity, depth or shallowness, of the arousing of the mind of awakening is not within its range of measure. From this the reader can know that supernormal powers are limited, and can also know why only the Buddha can give the prediction.

46. Further, he came to test him because he wished to lead many, so that those who heard and saw would all arouse the mind and seek buddhahood. The second layer of the answer moves the use of the test onto others: 「釋提桓因欲多所引導故來試之，令聞見者，皆發心求佛。」 tr. "Śakra Devānām Indra came to test him because he wished to lead many, so that those who heard and saw would all arouse the mind and seek buddhahood."—the test is not for knowing but for showing. What a public trial accomplishes is the people standing around watching.

47. And the simile of gold, silver, and the jewels being burnt, forged, ground, and beaten. The third layer makes it clear with a simile: 「又如金銀等諸寶，不以輕賤故燒鍛磨打」 tr. "Further, it is like gold, silver, and the other jewels, which are not burnt, forged, ground, and beaten because they are cheap"—they are forged and beaten not because they are cheap, but precisely because they are jewels. So 「菩薩亦如是，若能割肉出血、破骨出髓，其心不動，是正定菩薩」 tr. "the bodhisattva is also like this: if he can cut his flesh and draw blood, break his bone and draw out marrow, and his mind does not move, this is a bodhisattva rightly assured". In adversity the reader is most apt to raise the doubt ‘have I been abandoned?’; this simile breaks precisely this doubt: the reason one is forged is that one is gold.

48. The question: Śakra is a great heavenly king; why did he lie, saying he needed a human heart, blood, and marrow? False speech is what the precepts prohibit; how could Śakra do it? The treatise-author does not let this place go, and sets up a question. Whenever a figure in a sūtra has conduct that looks like breaking a precept, the treatise-author always makes a distinction for it; this is one example.

49. The answer: lying for one's own benefit out of afflictions is an offence; this time it was to make him believe and accept. The answer sets up a standard of judgement: 「若以慳貪、瞋恚煩惱欲求自利故妄語，是故為罪。」 tr. "If one lies because, through the afflictions of avarice and anger, one wishes to seek one's own benefit, only then does it become an offence."—the offence lies not in the untruth of the words, but in the afflictions from which the mind arises and in the self-benefit sought. Next it explains why he had no choice but to act thus: 「帝釋若作實身、實語，菩薩則不信；是故如其國法，天祠所須，為其信受故。」 tr. "If Śakra had shown his real body and spoken real words, the bodhisattva would not have believed him; so, according to the dharma of their country, he said it was what a sacrifice to the gods required, in order to make him believe and accept it." The reader may not extend this item into ‘with good intent one may lie’; the limits the treatise-author sets are very strict: what is done for is not self-benefit, what is done follows the dharma of their country, what is accomplished is to make the other believe and accept—only when all three are present is this the permitted exception here.

50. He believed his words and rejoiced greatly: I have obtained a great benefit! The treatise-author narrates that Sadāprarudita, hearing Śakra demand a heart, blood, and marrow, 「信其語而大歡喜」 tr. "believed his words and rejoiced greatly", saying of himself 「我得大利！」 tr. "I have obtained a great benefit!"—what others would call suffering and distress was for him the accomplishment of what he sought. The four layers of distinction below, six pairs in all, explain precisely these two Chinese characters 「大利」 tr. "great benefit".

51. Great benefit is the ground of the avaivartika; the foremost benefit is the Buddha path. The first layer of distinction sets the ground of non-retrogression against the Buddha path. The reason the avaivartika is put first is that this ground is the first fixed position that one who seeks the path can expect—reaching it one no longer retreats and falls, so it is called a great benefit; yet the ultimate of where one tends still lies in the Buddha path, so that is called the foremost. The reader should first remember the pattern of this layer: great benefit is what can be obtained and is enough to console oneself; the foremost benefit is where one tends and may not stop halfway.

52. Great benefit is the five perfections; the foremost benefit is prajñāpāramitā. The second layer sets the aids to the path against the main path. The five perfections are dharmas that aid prajñā, and the preceding text has already made clear 「助法中檀波羅蜜為首」 tr. "among the helping dharmas dānapāramitā is the first"; so the five perfections are great benefit and prajñā the foremost benefit. The reader may not on this account make light of the five perfections—great benefit is also benefit, not something insufficient to take up; only, one may not take the aid as the main thing.

53. Great benefit is prajñā; the foremost benefit is the power of skilful means of prajñā; and the first ground of the bodhisattva against the ten grounds. The third layer divides prajñā itself once more: prajñā is great benefit, 「般若波羅蜜方便力」 tr. "the power of skilful means of prajñāpāramitā" is the foremost benefit—to have prajñā without skilful means is still not the ultimate in delivering beings. The same passage gives another layer: the first ground of the bodhisattva is great benefit, the ten grounds the foremost benefit. The two layers stand side by side, and both make a division of shallow and deep within one and the same dharma; they do not set up a separate dharma outside prajñā.

54. Great benefit is from the first ground and so on up to the ten grounds; the foremost benefit is the tenth ground; and the bodhisattva ground against the Buddha ground. The fourth layer first sets the whole course from the first ground to the ten grounds against the ultimate position of the tenth ground, and then sets the bodhisattva ground against the Buddha ground. By this point the momentum of the distinctions has gone from dharma to position, from position to fruit, pushing all the way to the Buddha ground and stopping there. Here the reader can see the treatise-author's intent in distinguishing: it lies not in fixing a standard answer, but in letting people know that what they seek has a sequence, and that above the sequence there is still somewhere further to tend.

55. Distinguished in such ways as these. With the one sentence 「如是等分別」 tr. "in such ways as these they are distinguished" the treatise-author gathers up the preceding four layers, showing plainly that what is listed is not an exhaustive number but a pattern of examples. Though this sentence is short, it may not be passed over: it tells the reader that great benefit and the foremost benefit are a pair of relative names that can be applied anywhere, not two fixed dharmas. Whenever one meets a pair of relative names, once one has grasped how they are used one can give examples oneself, without having to keep to the number the treatise-author gave.

56. Although not yet complete, he already abides in the causes and conditions of completeness, so it says then it is complete. The treatise-author explains the phrase 「便為具足」 tr. "then it is complete" in the sūtra: the reason it can be called complete is not that it is already accomplished in fact, but that he 「已住具足因緣」 tr. "already abides within the causes and conditions of completeness". Since the cause is fixed, the fruit can be spoken of in advance. The reader must hold to this measure: speaking in advance is said with respect to the cause being decisive, not calling what is not yet accomplished already accomplished; if this measure is lost, it becomes overweening pride.

57. The question: if Śakra Devānām Indra came in a transformation body, why did he say What price do you need? Since he came in a transformation body and from the first was not really buying, why ask the price? The treatise-author sets up this question in order to show that Śakra's question was not an empty formality.

58. The answer: knowing that he wished to make offerings, to fulfil his vow; and also fearing that what he would demand would be great. The answer has two layers: one layer is for the other—「知其欲供養曇無竭菩薩，滿其願故」 tr. "knowing that he wished to make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, he did so in order to fulfil his vow"; one layer is for himself—「釋提桓因苦困薩陀波崙，畏其所索者大」 tr. "Śakra Devānām Indra had afflicted and pressed Sadāprarudita, and feared that what he would demand would be great", and therefore he said 「須何等價」 tr. "what price do you need". The two layers come out together and do not hinder each other: he wanted to bring the matter to completion, and he also had misgivings. Here the reader can see the truth of the treatise-author's portrayal of human feeling: he does not write the heavenly emperor as simply perfect.

59. The explanation of give me as you wish. The treatise-author explains the meaning of Sadāprarudita's reply, saying: 「於汝不大貪惜、不致悔恨者與我。」 tr. "Give me what you do not greatly covet or begrudge, and what will not bring you regret."—what he asks for is limited by the other's not regretting it. To ask someone for something and first set a limit on the other's behalf—this is the measure of one who asks. In matters of seeking alms or asking for help, the reader can take these words directly as a plumb line.

60. Why he took the knife himself and broke his body. The treatise-author explains why he held the knife with his own hand: 「薩陀波崙無力勢故，不能得使旃陀羅，故自捉刀；婆羅門亦畏罪故不能破，是以自執刀破身。」 tr. "Because Sadāprarudita had no power or influence, he could not employ a caṇḍāla, and so he took up the knife himself; the brahmin too, because he feared the offence, could not break his body; therefore he himself took the knife and broke his body."—there was no one to do it for him; it was not that he wished to torment himself. This explanation pulls the matter of cutting his body back from the imagination of austerities into fact and principle: he did not choose the most terrible way; he had no other way.

61. The question: if the elder's daughter heard the voice, why did she not come and ask Why do you sell yourself? The treatise-author again asks about timing: since the preceding text said that the elder's daughter alone heard the voice, why did she not come at the time she heard it, but only came at the moment he broke his body? This question links the two places, earlier and later; if the reader did not pass through this question, he would feel that the elder's daughter's appearance was abrupt.

62. The answer: merely speaking with empty words of selling oneself is a light matter, breaking the body and drawing out the heart and marrow is a heavy matter, so the elder's daughter aroused the mind. The answer makes only one division of light and heavy: 「但空言賣身事輕，破身出心髓事重故，長者女發心。」 tr. "Merely to speak with empty words of selling oneself is a light matter; to break the body and draw out the heart and marrow is a heavy matter; therefore the elder's daughter aroused the mind."—words move people only so far; giving up the body moves them deeply. Here the reader can understand a common matter: with one and the same dharma, when it is spoken people are unmoved; when they see someone truly practise it, people are moved.

63. The elder's daughter sees him cutting and piercing himself and thinks: all beings seek pleasure and fear suffering. The treatise-author narrates what she saw and what she thought: 「一切眾生皆求樂畏苦、貪愛其身；薩陀波崙而自割刺，是為希有！」 tr. "All beings seek pleasure and fear suffering, and greedily love their bodies; yet Sadāprarudita cuts and pierces himself—this is rare!"—the reason she was shaken is that she saw a matter running counter to the common nature of beings. He also adds a cause: 「以先世福德因緣所牽故，即往到其所而問。」 tr. "Because she was drawn by the causes and conditions of merit from former lives, she at once went to the place where he was and asked him." What she saw is the condition, her merit from former lives the cause; only when the two came together was there this one going.

64. Sadāprarudita answers that he wishes to make offerings to the bodhisattva Dharmodgata. What he answers is only one sentence; he does not narrate his suffering or describe his poverty, but says directly what it is for. The reader can note this person's manner of answering a question: the questioner asks about his conduct, and he answers with his aim; only when she next asks about the benefit does he open it out. There is a question and only then an answer; he does not first set forth his own case—this is the sequence of teaching the Dharma.

65. She asks again what benefit he will obtain. The elder's daughter's second question goes to the matter of benefit. This question seems worldly, yet it is in fact where all arousing of the mind comes from: a person must first see how great the benefit is, and only then is willing to give up what he holds weighty. The treatise-author does not take this question as shallow; the whole long account of the Buddha's merits below is given precisely in answer to this one question.

66. He answers that prajñā is what is trained in, that he shall become a Buddha and be a support for all beings, and sets out the present matters of the Buddha's merits. What he answers first puts forth the main purport: 「般若波羅蜜名菩薩所學，當從彼聞；我學是道，當得作佛，與一切眾生作依止。」 tr. "Prajñāpāramitā is named what bodhisattvas train in, and I shall hear it from him; training in this path, I shall become a Buddha and be a support for all beings." Next, with two similes he makes clear the meaning of support—「譬如厚葉樹多所蔭覆；又如熱時曠野險道清涼大池」 tr. "it is like a tree with thick leaves that gives much shade and cover; and again, like a great cool pool on a dangerous road in the wilderness in the time of scorching heat". Next he 「為說佛功德現事可以發心者」 tr. "told her those matters among the Buddha's merits that are present before the eyes and can cause people to arouse the mind": the golden body, the thirty-two marks, the great light, immeasurable light. The treatise-author sets a boundary for each one: he explains the great light as 「為閻浮提惡世眾生，諸佛真實光明無有限量」 tr. "spoken for the beings of the evil age of Jambudvīpa; the real light of the buddhas has no limit"; the meaning of great kindness and so on up to the six supernormal powers is 「如先說」 tr. "as said earlier"; inconceivable pure morality, meditative concentration, and wisdom are 「如佛戒等五眾中說」 tr. "as said in the five aggregates of the Buddha—morality and the rest"; he explains 「於諸法中得一切無礙知見」 tr. "obtaining all unobstructed knowledge and vision within all dharmas" as 「諸佛有無礙解脫，是解脫相應知見，一切法中無所礙」 tr. "the buddhas have unobstructed liberation, and the knowledge and vision associated with this liberation is without obstruction within all dharmas", and the distinction between knowledge and vision is also 「如先說」 tr. "as said earlier". One must keep an eye on the phrase 「現事可以發心者」 tr. "matters present before the eyes that can cause people to arouse the mind"—all that is cited are matters that can be seen and imagined; no deep dharma is cited. Teaching in response to the capacity of the hearer—this is an example of it.

67. I shall obtain such immeasurable merits of a Buddha, and with the unsurpassed Dharma Jewel distribute them to all beings. This sentence is the conclusion of Sadāprarudita's answer, and also what the five explanations below are based on. The reader should note the momentum of its words: the merits of a Buddha that he seeks are not for his own enjoyment and there an end; they are 「分布與一切眾生」 tr. "distributed to all beings"—seeking buddhahood and returning it to distribution, this sentence turns all the merits set out before into a use for others.

68. Someone says: the unsurpassed jewel is the Dharma Jewel among the Three Jewels. The first explanation is the most straightforward: the unsurpassed jewel is the Dharma Jewel among the Three Jewels. Judging by the Three Jewels, the Dharma is one of them and is what one returns to, so it is called unsurpassed. The treatise-author records it alongside as the first explanation.

69. Someone says: all the eighty-four thousand collections of the Dharma are the Dharma Jewel. The second explanation speaks of the whole extent of the Dharma: 「一切八萬四千法眾是為法寶，得是故，除諸煩惱、滅諸戲論，得脫一切苦。」 tr. "All the eighty-four thousand collections of the Dharma are the Dharma Jewel; because one obtains this, one removes the afflictions, extinguishes idle discourse, and obtains liberation from all suffering."—it proves that it is a jewel by its function: it can remove the afflictions, extinguish idle discourse, and free one from all suffering. The reader can note that the standard of judgement of this explanation lies in function, not in name or rank.

70. Someone says: the unsurpassed Dharma Jewel is precisely anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The third explanation takes the wisdom of the fruit of buddhahood as the unsurpassed jewel, and the principle relied on is 「更無過上者故」 tr. "because there is nothing further above it". This explanation takes the root meaning of the two Chinese characters 「無上」 tr. "unsurpassed" as its standard—whatever still has something above it may not be called unsurpassed.

71. Someone says: nirvāṇa is the unsurpassed Dharma Jewel, and the Abhidharma is cited. The fourth explanation takes nirvāṇa as the unsurpassed jewel; its proof says 「一切有為法皆有上」 tr. "all conditioned dharmas have something above them", and it cites the words of the Abhidharma: 「一切有為法及虛空、非數緣盡，名為有上法；數緣盡是無上法。」 tr. "All conditioned dharmas, together with space and the exhaustion not through the condition of reckoning, are named dharmas that have something above them; the exhaustion through the condition of reckoning is the unsurpassed dharma." The treatise-author further explains the name for it: 「數緣盡即是涅槃之別名。」 tr. "The exhaustion through the condition of reckoning is precisely another name for nirvāṇa."—what this explanation relies on is the division between the conditioned and the unconditioned, so it sets up the unsurpassed separately outside the conditioned dharmas. Here the reader should know the treatise-author's manner of citing a treatise: he cites its text and explains its names for it, so that the reader is not cut off by names and marks.

72. Someone says: although the path to nirvāṇa is conditioned, because it is for the sake of nirvāṇa it is unsurpassed among conditioned dharmas. The fifth explanation takes a step back to set up its account: the path to nirvāṇa originally belongs to the conditioned, yet because where it tends is nirvāṇa, it is unsurpassed among conditioned dharmas. This explanation and the preceding one do not exclude each other—the preceding one stands on the unconditioned, this one stands on the highest within the conditioned. The five explanations are set side by side and stop here, and the treatise-author judges none of them at all. The reader may not pick one of them and reject the rest; the five explanations each have their ground, which shows precisely that the one name 「無上法寶」 tr. "the unsurpassed Dharma Jewel" can be set up from five places.

73. Such Dharma Jewels as these are distributed as the three vehicles and given to beings. The treatise-author gathers up the five explanations and returns them to their use: 「如是等法寶，分布為三乘與眾生。」 tr. "Such Dharma Jewels as these are distributed as the three vehicles and given to beings."—what is distributed is one; those who receive it are three. This sentence brings the preceding discussion of names and marks back down to the matter of delivering beings; this is the treatise-author's constant way of closing divergent explanations: distinguish, and then return to use.

74. Such immeasurable dharmas of the Buddha as these should be obtained from the teacher, so he gives up this impure, foul body. With this sentence the treatise-author connects back to the original matter of selling himself: since he knows that the Buddha-Dharma should be obtained from the teacher, 「是故我捨是老、病、死所住處不淨臭穢之身，為供養般若波羅蜜故，當得佛身」 tr. "therefore I give up this impure, foul, and filthy body in which old age, sickness, and death dwell, and for the sake of making offerings to prajñāpāramitā I shall obtain the body of a Buddha", while the golden colour and the other marks are 「如先說」 tr. "as said earlier". Keep an eye on the contrast between what is given up and what is obtained: what is given up is the body in which old age, sickness, and death dwell; what is obtained is the body of a Buddha—this is not making light of life; it is an exchange.

75. The elder's daughter, hearing the Dharma, enters deeply in her mind and greatly obtains the joy of the Dharma, so much so that her mind is startled and her hair stands on end. The treatise-author sets up the cause of her being able to receive the Dharma: 「世世供養諸佛種善根，智慧明利」 tr. "life after life she had made offerings to the buddhas and planted roots of goodness, and her wisdom was bright and keen", so 「聞是法其心深入，大得法喜，乃至心驚毛竪」 tr. "hearing this Dharma, her mind entered into it deeply and she greatly obtained the joy of the Dharma, so much so that her mind was startled and her hair stood on end". Her words are: 「甚為希有！汝所讚法大微妙！為是一一法故，應捨如恒河沙等身，何況一身！」 tr. "This is most rare! The Dharma you praise is greatly subtle and wondrous! For the sake of each one of these dharmas one should give up bodies as many as the sands of the Ganges, how much more a single body!"—what she exclaims at is not his courage but the subtlety of the Dharma. Here the reader can examine himself: seeing someone's austerities and exclaiming at the person, and hearing the Dharma and exclaiming at the Dharma, are far apart.

76. The elder's daughter earlier did not know the reason and pitied him; now, hearing the Dharma, she rejoices greatly. The treatise-author sets her two minds, earlier and later, side by side: earlier, she 「不知何因緣故困苦其身，而怜愍之，心謂不可」 tr. "had not known for what cause and condition he was afflicting his body, and so she pitied him and in her mind did not approve"; now, 「聞是無量無邊無比清淨佛法，以是因緣可得故大歡喜」 tr. "hearing this immeasurable, boundless, incomparable pure Buddha-Dharma, she rejoiced greatly because by this cause and condition it could be obtained", and so she said 「為是法故，應捨如恒河沙身」 tr. "for the sake of this Dharma one should give up bodies as many as the sands of the Ganges".—From pity she turned to joy, and what turned lay only in knowing or not knowing what the matter was for. When the reader sees someone doing what is hard to do and feels he cannot bear it, this turn can serve as a mirror.

77. The woman says: Because you are poor you torment and afflict your own body; now you may stop; whatever you need, as much as you wish. What the elder's daughter promises does not stop at wealth but extends to the path: 「恣汝所須，當以相與，我亦隨汝而求是道。」 tr. "Whatever you need, as much as you wish, I shall give you; and I too shall follow you and seek this path."—first she stops his suffering, next she gives him what he needs, and finally she pledges herself to go with him. The three layers are clearly in sequence; the reader can see that what a person who arouses the mind arouses is not only a single thought of helping someone, but also settles at the same time where she herself is going.

78. The question: having himself cut and severed his body, how could he teach the elder's daughter so much of the Buddha-Dharma? The treatise-author again asks about fact and principle: how can a gravely wounded person teach the Dharma at ease? This question is very concrete; were it not asked, the reader would only feel it to be the convenience of the story.

79. The answer: the bodhisattva's power of mind was great, and though there was bodily suffering it could not cover his mind; and it is narrated that at that time he had not yet greatly swooned. The answer has two layers: one layer is tied to the power of mind—「是菩薩心力大，雖有身苦不能覆心」 tr. "this bodhisattva's power of mind was great; although there was bodily suffering, it could not cover his mind"; one layer is tied to the timing—「始以刀割肉流血，方欲破骨出髓，而長者女來，未大悶故，能得說法」 tr. "he had only just begun to cut his flesh with the knife and let the blood flow, and was about to break his bone and draw out the marrow, when the elder's daughter came; because he had not yet greatly swooned, he was able to teach the Dharma". The former layer speaks of why he could; the latter of why he could at this time. The reader should learn this way of bringing out two layers together: neither settling it as a wonder nor exhausting it by common feeling.

80. Śakra, knowing his mind was settled, at once resumes his own body and praises him: Excellent! Your mind firmly undertakes this matter. The treatise-author explains the meaning of Śakra's praise: 「如汝今生死肉身，未得佛道，能如是不惜身，汝不久當於一切法中得無所著，住無生法忍中，疾得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」 tr. "With a fleshly body of birth and death such as yours now, not yet having obtained the Buddha path, you can be thus unsparing of your body; before long, within all dharmas, you will obtain non-clinging, abide within the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas, and swiftly obtain anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi."—what he praises is not his enduring pain, but what he infers from this one matter: that he will obtain non-clinging. The reader can note this way of inferring: not cherishing the body is the forerunner of non-clinging to dharmas.

81. He takes the buddhas of the past as witness to console his mind, and himself sets out his purpose in coming to test him. Having praised him, Śakra further 「以過去佛為證，如是等種種因緣，安慰其心」 tr. "took the buddhas of the past as witness, and by all kinds of such causes and conditions as these consoled his mind", and himself sets out his purpose: 「我是天王，愛樂佛道，故來相試，欲知汝心堅軟云何？欲令汝信故，言須人心髓祠天，實不須也。汝願何等？當以相與。汝是好人，為是佛種，當相擁護。」 tr. "I am a heavenly king who loves and delights in the Buddha path, and so I came to test you, wishing to know whether your mind was firm or soft. To make you believe, I said that I needed a human heart and marrow to sacrifice to the gods; in truth I have no need of them. What do you wish for? I shall give it to you. You are a good person; you are the seed of the Buddha; I shall protect you."—the test over, he himself sets out why he tested, and says plainly 「實不須也」 tr. "in truth I have no need of them". Here the reader can look back at the answer to the earlier question about false speech: the exception that was opened closes of itself at this point, leaving nothing over.

82. Sadāprarudita, with a straightforward, believing mind, good and gentle, does not discriminate among beings, and at once asks for anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi. The treatise-author sets up the cause of the greatness of what he asks for: 「直信心善軟，深著佛道故，不分別眾生」 tr. "he had a straightforward, believing mind, good and gentle, and because he deeply clung to the Buddha path, he did not discriminate among beings"—not discriminating among beings, he did not sort out who could give what and who could not, and on hearing the promise he asked for unsurpassed awakening. This sentence is very finely written: his rashness is precisely his straightforward faith. The reader may not laugh at him for not knowing proper measure; the treatise-author plainly explains it by 「深著佛道」 tr. "deeply clung to the Buddha path".

83. Śakra says: This is not something my power can accomplish; it is the realm of a Buddha. Śakra answers according to the facts and does not force a response to what was asked. The reason this sentence is recorded is to show the limits of heavenly power—before, it was said that the gods do not know the mind of becoming a Buddha; here again it says they cannot grant the vow of the Buddha path; the one follows consistently on the other. In matters of seeking help the reader can draw a rule from this: to give what can be given, and to say plainly that what cannot be given cannot be—only this is true speech.

84. Further, someone says: Śakra apologises to him with these words. One explanation supplies the human feeling: 「帝釋大苦困薩陀波崙，今以此語謝之。帝釋意謂求金銀寶物，不知乃索阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；既不能與，愧負而已！」 tr. "Śakra had greatly afflicted Sadāprarudita, and now apologises to him with these words. Śakra thought he would ask for gold, silver, and precious things, not knowing that he would demand anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi; since he could not give it, he could only feel ashamed and in his debt!"—what he had promised was originally of the order of wealth, and what was asked for went beyond his expectation. This explanation speaks out Śakra's embarrassment; the treatise-author records it alongside, and does not delete it for being undignified.

85. He speaks again: I must make you an offering; ask for some other wish. The treatise-author explains the meaning of these words of Śakra: 「我既大相苦困，不得直爾而去，要相供養。」 tr. "Since I have greatly afflicted you, I may not simply go away like this; I must make you an offering."—having afflicted someone, one may not just walk away. This is a mind of responsibility, not a calculation of exchange. Here the reader can see that in portraying gods and humans the sūtra and treatise do not lose the rightness of human feeling.

86. Sadāprarudita, wishing to use this body to make offerings, asks that his body be made whole again as before. The treatise-author sets up the cause of the vow he turns to: 「雖不惜身，欲以此身供養曇無竭，聞般若波羅蜜」 tr. "although he did not cherish his body, he wished to use this body to make offerings to Dharmodgata and to hear prajñāpāramitā"—the reason he asks for it to be made whole is not fear of suffering, but that this body still has a use. So his words are: 「若汝無此力，令我身體平復如故。」 tr. "If you do not have this power, make my body whole again as before." The reader must hold to this measure: not cherishing the body and preserving this body to accomplish a matter go together without conflict; what decides it is what one preserves it for.

87. Śakra says As you say, and the wounds are at once made whole, not different from how they were originally. The treatise-author narrates his assent and its proof: the wounds were at once made whole, not different from how they had been originally. One word of response, and the matter is at once accomplished—here no colouring is added, precisely to leave room for the next question.

88. The question: the flesh having already been cut away, how could it be made whole? The treatise-author does not let this wondrous matter go, and still wants to ask its reason. Wherever a matter in a sūtra goes beyond common feeling, the treatise-author always asks its principle and does not settle it with the two Chinese characters for supernormal power—this is the consistent way of reading in this treatise.

89. The answer: the Buddha said there are five inconceivables; and the explanation of the atoms in space coming together. The answer has three layers: one layer cites the teaching—「佛說有五不可思議。龍事所作，尚不可思議，何況天！」 tr. "The Buddha said there are five inconceivables. Even what nāgas do is inconceivable, how much more the gods!"; one layer speaks of the fact and principle of it—「又虛空中微塵充滿，帝釋福德生心，便能和合平滿」 tr. "further, space is filled with atoms; when Śakra, by his merit, gives rise to the thought, he can make them come together and make the body whole"; one layer compares it with its kind—「如諸天及地獄中身，非是三生身，罪福因緣故，和合便有」 tr. "it is like the bodies of the gods and of those in the hells, which are not bodies of the three kinds of birth; through the causes and conditions of sin and merit, as soon as they come together they exist". One must keep an eye on the second layer: what is made whole is not something produced out of nothing, but atoms already present coming together by the power of merit. Here the reader can know the treatise-author's manner of explaining supernormal transformations: he still returns them to the coming together of causes and conditions, and does not set up any matter without a cause.

90. Śakra, knowing his mind was firm, gives him his wish and at once vanishes. One sentence makes the conclusion, and the matter of the test ends here. Here the treatise-author adds no further words—the matter being finished, he stops. The reader can note this kind of closing stroke: where it should close, it closes, without making a conclusion of it.

91. His offences of former lives exhausted and his merit bright and flourishing, the elder's daughter takes him home. The treatise-author sets up the cause for the next section: 「薩陀波崙宿世微罪已畢、福德明盛」 tr. "Sadāprarudita's slight offences of former lives had been exhausted and his merit was bright and flourishing", and so the elder's daughter took him home, and there are the words 「有所須者，從我父母索之」 tr. "whatever you need, ask my parents for it", as is told at length in the sūtra. Since the preceding text explained his poverty by small offences in former lives, here it explains his obtaining wealth by the offences being exhausted and the merit flourishing—earlier and later correspond, and the reader can see the consistency of the treatise-author's explanation of matters.

92. The question: earlier she said to ask all of it from her; why does she now say to ask her parents? The treatise-author again asks about words inconsistent from before to after: earlier she said 「汝所須物，盡從我索之」 tr. "whatever things you need, ask all of them from me", yet now she says 「從我父母索」 tr. "ask my parents for it". This question is fine down to the difference of a single Chinese character, which is exactly the character of the questions and answers in this segment.

93. The answer: she was ashamed that she could not match her earlier words; and also, by the dharma of a child, she asked her parents. The answer has two layers: one layer is tied to shame—「今既將歸到舍，以薩陀波崙目見入舍從父母得之，愧不稱前言」 tr. "now that she is about to take him home, since Sadāprarudita would see with his own eyes that once they entered the house the things came from her parents, she was ashamed that she could not match her earlier words", so she first said herself 「從我父母索之。」 tr. "Ask my parents for it."; one layer is tied to proper measure—「又女雖力能得寶，以子女法故，從父母索之。」 tr. "Further, although the woman had the power to obtain the jewels herself, because it is the dharma of a child, she asked them from her parents." The former layer is human feeling, the latter is due measure. Here the reader can learn her generosity in dealing with people: knowing that what she promised cannot be honoured in full, she explains it herself first, without waiting for the other to notice.

94. The woman, having entered the house, as she had promised, asks her parents and gives them. One sentence narrates her keeping her word. Although the place from which what was promised is taken has changed, the thing promised is in the end given—here the reader can see that the treatise-author does not let the earlier words fall empty, and the two sections, earlier and later, close together here.

95. Because her country had no Buddha-Dharma, her parents asked Who is the bodhisattva Sadāprarudita? The treatise-author points out a fact easily passed over: 「其國無有佛法」 tr. "her country had no Buddha-Dharma", so her parents did not know the man and asked 「阿誰是薩陀波崙菩薩？」 tr. "Who is this bodhisattva Sadāprarudita?" The daughter then 「如所見、如所聞，盡向父母說薩陀波崙事」 tr. "as she had seen and as she had heard, told her parents everything about Sadāprarudita".—To speak as one has seen and as one has heard, neither adding nor subtracting, is the rule for passing on words; that the elder below can awaken on a single hearing depends precisely on this sentence being spoken truly.

96. Now, father and mother, you should allow me to go together with the bodhisattva Sadāprarudita, along with five hundred attendant maidens and the means of offering. What the woman requests is three things: herself going along, five hundred attendant maidens, and the means of offering. The three things are requested at once, without distinguishing first and last—the reader can see that her mind is already settled; she is not asking tentatively.

97. Her parents hear her words and at once allow it, as you wish. With one sentence they consent, adding no cross-examination. The treatise-author records the brevity of this sentence precisely to lay the ground for the question below: reading to here, the reader will naturally feel that it was too easy.

98. The question: the elder was noble and powerful; how was it that, not knowing him earlier, he could send them off? The treatise-author does indeed set up the question, and asks it thoroughly: since he had not known him before, why, on once hearing of his merits, was he willing to hand over his daughter, retinue, and jewels all together? This question is raised on behalf of the reader's doubt.

99. The answer: the elder too had planted roots of virtue, and briefly hearing the Buddha's merits roused his knowing from former lives; and the simile of the lotus flower seeing the sun. The answer is tied to a cause from former lives: 「長者亦植德本，以少因緣故生無佛國；暫聞佛德，發其宿識，心即開悟，故能發遣。」 tr. "The elder too had once planted roots of virtue; because of a small share of causes and conditions, he was born in a country without a Buddha. On briefly hearing the Buddha's merits, his knowing from former lives was roused and his mind at once awoke; therefore he could send them off." And it makes this clear with a simile: 「譬如蓮花，生長具足，見日開敷。」 tr. "It is like the lotus flower, which, when its growth is complete, opens on seeing the sun."—the opening of the flower does not come into being because of the sun; the sun is only its condition; the elder's awakening does not arise because of a single hearing; the single hearing is only its condition. Here the reader can resolve the perplexity ‘why does one person believe as soon as he hears, while another is unmoved even when it is spelled out?’: what is waited on is what was planted in former lives, not words.

100. The parents know their daughter's mind is pure and mature and cannot be restrained; having reflected and weighed it, they joyfully let her go. The treatise-author writes the parents' minds in detail: 「知女心淳熟，無不淨行，持操不妄，不樂世樂，但求法利；知其心至，不可制止，若違其意，恐其自害。」 tr. "The parents knew that their daughter's mind was pure and mature, that she had no impure conduct, kept her integrity and was not false, did not delight in worldly pleasures, and sought only the benefit of the Dharma; they knew that her mind was earnest to the utmost and could not be restrained, and feared that if they went against her intent she would harm herself."—the reason they let her go involves both trust and misgiving. 「思惟籌量已，既全其意，自得功德，歡喜令去。」 tr. "Having reflected and weighed it, since they would both fulfil her intent and themselves obtain merit, they joyfully let her go." At the end it concludes with a sentence that shows by contrast: 「世間因緣，深著難解，愛之至故，尚不能違，何況為佛道故其心清淨無所染著而不聽之！」 tr. "Worldly causes and conditions are clung to deeply and hard to undo; because they loved her to the utmost, they could not go against her even in that; how much less, when it was for the sake of the Buddha path and her mind was pure and without any stain or attachment, could they not allow it!" The reader should keep an eye on this showing by contrast: even worldly love cannot go against what she wishes, how much less when what she wishes is the Buddha path.

101. Because her parents allowed her in accordance with the Dharma, the woman did not begrudge the jewels, and with a mind of rejoicing was glad of it. The treatise-author explains the woman's mind: her parents gave their permission in accordance with the Dharma, so she neither begrudged the jewels, and also, with a mind of rejoicing, was glad of this matter.—what she is glad of is not having obtained the jewels, but that her parents were willing to accord with the Dharma. Here the reader can see the right use of rejoicing: to be glad of others' according with the Dharma, not to be glad of getting one's own way.

102. The minds of the multitude being settled, they adorned carriages of the seven jewels and, surrounded by the great multitude, went little by little toward the east. One sentence narrates the setting out. The reason it says 「眾心既定」 tr. "the minds of the multitude being settled" is that it continues the preceding text, in which the minds of the parents, the daughter, and the attendant maidens have all become one—only once the minds are settled do the carriages set out. The reader can note the four Chinese characters 「稍稍東行」 tr. "went little by little toward the east", which still correspond to the voice in the sky's teaching at the head of the chapter, 「從是東行」 tr. "go east from here"; all the way the road has never forked.

103. The relatives of the five hundred women and the people of the city, seeing this rare matter, all followed them as well. The treatise-author narrates the number of the followers and their minds: 「見是希有難及之事，皆亦隨去。人眾既集，歡悅共行，渴仰眾香城，如渴者思飲。」 tr. "Seeing this rare matter hard to equal, they all followed them as well. The crowd having gathered, they went forward together in delight, thirsting and yearning for the City of Many Fragrances as a thirsty person longs for water." And so on up to 「漸漸進路，遙見眾香城」 tr. "advancing little by little along the road, they saw the City of Many Fragrances in the far distance", and with the elder's daughter and the five hundred women 「恭敬圍遶，欲往曇無竭所」 tr. "reverently surrounding him, they wished to go to Dharmodgata's place".—One person gives up his body to seek the Dharma, and the whole city follows him; the intent of Śakra's 「欲多所引導故來試」 tr. "came to test him because he wished to lead many" in the preceding text here at last shows its fruit. The reader can look back at section forty-six; only by looking at the two places together does one know what that trial accomplished.

104. The question: since Dharmodgata has already mastered and retains it himself, why use a terrace of the seven jewels to write out the scroll of the prajñā sūtra? The treatise-author asks about the vessels of offering: since the one who teaches the Dharma has already mastered and retains it, setting up a scroll of the sūtra adds nothing for him; why write it out and place it within a terrace of the seven jewels and make offerings to it? This question forces out the matter of ‘for whom the offering is’.

105. The answer: briefly, there are two meanings; and it is narrated that the gods, nāgas, and spirits all came to make offerings, increasing the faculty of faith. The answer says 「雖有種種因緣，略說有二義」 tr. "although there are all kinds of causes and conditions, briefly speaking there are two meanings": first, the mental conduct of beings differs—「或樂見經卷，或樂聞演說」 tr. "some delight in seeing scrolls of the sūtra, some delight in hearing it expounded"; second, 「曇無竭身為白衣，現有家屬」 tr. "Dharmodgata is himself one of the white-robed and at present has a household", and beings of dull faculties might have this thought: 「此有居家，必有染著，何能以畢竟清淨無著般若波羅蜜利益眾生？自未無著，何能以無著法教化？」 tr. "This man has a household, so he must have stains and attachments; how can he benefit beings with prajñāpāramitā, which is of ultimate purity and without clinging? Not yet being without clinging himself, how can he teach and transform with the dharma of non-clinging?"—therefore his sūtra text was written out and placed on tablets of the seven jewels, and offerings were made to it with the many jewels; the gods, nāgas, and spirits all came to revere it, offering flowers and incense, banners and canopies, and raining down the seven jewels; 「眾生見者，增益信根，則以此法示傳佛語，案文演教勸發」 tr. "beings who saw this increased their faculty of faith; and so by this dharma he showed and transmitted the Buddha's words, and, following the sentences of the text, expounded the teaching and exhorted them". One must keep an eye on the second meaning: the setting up of the scroll of the sūtra is precisely to counteract the sickness of ‘abandoning the Dharma because of the person’. If the reader has ever doubted a teaching because of the conduct of the one who teaches it, this section is set up precisely for you.

106. The adornments of the jewelled terrace are as said in the sūtra, and the seal of the seven jewels is explained. The treatise-author passes over the adornments and the section of Sadāprarudita's asking Śakra Devānām Indra with only 「如經中說」 tr. "as said in the sūtra", and explains one name alone: 「七寶印印者，是曇無竭真實印，常自手執以印於經。」 tr. "What is called sealing with the seal of the seven jewels: it is Dharmodgata's real seal, which he always held in his own hand and used to seal the sūtra."—what he gives in detail is the name and mark; what he abbreviates is the description. The reader can see the treatise-author's standard of what to take and what to leave: what the sūtra text has already made clear he does not repeat; a name and mark not yet clear he always explains.

107. Someone says: the seal of the seven jewels is seven great spirits who hold vajras and guard the sūtra text. One explanation interprets this name differently: 「有求佛道七大神，是執金剛杵，常給曇無竭菩薩使守護經文，不令魔及魔民改更錯亂，為貴敬般若故。」 tr. "There are seven great spirits who seek the Buddha path; these hold vajras, are always at the service of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata, and guard the sūtra text, not letting Māra and Māra's people alter or confuse it, because they value and revere prajñā."—it explains the seven seals by seven great spirits, taking the meaning of guarding and not letting it be altered or confused. The treatise-author records the two explanations alongside and does not judge. Here the reader can note: when one name and mark has two explanations, the treatise-author's method is to keep the meaning of each, not to force them into one.

108. Some arouse the mind only on hearing it expounded, some on seeing the adorned writing; so it was written on golden tablets and sealed with the seal of the seven jewels. The treatise-author closes this section, still returning it to the difference of capacities: 「有人但聞演說而發心者，有人見其莊嚴文字而歡喜發心者」 tr. "some people arouse the mind only on hearing it expounded; some people rejoice and arouse the mind on seeing the adorned writing", and therefore the jewelled terrace was adorned, the text written on golden tablets, and sealed with the seal of the seven jewels.—the adornments are not set up to look fine but to respond to capacities. From this the reader can understand what all the adornment of Dharma assemblies and places of practice is for.

109. The question: prajñā is in both places, and the place where it is written cannot benefit people; why does he first go to the terrace? The treatise-author asks about the order of first and after: expounding can benefit people while writing cannot, so why go first to the place of the writing instead? What this question relies on is the single standard of 「利益」 tr. "benefit", while the answer below sets up another standard.

110. The answer: the written prajñā is included in the Dharma Jewel, and the Dharma Jewel comes in sequence after the Buddha Jewel, so it should be offered to first. The first layer of the answer is tied to the sequence of the Three Jewels: 「所書般若，入法寶中。佛寶次第有法寶故，應先供養；曇無竭一人故，僧寶所不攝，是故先供養法寶。」 tr. "The prajñā that is written out is included within the Dharma Jewel. Because the Dharma Jewel comes in sequence after the Buddha Jewel, it should be offered to first; because Dharmodgata is a single person, he is not included in the Saṅgha Jewel; therefore he first made offerings to the Dharma Jewel."—what is judged is not who is more useful, but who occupies which position. Here the reader must turn his thought once: the order of offering is fixed by the position in the Dharma, not by effectiveness.

111. Further, although what Dharmodgata teaches is the Dharma, beings grasp at the mark of a person, so he first made offerings to the sūtra. The second layer of the answer is tied to the sickness of those who receive: 「眾生取人相故，多生著心；若見所書般若，不生人相，雖取餘相，著心少於著人生患，是故先供養經。」 tr. "Because beings grasp at the mark of a person, they mostly give rise to a clinging mind; if they see the prajñā that is written out, they do not give rise to the mark of a person, and although they grasp at other marks, the clinging mind is less than the fault and harm that arise from clinging to a person; therefore he first made offerings to the sūtra."—it is not that there is no clinging at all; it is that the harm of clinging to the Dharma is lighter than the harm of clinging to a person. The treatise-author speaks with the utmost honesty: he does not promise a scheme without clinging, but only compares the weight of two kinds of clinging. The reader can take this way of weighing when choosing a dharma.

112. Even the buddhas make offerings to the Dharma of the sūtra, how much more Dharmodgata and Sadāprarudita; so the means of offering were divided into two portions. The third layer of the answer infers from the root of the honoured and the lowly: 「經法諸佛尚供養，何況曇無竭及薩陀波崙！曇無竭因般若波羅蜜故得供養，所因之本，何得不先供養？」 tr. "Even the buddhas make offerings to the Dharma of the sūtra, how much more Dharmodgata and Sadāprarudita! Dharmodgata receives offerings because of prajñāpāramitā; how could the root through which he receives them not be offered to first?" Therefore he 「分所供養具為二分」 tr. "divided the means of offering into two portions".—The reason the one who teaches the Dharma receives offerings is the Dharma he holds; so the Dharma is the root and the person the branch; root first and branch after—the principle cannot be changed. In the matter of revering a teacher, these words can most serve as a standard for the reader.

113. The question: Dharmodgata has sixty thousand court maidens, the five desires, and palaces; how could he transform the scattered flowers into a flower-terrace? The treatise-author again asks about his supernormal power in view of his status: since he presently shows the appearance of enjoying the five desires, where does such a power of transformation come from? This question and the earlier section 「鈍根眾生或作是念」 tr. "beings of dull faculties might have this thought" are from the same loom: both are tied to the one matter of ‘a white-robed man presently enjoying the five desires’, and the reader can look at them together.

114. Someone says: it is the supernormal power of the buddhas that made this transformation by means of what was offered. One explanation attributes it to the power of the buddhas: the transformation does not come from Dharmodgata, but is made by the supernormal power of the buddhas by means of the things Sadāprarudita offered. This explanation avoids the doubt about Dharmodgata's status and sets up a different cause.

115. Someone says: Dharmodgata is a great bodhisattva whose body is born of the Dharma-nature, and he receives the five desires for the sake of delivering beings. Another explanation answers head-on: Dharmodgata is 「大菩薩法性生身，為度眾生故受五欲」 tr. "a great bodhisattva whose body is born of the Dharma-nature, and for the sake of delivering beings he receives the five desires", and with 「如曇無竭菩薩名字義中說」 tr. "as said in the meaning of the name of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata" it points to where the details are.—Receiving the five desires is a trace left for the sake of delivering beings, not his own self. The two explanations stand side by side, and the treatise-author does not judge. Here the reader can know: doubting a person's virtue on seeing his traces often comes from not knowing his root; yet the root, as root, is also not something the eye can see, so the treatise-author only records the two explanations alongside and stops.

116. The question: the bodhisattva's dharma is first to give rise to a compassionate mind toward beings; now they merely saw supernormal power and majestic virtue—how did they arouse the mind? This is the first question of the final group of questions and answers in this segment, and it is asked very weightily: the right dharma of a bodhisattva's arousing the mind is first to give rise to a compassionate mind toward beings, wishing to deliver beings from suffering, and only then to seek awakening; now what the elder's daughter and the others saw was only Dharmodgata's supernormal power and majestic virtue—why did they arouse the mind? If this were not asked, this arousing of the mind would become admiration of power.

117. The answer: arousing the mind is of all kinds, and the Sūtra of the Wisdom Seal is cited. The answer first breaks the view that ‘there is only one road to arousing the mind’: 「發心有種種：有聞說法而發心者，有於眾生起慈悲而發心者，有見神通力、大威德而發心者，然後漸漸而生悲心，如《智印經》中說。」 tr. "Arousing the mind is of all kinds: there are those who arouse the mind on hearing the Dharma taught; there are those who arouse the mind by giving rise to kindness and compassion toward beings; there are those who arouse the mind on seeing the power of supernormal abilities and great majestic virtue, and only afterwards give rise little by little to a compassionate mind; as said in the Sūtra of the Wisdom Seal."—One must keep an eye on the clause 「然後漸漸而生悲心」 tr. "and only afterwards give rise little by little to a compassionate mind": those who arouse the mind on seeing supernormal power do not fail to return to compassion; it is that the compassion comes after. The treatise-author does not deny the right order; he only says that the place of entry is not one.

118. Relying on love one severs love, relying on pride one severs pride; with the examples of leaving home and of growing haughty on hearing that a person obtained the path. The treatise-author further sets up a general rule: 「依愛而斷愛，依慢而斷慢。」 tr. "Relying on love one severs love; relying on pride one severs pride." And he gives an example of each—for love, 「如人聞道法，愛著是法故，捨五欲出家」 tr. "as when a person hears the dharma of the path and, because he loves and clings to this Dharma, gives up the five desires and leaves home"; for pride, hearing that so-and-so has obtained the path of the arhat, one gives rise to a haughty mind: 「此人無勝我事，彼尚能爾，我何不能？」 tr. "This person has nothing in which he surpasses me; if even he can do it, why can I not?" And so he gives rise to great vigour and obtains the path of the arhat. One must hold to the character 「斷」 tr. "sever": what is relied on is love and pride; what is accomplished is the severing of love and pride, not taking love and pride as the ultimate. If the reader reads these words as the afflictions being themselves the path, an error of a hair's breadth at the start leads a thousand miles astray.

119. Within the Buddha path it is also like this; and the explanation of why the elder's daughter and the others all aroused the mind to become buddhas. The treatise-author uses this general rule to explain the matter at hand: the elder's daughter and the others, and the five hundred women, 「常深貪勢力自在樂」 tr. "had ordinarily been deeply greedy for the pleasures of power and sovereignty"; first they heard that in ancient times there were people whose supernormal power worked transformations, who were complete with jewels and, while among humans, received heavenly pleasures; afterwards they saw Dharmodgata, his terraces and towers and palaces, seated upon the great Dharma seat with gods and humans making offerings; further they saw the things that had been offered transformed in space into a great terrace; 「心即大喜，發難遭想，知皆從福德因緣可辦是事，是故皆發作佛心」 tr. "their minds at once rejoiced greatly, they gave rise to the thought of how hard this is to meet, and knew that all this could be accomplished through the causes and conditions of merit; and therefore they all aroused the mind to become buddhas".—One must keep an eye on the clause 「知皆從福德因緣可辦是事」 tr. "knew that all this could be accomplished through the causes and conditions of merit": what they aroused was not admiration of the fruit but faith in the cause. Admiring the fruit without believing in the cause becomes mere envy; only believing in the cause and then arousing the mind is arousing the mind.

120. Those who arouse the mind from hearing all practise in sequence; the Vimalakīrti Sūtra is cited, with the simile of the lotus flower born in mud. The treatise-author further cites a sūtra as proof: 「愛、慢等諸煩惱，皆是佛道根本。」 tr. "Love, pride, and the other afflictions are all the root of the Buddha path." So the women, seeing the matter, gave rise to a mind of love and delight, knew that by the causes and conditions of merit such things could be obtained, and so they all aroused the mind; 「因是愛、慢，後得清淨好心，故言佛道根本，譬如蓮花生污泥」 tr. "because of this love and this pride, they afterwards obtained a pure and good mind; therefore it is said to be the root of the Buddha path, just as the lotus flower is born in mud".—What is called the root is the ground from which something is born, not the substance of what is accomplished. The lotus is born in mud, yet the lotus is not mud; this simile is precisely a guard against the reader's misunderstanding. The treatise-author also first sets down the sentence 「所聞發心者，行皆次第行」 tr. "those who arouse the mind because of what they hear all practise in sequence", making clear that it is not arriving in a single step, but must be practised in sequence.

121. Having aroused the mind they made a vow: As Dharmodgata has done, we too shall obtain this. After arousing the mind comes a vow. The treatise-author records the plainness of the words of their vow, which shows precisely the mark of those who have first aroused the mind: what they vow is just the matter they see before their eyes. The reader need not take the coarseness and shallowness of their vow as a fault—a coarse and shallow vow can deepen as practice goes on; without a vow there is nothing from which to deepen.

122. They bow with head and face to Dharmodgata; and the explanation of the order, offerings first and bowing afterwards, and of the causes and conditions of his original seeking of prajñā that he told. The treatise-author explains their sequence: 「花、香等供養不貴故，先以供養；身貴重，故後禮拜。」 tr. "Because offerings of flowers, incense, and the like are not weighty, they offered them first; because the body is weighty, they bowed afterwards."—first and after are fixed by the weight of what is presented: the light first, the heavy after. After bowing he told the causes and conditions of his original seeking of prajñā, as said in the sūtra: 「我本求般若時，聞空中聲，乃至我今問大師：『諸佛從何所來？去至何處？』」 tr. "When I first sought prajñā, I heard the voice in the sky, and so on up to: now I ask the great teacher, ‘From where do the buddhas come? Where do they go?’" This question is precisely the question toward which the whole chapter tends, and its answer comes later. Arriving here, the reader can look back over the whole segment: from the consolation of the buddhas of the ten directions up to this one question, all the matters in between—selling himself, cutting his body, obtaining wealth, going east, making offerings—were only so that he could ask this one sentence.

123. The question: having obtained the great samādhis, how could he not know emptiness, but grasp at the mark of a Buddha and give rise to deep love and clinging? The last question of the whole segment, and also the most crucial: having already obtained the great samādhis of breaking ignorance, of contemplating the nature of dharmas, and the rest, why does he still grasp at the mark of a Buddha and give rise to deep love and clinging?—If this question were not asked, the reader would take 「得三昧」 tr. "obtaining samādhi" as a matter already finished, and would not understand why there is still this one question and this one clinging.

124. The answer: a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind, although he knows emptiness by the general mark, cannot be united with emptiness. The answer divides 「知」 tr. "knowing" and 「合」 tr. "being united" into two layers: 「若新發意菩薩雖能總相知諸法空、無相，於諸佛所深愛著故，不能解佛相畢竟空，雖知空而不能與空合。」 tr. "If he is a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind, although he can know by the general mark that dharmas are empty and signless, because he deeply loves and clings to the buddhas he cannot understand that the mark of a Buddha is ultimately empty; though he knows emptiness he cannot be united with emptiness." The reason is 「諸佛有無量無邊實功德，是菩薩利根故，深入、深著」 tr. "the buddhas have immeasurable, boundless real merits, and because this bodhisattva's faculties are keen, he enters deeply and clings deeply"—keen faculties instead become his deep clinging; these words most need attention: the depth of clinging is not inversely proportional to the keenness of faculties. The treatise-author further sets up an extreme statement to show how deep the clinging is: 「若佛不為是菩薩說空者，是菩薩為愛佛故，能自滅親族，何況餘人！但以解空故無是事。」 tr. "If the Buddha did not teach emptiness to this bodhisattva, this bodhisattva, out of love for the Buddha, could even destroy his own kin, how much more other people! Only because he understands emptiness does no such thing happen."—Loving the Buddha to the point of being able to destroy his own kin shows the force of clinging to the mark of a Buddha; and the reason he never comes to this is precisely that he understands emptiness. Here the reader obtains a conclusion: understanding emptiness is not not loving; it is keeping love from turning into harm.

125. Sadāprarudita, because he clung deeply to the buddhas, could not know, and asked the great teacher. The treatise-author closes the whole segment with one sentence: 「薩陀波崙深著諸佛故不能知，而問大師」 tr. "because Sadāprarudita clung deeply to the buddhas, he could not know, and so he asked the great teacher"—「今為我說諸佛來去相，我見佛身無厭足故，常不離見諸佛。」 tr. "Now tell me the mark of the coming and going of the buddhas; because I look at the Buddha's body without ever being satisfied, I never part from seeing the buddhas."—Because he cannot know, there is this question; because he clings deeply, there is this vow. The whole segment stops here, and the answer to what is asked is not in this segment. The reader should know the treatise-author's intent in closing: he does not answer on his behalf here; he wants the reader to carry this one question onward.

Do Not Misread

Do not read 「諸佛為說求諸三昧性，不見實體」 tr. "the buddhas told him that when one searches for the nature of the samādhis, no real substance is seen" as samādhi being useless. Here the treatise-author first says that Sadāprarudita 「大得諸三昧力」 tr. "greatly obtained the power of the samādhis", and only then says that the buddhas told him there is no real substance; what is broken is 「其心深著」 tr. "his mind clung to them deeply", not the samādhis obtained. If it is read as samādhi being useless, then the passage below, 「今得諸三昧力，又見十方佛，諸煩惱微薄，著心已離故」 tr. "because he has now obtained the power of the samādhis and has also seen the buddhas of the ten directions, his afflictions have become slight and thin, and his clinging mind has already parted", has nowhere to stand—it is precisely these powers of the samādhis that make him no longer weep. To obtain a dharma and not cling to the dharma is the consistent intent of this segment; it is not that obtaining a dharma is of no benefit.

Do not read 「捨身即是大供養，去住無在」 tr. "giving up the body is itself a great offering; going and staying are both without any place" as the treatise-author denying the two explanations set out side by side after it (one each under 「有人言」 tr. "someone says" and 「又人言」 tr. "again someone says"). The treatise-author first gives this answer, next records alongside the two explanations of selling himself to obtain wealth and of the master certainly allowing him to return, and at the end gives his own correct explanation with 「於外、內物中，內施為重，惜之深故」 tr. "among outer things and inner things, inner giving is the weightier, because one cherishes it more deeply". The three explanations coexist, each with its own fitting place: one explanation is accomplished in the mind, two explanations are accomplished in the matter. If one holds to the one sentence 「去住無在」 tr. "going and staying are without any place" and rejects the explanations on the side of the matter, why would the treatise-author have recorded them alongside? If one holds to the explanations on the side of the matter and forgets the answer on the side of the mind, then selling himself becomes a mere business deal.

Do not read the section on Śakra's false speech as ‘if the motive is good one may lie’. The standard of judgement the treatise-author gives is very strict: what becomes an offence is 「以慳貪、瞋恚煩惱欲求自利故妄語」 tr. "lying because, through the afflictions of avarice and anger, one wishes to seek one's own benefit"; the reason it does not become an offence here is that what is done for is not self-benefit, what is relied on is the constant dharma of their country, and what is accomplished is making the other believe and accept. If any one of the three is missing, this example cannot be invoked. If the reader takes this section out and uses it as a general rule, that is exactly what the treatise-author does not permit.

Do not read 「依愛而斷愛，依慢而斷慢」 tr. "relying on love one severs love; relying on pride one severs pride" as taking the afflictions as the path. The weight of both sentences lies on the character 「斷」 tr. "sever", and the two examples given both end in severing—because he loves and clings to the Dharma he gives up the five desires and leaves home; because he gives rise to a haughty mind he gives rise to great vigour and obtains the path of the arhat. Although the proof cited says 「愛、慢等諸煩惱，皆是佛道根本」 tr. "love, pride, and the other afflictions are all the root of the Buddha path", the treatise-author immediately follows it with the simile 「譬如蓮花生污泥」 tr. "just as the lotus flower is born in mud": the mud is where it is born from, not the flower that is accomplished. If root is read as substance and nature, then the earlier sentence 「後得清淨好心」 tr. "afterwards obtained a pure and good mind" has nothing to rest on.

Do not read the elder's daughter and the others arousing the mind on seeing supernormal power as admiration of power. The treatise-author says plainly that the reason they aroused the mind was that they 「知皆從福德因緣可辦是事」 tr. "knew that all this could be accomplished through the causes and conditions of merit"—what they believed in was the cause, not the fruit. Moreover the treatise-author first sets up the general rule 「發心有種種」 tr. "arousing the mind is of all kinds", and adds the sentence 「然後漸漸而生悲心」 tr. "and only afterwards give rise little by little to a compassionate mind", making clear that it does not stop there. If the reader simply dismisses it as admiration of power, he will not see what the treatise-author wants to say: the occasion for entering the gate can be any place at all, yet what is practised after entering the gate is still a sequence.

Do not read 「雖知空而不能與空合」 tr. "though he knows emptiness he cannot be united with emptiness" as the emptiness Sadāprarudita knows being false. The treatise-author says clearly that he 「能總相知諸法空、無相」 tr. "can know by the general mark that dharmas are empty and signless"—what he knows is not false; it is only by the general mark and does not yet reach the mark of a Buddha; it is not that he knows wrongly, but that between knowing and being united there is still a stretch. If it is read as what he knows being wholly false, then the earlier matters—the buddhas teaching him the two emptinesses, his clinging mind having already parted because of this, and the rest—would all fall empty. Knowing emptiness but not yet being united with emptiness is precisely the real ground of a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind, and it is also precisely where all the austerities of the whole segment arise from.

Bearing on Practice

The first use is to learn the treatise-author's form of questioning. Of the twenty-three questions in this segment, eight or nine out of ten have the same sentence pattern—this person is plainly already thus, so why would he still be like that? One can read the sūtra this way, and one can read oneself this way too: I plainly already understand this principle, so why, when a matter comes, do I still act as before? Every time, the treatise-author's way of answering is to divide into layers—this layer is accomplished, that layer is not yet accomplished. Having learned to ask and answer oneself in this way, one will not deny everything one has understood because of a single slip, nor mistakenly think, because one understands clearly, that one can already practise it.

The second use is to remember the sentence 「功德法貧，最大可恥」 tr. "poverty in the dharmas of merit is the greatest shame". Here the treatise-author plainly sets up two kinds of poverty, poverty in wealth and poverty in the dharmas of merit, and pronounces 「財貧，好人亦有；法貧，好人所無」 tr. "poverty in wealth even good people may have; poverty in the Dharma good people do not have". In daily life people are mostly ashamed of poverty in wealth and at ease with poverty in the Dharma. One can place these words upon the heart, and whenever one feels hard pressed, first ask: which kind of poverty is it that presses me? This one question is enough to turn much needless self-abasement into needful self-urging.

The third use is to take ‘the time of practising and the time of reflecting have different flavours’ to test oneself. The treatise-author says that wholesome dharmas have different flavours at the time of practising and at the time of reflecting, and that Sadāprarudita 「欲行布施味，是故求供養具」 tr. "wished to practise the flavour of giving, and therefore sought means of offering". Anyone who says of himself ‘it is enough that I have this intention in my heart’ can test himself by this: have you tasted the flavour of practising that intention or not? If you have not tasted it, it is only the flavour of reflection. This test is the simplest, and also the hardest to deceive oneself about.

The fourth use is to keep 「今欲定心出魔境界，是故魔來」 tr. "now, with a settled mind, he is about to leave Māra's realm, and therefore Māra comes" in mind at the place where effort grows tighter. The treatise-author sets up three divisions—one whose mind is not yet settled cannot move Māra, one whose mind is already settled Māra cannot come to, and just at the moment of being about to settle and not yet settled Māra exerts all his strength—and makes it clear with the simile of the debtor whom the creditor will not let go when he is about to leave for another realm. When a practitioner, just as his effort gradually gains strength, suddenly meets adverse conditions or suddenly gives rise to the intent to retreat, reading this passage he knows what it is he has met: he need not be alarmed, nor may he slacken.

The fifth use is to learn this kind of weighing, ‘the harm of clinging to the Dharma is lighter than the harm of clinging to a person’. Explaining why offerings were first made to the scroll of the sūtra, the treatise-author does not promise a way wholly without clinging, but only says 「雖取餘相，著心少於著人生患」 tr. "although they grasp at other marks, the clinging mind is less than the fault and harm that arise from clinging to a person". In daily life, in choosing a dharma, choosing a teacher, choosing a place of practice, there is often no option clean through and through; one can use this method of the treatise-author, not asking which is wholly without fault and harm, but only asking whose harm is lighter. This is wisdom on real ground, not in an ideal.

The sixth use is to take 「雖知空而不能與空合」 tr. "though he knows emptiness he cannot be united with emptiness" to look at oneself. What the last question of the whole segment points to is precisely the position where every person who studies prajñā is: the principle is known, yet as soon as a state appears before one, one still clings. The treatise-author does not reproach this clinging; instead he says it is precisely because his faculties are keen that he enters deeply and clings deeply, and also says 「但以解空故無是事」 tr. "only because he understands emptiness does no such thing happen"—the function of understanding emptiness is not to make one not love, but to keep love from turning into harm. Here a practitioner can put down the self-reproach ‘why do I still cling?’, and use his strength to bring his understanding by the general mark, step by step, into union with what he meets.

Further Resonances

The backbone of this segment is the twenty-three rounds of question and answer the treatise-author makes on the preceding sūtra text, interspersed with re-explanations of passages taken up from the sūtra and fifteen places where divergent explanations are set out side by side (「有人言」 tr. "someone says" fourteen, 「又人言」 tr. "again someone says" one). Its order: first it explains the consolation of the buddhas of the ten directions, their teaching that the samādhis have no real substance, and their brief account of the mark of prajñā; next it answers why he asks again who his good friend is, giving the two meanings of the Buddha's command to redouble reverence and of wishing to make his own faith firm; next it answers why he does not greatly grieve and seek again to see the buddhas, judging his weeping and not weeping by the difference between the fleshly eye and samādhi; next it answers why he does not re-enter samādhi but wishes to ask Dharmodgata, returning it to the buddhas of the ten directions' praising him as his teacher life after life; next it answers why he belittles himself as poor and seeks means of offering, giving the three meanings of according with worldly people, giving as the first of the aids to the path, and the different flavours of practising and reflecting; next it answers why a great bodhisattva is poor, recording alongside the two explanations of leaving home without carrying wealth and of being born into a poor family because of small offences in former lives, and setting up the judgement between poverty in wealth and poverty in the dharmas of merit; next it answers the doubt as to who buys him when he sells himself, the correct explanation being that giving up the body is itself a great offering and that inner giving is the weightier, recording alongside the two explanations of selling himself to obtain wealth and of the master certainly allowing him to return; next it answers why Māra wished to ruin him, giving the three meanings of his always being an enemy, of small bodhisattvas being ruinable, and of the sūtra itself stating the cause; it also answers why he did not ruin him earlier but screens only now, setting up the three divisions of a mind not yet settled and a mind already settled together with the simile of the debtor; it also answers why he does not kill but only ruins, giving the two meanings of Māra's hating the mind of becoming a Buddha and of the dharma of the gods and spirits forbidding reckless killing; and it distinguishes the names brahmin and householder, and records the three explanations of the elder's daughter alone hearing; next it answers why, after three cries with no buyer, he still grieves, returning it to his vow not being fulfilled; next it answers why Śakra came to test him, giving the three meanings of the gods not knowing the mind of becoming a Buddha, of wishing to lead many, and the simile of the burning and forging of gold and silver; it also answers why he lied, setting up the judgement that it is an offence only when it is from afflictions and for self-benefit; next it distinguishes great benefit and the foremost benefit step by step, and explains the phrase 「便為具足」 tr. "then it is complete"; next it answers why he asked the price, explains the limit of give me as you wish, and explains why he took the knife himself and broke his body; next it answers why the elder's daughter came only at this time, judging it by the lightness of the matter of empty words and the weight of the matter of breaking the body, and thereupon narrates the present matters of the Buddha's merits he gave in answer and the five explanations of the unsurpassed Dharma Jewel, recording alongside the five interpretations—the Dharma Jewel among the Three Jewels, the eighty-four thousand collections of the Dharma, anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, nirvāṇa, and the path to nirvāṇa—and returning them to distribution as the three vehicles; next it answers how he could teach the Dharma at the moment of cutting his body, giving the two meanings of the great power of his mind and of his not yet having greatly swooned; next it explains Śakra's praise on resuming his own body, his setting out his purpose in coming to test, his being ashamed and in debt at being unable to grant awakening, his asking for some other wish, the request that the body be made whole, and the wounds at once being made whole, and answers how they could be made whole, giving the two meanings of the five inconceivables and of the atoms coming together; next it explains the reason for ask my parents for it, giving the two meanings of being ashamed that she could not match her earlier words and of the dharma of a child, answers how the elder could send his daughter off, setting up the roots of virtue planted in former lives and the simile of the lotus flower seeing the sun, and portrays the parents' mind of weighing; next it narrates the multitude's minds being settled and their going east, and the crowd following; next it answers why a terrace of the seven jewels was used to write out the scroll of the prajñā sūtra, giving two meanings, explains the sealing with the seal of the seven jewels and records alongside the one explanation of the seven great spirits, and answers why he first went to the terrace, giving the three meanings of the sequence of the Three Jewels, of the heavier harm of clinging to a person, and of the Dharma as the root through which offerings are received; next it answers how Dharmodgata could transform the flower-terrace, recording alongside the two explanations of the supernormal power of the buddhas and of the body born of the Dharma-nature; next it answers how they could arouse the mind merely on seeing supernormal power and majestic virtue, setting up the general rules that arousing the mind is of all kinds and that relying on love one severs love and relying on pride one severs pride, citing two sūtras as proof and taking the lotus flower born in mud as a simile; finally it narrates the bowing with head and face, the order of offerings first and bowing afterwards, and the causes and conditions of his original seeking of prajñā that he told, and closes the whole segment with the answer 「雖知空而不能與空合」 tr. "though he knows emptiness he cannot be united with emptiness", stopping at Sadāprarudita's one question about the mark of the coming and going of the buddhas.

Two strands of meaning can be seen linking this segment with what comes before and after. First, continuing what precedes: what this segment explains is precisely the preceding sūtra text, so the order of its questions and answers follows the sūtra text down one by one; where the sūtra text is brief the treatise-author gives details, and where the sūtra text is hidden the treatise-author asks about it. Second, handing on to what follows: the answer to the final question of the whole segment, 「諸佛從何所來？去至何處？」 tr. "From where do the buddhas come? Where do they go?", is not in this segment but in the next chapter, the "Dharmodgata" chapter; the reader should look at the two chapters together, and only then see where this question comes to rest.

Of the ancient masters' explanations, one school is worth recording for this segment. Jizang, explaining this chapter in his Commentary on the Larger Sūtra, gives its chapter heading as 「常啼品第八十八」 tr. "Ever Weeping, Chapter Eighty-Eight", using the chapter name of the line of the Larger Sūtra, which differs from this treatise's title 「薩陀波崙品第八十八」 tr. "Sadāprarudita, Chapter Eighty-Eight"; his division of the whole chapter says: 「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；二者、佛精苦求法故得具足聞；三、明聞科益諸三昧。」 tr. "From ‘addressed the Buddha’ on, second: the marks of that person's seeking prajñā, which are three, three: first, broadly making clear the marks of that person's seeking the Dharma so that beings rejoice in it; second, the Buddha—because of diligent and painful seeking of the Dharma he obtains complete hearing; third, making clear hearing, the division of benefit, and the samādhis." For the great section below this he divides it into five and gives the general heading: 「見諸佛下，大段第二、更勸尋善友求般若也。」 tr. "From ‘saw the buddhas’ on, great section two: further encouraging him to look for the good friend and seek prajñā." [Note: he himself heads it 「五者」 tr. "five", yet the numerals of the items read one, two, three, five, six; this is recorded faithfully as it stands, without change.] The section on selling himself he heads separately, saying: 「復作是念下，第二、賣身供養。」 tr. "From ‘further had this thought’ on, second: selling himself to make offerings." This differs from the format of this treatise, which questions and answers following the text; his divisions are taken so that they can be read alongside the order of this treatise's questions and answers. Of his item-by-item explanations, several matters can be set against this segment. On selling himself, explaining why offerings were needed, he says: 「所以須供養：一、為他人見其遠來，空無有物，則不生喜心，故須供養具；二者、欲引導眾人，其是貧窮，尚辦供養等，云何而不行耶？二者、欲明般若，檀為其初。」 tr. "The reason offerings were needed: first, because when others see that he has come from afar with nothing at all, they do not give rise to a joyful mind, so means of offering were needed; second, he wished to lead the multitude—he being poor still provides offerings and the like, so how could they not do it? Second, he wished to make clear that for prajñā, giving is its beginning."—the three meanings broadly correspond to this treatise's three meanings, except that the numeral of its headings is repeated, before and after, which is recorded as it stands without change. Explaining why he was poor, he says: 「問：常啼得六萬三昧，見十方佛，何故貧耶？答：其人雖有見佛之緣，過去復少罪，生貧窮家，故無財物；二者、雖生富家，去家遠，在深山學道，故不取財物也。」 tr. "Question: Ever Weeping obtained sixty thousand samādhis and saw the buddhas of the ten directions; why was he poor? Answer: although that person had the affinity to see the buddhas, in the past he also had small offences, and was born into a poor family, so he had no wealth; second, although he was born into a rich family, he went far from home and trained in the path in the deep mountains, so he did not take wealth."—the order of the two explanations is the reverse of the two schools recorded in this treatise; they are recorded side by side without judgement. Explaining who makes the offerings when the one who sells himself belongs to another, he says: 「問：賣身屬他，誰供養善友耶？一解云：寄他供養。二解云：此是及世，身雖屬他，許其前供養，聞般若便歸也。」 tr. "Question: having sold himself he belongs to another; who makes offerings to the good friend? One explanation says: he makes offerings by entrusting it to another. A second explanation says: this was an age that reached it; although his body belonged to another, he was permitted first to make offerings, and on hearing prajñā he would then return." And he gives an explanation of his own, saying: 「今謂於市賣身，則眾人無不感其奇時，必招致財物，復得友人心，是故賣身。」 tr. "Now I say: when he sells himself in the market, then among the crowd there is no one who is not moved by its strangeness at that time; he would certainly attract wealth and also win the hearts of friends; therefore he sold himself."—this explanation is not found in this treatise, and is recorded without judgement. Explaining why Māra did not kill him, he says: 「問：魔何故不煞常啼而惱亂之耶？答：魔不減其壽命，但破其求佛心也。又天神法，人無大罪，不得害之；若無此法，人無活者也。」 tr. "Question: why does Māra not kill Ever Weeping but trouble and disrupt him? Answer: Māra does not reduce his life; he only breaks his mind of seeking buddhahood. Further, by the dharma of the gods and spirits, if a person has no great offence, they may not harm him; if there were not this dharma, no person would live."—this agrees with the two meanings answered in this treatise. Explaining why Māra did not come earlier, he says: 「問：其在空林之時，魔何不來耶？答：爾時未得諸三昧，未能決定忘身，故不能動魔；亦得諸三昧，能決定忘身，故魔乃驚也。小菩薩未能動魔，已得無生，亦不動魔，將出魔境，將入道門，故魔來也。」 tr. "Question: when he was in the empty forest, why did Māra not come? Answer: at that time he had not yet obtained the samādhis and could not yet decisively forget his body, so he could not move Māra; having also obtained the samādhis, he could decisively forget his body, so Māra was then alarmed. A small bodhisattva cannot yet move Māra; one who has already obtained non-arising also does not move Māra; one who is about to leave Māra's realm and about to enter the gate of the path—therefore Māra comes."—the judgement by three divisions is the same as this treatise's, with the additional phrase 「將入道門」 tr. "about to enter the gate of the path". Explaining the name householder, he says: 「長者、居士不聞自賣聲者，此是居舍之士，非四姓中居士也。」 tr. "That the elders and householders did not hear the sound of his selling himself: these are gentlemen who dwell in houses, not the householders among the four castes."—this agrees with this treatise's distinction. Explaining why the elder's daughter alone heard, he says: 「長者女獨聞聲者，一解：是人不死因緣故其得聞。二解：是法尚神力今其得取。三云：與常啼宿世善友，善根既深魔不能弊也。」 tr. "That the elder's daughter alone heard the sound: one explanation: it is because of the causes and conditions of this person's not dying that she was able to hear. A second explanation: it is the supernormal power of Dharmodgata that now lets her obtain it. A third says: she was Ever Weeping's good friend in former lives, and her roots of goodness being deep, Māra could not obscure her."—the three explanations correspond to the three explanations recorded in this treatise, except that their order and this treatise's differ, each in places coming before the other. Explaining Śakra's coming to test him, he says: 「問：帝釋得他心智，何不知其心而來誡耶？答：天主但知世人心，世人以作佛必非其知。二者、雖知其心，為欲發起眾人示希有事故誡也。」 tr. "Question: Śakra has obtained the knowledge of others' minds; why did he not know his mind, but came to admonish him? Answer: the lord of the gods knows only the minds of worldly people; a worldly person's becoming a Buddha is certainly not within his knowing. Second: although he knew his mind, because he wished to rouse the multitude by showing a rare matter, he admonished him."—the two meanings agree with the first two meanings of this treatise. Explaining great benefit and the foremost benefit, he says: 「大利第一利者，十地為大利、佛道第一利、般若為大利。方便第一利者，五度為大利、般若為第一利也。」 tr. "As for great benefit and the foremost benefit: the ten grounds are great benefit, the Buddha path the foremost benefit, prajñā great benefit. As for skilful means as the foremost benefit: the five perfections are great benefit, prajñā the foremost benefit."—the items paired differ in places from the four layers listed in this treatise; they are recorded side by side without judgement. Explaining the wounds being made whole again, he says: 「身即平後後者，五不可思議中龍力尚不思議，況復天耶？以空中有魔故，福業力聚塵令身平復也。」 tr. "As for the body being at once made whole, after, after: among the five inconceivables, even the power of nāgas is inconceivable, how much more the gods? Because there is Māra in space, the power of meritorious deeds gathers the dust and makes the body whole again."—the five inconceivables cited and the meaning of gathering the dust are the same as in this treatise; its wording has places open to question, and it is recorded faithfully as it stands without change. Explaining the writing out of the sūtra on the terrace of the seven jewels, he says: 「論解云：善根深人者，從曇無竭聞般若；善根淺者，從經卷中，故有金牒書般若也。」 tr. "The treatise explains: people whose roots of goodness are deep hear prajñā from Dharmodgata; those whose roots of goodness are shallow hear it from within the scroll of the sūtra; therefore there is prajñā written on golden tablets." He also says: 「此中又解云：眾生所樂不同，或見經卷，或樂聞法。又解云：鈍根人見曇無竭為白衣受五欲法，必眾護著，治何為也？說無著法，是故於其經文為此人也。」 tr. "Here it is further explained: what beings delight in differs—some see the scroll of the sūtra, some delight in hearing the Dharma. It is further explained: people of dull faculties see that Dharmodgata is one of the white-robed receiving the dharma of the five desires; he must be guarding many attachments, so what is he to do? He teaches the dharma of non-clinging; therefore the sūtra text is for this person."—the latter two explanations correspond to this treatise's two meanings, while the first explanation divides the scroll of the sūtra and the expounding by the depth or shallowness of roots of goodness, which differs in the meaning taken from this treatise's dividing them by the difference of mental conduct; they are recorded side by side without judgement. Explaining the seal of the seven jewels, he says: 「一解：是十寶印印曇無竭手，常自報將。次解：是求佛道七大神王，如金剛神之類，守護金牒，不令魔等，改汎其文，故言七印也。」 tr. "One explanation: it is a seal of the ten jewels, sealed on Dharmodgata's hand, which he always himself bears and holds. The next explanation: these are seven great spirit kings seeking the Buddha path, of the kind of the vajra spirits, guarding the golden tablets and not letting Māra and the others alter and blur its text; therefore it is called the seven seals."—the two explanations correspond to this treatise's two explanations. Further, Zhanran, in his Supporting Practice and Broad Resolution of Calming and Contemplation, cites the final question of this segment and joins it with the answer of the next chapter, saying: 「故引大品。薩陀波崙空中見佛。後見曇無竭。乃問言。佛從何所來。答言。不來不去即是佛。無生法即是佛。」 tr. "Therefore the Larger Sūtra is cited. Sadāprarudita saw the Buddha in the sky. Afterwards he saw Dharmodgata. Then he asked, saying: From where does the Buddha come? The answer said: Not coming and not going is precisely the Buddha. The dharma of non-arising is precisely the Buddha."—the question cited is in this segment, while the answer cited is in the next chapter; this is a citation joining across chapters, recorded without judgement, and its answer is not taken as belonging to this segment. The extant part of Huiying's Commentary does not reach this chapter; this segment has no explanatory text of his to cite, and the lack is marked according to the facts, not filled with text from elsewhere; Junzheng's book is not in the form of a commentary explaining the sūtra following its text, and has no bearing on this chapter. The variant readings of the various editions touched on in this segment, and the two forms of the chapter title, are examined in detail in the apparatus layer.

Further Resonances

What "Sadāprarudita" inherits is written out plainly in the very first sentence at the opening of Treatise ①. The preceding chapter, "Nirvāṇa Is Like a Conjuration," ends in one question and one counter-question: Subhūti asks 「云何教化新發意菩薩，令知平等性空？」 tr. "How should a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind be taught and transformed, so that he knows the equal emptiness of nature?", and the Buddha does not answer directly but asks in return 「諸法先有今無耶？」 tr. "Did dharmas exist before and now not exist?"; the treatise-author of the preceding chapter explains this, saying 「以新發意者怖畏後當無故」 tr. "because those who have newly aroused the mind fear that afterwards there will be nothing," and what he answers lies only in 「初自無故，不應恐怖，但為除顛倒耳」 tr. "because from the first they are non-existent of themselves, one should not be afraid; it is only in order to remove inversion." At the very start of this chapter the treatise-author cites this and continues: 「上品中說：「新發意菩薩云何教性空法？」性空法畢竟無所有空，難解難得故。」 tr. "In the preceding chapter it was said: ‘How is a bodhisattva who has newly aroused the mind to be taught the dharma of the emptiness of nature?’ For the dharma of the emptiness of nature is ultimately without anything existent and empty, hard to understand and hard to obtain."—the wording of what he cites differs slightly from the sentence in the preceding chapter while the meaning is the same; this is the treatise-author citing it himself, not the sūtra text itself. Having cited it, he at once answers: 「性空法非難得難知。何以故？本來常無，更無新異，汝何以心驚謂為難得？」 tr. "The dharma of the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain or hard to know. Why? From the first it has always been non-existent; there is nothing new and strange; why are you startled in mind and call it hard to obtain?" What the preceding chapter breaks is fear; what this chapter breaks is difficulty; fear and difficulty are two sicknesses with one root, both arising from taking the emptiness of nature as a place that is about to be lost. And why this chapter no longer discusses principle but tells of a person, the treatise-author himself also states the reason: 「是性空法雖甚深，菩薩但能一心勤精進，不惜身命，作如是一心求，便可得。此中說薩陀波崙本生為證。」 tr. "Though this dharma of the emptiness of nature is very deep, if the bodhisattva can only with one mind diligently exert vigour, not sparing body or life, and seek with one mind in this way, it can be obtained. Here the jātaka of Sadāprarudita is told as proof." The preceding chapter answers with principle; this chapter proves it with a person; one principle and one person join exactly into one ring. What it opens lies in this chapter's last sentence. The whole chapter ends in Sadāprarudita's question, which is not answered—「大師！當為我說諸佛所從來、所至處，令我得知」 tr. "Great teacher! Please proclaim to me the place from which the buddhas come and the place to which they go, so that I may come to know it"; the very first sentence at the opening of the next chapter, "Dharmodgata," is precisely the answer: 「善男子！諸佛無所從來，去亦無所至。何以故？諸法如不動相，諸法如即是佛。」 tr. "Good man! The buddhas come from nowhere, and in going reach nowhere. Why? The suchness of dharmas has the mark of not moving; the suchness of dharmas is precisely the Buddha." The treatise-author of this chapter has already pointed out beforehand where the sickness lies—「於諸佛所深愛著故，不能解佛相畢竟空」 tr. "because he deeply loves and clings to the buddhas, he cannot understand that the mark of a Buddha is ultimately empty"; the answer of the next chapter then takes it apart simile by simile: in the mirage there is no water, the illusory thing has no reality, what is seen in a dream is false; and it returns to 「諸佛不可以色身見，諸佛法身無來無去」 tr. "the buddhas cannot be seen by the form body; the Dharma body of the buddhas neither comes nor goes." This chapter tells how one person gave up his body for the Dharma and in the end saw his teacher; the next chapter tells how the teacher he saw, in his very first sentence, takes away the mark of what is seen: what was sought by giving up the body is not a Buddha who can be seen, and only here do the two Chinese characters for coming and going find their explanation.

Of what the later transmitted texts preserve for this chapter, the division of its fascicles and its chapter number are most worth recording, and the way they divide it corresponds exactly to the structure of this chapter's sūtra and treatise. The base text of this treatise heads it 「大智度論釋薩陀波崙品第八十八」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, explanation of the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’, the eighty-eighth," while the Song edition, the Yuan edition, and the Palace edition all add, below the 「八」 tr. "eight" of the chapter number, the one character 「上」 tr. "first part," and the Ming edition further, after the full chapter title, reads 「釋薩陀波崙品第八十八之上」 tr. "explanation of the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’, the eighty-eighth, the first part." This is not an isolated case: for the continuation title of Fascicle 97, the Song, Yuan, and Palace editions read 「大智度論卷第九十七釋薩陀波崙品第八十八中」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Ninety-seven, explanation of the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’, the eighty-eighth, middle part," and the Ming edition reads 「大智度論卷第九十七釋薩陀波崙品第八十八之中」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Ninety-seven, explanation of the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’, the eighty-eighth, the middle part"; for the continuation title of Fascicle 98, the Song, Yuan, and Palace editions read 「大智度論卷第九十八釋薩陀波崙品第八十八下」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Ninety-eight, explanation of the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’, the eighty-eighth, last part," and the Ming edition reads 「大智度論卷第九十八釋薩陀波崙品第八十八之下」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Ninety-eight, explanation of the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’, the eighty-eighth, the last part." So the four editions consistently attach the three titles first, middle, and last to the three fascicles of this chapter, while the Taishō base text in all three places does not divide—within the one chapter there are of themselves three parts, not added by later people but inherent in the transmitted texts. As for the way of counting the chapter number, the texts each form a system of their own: the Shōgozō manuscript's end title of Fascicle 96 reads 「大智度經論卷第九十六釋第八十六品訖第八十七品上」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra-Treatise, Fascicle Ninety-six, explanation of the eighty-sixth chapter, ended; the eighty-seventh chapter, first part," its opening title of Fascicle 97 reads 「大智度經論卷第九十七釋第八十七品中」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra-Treatise, Fascicle Ninety-seven, explanation of the eighty-seventh chapter, middle part," and its opening title of Fascicle 98 reads 「大智度經輪卷第九十八釋第八十七品下」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra-Wheel, Fascicle Ninety-eight, explanation of the eighty-seventh chapter, last part"—its chapter number is consistently one step less than the base text, while its division into first, middle, and last agrees with the Song, Yuan, Palace, and Ming editions; the Ishiyama-dera manuscript's end title of Fascicle 96 reads 「大智度經卷九十六終」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra, Fascicle Ninety-six, end," and where this chapter's title stands it reads 「大智度經品第八十七薩陀波崙品卷九十七」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra, chapter eighty-seven, the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’, Fascicle Ninety-seven," likewise one step less than the base text; moreover its fascicle boundary differs from the base text, separately recording 「卷九十七首」 tr. "head of Fascicle Ninety-seven," while at two places within the fascicle it records outright 「不分卷及品」 tr. "fascicle and chapter not divided"; it is further recorded that 「石山本卷第九十八首，並卷首有摩訶般若波羅蜜品第八十七品之二卷九十八之十九字」 tr. "at the head of Fascicle Ninety-eight of the Ishiyama text, and at the head of the fascicle there are the nineteen Chinese characters ‘Mahāprajñāpāramitā chapter, chapter eighty-seven, second part, Fascicle Ninety-eight’"—so the Ishiyama-dera manuscript has, for this chapter, a set of sūtra-chapter names of its own as well. The three texts with their three ways of counting stand side by side; they are recorded as they are, with no forced unification. The great sūtra being explained calls this chapter precisely 「常啼品」 tr. "the chapter ‘Ever Weeping’," which, with this treatise's 「薩陀波崙品」 tr. "the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’," is one a translation of the meaning and one a transliteration: not the names of two chapters, but two transmissions of one name. The title of the next chapter may also be viewed alongside: the Song and Yuan editions read 「大智度論卷第九十九釋曇無竭品第八十九上」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Ninety-nine, explanation of the chapter ‘Dharmodgata’, the eighty-ninth, first part," the Ming edition reads 「大智度論卷第九十九釋曇無竭品第八十九之上」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Ninety-nine, explanation of the chapter ‘Dharmodgata’, the eighty-ninth, the first part," while the Palace edition alone reads 「大智度論卷第九十九釋說般若相品品第八十九上」 tr. "Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa, Fascicle Ninety-nine, explanation of the chapter ‘Teaching the Marks of Prajñā’ chapter, the eighty-ninth, first part," the Shōgozō manuscript reads 「大智度經論卷第九十九釋第八十八品上」 tr. "Great Wisdom-Crossing Sūtra-Treatise, Fascicle Ninety-nine, explanation of the eighty-eighth chapter, first part," and the Ishiyama-dera manuscript reads 「摩訶般若波羅蜜品第八十八曇無竭品九十九」 tr. "the Mahāprajñāpāramitā chapter, the eighty-eighth, the chapter ‘Dharmodgata’, ninety-nine"—this chapter is named after a person, while the next chapter's name, in the Palace edition, is named after the Dharma; the two titles, of person and of Dharma, stand side by side, and this exactly illumines this chapter's distinction between 「就行法者為名」 tr. "named after the one who practises the Dharma" and 「就說法者為目」 tr. "titled after the one who teaches the Dharma." Further, where this chapter explains the name, the base text has the interlinear note 「薩陀秦言常波崙名啼」 tr. "Sadā in the language of Qin is ‘ever’; prarudita means ‘weeping’" (the character 「崙」 tr. "lun" the Taishō originally writes as 「論」 tr. "lun, ‘treatise’," and the Palace edition writes as 「崙」 tr. "lun"; here, following the Korean edition and the Palace edition, it is written 「崙」 tr. "lun"), a note on the origin of the transliterated word: sadā in the language of Qin is ‘ever’, prarudita means ‘weeping’, and this is where the name Ever Weeping comes from; this note the three editions of Song, Yuan, and Ming and the Shōgozō manuscript put directly into the main text, while the three editions, the Palace edition, the Shōgozō manuscript, and the Ishiyama-dera manuscript all lack the character 「波」 tr. "bo"; this is recorded side by side as it is.

Among the commentaries of the ancient masters, the one that has a substantive correspondence with this chapter and is detailed is, of what survives today, the one school of Jizang's Commentary on the Larger Sūtra. His book uses the chapter name of the great sūtra, heading it 「常啼品第八十八」 tr. "the chapter ‘Ever Weeping’, the eighty-eighth," and first judges this chapter's position within the whole sūtra: 「上第十既說方便自果，今第二結勸脩行，欲明其不虗說必宜行故也。」 tr. "Above, the tenth has already spoken of skilful means and its own fruit; now the second concludes with an exhortation to cultivate practice, wishing to make clear that it is not spoken in vain and must surely be practised." And the intent of viewing the two chapters together he states most clearly: 「初品若欲受法奉修不復艱苦，要以得為期者，當知薩陀波崙若；欲善死大道不違法相，說禪根緣有大利益者，當知曇無竭也。故初品就行法者為名，後品就說法者為目也。」 tr. "In the first chapter: if one wishes to receive the Dharma and practise it reverently, no longer counting hardship, and must take obtaining it as one's aim, one should know Sadāprarudita; if one wishes to die well for the great path without going against the marks of the Dharma, and to teach that the causes and conditions of the roots of dhyāna have great benefit, one should know Dharmodgata. 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." In explaining why this chapter arises, he cites this treatise directly and runs on the same track as the treatise-author: 「論生起云：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。」 tr. "The treatise, on how this arises, says: the preceding chapter had not yet made clear how to free the bodhisattva who is beginning his practice and cause him to know that birth and death and nirvāṇa are all like conjured buddhas, and answered: did dharmas exist from the first and now not exist? The Buddha's intent is to make clear that the emptiness of nature is not hard to obtain; though one knows that the original nature of dharmas is pure, if one can seek with one mind, one will surely obtain it: Sadāprarudita is that very person." For the one name Ever Weeping he too keeps three explanations side by side and does not judge between them: 「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。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 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. 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." Why he is still now in the presence of the Buddha Great Thunder-Sound—his two explanations agree exactly with this treatise's example of Mañjuśrī: 「一解云：菩薩法無量，其人雖曠劫積行猶未得佛，故為菩薩也。二解：久成佛如文殊之流，為物故迹居不足地也。」 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. 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." Whose the voice in the sky is, he too keeps two explanations, and takes the example of Sudatta as the proof of the second: 「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」 tr. "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." The coarseness and fineness of the admonitions he divides most clearly: 「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." The passage of the three vows he lists item by item, corresponding to the three vows the treatise-author gives: 「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. "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." On the section of seeking prajñā apart from marks, he also 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." On the section of teacher and disciple, his structural division agrees wholly with this treatise's admonitions: 「初誡以世利者，既觀親近好好師，必滅名利」 tr. "As for the first admonition, about worldly gain: having contemplated drawing near to a good teacher, one must extinguish fame and gain"; where Māra produces the five desires to disturb the one who teaches the Dharma, 「弟子見之但取其法，勿見師受欲過」 tr. "the disciple, seeing this, takes only his Dharma and does not see a fault in the teacher's receiving desires"; and the one matter of the teacher paying no attention he too returns to self-reproach: 「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." Why the response comes only after seven days, he says the same as this treatise: 「自少則精進未深，過多則愁憂妨心，故七日而應。」 tr. "With fewer, vigour is not yet deep; with too many, sorrow obstructs the mind; therefore the response comes at seven days." Which Buddha is in the sky, he still keeps both: 「有解云：非真佛，是諸化佛身及大菩薩化作佛取。或云：即是真佛也。」 tr. "One explanation says: not a true Buddha; it is the bodies of conjured buddhas, and Buddha-forms made by the transformation of great bodhisattvas. Another says: it is in fact a true Buddha." Where the City of Many Fragrances is, his answer too takes the meaning of this treatise directly: 「過去佛滅後，遺法未滅，爾時佛法不遍閻浮提，故閻浮提中別有眾香國土也。」 tr. "After a Buddha of the past had passed into extinction, his bequeathed Dharma had not yet perished; at that time the Buddha's Dharma did not pervade Jambudvīpa; therefore within Jambudvīpa there was separately the land of Many Fragrances." And on the wealth and delight of the City of Many Fragrances he brings out an explanation of his own, precisely to guard the reader against taking prajñā as empty and without retribution: 「示行般若故，得此果報，勿言般若是空，無有果也。」 tr. "It shows that because one practises prajñā one obtains this retribution; do not say that prajñā is empty and has no fruit." On the passage of selling himself, he lists three meanings, which correspond to this treatise's answer: 「一、為他人見其遠來，空無有物，則不生喜心，故須供養具；二者、欲引導眾人，其是貧窮，尚辦供養等，云何而不行耶？」 tr. "First, because when others see that he has come from afar with nothing at all, they do not give rise to a joyful mind, so means of offering were needed; second, he wished to lead the multitude—he being poor still provides offerings and the like, so how could they not do it?" 「二者、欲明般若，檀為其初。」 tr. "Second, he wished to make clear that for prajñā, dāna is its beginning." Why Māra does not kill him but only harasses him, his answer too is the same: 「魔不減其壽命，但破其求佛心也。又天神法，人無大罪，不得害之；若無此法，人無活者也。」 tr. "Māra does not reduce his life; he only breaks his mind of seeking buddhahood. Further, by the dharma of the gods and spirits, if a person has no great offence, they may not harm him; if there were not this dharma, no person would live." Why Māra comes only at this point, he says most briefly: 「爾時未得諸三昧，未能決定忘身，故不能動魔」 tr. "at that time he had not yet obtained the samādhis and could not yet decisively forget his body, so he could not move Māra," and 「將出魔境，將入道門，故魔來也」 tr. "he was about to leave Māra's domain and about to enter the gate of the path, so Māra came." On the meaning of householder, he is directly the same as this treatise: 「此是居舍之士，非四姓中居士也。」 tr. "These are gentlemen who dwell in houses, not the householders among the four castes." Why the elder's daughter alone heard, he too keeps three explanations: 「一解：是人不死因緣故其得聞。二解：是法尚神力今其得取。三云：與常啼宿世善友，善根既深魔不能弊也。」 tr. "One explanation: this person had the causes and conditions of not dying, so she got to hear. A second explanation: it was Dharmodgata's supernormal power that now let her obtain it. The third says: she had been Ever Weeping's good friend in past lives; her roots of goodness being deep, Māra could not obstruct her." Why Śakra came to test him, he also keeps two: 「天主但知世人心，世人以作佛必非其知。二者、雖知其心，為欲發起眾人示希有事故誡也。」 tr. "The lord of the gods knows only the minds of worldly people; a worldly person's becoming a Buddha is certainly not within his knowing. Second: although he knew his mind, because he wished to rouse the multitude by showing a rare matter, he admonished him." In distinguishing great benefit from the foremost benefit, the sequence he gives has the same pattern as the six layers this treatise lists, while the items taken differ: 「十地為大利、佛道第一利、般若為大利。方便第一利者，五度為大利、般若為第一利也。」 tr. "The ten grounds are great benefit, the Buddha path the foremost benefit, prajñā great benefit. As for skilful means as the foremost benefit: the five perfections are great benefit, prajñā the foremost benefit." Why the scroll of the sūtra is offered to first, he also gives two explanations, both taking up this treatise's text: 「善根深人者，從曇無竭聞般若；善根淺者，從經卷中，故有金牒書般若也。」 tr. "People whose roots of goodness are deep hear prajñā from Dharmodgata; those whose roots of goodness are shallow, from the scrolls of the sūtra; therefore there is the prajñā written on tablets of gold." 「鈍根人見曇無竭為白衣受五欲法，必眾護著」 tr. "People of dull faculties see that Dharmodgata is one of the white-robed receiving the dharma of the five desires; he must be guarding many attachments," and therefore the sūtra text is written out for this person. On the one meaning of the seal of the seven jewels, he has the same two explanations as this treatise, the latter reading 「是求佛道七大神王，如金剛神之類，守護金牒，不令魔等，改汎其文，故言七印也」 tr. "these are seven great spirit-kings who seek the Buddha path, of the kind of the vajra spirits, guarding the golden tablets so that Māra and the like do not alter its text; therefore it speaks of seven seals." The final passage he assigns as the sixth division—「因曇無竭言下，第六、自護求法請決疑也」 tr. "From ‘because of Dharmodgata's words’ onward is the sixth: guarding himself in seeking the Dharma, and requesting the resolution of his doubt"—which is precisely the place in the structural division where this chapter stops at the asking of the question and does not reach the answer.

The other schools either lack it or are not directly attached to it, and all are recorded according to the facts. Huiying's Commentary is a book that makes a commentary on this treatise chapter by chapter, yet its extant text stops at the explanation of "The Great Skilful Means," Chapter 69, and is incomplete, falling far short of Fascicles 96 to 98 where this chapter lies; for this chapter the explanation is recorded as lacking. Only, within the earlier chapters, his book twice looks ahead to this chapter: in one place it says 「論主自科有於二分：從此品去至曇無竭品，通明方便道義；囑累一品，明其付囑」 tr. "The treatise-author's own division has two parts: from this chapter on to the chapter ‘Dharmodgata’, it makes clear throughout the meaning of the path of skilful means; the one chapter ‘Entrustment’ makes clear its entrusting," and in one place it says 「第三從薩陀波崘品至曇無竭二品，明其舉人勸脩勸學波若」 tr. "Third, from the chapter ‘Sadāprarudita’ to ‘Dharmodgata’, two chapters, it makes clear the bringing forward of persons to exhort cultivation and exhort training in prajñā." These are forward-looking mentions, not commentary text on this chapter; yet his joining of this chapter and the next into one section, judged as 「舉人勸脩勸學」 tr. "bringing forward persons to exhort cultivation and exhort training," agrees with Jizang's division by 「兩品本意」 tr. "the original intent of the two chapters," and also accords with the purport of this treatise in taking a jātaka as proof—the ancient masters, reading these two chapters, all take them not as a story inserted in passing but as the conclusion of the whole sūtra's exhortation to cultivation. Junzheng's Profound Meaning of the Four Mahāyāna Treatises has been searched throughout for the four names 「薩陀波崙」 tr. "Sadāprarudita," 「常啼」 tr. "Ever Weeping," 「曇無竭」 tr. "Dharmodgata," and 「法尚」 tr. "Dharma-Esteeming," and all are 〔not found〕; his book is in the form of an outline of doctrinal tenets and not an explanation following the text, so this is not a defect. The Tiantai line is recorded according to the facts in two aspects. Zhiyi's Great Calming and Contemplation names this chapter explicitly in three places, all by adapting rather than quoting word for word: first, where he praises the power and function of the Dharma in general, he sets this chapter beside seekers of the Dharma from other sūtras—「常啼東請，善財南求，藥王燒手，普明刎頭，一日三捨恒河沙身，尚不能報一句之力」 tr. "Ever Weeping requested in the east, Good Wealth sought in the south, Medicine King burned his hand, Universal Light cut off his head; even giving up, three times in one day, bodies as many as the sands of the Ganges, one still could not repay the power of a single phrase"; second, where he explains the five dharmas of desire, vigour, mindfulness, skilful wisdom, and one mind among the twenty-five skilful means, he matches them item by item with the deeds of Sadāprarudita: 「復次，欲者，如薩陀波崙欲聞般若，不自惜身命。精進者，為聞般若故，七日七夜閑林悲泣；七歲行立不坐不臥。念者，常念我何時當聞般若，更無餘念。巧慧者，雖有留難，留難不能難。如賣身，魔不能蔽；隱水，更能刺血。轉魔事為佛事，即巧慧。一心者，決志不移，不復二念也。」 tr. "Further, desire: as Sadāprarudita desired to hear prajñā and did not spare his own body or life. Vigour: for the sake of hearing prajñā, for seven days and seven nights he wept in grief in a secluded forest; for seven years he walked and stood, neither sitting nor lying down. Mindfulness: he was always mindful, ‘When shall I hear prajñā?’, with no other thought at all. Skilful wisdom: though there were hindrances, the hindrances could not hinder him. As in selling his body, Māra could not screen him; when the water was hidden, he could still pierce himself to draw blood. Turning the deeds of Māra into the deeds of the Buddha—this is skilful wisdom. One mind: his resolve was settled and did not shift, and he had no second thought." Of these, the two matters of walking and standing for seven years and of the water hidden and the blood drawn belong to what follows this chapter and lie within the scope of the next chapter; Zhiyi joins this chapter and the next into one matter and uses them so, and here his joint citation across chapters is recorded according to the facts and not attached as belonging to this chapter alone. Third, where he explains the signs of the arising of the samādhi of recollecting the Buddha, he takes what is obtained in this chapter as proof: 「如薩陀波崙見佛時，得無量法門，內外皆不隱沒。」 tr. "As when Sadāprarudita saw the Buddha, he obtained immeasurable Dharma-gates, and neither inner nor outer was concealed." There are, besides, three places that do not mention its name but draw on its matter and its words: discussing serving a teacher, he says 「《大論》云：「不以囊臭而棄其金。」」 tr. "The Great Treatise says: ‘One does not discard the gold because the bag stinks.’"; speaking of the marks of retribution, he says 「香城七重，橋津如畫，即其相也」 tr. "The Fragrant City sevenfold, its bridges and fords like a painting—this is its mark"; praising how hard it is to repay the kindness of the Dharma, he says 「香城粉骨、雪嶺投身，亦何足以報德」 tr. "grinding one's bones to powder at the Fragrant City, casting one's body down from the snowy peaks—how could even these suffice to repay the kindness." Zhanran's Supporting Practice and Broad Resolution of Calming and Contemplation, explaining the phrase 「常啼東請」 tr. "Ever Weeping requested in the east," cites the sūtra text of this chapter word for word, first marking where it comes from, saying 「西音薩陀波崙。大品二十六云」 tr. "In the western sound, Sadāprarudita. The Larger Sūtra, fascicle twenty-six, says," and below that, starting from 「佛告須菩提。菩薩摩訶薩為求般若波羅蜜故。當如薩陀波崙」 tr. "The Buddha told Subhūti: a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, for the sake of seeking prajñāpāramitā, should be like Sadāprarudita," and stopping at 「從是東行五百由旬有城名眾香」 tr. "going east from here five hundred yojanas there is a city named Many Fragrances," he cites in one breath, in abridgement, the key phrases of this chapter's Sūtra ① and Sūtra ②; his text differs in fullness from the sentences of the great sūtra that this treatise cites, while the sequence agrees completely; it is an abridged citation and not word for word, and both are kept and recorded without judgement. In the same book, where he explains the twenty-five skilful means, he again brings up 「復次欲者如薩陀波崙下中觀」 tr. "from ‘Further, desire: as Sadāprarudita’ onward: the middle contemplation," taking this chapter's seeking of prajñā as an example of the middle contemplation; elsewhere he cites 「薩陀波崙空中見佛。後見曇無竭。乃問言。佛從何所來。答言。不來不去即是佛」 tr. "Sadāprarudita saw the Buddha in the sky. Afterwards he saw Dharmodgata. Then he asked, saying: From where does the Buddha come? The answer said: Not coming and not going is precisely the Buddha"—the question belongs to the end of this chapter, while the answer belongs to the next chapter; this too is a joint citation across chapters. His explanation of the phrase 「不以囊臭」 tr. "one does not, because the bag stinks" marks still more plainly 「大論九十六波崙緣中」 tr. "in the account of Sadāprarudita in fascicle ninety-six of the Great Treatise," citing in abridgement the text of this chapter's Treatise ① on not seeing the teacher's faults and the dog-skin bag holding jewels; his explanation of 「香城七重」 tr. "The Fragrant City sevenfold" marks 「大論云」 tr. "The Great Treatise says" and cites at length the adornments of the City of Many Fragrances and the question and answer as to whether Dharmodgata is a fleshly body or a transformation body; his explanation of 「香城粉骨」 tr. "grinding one's bones to powder at the Fragrant City" says 「以波崙菩薩修見無竭出髓賣身」 tr. "because the Bodhisattva Sadāprarudita, in his practice to see Dharmodgata, drew out his marrow and sold his body"—so Zhanran's citing of this chapter is not of the sūtra text alone but takes in the treatise text as well, and he himself marks the fascicle numbers. Zhanran's Annotations on the Profound Meaning of the Lotus cites this chapter in one place, yet what it weighs lies in the answer of the next chapter—what 「大品中指薩陀波崙見佛後曇無竭為說」 tr. "in the Larger Sūtra refers to what Dharmodgata taught Sadāprarudita after he saw the Buddha" is the Dharma body; this takes the meaning that this chapter opens, and is not an explanation of this chapter's text. Zhiyi's Profound Meaning of the Lotus, searched throughout for the three names, has none of them; this is recorded according to the facts.

Bringing this whole line of further resonances back to this chapter, what the various schools divide and preserve illumines exactly the two faces of this chapter. Those who divide it into the three titles first, middle, and last see one road: hearing the voice and setting out, weeping and seeing the Buddha, selling himself and reaching the city—not one step can be left out; and that the chapter number in the various texts is given now as eighty-eight, now as eighty-seven—this difference in the way of counting is exactly a reminder to the reader that the boundary of this chapter cannot be cut with one stroke of the knife—it takes up from above the difficulty of the emptiness of nature and opens below the question of coming and going; in itself it is not a complete story, but a stretch of road without an answer. The divisions of the ancient masters also have two sides: Jizang judges these two chapters as 「結勸脩行」 tr. "concluding with an exhortation to cultivate practice," Huiying judges them as 「舉人勸脩勸學」 tr. "bringing forward persons to exhort cultivation and exhort training," both taking the jātaka not as narrative but as the conclusion of the exhortation to cultivation; while what the Tiantai line takes is the gate of practice—Zhiyi matches it with the five dharmas, Zhanran matches it with the middle contemplation, turning one person's seeking of the Dharma item by item into the headings of the twenty-five skilful means. Those who classify the teachings take its position; those who cultivate contemplation take its dharma; what the two take differs, and they do not hinder each other: the former answers ‘what this chapter does within the sūtra’, the latter answers ‘what this chapter does in my own body’. This treatise itself has both faces—at the opening it says 「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": this is principle; at the end it says that one who has obtained the samādhis still 「不能解佛相畢竟空」 tr. "cannot understand that the mark of a Buddha is ultimately empty": this is the person. In principle it is not hard, while in the person it is truly hard; therefore one person must be brought forward as proof; and the person brought forward is not a person without flaw—precisely because he has flaws, the proof holds.

So what "Sadāprarudita" leaves us in the end is a way of asking about the road that can be carried into daily use. When I seek the Dharma and have nowhere to ask, when what I was hearing suddenly breaks off, I remember that he did not look for a shortcut elsewhere but went back to where he was and sought again with one mind; and the treatise-author's words judging the timing seal off the way of retreat at both ends—「若二日、三日，精進欲未深」 tr. "if it were two or three days, his desire for vigour would not yet be deep": it cannot be hurried; 「若過七日，恐其憂愁妨心，不任求道」 tr. "if it went beyond seven days, it was feared that his sorrow would obstruct his mind so that he could not bear to seek the path": it cannot be dragged out. When I see faults in my teacher and want to leave, I remember that the sūtra admonishes on both matters at once: it says 「應生心如佛想」 tr. "you should give rise in your mind to the notion of a Buddha," and it also says 「莫以世利心故隨逐法師」 tr. "do not follow the Dharma teacher out of a mind for worldly gain"; and the treatise-author says all there is to say of the gain and loss in one sentence—「師之過失，不著於我，我但從師受般若波羅蜜法」 tr. "the teacher's faults do not attach to me; I only receive from the teacher the dharma of prajñāpāramitā": what is guarded is one's own benefit in the Dharma. When I measure myself and find I have nothing to offer and no strength to give, and a mind of retreat arises, I remember that the treatise-author divides poverty in two: 「功德法貧，最大可恥！財貧，好人亦有；法貧，好人所無。」 tr. "Poverty in the dharmas of merit is the greatest shame! Poverty in wealth even good people may have; poverty in the Dharma good people do not have." When I see people enter the path out of longing for supernormal powers or out of a mind bent on winning, and want to think little of them, I remember 「依愛而斷愛，依慢而斷慢」 tr. "relying on love one severs love; relying on pride one severs pride," and the scriptural proof is only twelve Chinese characters—「愛、慢等諸煩惱，皆是佛道根本」 tr. "love, pride, and the other afflictions are all the root of the Buddha path"—and its simile is the lotus born in mud. When, having cultivated long and gained something, my mind settles into ease, I remember that the question at the very end of this chapter asks precisely about one who has gained: a person who has obtained the great samādhis of breaking ignorance, of contemplating the nature of dharmas, and the rest, still 「雖知空而不能與空合」 tr. "though he knows emptiness he cannot be united with emptiness." The last thing is most fit to carry away: the whole chapter has said all there is to say of hearing the voice, weeping, cutting the body, and making offerings, yet it does not close on what was obtained; it closes only on a question still without an answer—「當為我說諸佛所從來、所至處」 tr. "Please proclaim to me the place from which the buddhas come and the place to which they go"; the road has been walked as far as the teacher, and the question has only just been asked aloud.