維摩詰所說經 佛道品第八

Because lotuses do not grow on the high plain; they grow only in low, damp mud.

This is not praise of mud. Mud remains mud, and afflictions remain afflictions. Yet sentient beings are found precisely amid greed, anger, delusion, inversion, wrong views, and every kind of suffering. If a bodhisattva is willing to remain only on the high plain, where could the lotus arise?

Thus, when Mañjuśrī asks how a bodhisattva comprehends the Way of the Buddha, Vimalakīrti does not answer that one avoids every way contrary to it, but that one travels those contrary ways. He travels among the five heinous acts yet has no anger or resentment; goes to hell yet has no defilement of wrongdoing; goes among animals yet has neither ignorance nor pride; and goes among hungry ghosts yet possesses complete merit. He manifests greed yet remains apart from attachment, manifests anger yet constantly practices loving-kindness and patience, and manifests delusion yet disciplines his mind with wisdom. He manifests the afflictions yet his mind remains constantly pure, and manifests nirvāṇa yet does not cut off saṃsāra.

The key lies not in how extraordinary the outward appearance may be, but in the bodhisattva’s never losing compassion, wisdom, or purity wherever he goes. A contrary way is not his new abode. It is a place he reaches because he does not abandon sentient beings.

Mañjuśrī then says that having a body, ignorance, craving for existence, greed, anger, and delusion—through to the sixty-two views and all afflictions—are seeds of the Tathāgata. Vimalakīrti asks why, and the sūtra supplies three images of its own: the lotus does not grow on the high plain, a seed cannot be planted in space, and a precious jewel can be obtained only by entering deep into the sea.

The mud is not the lotus, the soil is not the fruit, and the great sea is not the precious jewel. Yet without entering those places, there can be no flowering, growth, or retrieval of treasure. Practice does not move us into an empty space without sentient beings or afflictions. It gives rise to the mind of awakening where afflictions are present, causes the seed to grow, and retrieves the treasure of omniscience from the great sea.

What, then, enables a bodhisattva to enter these places? Vimalakīrti answers in forty-two verses: wisdom is his mother, skillful means his father, joy in Dharma his wife, compassion his daughter, a wholesome mind his son, and emptiness and quiescence his dwelling. The factors of the path are his spiritual friends, the perfections his companions, retention his garden, uncontaminated dharmas its trees, factors of awakening its flowers, and liberation and wisdom its fruit. The Great Vehicle is his carriage, one-pointed mind its driver, and the eightfold right path the road it travels.

This household composed of Dharma opens toward sentient beings through the bodhisattva’s conduct for their benefit. When there is disease, he manifests as medicine; when there is famine, he manifests as food; when there is armed conflict, he establishes sentient beings in non-contention. Wherever hell brings suffering, he goes there to offer relief; wherever animals devour one another, he is born among them to bring benefit. He can also practice meditation amid objects of desire, like a lotus growing from fire. According to what sentient beings need, he can become a town leader, caravan guide, state preceptor, minister, champion, seer, or servant, turning each person from an immediate need toward the mind of awakening.

The Way of the Buddha ranges throughout contrary ways, yet never accords with defilement, attachment, or wrong views. It has mud, manured soil, and the great sea, but also lotuses, growth, and precious jewels. It has disease, hunger, thirst, and fear, but also medicine, food, and fearlessness. It has the lotus in fire, and the rarity of practicing meditation amid desire.

Why does the bodhisattva not stand on the high plain, but instead enter the mud? Because what he seeks is not a pure place cut off from sentient beings. He seeks to let the lotus arise where sentient beings are, to let the seed grow in manured soil, and to let those who hear of this path do more than praise the bodhisattva’s skillful means—to let them truly give rise to the mind of awakening.

Base text: Kumārajīva’s Yao-Qin translation, The Vimalakīrti Sūtra, Middle Scroll, Chapter 08, “The Way of the Buddha.” What follows renders the questions, answers, and verses of this chapter passage by passage in their transmitted sequence. None of the thirty-one instances of traveling contrary ways, the eleven kinds of seeds of the Tathāgata, the three similes, or the forty-two verses is omitted. Each verse remains translated in two verse lines.

Mañjuśrī Asks: How Does a Bodhisattva Comprehend the Way of the Buddha?

At that time, Mañjuśrī asked Vimalakīrti, “How does a bodhisattva comprehend the Way of the Buddha?”

Vimalakīrti answered, “If a bodhisattva can travel the ways ordinarily regarded as contrary to the Way of the Buddha, this is called comprehending the Way of the Buddha.”

Mañjuśrī asked again, “How does a bodhisattva travel contrary ways?”

Vimalakīrti did not treat a “contrary way” as a path in which one may become attached at will. He explained item by item: although a bodhisattva manifests amid evil destinies, afflictions, worldly life, and the states of the two vehicles, his mind and conduct are not constrained by their wrongdoing, defilement, attachment, pride, wrong views, or desire for cessation.

Thirty-One Instances of Traveling Contrary Ways

1. The Five Heinous Acts

Although the bodhisattva manifests traveling where the five heinous acts are committed, his mind has no anger or resentment.

2. Hell

Although the bodhisattva goes into hell, he has none of the defilements of wrongdoing that bring the painful results of hell.

3. Animals

Although the bodhisattva goes among animals, he has none of the faults of ignorance, pride, and the like.

4. Hungry Ghosts

Although the bodhisattva goes among hungry ghosts, he possesses complete merit and is not defiled by the karma of stinginess and deprivation.

5. The Paths of the Form and Formless Realms

Although the bodhisattva travels the paths of the form and formless realms, he does not regard birth there as the ultimate, supreme destination.

6. Greed

Although the bodhisattva manifests acting from greed, inwardly he remains apart from every attachment.

7. Anger

Although the bodhisattva manifests anger, he bears neither resentment nor obstruction toward any sentient being.

8. Delusion

Although the bodhisattva manifests delusion, he disciplines his own mind through wisdom.

9. Stinginess

Although the bodhisattva manifests stinginess, he can relinquish everything within and without, begrudging not even body or life.

10. Violating the Precepts

Although the bodhisattva manifests violating the precepts, in reality he abides in pure ethical discipline. Even when facing minor wrongdoing, he remains deeply vigilant and fearful.

11. Anger While Constantly Practicing Loving-Kindness and Patience

Although the bodhisattva again manifests anger, inwardly he constantly maintains loving-kindness and patience.

12. Indolence

Although the bodhisattva manifests indolence, in reality he diligently cultivates every kind of merit and never stops wholesome conduct.

13. A Scattered Mind

Although the bodhisattva manifests a scattered mind, he constantly recollects meditative concentration and never loses the direction of concentration.

14. Delusion While Comprehending Worldly and Transmundane Wisdom

Although the bodhisattva again manifests delusion, he comprehends both worldly and transmundane wisdom.

15. Flattery and Falsity

Although the bodhisattva manifests flattery and falsity, in reality he employs skillful means, and his conduct always accords with the meanings of the various sūtras.

16. Pride While Serving as a Bridge

Although the bodhisattva manifests pride, toward sentient beings he is like a bridge, allowing people to pass over him and willingly bearing everyone from a low position.

17. Various Afflictions

Although the bodhisattva manifests various afflictions, inwardly his mind is constantly pure and is not defiled by them.

18. Entering Māra’s Domain

Although the bodhisattva manifests entering Māra’s domain, he follows the Buddha’s wisdom and does not follow another teaching.

19. A Śrāvaka

Although the bodhisattva manifests entering the path of a śrāvaka, he can teach sentient beings Dharma they have never heard.

20. A Pratyekabuddha

Although the bodhisattva manifests entering the path of a pratyekabuddha, he perfects great compassion and continues to teach and transform sentient beings.

21. Poverty

Although the bodhisattva manifests living in poverty, he has a hand that can produce every treasure, and his merit can never be exhausted.

22. Physical Impairment

Although the bodhisattva manifests physical impairment, he possesses the various excellent marks and adorns himself with them.

23. Low Social Status

Although the bodhisattva manifests birth in a lowly place, he is born into the Buddha’s lineage and possesses every merit.

24. Weakness and Ugliness

Although the bodhisattva manifests a weak body and ugly appearance, he obtains a body firm and upright like that of the mighty deity Nārāyaṇa and becomes one whom all sentient beings gladly behold.

25. Aging and Illness

Although the bodhisattva manifests aging and illness, he has forever severed the root of illness and has also transcended the fear of death.

26. Necessities of Life

Although the bodhisattva manifests possessing the necessities of life, he constantly contemplates the impermanence of everything and truly has no attachment to those necessities.

27. Wives, Concubines, and Attendants

Although the bodhisattva manifests having wives, concubines, and attendants, inwardly he remains constantly apart from the mud of the five desires and is not defiled by their pleasures.

28. Slowness of Speech

Although the bodhisattva manifests being slow of speech and ineloquent, he has perfected eloquence and can retain everything he has heard and said without loss.

29. A Dangerous Crossing

Although the bodhisattva manifests entering an erroneous and dangerous crossing, he uses the correct crossing and road to deliver all sentient beings.

30. Entering Every Kind of Path

Although the bodhisattva manifests entering every kind of worldly path, his purpose is to sever the conditions that keep sentient beings bound to those paths.

31. Manifesting Nirvāṇa

Although the bodhisattva manifests entering nirvāṇa, he still does not cut off his practice and vow to teach sentient beings within saṃsāra.

Vimalakīrti finally told Mañjuśrī, “A bodhisattva who can travel contrary ways in this manner is called one who comprehends the Way of the Buddha.”

Mañjuśrī Answers: What Are the Seeds of the Tathāgata?

Vimalakīrti then turned the question back to Mañjuśrī: “Which dharmas are seeds of the Tathāgata?”

Mañjuśrī answered in order:

1. Having this body is a seed of the Tathāgata.
2. Ignorance and craving for life in the three realms are seeds of the Tathāgata.
3. Greed, anger, and delusion are seeds of the Tathāgata.
4. The four inversions are seeds of the Tathāgata.
5. The five hindrances that cover the mind are seeds of the Tathāgata.
6. The six entrances are seeds of the Tathāgata.
7. The seven stations in which the consciousness of sentient beings abides are seeds of the Tathāgata.
8. The eight wrong dharmas opposed to the right path are seeds of the Tathāgata.
9. The nine sources of vexation arising toward oneself, friends, and enemies across the past, present, and future are seeds of the Tathāgata.
10. The ten unwholesome paths of action created through body, speech, and mind are seeds of the Tathāgata.
11. In summary, the sixty-two kinds of mistaken views and all afflictions are all seeds of buddhahood.

Vimalakīrti pressed him: “Why do you say this?”

Three Similes: Lotus, Seed, and Precious Jewel

Mañjuśrī answered, “If someone sees the unconditioned and thereby enters the fixed stage already realized, he cannot again give rise to the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening.

“For example, lotuses cannot grow on dry high ground; they grow only in low, damp mud. Likewise, those who see the unconditioned and enter the fixed stage can never again give rise to the Dharma of buddhahood, while sentient beings in the mud of afflictions can give rise to the Buddha-Dharma.

“Again, a seed planted in space can never grow; only when planted in soil with manure can it be nourished and flourish. Likewise, one who enters the fixed stage of the unconditioned no longer gives rise to the Buddha-Dharma. Even if a person’s view of self towers as high as Mount Sumeru, that person can still give rise to the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening and cause the Buddha-Dharma to arise within the mind.

“Therefore, you should know that all afflictions are seeds of the Tathāgata. Again, if a person does not enter deeply into the great sea, he cannot obtain a priceless precious jewel. Likewise, without entering the great sea of afflictions, one cannot obtain the treasure of omniscience.”

The three similes each have their own point: the lotus must arise from mud, the seed must grow in soil, and the precious jewel can be obtained only by entering deeply into the sea. The sūtra does not say that mud is the lotus, soil is the fruit, or seawater is the jewel. It says that giving rise to the mind, growing, and retrieving treasure cannot be separated from the actual conditions of affliction and saṃsāra in which sentient beings are found.

Mahākāśyapa’s Lament: Śrāvakas Are Like People Whose Faculties Are Ruined

At that time Mahākāśyapa exclaimed in praise, “Excellent! Excellent! Mañjuśrī, you have explained this principle so freely and well. It is truly as you say: sentient beings amid the afflictions of sensory disturbance are precisely seeds of the Tathāgata.

“We are now no longer able to give rise to the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening. Even people who commit the five heinous acts can still give rise to the mind and cause the Buddha-Dharma to arise, yet we can never again give rise to such a mind.

“It is like a person whose faculties have been ruined and can no longer function in the presence of the five desires. In the same way, śrāvakas whose bonds of affliction have been severed no longer increase within the Dharma of buddhahood and never again form the aspiration to seek the unsurpassed Way.

“Therefore, Mañjuśrī, ordinary people can still respond to and repay the Buddha-Dharma, but śrāvakas cannot. Why? When ordinary people hear the Buddha-Dharma, they can give rise to the mind of the unsurpassed Way and keep the transmission of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the Three Jewels—unbroken. Even if śrāvakas spend their whole lives hearing the Buddha-Dharma and the Buddha’s powers, fearlessnesses, and other virtues, they can never give rise to the mind of the unsurpassed Way.”

This passage is Mahākāśyapa’s own declaration in this chapter. The Vernacular conveys his lament according to his actual words; it does not expand them into an unchanging universal judgment about all scriptures and every śrāvaka.

Universally Manifested Form-Body Asks: Where Are Vimalakīrti’s Family and Resources?

At that time, there was in the Dharma assembly a bodhisattva named Universally Manifested Form-Body. He asked Vimalakīrti, “Layman! Who are your father, mother, wife, children, relatives, dependents, officials, people, and friends? Where are your servants, attendants, elephants, horses, and carriages?”

Vimalakīrti answered in forty-two verses. Each verse below remains rendered in its original two verse lines.

The Forty-Two Verses, Rendered One by One

Verse 1

• The perfection of wisdom is the bodhisattva’s mother, and skillful means is his father.
• There is not a single guide of sentient beings who is not born from wisdom and skillful means.

Verse 2

• He takes joy in the Buddha-Dharma as his wife and compassion as his daughter.
• A wholesome and sincere mind is his son, and ultimate emptiness and quiescence are his dwelling.

Verse 3

• Sentient beings troubled by sensory disturbance are all his disciples and are transformed according to the bodhisattva’s intention.
• The factors of the path to awakening are his spiritual friends, through whom he perfects right awakening.

Verse 4

• The various perfections are companions traveling with him, and the four means of gathering are his female entertainers.
• The words of the Buddha-Dharma are sung and chanted; reciting the Dharma’s meaning is his music.

Verse 5

• Retention that holds the Buddha-Dharma without forgetting is his garden, and uncontaminated dharmas are its trees.
• The factors of awakening are its pure and wondrous flowers, and liberation and wisdom the fruit borne by the garden.

Verse 6

• The eight liberations are his bathing pool, and meditative concentration is the limpid water that fills it.
• The pool is spread with flowers of the seven purities, and those without the defilement of afflictions bathe within it.

Verse 7

• The five superknowledges are like fleet elephants and horses, and the Great Vehicle is the carriage that bears sentient beings.
• With a unified and disciplined mind he drives this carriage and travels the broad road of the eightfold right path.

Verse 8

• The major marks dignify his countenance, and the subsidiary excellences adorn his form.
• Conscience and shame are his finest garments, and a profound mind seeking the Dharma is the flower garland upon his head.

Verse 9

• The bodhisattva is rich in the seven kinds of Dharma wealth—trust, ethical discipline, learning, relinquishment, wisdom, conscience, and shame—and increases that wealth by teaching sentient beings.
• He genuinely practices according to the Dharma he teaches and dedicates every merit to the unsurpassed Way; this is the greatest benefit.

Verse 10

• The four meditations are his seat and bed for sitting and lying down, and this security arises from pure right livelihood.
• Broad learning increases wisdom, and the sound of Dharma becomes the sound that awakens him from concentration.

Verse 11

• The Buddha-Dharma, like ambrosia, is his food, and the flavor of liberation is the drink that relieves the thirst of craving.
• With a pure mind he washes away the defilement of afflictions, and the merit of ethical discipline is the fine fragrance applied to his body.

Verse 12

• The bodhisattva destroys the thieves of affliction; vigorous and courageous in diligent effort, he is surpassed by none.
• He subdues the four māras and raises the banner of victory at the place of awakening.

Verse 13

• Although the bodhisattva knows that no dharma has real arising or cessation, for the sake of sentient beings he still manifests birth.
• He manifests throughout every land like the sun shining down, with no place unable to behold its light.

Verse 14

• The bodhisattva makes offerings to immeasurable billions of tathāgatas in the ten directions, omitting no direction.
• He gives rise to no discriminating conception between the buddhas and himself.

Verse 15

• Although the bodhisattva knows the nature of every buddha-land and all its sentient beings to be empty and quiescent,
• he still constantly cultivates pure buddha-lands and teaches and transforms all sentient beings.

Verse 16

• The bodily forms, voices, and modes of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down of every kind of sentient being differ from one another.
• A bodhisattva complete in fearlessness and powers can manifest all those forms, voices, and modes of deportment at the same moment.

Verse 17

• The bodhisattva understands every work of Māra, yet can also manifest the outward appearance of acting in accord with Māra.
• Through the wisdom of skillful means, he can manifest these things freely as he wishes.

Verse 18

• The bodhisattva sometimes manifests aging, illness, and death, thereby bringing various sentient beings to fulfillment and transforming them.
• He clearly knows aging, illness, and death to be like illusions and therefore comprehends every manifestation without obstruction.

Verse 19

• The bodhisattva sometimes manifests the end of a world-age, when heaven and earth burn fiercely in a great fire.
• Through this manifestation he illuminates and breaks the notion of permanence in those attached to the world’s permanence, causing them to know that everything is impermanent.

Verse 20

• Countless billions of sentient beings invite the bodhisattva at the same time, hoping he will come to their homes.
• The bodhisattva can reach every household simultaneously, teach and transform them, and turn them toward the Way of the Buddha.

Verse 21

• The bodhisattva can manifest mastery of worldly scriptures, forbidden spells, and every craft and art.
• He manifests all these things in order to benefit and bring ease to every kind of sentient being.

Verse 22

• Among the world’s various ways of seeking the path, the bodhisattva can manifest going forth to practice in each.
• He thereby dispels the practitioners’ delusions, while he himself does not fall into those wrong views.

Verse 23

• The bodhisattva sometimes manifests as a sun deity, moon deity, Brahmā, or ruler of a world.
• At other times he manifests as earth, flowing water, wind, or fire, bringing benefit according to the needs of sentient beings.

Verse 24

• When severe epidemic disease arises during a world-age, the bodhisattva manifests as various medicinal herbs that can cure illness.
• When people take these herbs, their illnesses are removed and the various poisons in their bodies are neutralized.

Verse 25

• When famine arises during a world-age, the bodhisattva manifests his own body as food and drink.
• He first relieves sentient beings’ hunger and thirst and afterward guides them with the Buddha-Dharma.

Verse 26

• When a calamity of weapons arises during a world-age, the bodhisattva gives rise to compassion for suffering sentient beings.
• He teaches and transforms the sentient beings who are fighting, establishing them in a state where they no longer contend.

Verse 27

• If there is a great battle formation, he causes the two sides to stand with equal strength; the bodhisattva manifests might, subdues them, and brings peace.
• The bodhisattva manifests might, subdues the will to fight, and causes both sides to reconcile and become secure.

Verse 28

• In every land, wherever there is a hell in which beings suffer,
• the bodhisattva always goes there himself and exerts himself to relieve the suffering of the sentient beings within it.

Verse 29

• In every land, wherever animals devour and harm one another,
• the bodhisattva manifests birth among them and brings those sentient beings every kind of benefit.

Verse 30

• The bodhisattva manifests enjoying the five desires of forms, sounds, scents, tastes, and touches, while at the same time manifesting the practice of meditation.
• This confuses and disorders Māra’s mind, leaving him no opening through which to obstruct the bodhisattva.

Verse 31

• For a lotus to grow amid blazing flames may be called exceedingly rare.
• For the bodhisattva to practice meditation while situated among objects of desire is equally rare.

Verse 32

• The bodhisattva sometimes manifests as a courtesan, drawing in those who delight in beauty; first he attracts them with the hook of desire and afterward causes them to enter the Buddha’s wisdom.
• He first follows the other person’s desire and draws that person near, then causes that person to enter the Buddha’s wisdom.

Verse 33

• The bodhisattva sometimes becomes a leader of a town and sometimes a guide who leads a caravan.
• He can also manifest as a state preceptor or minister, using those identities to assist and benefit sentient beings.

Verse 34

• For all who are poor and deprived, the bodhisattva manifests as an inexhaustible treasury.
• Through material relief and guidance, he urges sentient beings to give rise to the mind of unsurpassed awakening.

Verse 35

• For those who are inwardly proud and arrogant, the bodhisattva manifests as a champion of great strength.
• He subdues their pride and arrogance and establishes them in the unsurpassed Way of the Buddha.

Verse 36

• For sentient beings whose hearts are fearful, the bodhisattva walks before them and consoles their minds.
• He first bestows safety and fearlessness, then causes sentient beings to give rise to the mind that seeks the Way.

Verse 37

• The bodhisattva sometimes manifests freedom from sexual desire and becomes a seer possessing the five superknowledges.
• He guides every kind of sentient being and causes them to abide in ethical discipline, patience, and loving-kindness.

Verse 38

• Seeing someone who needs service and support, the bodhisattva manifests as that person’s attendant.
• He first delights and satisfies that person’s mind, then guides him to give rise to the mind that seeks the Way.

Verse 39

• The bodhisattva follows the individual needs of sentient beings, enabling them thereby to enter the Way of the Buddha.
• Through the power of skillful means, he supplies in full everything sentient beings require.

Verse 40

• In this way, the bodhisattva’s ways are immeasurable, and the fields of his conduct have no boundary.
• The bodhisattva’s wisdom has no boundary, and through it he delivers incalculable sentient beings.

Verse 41

• Even if all buddhas continued teaching throughout immeasurable billions of kalpas,
• the buddhas’ praise of this bodhisattva’s merit still could not reach its end.

Verse 42

• Who could hear such a Dharma and still not give rise to the mind of unsurpassed awakening?
• Only those who are incapable, darkened by delusion, and without wisdom do not give rise to the mind.

The forty-two verses end here. Universally Manifested Form-Body asked about Vimalakīrti’s worldly family, servants, and carriages. Vimalakīrti first answered with wisdom, skillful means, joy in Dharma, compassion, the factors of the path, the perfections, retention, meditative concentration, ethical discipline, and wisdom; he then unfolded the entire household and its resources into the bodhisattva’s manifestations amid lands, disasters, evil destinies, objects of desire, and the needs of sentient beings. The final two verses introduce no new identity, but praise these virtues as inexhaustible and urge those who hear to give rise to the mind of awakening.

「菩薩云何通達佛道？」 — “How does a bodhisattva comprehend the Way of the Buddha?” Mañjuśrī’s opening question appears to ask about a straight road. Vimalakīrti’s answer reverses the direction: 「若菩薩行於非道，是為通達佛道。」 — “If a bodhisattva travels the ways contrary to the Way, this is comprehending the Way of the Buddha.” This does not rename harmful conduct the Way of the Buddha, nor does it tell anyone first to become defiled and then seek purity. The thirty-one contrasting statements that immediately follow make “traveling contrary ways” extremely concrete: one’s body may manifest amid such ways, yet one’s mind and conduct are not turned by their wrongdoing, defilement, attachment, pride, or wrong views. Nor does the bodhisattva enter these places merely to free himself; wherever he goes, there are teaching the Dharma, compassion, and transformation of sentient beings.

The chapter’s real question is this: if a bodhisattva is willing to stand only where things are already pure, secure, and ideal, who will enter the places where sentient beings now suffer, become deluded, and create karma? Yet once he enters, how does he avoid being turned by the afflictions found there? The sūtra does not pass over this with one abstract answer. It first lists thirty-one situations, then asks why the afflictions are seeds of the Tathāgata, and finally uses forty-two verses to unfold the bodhisattva’s household, resources, and immeasurable manifestations.

Traveling Contrary Ways: What Is Manifested and Where One Abides Must Not Be Confused

From the Five Heinous Acts to the Paths of the Form and Formless Realms

The first group begins with the five heinous acts and the evil destinies. A bodhisattva may manifest committing the five heinous acts, yet has no anger or resentment; may go to hell, yet has no defilement of wrongdoing; may go among animals, yet has none of the faults of ignorance or pride; and may go among hungry ghosts, yet possesses complete merit. Each item is bound to its own language: traveling among the five heinous acts yet having no anger or resentment; arriving in hell yet having none of the defilements of wrongdoing; arriving among animals yet having none of the faults of ignorance, pride, and the like; and arriving among hungry ghosts yet possessing complete merit.

The fifth item turns to the paths of the form and formless realms. These are no longer evil destinies, yet the sūtra still says: 「行色、無色界道，不以為勝」 — “He travels the paths of the form and formless realms, yet does not regard them as supreme.”

From Greed, Anger, and Delusion to a Mind That Remains Constantly Pure

The sūtra next turns its gaze toward afflictions and practice. The bodhisattva manifests greed, yet remains apart from attachment; manifests anger, yet bears no resentment or obstruction toward sentient beings; and manifests delusion, yet disciplines his mind through wisdom. In these three statements, the outward appearance of greed, anger, and delusion and whether the mind is controlled by the three poisons are not the same thing.

The text then contrasts obstacles in practice one by one. The bodhisattva manifests stinginess, yet can relinquish everything within and without, begrudging not even body or life. He manifests violation of precepts, yet abides in pure ethical discipline and greatly fears even minor wrongdoing. He manifests anger, yet constantly practices loving-kindness and patience. He manifests indolence, yet diligently cultivates merit. He manifests a scattered mind, yet constantly recollects meditative concentration. He manifests delusion, yet comprehends worldly and transmundane wisdom. The sūtra does not call stinginess giving or the violation of precepts ethical discipline; within the same statement it preserves the contrast between what is manifested and what is practiced.

It then says that he manifests flattery and falsity, yet uses skillful means in accord with the meanings of the sūtras; manifests pride, yet is like a bridge that lets sentient beings cross over him; and manifests all afflictions, yet his mind remains constantly pure. The sūtra places pride and the bridge in one statement, preserving the contrast between the appearance manifested and the burden borne for sentient beings.

From Māra and the Two Vehicles to Poverty, Illness, and Worldly Life

From the eighteenth item onward, what the bodhisattva manifests includes not only afflictions but also identities and paths. He manifests entering Māra’s domain, yet follows the Buddha’s wisdom and not another teaching. He manifests as a śrāvaka, yet teaches sentient beings Dharma they have never heard. He manifests as a pratyekabuddha, yet perfects great compassion and teaches and transforms sentient beings. In sequence, the three statements preserve buddha-wisdom, Dharma teaching, and great compassion, so that the identity manifested does not cut off conduct for others’ benefit.

Next come visible forms of deprivation and bodily condition. He manifests poverty, yet has a treasure-producing hand and inexhaustible merit. He manifests physical impairment, yet possesses the excellent marks. He manifests low status, yet is born into the Buddha’s lineage and possesses complete merit. He manifests weakness and ugliness, yet obtains the body of Nārāyaṇa and is gladly beheld by sentient beings. He manifests aging and illness, yet has forever cut off the root of illness and transcended the fear of death. The sūtra does not deny the outward appearance of poverty, impairment, lowliness, weakness, aging, or illness, but it does not let those appearances determine the merit, adornment, and fearlessness the bodhisattva actually possesses.

It then says that the bodhisattva manifests possessing the necessities of life, yet constantly contemplates impermanence and truly has no greed for them; manifests having wives, concubines, and attendants, yet remains apart from the mud of the five desires; manifests slowness of speech, yet perfects eloquence and faultless retention; manifests entering a wrong crossing, yet ferries sentient beings by the right crossing; manifests entering every path, yet cuts off the conditions that perpetuate those paths for sentient beings; and finally manifests nirvāṇa, yet does not cut off saṃsāra.

This last statement carries the thirty-one items all the way to the side of nirvāṇa. If a bodhisattva took departure from saṃsāra as his sole endpoint, after manifesting nirvāṇa he would have no need to return among sentient beings. Yet the sūtra places “manifesting nirvāṇa” alongside “not cutting off saṃsāra.” From the five heinous acts to nirvāṇa, neither extreme is a place in which to abide. Comprehending the Way of the Buddha does not mean selecting one position from which one will never move again. It means never losing purity, compassion, wisdom, or the transformation of sentient beings in any place.

Why Are the Afflictions Called Seeds of the Tathāgata?

Vimalakīrti next asks Mañjuśrī: 「何等為如來種？」 — “What are the seeds of the Tathāgata?” Mañjuśrī does not first list pure virtues. Instead, he successively names having a body; ignorance and craving for existence; greed, anger, and delusion; the four inversions; the five hindrances; the six entrances; the seven stations of consciousness; the eight wrong dharmas; the nine sources of vexation; the ten unwholesome paths; and finally gathers them under the sixty-two views and all afflictions.

Not one item in this list of eleven may be omitted. It begins with having a body; passes through ignorance, craving, greed, anger, delusion, and various coverings and obstructions; reaches the entrances, stations of consciousness, wrong dharmas, vexations, and unwholesome paths on which sentient beings rely; and concludes with all mistaken views and afflictions. The sūtra does not select one comparatively acceptable affliction as a symbol. It places the entire series from having a body through all afflictions within the question of the “seed.”

Vimalakīrti immediately presses the question: 「何謂也？」 — “What does this mean?” If the afflictions themselves were buddhahood, the question would be unnecessary. If the afflictions bore no relation whatsoever to the Buddha-Dharma, Mañjuśrī would not call them seeds. The sūtra answers not with a definition, but with three similes that cannot substitute for one another.

Lotuses Do Not Grow on the High Plain

The first simile says that lotuses do not grow on dry high ground; they grow in low, damp mud. Its corresponding point in the sūtra is that those who see the unconditioned and enter the fixed stage can no longer give rise to the Buddha-Dharma, while sentient beings in the mud of afflictions can give rise to it. The lotus is not the mud, yet it does not grow on the dry high plain. Remove all the mud and one also removes the place where the lotus can grow.

Seeds Cannot Be Planted in Space

The second simile says that a seed planted in space will never grow; only when planted in manured soil can it be nourished and flourish. This simile no longer centers on a lotus already grown, but on a seed that has yet to develop. Even if one’s view of self towers as high as Mount Sumeru, one can still give rise to the mind of unsurpassed perfect awakening and cause the Buddha-Dharma to arise. In a space without any support, by contrast, there are no conditions in which a seed can grow.

Without Entering the Great Sea, One Cannot Obtain the Precious Jewel

The third simile says that without descending into the great sea, one cannot obtain the priceless precious jewel; without entering the great sea of afflictions, one likewise cannot obtain the treasure of omniscience. The lotus simile concerns arising, the planting simile concerns growth, and the great-sea simile concerns entering deeply to retrieve treasure. All three speak of the Buddha-Dharma, the awakening-mind, and omniscience amid the afflictive conditions of sentient beings, yet none renames mud, manured soil, or seawater itself as lotus, maturation, or precious jewel.

Thus, “the afflictions are seeds” has two opposite misreadings. One would leave all afflictions outside the gate, as though the Buddha-Dharma could grow in space. The other glorifies afflictions themselves and forgets that the seed must grow, the lotus must bloom, and the precious jewel must be retrieved. This chapter retains the ground of afflictions, but also the mind of awakening, practice, and the fruit of omniscience.

Why Does Mahākāśyapa Instead Lament That He Cannot Give Rise to the Mind?

When Mañjuśrī finishes speaking, Mahākāśyapa twice exclaims, “Excellent!” He first acknowledges that sentient beings amid the afflictions of sensory disturbance are seeds of the Tathāgata, then says that even a person guilty of the five heinous acts can give rise to the mind and be born into the Buddha-Dharma, while śrāvakas of his own kind are no longer capable of giving rise to the mind of unsurpassed awakening. The sharpness of this passage lies in the fact that it is not someone else reproaching the śrāvakas; Mahākāśyapa himself makes this declaration in the Dharma assembly.

He uses the simile of a person whose faculties are ruined. Once those faculties are ruined, they can no longer function in the presence of the five desires. In the same way, once the bonds of the śrāvaka have been severed, he no longer increases within the Buddha-Dharma and never again forms the aspiration. Mahākāśyapa then places ordinary people and śrāvakas side by side: ordinary people can hear the Buddha-Dharma, give rise to the mind of unsurpassed awakening, and keep the Three Jewels unbroken; śrāvakas, even if they hear throughout their lives of the Buddha-Dharma, the Buddha’s powers, his fearlessness, and the like, cannot give rise to the mind of unsurpassed awakening.

Reading this passage, one must not turn Mahākāśyapa’s lament into contempt for sentient beings with afflictions. The entire chapter says exactly the opposite: the five heinous acts, hells, animals, hungry ghosts, greed, anger, delusion, and all afflictions are all included within the range in which a bodhisattva can travel and sentient beings can give rise to the mind. What the sūtra expressly says is that ordinary people who hear the Dharma can give rise to the mind of unsurpassed awakening and keep the Three Jewels unbroken, while the śrāvaka here declares that he no longer forms the aspiration or increases within it.

Why Is Vimalakīrti’s Household Composed Entirely of Dharma?

Universally Manifested Form-Body brings the exchange back to Vimalakīrti’s ordinary identity: where are his parents, wife and children, relatives and dependents, officials, people, friends, servants, attendants, elephants, horses, and carriages? Vimalakīrti does not deny the question, but answers it layer by layer in forty-two verses. These verses do not abandon the preceding topic and open another. The earlier passage already said that a bodhisattva can enter every path; the verses now let the reader see what a bodhisattva who travels in the world actually takes as his household, resources, and work.

Parents and Children, Friends and Dependents

The perfection of wisdom is his mother and skillful means his father; all guides of sentient beings are born from these two. Joy in Dharma is his wife, compassion his daughter, a wholesome and sincere mind his son, and ultimate emptiness and quiescence his dwelling. Sentient beings amid sensory disturbance become his disciples and are transformed according to his intention. The factors of the path are his spiritual friends, through whom he perfects right awakening; the perfections are his companions, the four means of gathering his female entertainers, and chanting and reciting words of Dharma his music.

Not one position in this worldly household is left empty. The parents are wisdom and skillful means; wife, daughter, and son are joy in Dharma, compassion, and a wholesome mind; the house is emptiness and quiescence; the disciples are precisely sentient beings amid sensory disturbance; and friends and companions are the factors of the path, the perfections, and the four means of gathering. The bodhisattva is not without a household. He turns every relation within the household into a dharma that gives rise to awakening and gathers sentient beings.

Gardens, Carriages, Clothing, and Food

Retention is the garden, uncontaminated dharmas its trees, factors of awakening its pure and wondrous flowers, and liberation and wisdom its fruit. The eight liberations are the bathing pool, filled with limpid waters of concentration and spread with the flowers of the seven purities, where those without defilement bathe. The five superknowledges are fleet elephants and horses, the Great Vehicle is the carriage, one-pointed mind drives it, and it travels on the eightfold right path.

The excellent marks adorn his countenance and body; conscience and shame are his finest garments, and profound intention his flower garland. The seven kinds of Dharma wealth make the bodhisattva rich, and teaching sentient beings causes that wealth to grow; practicing as he teaches and dedicating all merit bring the greatest benefit. The four meditations are his seat and bed, arising from a pure livelihood. Broad learning increases wisdom and becomes a sound by which he awakens himself. The ambrosial Dharma is food, and the flavor of liberation is drink; a pure mind is bathing, and the qualities of ethical discipline are fragrant ointment. Finally, the bodhisattva destroys the thieves of affliction, subdues the four māras, and raises the victory banner at the place of awakening.

The trees, flowers, fruit, and pool water of the garden; the elephants, horses, carriage, and driver on the road; adornments, garments, garlands, and fragrance upon the body; and wealth, bed, food, and drink within the household are all filled by Dharma. This does not construct an imaginary residence outside worldly resources. It directly answers which dharmas a bodhisattva truly uses to abide, travel, nourish and adorn himself, and maintain his life.

Knowing Emptiness, Why Does He Still Manifest a Body and Cultivate Pure Lands?

The verses next turn from household and resources to the bodhisattva’s conduct. Although he knows there is neither arising nor cessation, for sentient beings he still manifests birth. He can manifest throughout every land like the sun shining everywhere. When making offerings to immeasurable billions of tathāgatas in the ten directions, he gives rise to no discrimination between the buddhas and himself. Although he knows buddha-lands and sentient beings to be empty, he constantly cultivates pure lands and teaches and transforms sentient beings.

These four statements place emptiness and conduct in the same rhythm: he manifests birth amid non-arising and non-ceasing, makes offerings without discrimination, and, knowing lands and sentient beings to be empty, cultivates pure lands and transforms sentient beings. If one retained only emptiness, one would delete the sūtra’s express statements of manifested birth, offering, cultivation of lands, and teaching. If one retained only conduct, one would delete non-arising and non-ceasing, non-discrimination, and emptiness. The bodhisattva’s path lacks neither side.

Sentient beings have various forms, sounds, and modes of deportment, and the bodhisattva can manifest all of them at once. He also recognizes every work of Māra, yet manifests in accord with what Māra does; with the wisdom of skillful means, he can manifest each of them as he wishes. What is manifested can differ in a thousand ways, but recognition and skillful means are never lost.

Amid Impermanence, Disaster, and Other Paths, How Does the Bodhisattva Benefit Beings?

The bodhisattva sometimes manifests aging, illness, and death in order to bring sentient beings to fulfillment, while knowing these to be like illusions and remaining unobstructed. At other times he manifests the great conflagration at the end of a kalpa, enabling sentient beings who hold notions of permanence to know impermanence. When immeasurable billions of sentient beings invite him at once, he can appear simultaneously in every household and turn them toward the Way of the Buddha.

He can manifest mastery of scriptures, spells, crafts, and every kind of art, using them to benefit sentient beings. Among the world’s various ways of seeking the path, he can manifest going forth in each, thereby freeing people from delusion while himself not falling into wrong views. He can also become a sun deity, moon deity, Brahmā, or lord of a world, or become earth, water, wind, or fire.

When an epidemic comes, he manifests as medicinal herbs that remove illness and neutralize poison in those who take them. When famine comes, he manifests his body as food, first relieving hunger and thirst and then guiding beings with words of Dharma. When armed conflict comes, he gives rise to compassion for sentient beings and establishes them in non-contention. When a great battle comes, he manifests equal power, subdues the will to fight, and brings peace to both sides. Wherever hell brings suffering, he personally goes to offer relief; wherever animals devour one another, he is born among them to bring benefit.

This succession of manifestations does not turn disaster into an abstract label. Disease calls for medicine, hunger and thirst for food, armed conflict for an end to contention, battle lines for peace, the sufferings of hell for relief, and animals harming one another for benefit. The bodhisattva does not only teach Dharma; he responds directly to the suffering now before sentient beings. After relieving hunger and thirst and bestowing fearlessness, the sūtra again expressly says that he guides them with Dharma and causes them to give rise to the mind of the Way.

Why Is Practicing Meditation amid Desire Like a Lotus Growing in Fire?

The bodhisattva manifests enjoying the five desires while also manifesting the practice of meditation, confusing Māra so that he finds no opening. The sūtra immediately supplies its own simile: a lotus growing in fire is exceedingly rare, and practicing meditation amid desire is equally rare. What is praised is not the burning of fire or the defilement of desire, but the failure to lose meditative practice while situated among objects of desire.

One verse that especially must not be severed is the bodhisattva’s manifestation as a courtesan. The sūtra explicitly gives the complete sequence: first attracting those who delight in beauty, drawing them with the hook of desire, and afterward causing them to enter the Buddha’s wisdom. If only the first half remains, the manifestation is mistaken for yielding to desire. If only the second half remains, one no longer sees how skillful means begins from the place to which the sentient being is presently attached. The two verse lines must not be separated.

The bodhisattva can also become a town leader, caravan guide, state preceptor, or minister and use that status to benefit sentient beings. For the poor, he becomes an inexhaustible treasury and urges them to give rise to the mind of awakening. For the proud, he becomes a champion, subdues their arrogance, and establishes them in the unsurpassed Way. For the fearful, he first goes before them, consoles them, and bestows fearlessness, then causes them to give rise to the mind of the Way. He can become a seer free of desire and possessing the five superknowledges, causing sentient beings to abide in ethical discipline, patience, and loving-kindness.

When he sees someone who needs service, the bodhisattva becomes that person’s attendant; he first delights and satisfies the person’s mind, then causes him to give rise to the mind of the Way. According to what sentient beings require, he causes them to enter the Way of the Buddha, and through the power of skillful means supplies all they need. From courtesan to town leader, caravan guide, state preceptor, minister, inexhaustible treasury, champion, seer, and attendant, his identity changes continually, yet the destination repeatedly returns to buddha-wisdom, the mind of awakening, the unsurpassed Way, and the Way of the Buddha.

Toward What Do the Final Verses of the Forty-Two Point?

The fortieth verse gathers all the preceding manifestations into four points: the ways are immeasurable, the range of conduct has no boundary, wisdom is boundless, and the beings delivered are innumerable. These four statements prevent us from remembering only one extraordinary identity. Any manifestation is only one place within immeasurable conduct; both the range of conduct and wisdom are without boundary, while the purpose is to deliver innumerable sentient beings.

The forty-first verse says that even if all buddhas praised the bodhisattva throughout immeasurable billions of kalpas, his merit still could not be fully expressed. The forty-second no longer describes what forms the bodhisattva can assume, but directly asks the listener: 「誰聞如是法，不發菩提心？」 — “Who could hear such a Dharma and not give rise to the mind of awakening?” The chapter began with Mañjuśrī asking how one comprehends the Way of the Buddha; here it places the question before every person who hears the Dharma. If one merely marvels at the immeasurability of skillful means but does not give rise to the mind, one remains outside the gate.

From Contrary Ways to the Way of the Buddha: Never Leaving Sentient Beings

The first half of the chapter brings the five heinous acts, evil destinies, greed, anger, delusion, obstacles in practice, Māra, the two vehicles, poverty, illness, worldly affairs, and nirvāṇa within the bodhisattva’s range of conduct. The middle calls having a body, ignorance, craving for existence, and all afflictions seeds of the Tathāgata. The final part turns parents and household, gardens and carriages, disease and famine, warfare and evil destinies, objects of desire, and various social identities into conduct for the benefit of sentient beings. The three parts appear to range widely, yet never leave the same point: wherever sentient beings are, the bodhisattva’s wisdom and skillful means can operate there.

Yet entering every place does not mean being swallowed by every place. The thirty-one items each preserve distinct reverse qualifications—non-defilement, purity, loving-kindness and patience, concentration and wisdom, great compassion, or teaching and transformation—different in each case. This is precisely why the chapter must be read with all thirty-one items, eleven seeds, three similes, and forty-two verses intact. Extract only “afflictions are seeds of the Buddha,” and one loses the mind of awakening and the retrieval of treasure. Extract only “traveling contrary ways,” and one loses non-defilement and the deliverance of beings. Extract only “a lotus in fire,” and one loses why practicing meditation amid desire is rare.

Two Mirrors Shining Side by Side

The exposition above has followed the actual wording of Kumārajīva’s recension of this chapter alone. When the ancient masters read “traveling contrary ways,” “seeds of the Tathāgata,” and the forty-two verses, they each held up a mirror that disclosed patterns within them. What follows presents two paths—the three masters of the Kumārajīva line and the Ci’en line—each keeping to its own Chinese recension, recorded side by side without adjudication.

The Kumārajīva-Line Mirror: Transformative Manifestation without Fixed Direction, Dwelling amid the Contrary without Losing One’s Ground

Kumārajīva first divides contrary ways into three kinds: 「非道有三種，一者惡趣果報、二者惡趣行業、三者世俗善業及善業果報也。」 — “Contrary ways are of three kinds: first, the results of evil destinies; second, actions that lead to evil destinies; and third, worldly wholesome actions and the results of wholesome actions.” (T38n1775 0390b27) He immediately uses the simile of a skilled physician who turns whatever he touches into medicine and says that the bodhisattva 「處非而不失其本，故能因非道以弘道」 — “dwells amid the contrary without losing his ground, and therefore can use contrary ways to propagate the Way.” (T38n1775 0390c01) The boundary guarded by this mirror is clear: the place in which he dwells may be contrary, but he cannot lose his ground.

Sengzhao looks from the standpoint of the path of equality. He says that if one takes the Way as the Way and contrary ways as contrary, love and aversion arise together; only when one is not constrained by feelings of right and wrong can one pass unobstructed through circumstances. He further draws out the three poisons and six faults respectively as 「示行三毒而不乖三善也。」 — “He manifests practicing the three poisons without departing from the three wholesome roots.” (T38n1775 0391a02) and 「示行六弊而不乖六度也。」 — “He manifests practicing the six faults without departing from the six perfections.” (T38n1775 0391a07) Daosheng, meanwhile, speaks from transformative manifestation: 「應化無方為佛之道，既能體之，為通達矣。」 — “Transformative manifestation without fixed direction is the Way of the Buddha; being able to embody it is comprehension.” (T38n1775 0390b25) Kumārajīva, Sengzhao, and Daosheng each have their own emphasis; none is treated as the original wording of the other two.

When they reach the seeds of the Tathāgata, Kumārajīva preserves two explanations of “having a body”: the five appropriated aggregates with contamination, and the view of body. Sengzhao says that, although wrong and right differ, their transformation does not produce a separate right without a cause, so the wholesome arises through the unwholesome. Daosheng says that awakening in the Great Vehicle is not found by abandoning saṃsāra nearby and seeking somewhere far away. The three masters also read the similes of the high plain, planted seed, and great sea separately, preserving the sequence of giving rise to the mind, producing the Buddha-Dharma, and retrieving the treasure of omniscience.

In the forty-two verses, Kumārajīva explains in detail the perfection of wisdom, skillful means, the seven purities, one-pointed mind, the seven kinds of wealth, the four meditations, and the ambrosial Dharma. Sengzhao explains mother and father through 「智為內照、權為外用」 — “Wisdom illuminates inwardly; skillful means functions outwardly.” (T38n1775 0393a22) and gathers the similes of gardens, pools, and the like under Dharma as household. Daosheng distinguishes wisdom as inward understanding from skillful means as outward assistance. At the manifestation of birth amid non-arising, Sengzhao marks the beginning of the subsequent full praise of the bodhisattva’s virtue of responsive transformation; at the end he gathers it under the boundless and limitless Way of wisdom and skillful means. What the Kumārajīva-line mirror illuminates begins with transformative manifestation without fixed direction, passes through Dharma as household, and comes to rest in skillful means for benefiting beings and giving rise to the mind.

The Ci’en Mirror: The Cause of Awakening, the Seed of the Tathāgata, and the Activity of Awakening

Following the recension on which he relies, Kuiji divides the whole chapter at the outset into three parts: the cause of awakening, the seed of the Tathāgata, and the activity of awakening. The scriptural statements on which this path relies belong to Xuanzang’s recension; this exposition therefore transmits only its analysis here and does not substitute its persons or scriptural statements into Kumārajīva’s chapter.

In the section on traveling contrary destinations, Kuiji counts thirty-three statements in Xuanzang’s recension and divides them into seven groups: relying on destinations to leave evil; relying on faculties to extinguish poisons; relying on obstructions to cultivate the perfections; relying on the small to cultivate the great; relying on evil to cultivate good; relying on the inferior to cultivate the superior; and cultivating non-abiding in the middle. He also explicitly records that the old translation has thirty-one statements. This does not correct thirty-one by means of thirty-three, but preserves the number and structure belonging to each recension. The commentary’s shared explanation of “although manifesting” also consistently retains both generation in conformity with kind for the benefit of sentient beings and non-defilement by that kind’s faults.

In the passage on the seed-nature of the Tathāgata, Kuiji first says: 「種者因，性者類。佛因體類，名如來種性。」 — “‘Seed’ means cause; ‘nature’ means kind. The essential kind of a cause of buddhahood is called the seed-nature of the Tathāgata.” (T38n1782 1087c22) He then distinguishes uncontaminated and contaminated seeds, cites the Śrīmālā Sūtra, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, and the Sūtra of Entering Laṅkā, and explains that afflictions cover the principle and that wisdom arises when they are severed. Regarding the scriptural statement that the two vehicles cannot give rise to the mind, he adds multiple qualifications: it generally concerns the period before they have given rise to it and a fierce, swift form of giving rise to the mind; it does not uniformly declare that they will ultimately never do so. This qualification belongs only to the Ci’en commentary’s path of interpreting the sūtra and does not overwrite the three masters of the Kumārajīva line.

Regarding the verses, Kuiji clearly divides the first forty verses as the principal answer and the last two as the concluding exhortation. The first thirty-nine give separate answers and the fortieth gives the general answer; those separate answers are further divided into twelve, five, and twenty-two verses. Following Xuanzang’s recension, he takes the perfection of wisdom as non-discriminating wisdom and skillful means as subsequently attained wisdom; he explains the entire sequence by matching transmundane dharmas with worldly dharmas, transmundane practices with worldly affairs, and manifestations conforming to worldly affairs. What the Ci’en mirror illuminates is how the cause of awakening becomes seed and activity and how it is perfected through knowing emptiness without abandoning benefit to sentient beings.

The Kumārajīva line reads Kumārajīva’s “traveling contrary ways,” while the Ci’en line reads Xuanzang’s “traveling contrary destinations.” The Kumārajīva line preserves the blade of responsive transformation, equality, and propagating the Way while dwelling amid the contrary; the Ci’en line preserves the sequence of cause, seed, activity, and the two wisdoms in benefiting beings. The chapter’s transmission does not blend the two into one explanation. It lets each illuminate one face of the scripture while Kumārajīva’s chapter remains between the two mirrors, replaced by neither.