金光明最勝王經 金勝陀羅尼品

Placement of the whole chapter. This chapter begins when the Buddha tells the bodhisattva Good Abiding of a dhāraṇī named Golden Victory. It then explains, in order, the conditions for upholding it by those who seek to see the buddhas of the three times, recitation of names and veneration, the transcription of the dhāraṇī’s sounds, the merit of upholding it, and the fifteen-day practice. Neither of the two designated Chinese translation witnesses predating Yijing contains a corresponding Golden-Victory text. The separate “Silver-Lord Dhāraṇī” in Baogui’s composite edition has a chapter body that actually corresponds to Yijing’s “Stainless Dhāraṇī,” not to “Golden Victory.” Huizhao provides a line-by-line principal commentary on this chapter. The older recensions commented upon by Zhiyi and Jizang pass directly from “Praise” to “Emptiness” and contain no line-by-line commentary on the present chapter. The presence or absence of the chapter in the various recensions, the ancient masters’ outlines, and literal variants are each returned to their proper place and recorded without adjudicating.

I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement

The translator attribution in fascicle five of Yijing’s recension reads 「大唐三藏沙門義淨奉　制譯」—“Translated under imperial decree by the Tripiṭaka Master and śramaṇa Yijing of the Great Tang” (T16n0665 0422b26, its fifth occurrence in this sūtra). The chapter title is 「金勝陀羅尼品第八」—“The Golden-Victory Dhāraṇī, Chapter 8” (T16n0665 0423b23). The text begins at 0423b24 and ends at 0424a18 with 「既稱心已，常持莫忘」—“Once the wish has been fulfilled, constantly uphold it and do not forget.” At 0424a19 the title of “Reaffirming Emptiness,” Chapter 9, has already begun.

The sūtra text itself can be divided into five passages. First, the Buddha tells the bodhisattva Good Abiding 「有陀羅尼名曰金勝」—“there is a dhāraṇī named Golden Victory” (T16n0665 0423b25), exhorts those who wish personally to see and respectfully make offerings to the buddhas of the three times to uphold it, and lists the conditions of the one who upholds it. Second, one first recites the names of the buddhas and bodhisattvas and venerates them with utmost sincerity. Third comes the transcription of the dhāraṇī proper. Fourth, the sūtra teaches the merit, prediction, things sought, and bodhisattva protection received by one who upholds it. Fifth, it teaches the preliminary means, place of practice, recitation counts, food, period, and reentry if the wish remains unfulfilled. The entire chapter is prose, with no verse within its boundaries.

Huizhao’s principal commentary begins its title at 「金勝陀羅尼品第八」—“The Golden-Victory Dhāraṇī, Chapter 8” (T39n1788 0271b17), and its text extends through 0272b27; 0272b28 is already the next chapter title. The commentary first establishes three approaches: 「金勝陀羅尼品，三門分別：一來意、二釋名、三解妨。」—“The Golden-Victory Dhāraṇī chapter is distinguished through three approaches: first, the reason for its coming; second, explanation of the name; and third, resolution of difficulties” (T39n1788 0271b18). It then divides the whole chapter into five passages:

品文分五，初標呪勸持讚人令學、二教持神呪前之方便、三正說神呪、四廣讚功能、五教行方軌。（T39n1788 0271c04） — “The chapter text is divided into five: first, naming the formula, exhorting its upholding, and praising the person in order to have that person train; second, teaching the preliminary means before upholding the divine formula; third, teaching the divine formula proper; fourth, extensively praising its functions; and fifth, teaching the procedure for practice.”

The fifth passage is further divided into general identification, particular instruction, and concluding exhortation: 「五教行方軌。文分為三：一總標、二別示、三結勸勿忘。」—“Fifth is teaching the procedure for practice. The text is divided into three: first, general identification; second, particular instruction; and third, the concluding exhortation not to forget” (T39n1788 0272b07). These are the commentator’s outline divisions and are not rewritten as headings established by the sūtra itself.

II. Alternate Translations · Collation of the Three Translations

Neither the Dharmakṣema Recension nor the Composite Edition Has a Golden-Victory Chapter Body

The final sentence of “Praise,” Chapter 4, in Dharmakṣema’s T663 is 「爾時二子，金龍金光，今汝二子，銀相等是。」—“Those two sons at that time, Golden Dragon and Golden Light, are now your two sons, Silver Mark and the other” (T16n0663 0340a05). The next title immediately following is already 「金光明經空品第五」—“The Sūtra of Golden Light, ‘Emptiness,’ Chapter 5” (T16n0663 0340a07). No Golden-Victory title or chapter body stands between them.

The final sentence of “Praise,” Chapter 7, in Baogui’s composite T664 is 「爾時二子，金龍、金光，今汝二子，銀相等是。」—“Those two sons at that time, Golden Dragon and Golden Light, are now your two sons, Silver Mark and the other” (T16n0664 0379b04). It is immediately followed by 「金光明經空品第八」—“The Sūtra of Golden Light, ‘Emptiness,’ Chapter 8” (T16n0664 0379b06). Again, no Golden-Victory title or chapter body stands between them.

Consequently, among the designated Chinese translation witnesses T663 and T664, Golden Victory has no corresponding Chinese recension. This statement concerns only the textual state of the designated extant Chinese translations and does not infer doctrine or origin from the missing text.

Golden Victory Is Not among Paramārtha’s Four Chapters

Baogui’s preface lists Paramārtha’s four chapters verbatim: 「後逮梁世，真諦三藏於建康譯〈三身分別〉、〈業障滅〉、〈陀羅尼最淨地〉、〈依空滿願〉等四品」—“Later, in the Liang, Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha translated at Jiankang the four chapters ‘Distinguishing the Three Bodies,’ ‘Extinguishing Karmic Obstructions,’ ‘The Dhāraṇī of the Most Purified Grounds,’ and ‘Fulfilling Vows through Emptiness’” (T16n0664 0359b22). Golden Victory is not in this list and therefore does not belong among Paramārtha’s four chapters.

Silver Lord Corresponds to Stainlessness, Not Golden Victory

Baogui’s preface also records: 「後本，果有〈囑累品〉，復得〈銀主陀羅尼品〉。」—“The later text indeed had an ‘Entrustment’ chapter, and the ‘Silver-Lord Dhāraṇī’ chapter was also obtained” (T16n0664 0359c04). The title and body of the composite chapter must, however, be considered separately:

Two accounts concerning the number of Jñānagupta’s chapters and the history of formation are preserved together and recorded without adjudicating. Baogui’s preface says 「崛多譯，為五卷，成二十品」—“Jñānagupta translated five fascicles, comprising twenty chapters” 〔T16n0664 0359b22〕. Huizhao also records: 「隋闍那崛多出二十四品，加〈銀主陀羅尼品〉，即今〈無染陀羅尼品〉及〈囑累品〉。」—“Jñānagupta of the Sui produced twenty-four chapters, adding the ‘Silver-Lord Dhāraṇī’—that is, the present ‘Stainless Dhāraṇī’—and ‘Entrustment’” (T39n1788 0182a11). He further records: 「〈金勝陀羅尼品〉、〈如意寶珠品〉，舊本所無。」—“The ‘Golden-Victory Dhāraṇī’ and ‘Wish-Fulfilling Jewel’ chapters are absent from the older text” (T39n1788 0182a15). The first statement corresponds to the complete texts of the two chapters; the latter is an ancient master’s record of presence and absence in the older text. Neither statement relocates Silver Lord as a witness to Golden Victory.

The conclusion under Topic II therefore has only two levels. Golden Victory has no corresponding Chinese recension in T663 or T664. Silver Lord is a separate chapter whose chapter body corresponds to Stainlessness. The present chapter is not assigned to the four chapters listed for Paramārtha, and the absence of text from the designated Chinese witnesses is not turned into a conclusion about origin.

III. Scriptural Grounds for the Consciousness-Only Meaning (the Point of the Eye)

This topic takes Huizhao’s principal commentary on this chapter as its mirror. The mirror illuminates the sūtra’s meaning; the commentator’s classifications do not replace the sūtra text.

1. The title uses gold as the simile and dhāraṇī as the dharma. Huizhao transmits an ancient transcription: 「梵云呬囉跋底陀羅尼。」—“In Sanskrit it is transcribed as 呬囉跋底陀羅尼” (T39n1788 0271b24). His interlinear explanation respectively correlates gold, victory, and total retention with the three segments of the transcription. The commentary further says: 「金者是喻，陀羅尼是法，勝通法喻。金中之勝如贍部金，此總持勝亦復如是」—“Gold is the simile, dhāraṇī is the dharma, and ‘victory’ applies to both dharma and simile. The supreme among kinds of gold is Jambu gold; the excellence of this dhāraṇī is likewise” (T39n1788 0271b25). The meaning of the name remains within the ancient transcription and its interlinear explanation.

2. Seeking to see the buddhas is central to the reason for this chapter’s coming. Carrying forward from repentance, purification of the grounds, and offerings to buddhas in the preceding chapters, Huizhao says: 「廣行難學、略行易遵，故授總持，令依修□，常得見佛修行供養」—“Extensive practice is difficult to learn, while abbreviated practice is easy to follow; therefore a dhāraṇī is bestowed, enabling one to cultivate in dependence on it □ and constantly see the buddhas, practice, and make offerings” (T39n1788 0271b22). The missing character in the original commentary is transmitted as □ and not supplied. The extensive and abbreviated, difficult and easy, belong to the commentator’s explanation of the reason for its coming; the sūtra itself directly says only that those who wish personally to see and respectfully make offerings to the buddhas of the three times should uphold it.

3. The designation mother of the buddhas and the conditions of one who upholds. Concerning the sūtra’s designation “mother of the buddhas of the three times,” Huizhao summarizes it in one sentence: 「能生諸佛，名為佛母。」—“Because it can give rise to buddhas, it is called the mother of the buddhas” (T39n1788 0271c14). For the conditions of one who upholds it, the commentary first establishes eight items: 「美人令其修學。有八：初標持人、二有大福、三逢諸佛、四殖善根、五具尸羅、六無障礙、七入正定聚、八入甚深法則決定能入住正定位。長取決定能入甚深法門，即為第八。」—“The person is praised in order to have that person cultivate and train. There are eight: first, identifying the person who upholds; second, possessing great merit; third, encountering buddhas; fourth, planting roots of goodness; fifth, being complete in ethical discipline; sixth, having no obstruction; seventh, entering the group fixed on correctness; and eighth, entering the profound Dharma and thus certainly being able to enter and abide at the correctly fixed stage. Taking the longer wording, ‘will certainly be able to enter the profound Dharma-gate’ is the eighth” (T39n1788 0271c18). It also preserves another reading: 「或但為七，合第七八為能證不退。」—“Alternatively, there are only seven, combining the seventh and eighth as the capacity to realize non-retrogression” (T39n1788 0271c21). The eight-item and seven-item outlines are both recorded without adjudicating which is definitive.

4. The preliminary means before upholding begins with general veneration and then particular veneration. The sūtra first venerates in general all buddhas of the ten directions, great bodhisattvas, śrāvakas, solitary realizers, and all noble ones; it then venerates the buddhas and bodhisattvas name by name. Huizhao classifies this as 「教也。初教總體、後教別禮。初也。別禮可知。」—“This is instruction. First it teaches general veneration; afterward it teaches particular veneration. This is the first. Particular veneration can be understood” (T39n1788 0272a13). At the transcription of the dhāraṇī, the commentary says only 「正說神呪。」—“The divine formula proper is taught” (T39n1788 0272a17), without analyzing the syllables individually.

5. There are six benefits. Huizhao gathers the sūtra’s list as follows: 「別示獲益。有六：一即供養佛，是法供養故；二得佛授記；三得世福果；四所願遂心；五常近善友；六佛菩薩等守護。」—“The benefits attained are particularly shown. There are six: first, this itself is making offerings to buddhas, because it is a Dharma-offering; second, one receives a prediction from the buddhas; third, one obtains worldly fortunate results; fourth, one’s wishes are fulfilled; fifth, one constantly draws near to good friends; and sixth, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and others guard and protect one” (T39n1788 0272a26). Dharma-offering, worldly fortunate results, and good friends are the commentator’s categories. The sūtra itself continues to list individually making offerings to buddhas, receiving a prediction, clothing, food, wealth and other things, fulfillment of wishes, dwelling with six bodhisattvas, and receiving their protection.

6. Eight items and nine items in the practice, together with two grades and three grades. Huizhao divides the particular instruction on practice into eight items and the main practice further into nine: 「正行中有九：一歸禮、二懺悔、三虔恭、四誦數、五起願、六食處時節、七所應食染令黑亦得、八知量、九期限」—“Within the main practice there are nine: first, refuge and veneration; second, repentance; third, earnest reverence; fourth, the recitation count; fifth, arousing the vow; sixth, the place and time for eating; seventh, the required food, which may also be dyed black; eighth, knowing the measure; and ninth, the period” (T39n1788 0272b19). Concerning reentry when the wish remains unfulfilled, the original commentary reads:

初福多之者二七願遂、二「若不遂意」下惡業重者更重邀期還如前作。（T39n1788 0272b21） — “First, for one of abundant merit, the wish is fulfilled in two sevens; second, from ‘if the wish is not fulfilled’ onward, one whose bad karma is heavy again sets a period and practices as before.”

The commentary further says: 「此分二品，準餘修行多分三品。」—“This is divided into two grades; according to other practices, it is generally divided into three grades” (T39n1788 0272b23), and raises different explanations in terms of faculties, obstructions, and periods of practice. The two grades, three grades, and two sevens are all transmitted in the ancient commentary’s original wording, without conversion or harmonization.

IV. Explanations of Various Masters (Ancient Masters · Textual State · Recorded without Adjudicating)

Cien · Huizhao’s Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King

Huizhao has a line-by-line principal commentary on this chapter. Its title begins at T39n1788 0271b17, and the main text extends from 0271b18 through 0272b27; the next line, 0272b28, is already “Reaffirming Emptiness,” Chapter 9. Its three approaches, five passages, seven- and eight-item outlines, six benefits, and analysis of the practice all appear above.

Tiantai · Zhiyi’s Words and Phrases of the Sūtra of Golden Light

The older recension commented upon by Zhiyi has no Golden-Victory chapter. At the end of his commentary on “Praise” he writes:

從「信相當知」下兩行，是第三結會古今，如文。（T39n1785 0066a09） — “The two lines from ‘Faith-Mark, you should know’ onward are the third part, identifying past and present, as stated in the text.”

Fascicle three then ends. After a renewed attribution in fascicle four, the text begins directly with 「釋空品」—“Explanation of the Emptiness Chapter” (T39n1785 0066a18). Thus the Words and Phrases has no line-by-line commentary on this chapter, and interpretations from other chapters are not used to fabricate explanations of Golden-Victory sentences.

Sanlun · Jizang’s Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light

At the end of Jizang’s commentary on the praise passage, he writes:

「銀相」等者，於下〈授記品〉即是銀相銀光也。（T39n1787 0165a14） — “‘Silver Mark’ and the rest are precisely Silver Mark and Silver Light in the later ‘Bestowal of Predictions’ chapter.”

The next passage is immediately titled 「〈空品〉　明波若以導前功德，有四十五偈」—“‘Emptiness’: clarifying that prajñā guides the preceding qualities; there are forty-five verses” (T39n1787 0165a16). Jizang therefore likewise has no line-by-line commentary on the present chapter.

Zhiyi’s Profound Meaning and Zhili’s Supplementary Notes

The Profound Meaning is a profound explanation of the whole sūtra, not a sentence-by-sentence explanation of each chapter. Its discussion of chapter order moves from 「懺罪讚聖惡滅善生，故〈讚歎品〉居後」—“Repenting offenses and praising the noble causes evil to be extinguished and good to arise; therefore ‘Praise’ comes afterward” (T39n1783 0011c06) to 「空品雙導，懺不得空惡不除滅，讚不得空善不清淨。」—“The ‘Emptiness’ chapter guides both: if repentance does not attain emptiness, evil is not removed and extinguished; if praise does not attain emptiness, good is not purified” (T39n1783 0011c10). The chapter examples in the Supplementary Notes likewise move from “Praise” to “Emptiness.” Neither work contains a dedicated Golden-Victory passage.

What can be recorded together here is the difference among textual witnesses. Huizhao comments on Yijing’s recension and therefore has a line-by-line principal commentary. The older recensions used by Zhiyi and Jizang lack this chapter, and Zhili’s work is not a line-by-line chapter commentary. This cannot support fabricating three schools’ doctrinal accounts of the present chapter, still less ranking their doctrines by the presence or absence of text.

V. Terminology

Golden Victory. The sūtra says only that the dhāraṇī is named Golden Victory. Huizhao correlates the anciently transmitted transcription 呬囉, 跋底, and 陀羅尼 respectively with gold, victory, and total retention, and also uses Jambu gold as a simile. The meaning reaches only “the supreme among kinds of gold” and “the excellent dhāraṇī.” It remains within the ancient transcription and interlinear explanation and does not go beyond their transmitted wording.

Dhāraṇī and total retention. Huizhao explains dhāraṇī as total retention. Elsewhere in this commentary he gives the general list: 「陀羅尼，謂一切功德藏陀羅尼，即四總持，一法、二義、三能得菩薩無生忍、四明呪。」—“Dhāraṇī means the treasury-of-all-qualities dhāraṇī; that is, the four total retentions: first, Dharma; second, meaning; third, the capacity to enable a bodhisattva to attain acceptance of non-arising; and fourth, illumination-formula” (T39n1788 0249c05). At the transcription in this chapter, the principal commentary says only that the divine formula proper is taught. Thus this chapter can identify it as the total retention upheld for seeing the buddhas, cultivating, and making offerings, without analyzing every character of the formula.

Mother of the buddhas of the three times. The sūtra twice calls this dhāraṇī the mother of the buddhas of the three times; Huizhao explains the name through its capacity to give rise to buddhas. This is an ancient master’s judgment concerning the dhāraṇī’s function. “Mother” is not expanded into an entity or genealogy unstated by sūtra and commentary.

Preliminary means. The sūtra first has the practitioner recite the dhāraṇī 10,008 times as the preliminary means and then recite it another 1,008 times after entering the place of practice. The two numbers belong to different stages and are neither exchanged nor added together.

Pure black food. The sūtra directs the practitioner to eat pure black food within the place of practice before sunrise, one meal a day. Huizhao adds only 「所應食染令黑亦得」—“the required food may also be dyed black” (T39n1788 0272b20). Beyond this, neither sūtra nor commentary lists ingredients or a dyeing method in this chapter, and this edition adds none.

Receiving a prediction of unsurpassed, complete, perfect awakening. This chapter says that one who upholds the formula receives a prediction from the buddhas but does not separately name the buddha, land, or eon. It remains within the scope of the prediction recorded in this chapter, without importing the content of predictions from later chapters.

VI. Similes · Rhetoric

The simile of Jambu gold. The sūtra text in this chapter does not unfold the simile in its title. Huizhao explains the name with 「金中之勝如贍部金，此總持勝亦復如是」—“the supreme among kinds of gold is Jambu gold; the excellence of this dhāraṇī is likewise” (T39n1788 0271b25). The basis of the simile is what is supreme among kinds of gold, and what it reveals is the excellence of the dhāraṇī. The simile is not used to explain the syllables of the formula.

Repetition of the three times. At the beginning, the chapter speaks of seeking to see and make offerings to the buddhas of the past, future, and present, then immediately calls the dhāraṇī the mother of the buddhas of the three times. After the dhāraṇī proper, it again states that this is the mother of the buddhas of the three times. The repeated statement at beginning and end joins recitation of names, upholding the formula, and the merit of upholding to the same aim.

From general to particular veneration. The recitation of names first venerates universally all buddhas of the ten directions, great bodhisattvas, śrāvakas, solitary realizers, and noble ones, then lists by name twenty-five buddhas and ten bodhisattvas. The long movement from general to particular keeps “respectfully making offerings” from remaining a generic phrase.

Numbers form the rhythm of the practice. A full 10,008 recitations are the preliminary means before entry into the place of practice; 1,008 are the recitation count of the main practice there. Practice begins on the first day of the dark fortnight, and the practitioner leaves on the fifteenth; only one meal is eaten each day. The recitation counts, dates, and food restriction each have their own place, and one set of numbers is not moved to explain another.

VII. Cross-Reading · Carrying Forward

Carrying forward praise of the Buddha and offerings from the preceding chapter. “Praise through the Lotus Simile” has King Golden Dragon praise the Buddha, dedicate merit, and make vows; it ends with the assembly arousing the mind of awakening and vowing always to rely on repentance. The bodhisattva Good Abiding is immediately instructed in the present chapter on how those who wish personally to see and respectfully make offerings to the buddhas of the three times should uphold the Golden-Victory Dhāraṇī. Both passages direct practice toward seeing, praising, and making offerings to buddhas and toward arousing the mind; this chapter gathers that direction into recitation of names, veneration, upholding the formula, and ritual practice.

The sequence seen by Huizhao. After gathering the preceding dream-drum repentance, practices that purify the grounds, and drawing near to make offerings to buddhas, the commentator says: 「廣行難學、略行易遵，故授總持，令依修□，常得見佛修行供養」—“Extensive practice is difficult to learn, while abbreviated practice is easy to follow; therefore a dhāraṇī is bestowed, enabling one to cultivate in dependence on it □ and constantly see the buddhas, practice, and make offerings” (T39n1788 0271b22). This is an ancient master’s account of the chapter’s place in the sequence. The missing character is not supplied, and the extensive and abbreviated, difficult and easy, are not written backward as something the Buddha expressly says in this chapter.

From upholding to constant upholding. The chapter begins by saying that the dhāraṇī should be upheld; the middle unfolds through recitation of names, veneration, recitation of the formula, offerings, repentance, and arousal of a vow; the final sentence concludes: 「既稱心已，常持莫忘。」—“Once the wish has been fulfilled, constantly uphold it and do not forget” (T16n0665 0424a18). The dhāraṇī is not confined to a passage of transcribed sounds but runs through the movement of the whole chapter from taking it up, through practice, to non-forgetting.

Narrative continuation after the chapter boundary. At 0424a19 the title of “Reaffirming Emptiness,” Chapter 9, has already begun. The next line continues with 「爾時，世尊說此呪已」—“At that time, after the World-Honored One had spoken this formula” (T16n0665 0424a20). This sentence belongs to the following chapter and is not taken back into the body of Golden Victory.

Carrying forward in this way, the chapter does not end by explaining the characters of the formula. It places the wish to see the buddhas within a complete sequence that can be upheld, venerated, practiced, reentered, and constantly remembered. The missing text in the Chinese translation witnesses, the correspondence between Silver Lord and Stainlessness, and the presence or absence of ancient commentaries all serve only to preserve the true shape of this transmission rather than fill its blanks by inference.

VIII. Placement of the Editions

1. This translation and annotation takes Yijing’s T16n0665 as its base text. The translator attribution in fascicle five, 「大唐三藏沙門義淨奉　制譯」—“Translated under imperial decree by the Tripiṭaka Master and śramaṇa Yijing of the Great Tang,” is at 0422b26, its fifth occurrence in the sūtra. The chapter title is at 0423b23, the main text at 0423b24–0424a18, and the next chapter title at 0424a19.
2. T663 passes directly from “Praise,” Chapter 4, into “Emptiness,” Chapter 5; T664 passes directly from “Praise,” Chapter 7, into “Emptiness,” Chapter 8. Neither has a corresponding Golden-Victory chapter body, and so this is recorded as having no corresponding Chinese recension.
3. The four chapters attributed to Paramārtha in Baogui’s preface do not include Golden Victory. The “Silver-Lord Dhāraṇī” separately named in the preface corresponds in the complete sequence of its T664 chapter body to “The Stainless Dhāraṇī,” Chapter 13, in T665 and cannot be moved to serve as a witness to Golden Victory.
4. Huizhao’s principal commentary on this chapter in T39n1788 begins its title at 0271b17 and its text at 0271b18–0272b27. The locations 0181c13, 0182a15, and 0190c08 are overviews of the whole sūtra, not the line-by-line principal commentary on this chapter.
5. The older recensions commented upon by Zhiyi’s T39n1785 and Jizang’s T39n1787 both pass directly from the praise passage into the emptiness passage. Zhiyi’s T39n1783 and Zhili’s T39n1784 are at the level of profound meaning and contain no dedicated passage on this chapter. The textual states of the works are recorded together; absent text is not filled with invented doctrine.
6. After punctuation and full-width spaces are removed, the main text of Yijing and the sūtra quotations and citations in Huizhao have eleven sets of verbal variants. They are listed below; every reading retains its original characters and none is altered to match another:

7. In resolving a difficulty, Huizhao separately quotes 「已多佛所殖善持戒」—“has planted goodness and maintained ethical discipline in the presence of many buddhas” (T39n1788 0271b28), while his line-by-line quotation reads “planted roots of goodness.” Both retain the commentary’s original characters at their respective locations.
8. The formula in Yijing’s main text begins with 喝𡃤, while Huizhao’s cited text begins with 曷喇. The two transcribed texts are each preserved complete in their own original Han forms, without splicing, translation, or semantic explanation. In addition, Yijing’s formula contains full-width spaces between repeated sound groups, while Huizhao’s citation writes 「君睇君睇」—“the sequence 君睇君睇,” 「矩折囇矩折囇」—“the sequence 矩折囇矩折囇,” and 「壹窒哩蜜窒哩」—“the sequence 壹窒哩蜜窒哩” continuously in three places. The spacing difference is itself a variant; each text keeps its own form without alteration.

The textual responsibility of this chapter is to preserve both presence and absence: the whole Golden-Victory text transmitted in Yijing’s recension and the fact that the older translations have no corresponding chapter body; the Silver-Lord title in Baogui’s preface and the sequence by which its chapter body actually corresponds to Stainlessness. Only in this way can the text be transmitted without adjudicating on another’s behalf and carried forward without invention.