金光明最勝王經 依空滿願品
如意寶光耀天女所問的，不只是『空是什麼』。她問的是：菩薩怎樣行，才能不住生死、不住涅槃，又真正饒益自己和他人？
這個問題之所以尖銳，是因為我們往往以為，願要圓滿，必須先有一個牢固的我、一條確定的路、一個可以抓住的結果。可是佛陀的回答，恰好先鬆開這些抓取。
祂說，要依法界行菩提法，修平等行。法界不在五蘊之外，卻也不能被五蘊鎖成一個實體；若執為即是，落在斷邊，若執為離開，又落在常邊。於是，所謂『依』不是在五蘊之外另立一物，而是在五蘊現前之處，不再把所見固定成一邊。
鼓聲把這件事說得很近。聲音依木、皮、槌與手等條件發出，卻不能從任何一項單獨取出。它不是沒有響起，也不是有一個自立聲體從某處到來。條件相會，聲音便可聞；逐一追尋，固定的聲音卻不可得。
菩薩行也是如此嗎？天女用四個回答把問題推到底：若水中月能行，她便行；若夢、陽焰、谷響能行，她也行。梵王追問其義，她只說，沒有一法具有可執定的實相，一切但由因緣而得成就。
這不是說菩薩行像幻影，所以不必行。恰好相反：天女說完依法安住的實語願，五濁惡世的眾生得金色、坐蓮華、受安樂；欲退菩提心的苾芻聽法後重新發心；諸天又發願守護經典、法師、聽眾與國土。經文從頭到尾都在記行動。
那麼，『如幻』究竟鬆開了什麼？幻師使人看見象馬、車兵與倉庫。愚者把所見執成實體，智者知道它有名、有相，卻不如名字所說那樣自立。智者仍隨世俗說象馬，甚至能藉假說使人明白真實義；他放下的不是言說，而是對言說的執著。
所以，願的圓滿並不需要先把行者、眾生與果位凝固起來。經文一面說五蘊非有非無，一面說它非無因緣生；一面說真如不可說，一面讓聖者以世俗名言令他證知；一面說水月、夢、陽焰、谷響，一面記下發願、授記、讀誦、解說與護持。
回到最初的問題：既然一切不可執實，願如何圓滿？本品的回答不是『先抓住一個實體，再把願完成』，而是『不捨於俗，不離於真』。不離真，所以不把我、行與所得執實；不捨俗，所以眾生的苦、退心、聽聞與護持都不被遺忘。
依空，不是讓願失去著落；是讓願不再只繞著一個固定的我。滿願，也不是把幻相變成實體；是讓因緣所成的每一步——請法、領受、發心、說法、持經、護人——都在不住兩邊之中繼續發生。
The question asked by the goddess Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel is not merely 『空是什麼』—“What is emptiness?” She asks how a bodhisattva can practice so as to dwell neither in birth and death nor in nirvāṇa, while genuinely benefiting self and others.
The question is sharp because we often imagine that a vow can be fulfilled only if there is first a solid self, a certain road, and a result one can grasp. Yet the Buddha’s answer begins precisely by loosening these graspings.
One should practice the Dharma of awakening in reliance upon the dharma-realm and cultivate equality. The dharma-realm is not outside the five aggregates, yet cannot be locked into an entity by them. To grasp it as directly identical falls to the extreme of annihilation; to grasp it as something separate falls to the extreme of permanence. Thus 『依』—“reliance”—does not establish another thing outside the five aggregates. It means no longer fixing what appears through the aggregates into one extreme.
The drum sound brings this close. Sound issues in dependence upon such conditions as wood, hide, drumstick, and hand, yet cannot be extracted from any one of them alone. It is not that no sound occurs, nor that an independently existing sound-entity comes from somewhere. When conditions meet, the sound can be heard; when each is examined, a fixed sound cannot be found.
Is bodhisattva practice the same? The goddess drives the question to its limit through four answers: if the moon in water can practice, she practices; if a dream, a mirage, or an echo can practice, she practices. Brahmā asks what she means, and she answers only that no dharma has a reality that can be fixed; everything is accomplished through causes and conditions.
This does not mean bodhisattva practice is 『如幻』—“like an illusion,” and therefore need not be performed. Quite the opposite. After the goddess utters her vow of true speech based on dwelling in accordance with Dharma, the beings of the evil age receive golden bodies, sit upon lotuses, and experience happiness. Bhikṣus wishing to retreat hear the Dharma and arouse the mind anew. The gods vow to protect the scripture, Dharma teachers, listeners, and realms. The chapter records action from beginning to end.
What, then, does “like an illusion” loosen? A magician makes people see elephants, horses, chariots, troops, and storehouses. The foolish grasp what they see as entities. The wise know that these appearances have names and forms but do not exist independently as the names suggest. Yet the wise still speak conventionally of elephants and horses and can even use provisional speech to help others understand the real meaning. What they abandon is not speech but attachment to speech.
The fulfillment of a vow therefore does not require solidifying practitioner, sentient beings, and fruit beforehand. On one hand, the scripture says the five aggregates are neither existent nor nonexistent; on the other, it says they are not without arising through causes and conditions. On one hand, suchness cannot be spoken; on the other, noble ones use conventional names so others may realize it. On one hand, it speaks of the moon in water, dream, mirage, and echo; on the other, it records vows, predictions, recitation, explanation, and protection.
Returning to the first question: if nothing can be grasped as real, how is a vow fulfilled? The chapter’s answer is not 『先抓住一個實體，再把願完成』—“first grasp an entity, then complete the vow.” It is 『不捨於俗，不離於真』—“do not abandon the conventional and do not depart from the real.” Not departing from the real means not grasping self, practice, and attainment as entities. Not abandoning the conventional means not forgetting the suffering, retreat, hearing, and protection of sentient beings.
Relying upon emptiness does not leave the vow without a place to stand; it prevents the vow from circling only around a fixed self. Fulfilling a vow does not turn an illusory appearance into an entity; it allows every dependently accomplished step—requesting Dharma, receiving it, arousing the mind of awakening, teaching, upholding the scripture, and protecting beings—to continue without dwelling in either extreme.
唐義淨譯《金光明最勝王經》卷五〈依空滿願品第十〉· 大正藏 T16n0665〔起 T16 0425a07〕。段/行首〔T16 …〕＝大正藏頁·欄·行錨。
〔T16 0425a07〕爾時，如意寶光耀天女於大眾中，聞說深法，歡喜踊躍，從座而起，偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌恭敬而白佛言：「世尊！惟願為說於甚深理修行之法。」而說頌言：
「我問照世界，兩足最勝尊，
菩薩正行法，惟願慈聽許。」
佛言：「善女天！若有疑惑者，
隨汝意所問，吾當分別說。」
是時天女請世尊曰：
「云何諸菩薩，行菩提正行，
離生死涅槃，饒益自他故？」
佛告善女天：「依於法界，行菩提法，修平等行。云何依於法界，行菩提法，修平等行？謂於五蘊能現法界，法界即是五蘊，五蘊不可說，非五蘊亦不可說。何以故？若法界是五蘊，即是斷見；若離五蘊，即是常見；離於二相，不著二邊，不可見，過所見，無名無相，是則名為說於法界。善女天！云何五蘊能現法界？如是五蘊不從因緣生。何以故？若從因緣生者，為已生故生？為未生故生？若已生生者，何用因緣？若未生生者，不可得生。何以故？未生諸法即是非有，無名無相，非校量譬喻之所能及，非是因緣之所生故。善女天！譬如鼓聲，依木、依皮及桴手等故得出聲，如是鼓聲過去亦空，未來亦空，現在亦空。何以故？是鼓音聲不從木生，不從皮生及桴手生，不於三世生，是則不生。若不可生，則不可滅；若不可滅，無所從來；若無所從來，亦無所去；若無所去，則非常非斷；若非常非斷，則不一不異。何以故？此若是一，則不異法界。若如是者，凡夫之人應見真諦，得於無上安樂涅槃；既不如是，故知不一。若言異者，一切諸佛菩薩行相即是執著，未得解脫煩惱繫縛，即不證於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。何以故？一切聖人於行非行，同真實性，是故不異。故知五蘊非有非無，不從因緣生，非無因緣生，是聖所知，非餘境故，亦非言說之所能及，無名無相，無因無緣，亦無譬喻，始終寂靜，本來自空。是故五蘊能現法界。善女天！若善男子、善女人欲求阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，異真異俗，難可思量，於凡聖境，體非一異，不捨於俗，不離於真，依於法界，行菩提行。」
爾時，世尊作是語已，時善女天踊躍歡喜，即從座起，偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌恭敬，一心頂禮，而白佛言：「世尊！如上所說菩提正行，我今當學。」
是時索訶世界主大梵天王於大眾中，問如意寶光耀善女天曰：「此菩提行難可修行，汝今云何於菩提行而得自在？」
爾時，善女天答梵王曰：「大梵王！如佛所說，實是甚深。一切異生不解其義，是聖境界微妙難知。若使我今依於此法得安樂住，是實語者，願令一切五濁惡世無量無數無邊眾生，皆得金色三十二相，非男非女，坐寶蓮花，受無量樂，雨天妙花，諸天音樂不鼓自鳴，一切供養皆悉具足。」時善女天說是語已，一切五濁惡世所有眾生皆悉金色，具大人相，非男非女，坐寶蓮花，受無量樂，猶如他化自在天宮，無諸惡道，寶樹行列，七寶蓮花遍滿世界，又雨七寶上妙天花，作天伎樂。如意寶光耀善女天即轉女身，作梵天身。
時大梵王問如意寶光耀菩薩言：「仁者！如何行菩提行？」
答言：「梵王！若水中月行菩提行，我亦行菩提行；若夢中行菩提行，我亦行菩提行；若陽焰行菩提行，我亦行菩提行；若谷響行菩提行，我亦行菩提行。」
時大梵王聞此說已，白菩薩言：「仁依何義而說此語？」
答言：「梵王！無有一法是實相者，但由因緣而得成故。」
梵王言：「若如是者，諸凡夫人皆悉應得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」
答言：「仁以何意而作是說？愚癡人異，智慧人異？菩提異，非菩提異？解脫異，非解脫異？梵王！如是諸法，平等無異。於此法界真如，不一不異，無有中間而可執著，無增無減。梵王！譬如幻師及幻弟子善解幻術，於四衢道，取諸沙土草木葉等，聚在一處作諸幻術，使人覩見象眾、馬眾、車兵等眾，七寶之聚種種倉庫。若有眾生愚癡無智，不能思惟，不知幻本，若見若聞，作是思惟：『我所見聞象、馬等眾，此是實有，餘皆虛妄。』於後更不審察思惟。有智之人則不如是，了於幻本，若見若聞，作如是念：『如我所見象、馬等眾，非是真實，唯有幻事，惑人眼目，妄謂象等及諸倉庫，有名無實，如我見聞，不執為實。』後時思惟，知其虛妄。是故智者了一切法皆無實體，但隨世俗，如見如聞，表宣其事，思惟諦理，則不如是，復由假說，顯實義故。
〔T16 0426a09〕「梵王！愚癡異生，未得出世聖慧之眼，未知一切諸法真如不可說故。是諸凡愚，若見若聞行非行法，如是思惟，便生執著，謂以為實，於第一義不能了知諸法真如是不可說。是諸聖人，若見若聞行非行法，隨其力能不生執著以為實有，了知一切無實行法、無實非行法，但妄思量行非行相，唯有名字，無有實體。是諸聖人，隨世俗說，為欲令他知真實義。如是梵王！是諸聖人，以聖智見，了法真如不可說故，行非行法亦復如是，令他證知，故說種種世俗名言。」
時大梵王問如意寶光耀菩薩言：「有幾眾生能解如是甚深正法？」
答言：「梵王！有眾幻人心心數法，能解如是甚深正法。」
梵王曰：「此幻化人，體是非有，此之心數從何而生？」
答曰：「若知法界不有不無，如是眾生能解深義。」
爾時，梵王白佛言：「世尊！是如意寶光耀菩薩不可思議，通達如是甚深之義。」
佛言：「如是！如是！梵王！如汝所言，此如意寶光耀，已教汝等發心修學無生忍法。」
是時大梵天王與諸梵眾，從座而起，偏袒右肩，合掌恭敬，頂禮如意寶光耀菩薩足，作如是言：「希有！希有！我等今日幸遇大士，得聞正法。」
爾時，世尊告梵王言：「是如意寶光耀，於未來世當得作佛，號寶焰吉祥藏如來、應、正遍知、明行圓滿、善逝、世間解、無上士、調御丈夫、天人師、佛、世尊。」
說是品時，有三千億菩薩於阿耨多羅三藐三菩提得不退轉，八千億天子、無量無數國王臣民遠塵離垢，得法眼淨。
爾時，會中有五十億苾芻，行菩薩行，欲退菩提心，聞如意寶光耀菩薩說是法時，皆得堅固不可思議滿足上願，更復發起菩提之心，各自脫衣供養菩薩，重發無上勝進之心，作如是願：「願令我等功德善根悉皆不退，迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」
「梵王！是諸苾芻，依此功德如說修行，過九十大劫，當得解悟，出離生死。」爾時，世尊即為授記：「汝諸苾芻過三十阿僧祇劫，當得作佛，劫名難勝光王，國名無垢光，同時皆得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，皆同一號，名願莊嚴間飾王，十號具足。
「梵王！是《金光明》微妙經典，若正聞持，有大威力。假使有人於百千大劫，行六波羅蜜無有方便；若有善男子、善女人書寫如是《金光明經》，半月半月專心讀誦，是功德聚於前功德百分不及一，乃至算數譬喻所不能及。梵王！是故我今令汝修學，憶念受持，為他廣說。何以故？我於往昔行菩薩道時，猶如勇士入於戰陣，不惜身命，流通如是微妙經王，受持讀誦，為他解說。梵王！譬如轉輪聖王，若王在世，七寶不滅，王若命終，所有七寶自然滅盡。梵王！是《金光明》微妙經王若現在世，無上法寶悉皆不滅，若無是經，隨處隱沒。是故應當於此經王，專心聽聞，受持讀誦，為他解說，勸令書寫，行精進波羅蜜，不惜身命，不憚疲勞，功德中勝，我諸弟子應當如是精勤修學。」
爾時，大梵天王與無量梵眾，帝釋、四王及諸藥叉，俱從座起，偏袒右肩，右膝著地，合掌恭敬而白佛言：「世尊！我等皆願守護流通是《金光明》微妙經典，及說法師若有諸難，我當除遣，令具眾善，色力充足，辯才無礙，身意泰然，時會聽者皆受安樂。所在國土，若有飢饉、怨賊、非人為惱害者，我等天眾皆為擁護，使其人民安隱豐樂，無諸枉橫，皆是我等天眾之力。若有供養是經典者，我等亦當恭敬供養，如佛不異。」
爾時，佛告大梵天王及諸梵眾乃至四王諸藥叉等：「善哉！善哉！汝等得聞甚深妙法，復能於此微妙經王發心擁護及持經者，當獲無邊殊勝之福，速成無上正等菩提。」時梵王等聞佛語已，歡喜頂受。
The canonical text stands in Chinese only. This edition renders the essence, the plain reading, the exposition and the apparatus into English — never the sūtra itself. Switch to 漢讀本 or 並行雙語 above to read it.
底本：唐義淨譯《金光明最勝王經》卷五〈依空滿願品第十〉。白話依原文逐段今譯；品首三頌逐頌分列，述而不作。
天女請問甚深理的修行法
這時，如意寶光耀天女在大眾之中聽聞甚深法義，內心歡喜踴躍。她從座位起身，袒露右肩，右膝跪地，恭敬合掌，對佛陀說：『世尊！懇請您為我們說明，應當如何依甚深的道理來修行。』接著，她以偈頌請問。
第一頌：『我現在請問光明照耀世間、在人天之中最為尊勝的佛陀：菩薩所行的正道究竟是什麼？懇請您慈悲聽許我的問題。』
第二頌：佛陀回答：『善女天！如果你心中有任何疑惑，就依自己的意思提出來，我會為你分別解說。』
第三頌：天女請問：『菩薩應當如何行菩提正行，才能不住著生死，也不住著涅槃，並且饒益自己與他人？』
依法界修平等行
佛陀告訴善女天：『應當以法界為所依，行菩提之法，修平等之行。怎樣才是依法界行菩提法、修平等行呢？也就是說，從五蘊能夠顯現法界，而法界也不離五蘊；五蘊本身不可用言說固定下來，所謂不是五蘊，也同樣不可用言說固定下來。』
『為什麼呢？如果把法界直接執定為五蘊，便落入斷見；如果在五蘊之外另立一個法界，便落入常見。應當離開這兩種對立之相，不執著任何一邊。法界不是一般感官所能見到的對象，也超越虛妄分別所見；它沒有可執定的名稱，也沒有可執定的形相。這樣，才叫作說明法界。』
『善女天！為什麼說五蘊能顯現法界呢？這樣的五蘊不從因緣而生。為什麼？如果說它從因緣而生，那究竟是已經生出的法再生，還是尚未生出的法能生？如果已經生出，還要因緣做什麼？如果尚未生出，那個尚未有的法便不可得，又怎能把它當成一個現成的東西來生？』
『為什麼這樣說？尚未生起的諸法就是非有，沒有可執定的名稱，也沒有可執定的形相，不是計量與譬喻所能觸及，也不是因緣所生。』
鼓聲三世空：不生不滅，不一不異
佛陀又說：『善女天！譬如鼓聲，要依木、依皮，也要依鼓槌與手等條件才能發出。這個鼓聲在過去是空，在未來是空，在現在也是空。』
『為什麼呢？鼓聲不單從木而生，不單從皮而生，也不單從鼓槌或手而生；在過去、現在、未來三世之中，都找不到一個自立的聲音正在生起。因此說它不生。既然不可得一個自性之生，也就不可得一個自性之滅；既不可得滅，便無從說它由某處而來；既無所從來，也無處可去；既無來去，便不能執為常，也不能執為斷；既非常非斷，也就不能執為完全同一或完全相異。』
『為什麼不能說完全同一？如果五蘊與法界是同一個固定實體，五蘊便與法界毫無差別；那麼凡夫看見五蘊時，也應當已經看見真諦，得到無上的安樂涅槃。事實並非如此，所以不能說是一。』
『為什麼也不能說完全相異？如果堅持兩者彼此相異，一切佛陀與菩薩所行之相便都會成為執著；他們也會仍被煩惱繫縛，尚未得到解脫，不能證得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，也就是無上正等正覺。可是，一切聖者對行與非行所見的真實性相同，所以也不能說是異。』
『由此可知，五蘊不能執為實有，也不能執為全無；不能說有一個自性由因緣生，也不能否認它依因緣而顯現。這是聖者所知，不是其他分別境界所能觸及，也不是言說所能窮盡。它沒有可執定的名相，沒有一個自立的因與緣，也沒有一個譬喻能把它固定下來；從始至終寂靜，本來自空。因此說五蘊能顯現法界。』
『善女天！善男子、善女人若要求得無上正等正覺，所行既不同於真，也不同於俗，難以思量；在凡夫與聖者所見的境界中，其體不能執為一，也不能執為異。他們不捨棄世俗，也不離開真實，以法界為所依而行菩提行。』
天女領受，梵王問她如何自在
世尊說完這些話，善女天歡喜踴躍，立刻從座位起身，袒露右肩，右膝跪地，恭敬合掌，一心頂禮佛陀，說：『世尊！您以上所說的菩提正行，我現在應當修學。』
這時，索訶世界的主宰大梵天王在大眾中問如意寶光耀善女天：『這種菩提行非常難以修行，你現在怎能在菩提行中得到自在呢？』
善女天回答：『大梵王！佛陀所說的法，確實非常甚深。一切凡夫異生不能理解其中的義理；這是聖者的境界，微妙而難知。』
『如果我現在確實能依這個法安樂而住，並且我所說的是真實語，那麼我發願：五濁惡世中無量、無數、無邊的一切眾生，都得到金色之身，具足三十二大人相，不是男相，也不是女相，坐在珍寶蓮花上，領受無量安樂；天上降下微妙花朵，天樂不經敲擊便自然鳴奏，一切供養也全都具足。』
善女天說完這番話，五濁惡世中的所有眾生都成為金色，具足大人相，非男非女，坐在珍寶蓮花上，領受無量安樂，如同身在他化自在天宮。那裡沒有各種惡道，珍寶樹木整齊排列，七寶蓮花遍滿世界；又降下七寶與上妙天花，天上的歌舞音樂一同奏起。如意寶光耀善女天也隨即轉變女身，顯作梵天之身。
水月、夢、陽焰與谷響
大梵天王又問如意寶光耀菩薩：『仁者！你究竟怎樣行菩提行？』
菩薩回答：『梵王！如果水中的月影能行菩提行，我也行菩提行；如果夢中景象能行菩提行，我也行菩提行；如果陽焰能行菩提行，我也行菩提行；如果山谷回響能行菩提行，我也行菩提行。』
大梵天王聽見這個回答，便問：『仁者！你依據什麼道理說這些話？』
菩薩回答：『梵王！沒有任何一法具有可以執定的實相；一切都由因緣而得成就。』
梵王反問：『如果是這樣，一切凡夫也都是因緣所成，那麼他們豈不是全都應當得到無上正等正覺？』
菩薩回答：『仁者！你為什麼這樣說？愚癡的人與有智慧的人，難道是兩個固定相異的實體嗎？菩提與非菩提，解脫與非解脫，難道也各自是固定相異的實體嗎？梵王！這一切法在法界中平等，沒有固定差異。對這個法界真如，不能執為一，也不能執為異；在一與異之間，也沒有一個中間位置可以執著。法界不增，也不減。』
幻師之喻：假名顯事，不執為實
菩薩接著說：『梵王！譬如一位幻師和他的幻術弟子都精通幻術。他們在四通八達的路口，把沙土、草木、樹葉等材料聚在一起，施作種種幻術，使人看見成群的大象、馬匹、戰車與兵眾，也看見七寶聚集和各種倉庫。』
『有些眾生愚癡而沒有智慧，不能仔細思惟，也不知道這些幻相的根本。當他們有所見聞時，就想：我所看見、聽見的象群、馬群等都是真實存在，其他說法全是虛妄。他們後來也不再審察思惟。』
『有智慧的人卻不是這樣。他們明白幻相的根本，有所見聞時便想：我看見的象群、馬群等並不是真實自有，只是幻術造成的景象，迷惑人的眼睛；人們妄稱那是象、馬或倉庫，其實只有名稱，沒有與名稱相應的固定實體。我雖然有所見聞，卻不把它執為實有。他們日後繼續思惟，便知道幻相虛妄。』
『因此，智者明白一切法都沒有可以執定的實體，但仍然隨順世俗，依自己所見所聞來表達事情。若仔細思惟真實之理，便知道事情並不像執著者所想的那樣；然而，也正可以藉著假施設立的言說，使人明白真實義。』
凡聖同用名言，差別在是否執實
菩薩又說：『梵王！愚癡凡夫還沒有得到出世間聖慧之眼，不知道一切法的真如不可用言說固定下來。這些凡愚之人，無論看見或聽見行法、非行法，都依自己的分別加以思量，隨即生起執著，以為它們真實自有；因此在第一義上，不能了知諸法真如不可言說。』
『聖者看見或聽見行法、非行法時，則依各自智慧能力，不生執著，不把它們當作實有。他們了知沒有一個真實自立的行法，也沒有一個真實自立的非行法；人們只是虛妄思量行與非行之相。這些法只有隨世俗而立的名字，沒有如名字所說的固定實體。』
『聖者仍然隨順世俗而說，是為了使他人明白真實義。梵王！聖者以聖智之見，了知法的真如不可言說；行法與非行法也是如此。為了使他人親自證知，所以才說出種種世俗名言。』
誰能理解這樣的深法
大梵天王問如意寶光耀菩薩：『有多少眾生能夠理解這樣甚深的正法？』
菩薩回答：『梵王！有眾多如幻之人及其心、心所法，能夠理解這樣甚深的正法。』
梵王追問：『幻化之人本來沒有可得的實體，那麼他的心所法從哪裡生起？』
菩薩回答：『如果眾生知道法界不能執為實有，也不能執為全無，這樣的眾生便能理解甚深義。』
佛陀印可，天女受記
這時，梵王對佛陀說：『世尊！如意寶光耀菩薩實在不可思議，竟能通達這樣甚深的義理。』
佛陀回答：『正是如此，正是如此！梵王！就像你所說的，如意寶光耀已經教導你們發起道心，修學無生忍法。』
於是，大梵天王與所有梵眾從座位起身，袒露右肩，恭敬合掌，頂禮如意寶光耀菩薩的雙足，說：『太稀有了！太稀有了！我們今天有幸遇見這位大士，得以聽聞正法。』
世尊告訴梵王：『如意寶光耀在未來世將成佛，佛號為寶焰吉祥藏如來，具足應供、正遍知、明行圓滿、善逝、世間解、無上士、調御丈夫、天人師、佛、世尊等名號。』
大眾得益，欲退者重發菩提心
宣說本品時，有三千億菩薩在無上正等正覺之道上得到不退轉；八千億天子以及無量無數的國王、臣民，都遠離塵垢，得到清淨法眼。
當時，法會中有五十億苾芻正在行菩薩行，卻想退失菩提心。他們聽見如意寶光耀菩薩說法，得到不可思議的堅固，求大菩提、通於自利利他的上願也得以滿足，又重新發起菩提心。每一位都脫下自己的衣服供養菩薩，再次發起無上、繼續向前的心，立下誓願：『願我們所有功德善根都不退失，全部迴向無上正等正覺。』
佛陀告訴梵王：『這些苾芻憑藉此一功德，依照所說持續修行；再經過九十個大劫，將能得到解悟，出離生死。』
世尊隨即為他們授記：『你們這些苾芻再經過三十阿僧祇劫，將會成佛。那個劫名叫難勝光王，國土名叫無垢光；你們同時都將證得無上正等正覺，共用同一佛號，名叫願莊嚴間飾王，十號具足。』
持經功德、勇士與轉輪王七寶
佛陀又說：『梵王！這部微妙的《金光明經》，若能正確聽聞受持，便有大威力。假使有人在百千大劫中修行六波羅蜜，卻沒有方便；另有善男子、善女人書寫這部《金光明經》，每半個月專心讀誦一次，那麼前一種修行所聚集的功德，連後一種功德的一百分之一都達不到，乃至不是算數或譬喻所能衡量。』
『梵王！所以我現在教你修學，憶念受持，並為他人廣泛解說。為什麼？我過去行菩薩道時，就像勇士進入戰場，不愛惜自己的生命，也要流通這部微妙經王，受持、讀誦，並為他人解說。』
『梵王！譬如轉輪聖王在世時，七寶不會滅失；國王命終之後，所有七寶自然滅盡。《金光明》微妙經王若仍流傳世間，無上的法寶便都不會滅失；如果沒有這部經，法寶便會隨處隱沒。』
『因此，你們應當專心聽聞這部經王，受持、讀誦，為他人解說，也勸人書寫；應當修行精進波羅蜜，不惜身命，不畏疲勞。這在種種功德之中殊勝。我的弟子都應當這樣精勤修學。』
諸天誓願護法，佛陀讚歎
這時，大梵天王與無量梵眾，以及帝釋、四大天王和眾多藥叉，一同從座位起身，袒露右肩，右膝跪地，恭敬合掌，對佛陀說：『世尊！我們都願守護並流通這部微妙的《金光明經》。說法法師若遭遇種種困難，我們會為他排除，使他具足眾善，氣色與體力充足，辯才沒有障礙，身心安泰；法會中聽法的人也都得到安樂。』
『這部經所在的國土，如果遭逢飢饉、敵賊或非人的侵擾，我們天眾都會加以擁護，使當地人民安穩、豐足、快樂，沒有橫遭的災禍；這些都是我們天眾守護之力。若有人供養這部經典，我們也會恭敬供養那個人，如同供養佛陀，沒有差別。』
佛陀告訴大梵天王、所有梵眾，乃至四大天王與眾藥叉等：『善哉！善哉！你們已經聽聞甚深妙法，又能對這部微妙經王以及持經之人發心擁護，將會獲得無邊的殊勝福德，迅速成就無上正等正覺。』
梵王等聽完佛陀所說，都歡喜地頂戴領受。
Base text: Yijing’s Tang translation of The Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King, fascicle five, “Fulfilling Vows through Emptiness,” Chapter 10. This vernacular rendering follows the source paragraph by paragraph; the opening three stanzas are presented separately, reporting without invention.
The Goddess Asks How to Practice the Profound Principle
At that time, the goddess Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel heard the profound Dharma within the assembly and leapt with joy. She rose from her seat, bared her right shoulder, placed her right knee upon the ground, reverently joined her palms, and addressed the Buddha: “World-Honored One, I pray that you explain to us how one should practice according to the profound principle.” She then asked in verse.
First stanza: “I now question the Buddha, whose radiance illuminates the world and who is most honored among humans and gods: what is the true path practiced by bodhisattvas? In your compassion, please allow my question.”
Second stanza: The Buddha answered, “Good goddess, if you have any doubt in your mind, ask as you wish, and I will explain it distinctly for you.”
Third stanza: The goddess asked, “How should a bodhisattva practice the true practice of awakening so as to dwell neither in birth and death nor in nirvāṇa, while benefiting self and others?”
Practicing Equality in Reliance upon the Dharma-Realm
The Buddha told the good goddess: “One should rely upon the dharma-realm, practice the Dharma of awakening, and cultivate the practice of equality. What does it mean to practice the Dharma of awakening in reliance upon the dharma-realm and cultivate the practice of equality? It means that the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm and that the dharma-realm does not depart from the five aggregates. The five aggregates themselves cannot be fixed in speech, and what is called ‘not the five aggregates’ likewise cannot be fixed in speech.
“Why? If the dharma-realm is directly determined to be the five aggregates, one falls into the view of annihilation. If a dharma-realm is established apart from the five aggregates, one falls into the view of permanence. One should leave both opposing characteristics and cling to neither side. The dharma-realm is not an object visible to ordinary perception and surpasses what deluded discrimination sees. It has no name that can be fixed and no form that can be fixed. This is called explaining the dharma-realm.
“Good goddess, why is it said that the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm? Such five aggregates are not born from causes and conditions. Why? If one says they are born from causes and conditions, is an already-born dharma born again, or can a not-yet-born dharma be born? If it has already been born, what need is there for causes and conditions? If it is not yet born, that nonexistent dharma cannot be found; how could it be taken as a ready-made thing that comes to birth?
“Why is this said? Dharmas not yet arisen are precisely nonexistence. They have no name or form that can be fixed, cannot be reached by measurement or simile, and are not born from causes and conditions.
The Drumbeat Empty in the Three Times: Neither Arising nor Ceasing, Neither One nor Different
The Buddha continued: “Good goddess, consider the sound of a drum. It is produced in reliance upon wood and hide and also upon such conditions as a drumstick and hand. This drum sound is empty in the past, empty in the future, and empty in the present.
“Why? The drum sound is not born from the wood alone, the hide alone, the drumstick alone, or the hand alone. Throughout past, present, and future, no independent sound can be found arising. It is therefore said not to arise. Since an arising by intrinsic nature cannot be found, a ceasing by intrinsic nature cannot be found. Since ceasing cannot be found, it cannot be said to come from somewhere. Since it comes from nowhere, there is nowhere it goes. Since it neither comes nor goes, it cannot be grasped as permanent or annihilated. Since it is neither permanent nor annihilated, it cannot be grasped as completely one or completely different.
“Why can it not be called completely one? If the five aggregates and the dharma-realm were one fixed entity, they would not differ in any way. Ordinary beings seeing the five aggregates should then already see ultimate truth and obtain the unsurpassed happiness of nirvāṇa. This is not so; therefore they cannot be called one.
“Why can they not be called completely different? If one insists that the two differ from each other, every characteristic of the practices of buddhas and bodhisattvas would become an object of attachment. They would remain bound by afflictions, not yet liberated, and unable to realize anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi, unsurpassed complete awakening. Yet all noble ones see the same true nature in practice and nonpractice. Therefore the two cannot be called different.
“It can therefore be known that the five aggregates cannot be grasped as truly existent or as entirely nonexistent. One cannot say that an intrinsic nature is born from causes and conditions, nor can one deny that it appears in dependence upon causes and conditions. This is known by noble ones, cannot be reached by other discriminating objects, and cannot be exhausted in speech. It has no name or characteristic that can be fixed, no independent cause or condition, and no simile that can fix it. From beginning to end it is quiescent and originally empty in itself. Therefore it is said that the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm.
“Good goddess, when good men and good women seek unsurpassed complete awakening, their practice differs from both ultimate and conventional and is difficult to conceive. Within the objects seen by ordinary and noble beings, its essence cannot be grasped as one or different. They neither abandon the conventional nor depart from the real; relying upon the dharma-realm, they practice the practice of awakening.”
The Goddess Receives the Teaching, and Brahmā Asks How She Is Masterful
When the World-Honored One had spoken these words, the good goddess leapt with joy. She immediately rose from her seat, bared her right shoulder, placed her right knee upon the ground, reverently joined her palms, bowed single-mindedly to the Buddha, and said: “World-Honored One, I shall now train in the true practice of awakening you have explained.”
At that time, Great Brahmā, lord of the Sahā world, asked the good goddess Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel before the assembly: “This practice of awakening is extremely difficult. How can you now attain mastery within it?”
The good goddess answered: “Great Brahmā, the Dharma taught by the Buddha is indeed extremely profound. Ordinary worldlings cannot understand its meaning. It is the sphere of noble ones, subtle and difficult to know.
“If I now truly dwell happily in accordance with this Dharma, and if what I say is true speech, then I make this vow: may all the measureless, innumerable, and boundless sentient beings of the evil age of five turbidities obtain golden bodies, possess the thirty-two marks of a great person, be neither male nor female, sit upon jeweled lotuses, and experience measureless happiness. May wondrous flowers rain from heaven, heavenly music sound naturally without being struck, and every offering be complete.”
When the good goddess had spoken, all the beings of the evil age of five turbidities became golden, possessed the marks of a great person, were neither male nor female, sat upon jeweled lotuses, and experienced measureless happiness as though dwelling in the palace of the Heaven of Mastery over Others’ Creations. No evil destinies existed there. Jeweled trees stood in ordered rows, and seven-jeweled lotuses filled the world. The seven jewels and supreme heavenly flowers rained down, while heavenly song, dance, and music arose together. The good goddess Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel immediately transformed her female body and appeared in the body of a Brahmā god.
Moon in Water, Dream, Mirage, and Valley Echo
Great Brahmā again asked Bodhisattva Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: “Worthy one, how do you practice the practice of awakening?”
The bodhisattva answered: “Brahmā, if the moon reflected in water can practice the practice of awakening, then I practice it. If a scene in a dream can practice it, then I practice it. If a mirage can practice it, then I practice it. If an echo in a mountain valley can practice it, then I practice it.”
On hearing this, Great Brahmā asked: “Worthy one, upon what principle do you base these words?”
The bodhisattva answered: “Brahmā, no dharma possesses a reality that can be fixed. Everything is accomplished through causes and conditions.”
Brahmā asked in return: “If this is so, all ordinary beings are also formed through causes and conditions. Should they not all attain unsurpassed complete awakening?”
The bodhisattva answered: “Worthy one, why do you speak this way? Are foolish and wise persons two fixed and different entities? Are awakening and nonawakening, liberation and nonliberation, each fixed and different entities? Brahmā, all these dharmas are equal in the dharma-realm and have no fixed difference. The suchness of this dharma-realm cannot be grasped as one or different, nor is there a middle position between one and different that can be grasped. The dharma-realm neither increases nor decreases.”
The Magician’s Simile: Provisional Names Disclose Events without Being Grasped as Real
The bodhisattva continued: “Brahmā, consider a magician and his student, both skilled in illusion. At the crossing of four roads, they gather sand, earth, grasses, trees, and leaves and perform many illusions. People see herds of elephants and horses, chariots and troops, heaps of the seven jewels, and many kinds of storehouses.
“Some sentient beings are foolish and without wisdom. Unable to reflect carefully and ignorant of the basis of these illusions, they think when they see and hear them: ‘The elephants, horses, and other things I see and hear truly exist, and every other account is false.’ Later they no longer examine or reflect.
“Wise people are not like this. They understand the basis of illusion and think when they see and hear: ‘The elephants, horses, and other things I see do not truly exist in themselves. They are merely scenes produced by illusion that deceive the human eye. People falsely call them elephants, horses, or storehouses, but there are only names and no fixed entities corresponding to those names. Although I see and hear them, I do not grasp them as truly existent.’ Continuing to reflect later, they know that the appearances are illusory and false.
“Thus the wise understand that no dharma possesses an entity that can be fixed, yet they still accord with convention and express events according to what they see and hear. When carefully reflecting upon the true principle, they know that things are not as those attached to them imagine. Yet through provisionally established speech, they can also enable others to understand the real meaning.
Ordinary and Noble Beings Both Use Names; the Difference Is Whether They Grasp Them as Real
The bodhisattva continued: “Brahmā, foolish ordinary beings have not obtained the transmundane eye of noble wisdom and do not know that the suchness of all dharmas cannot be fixed in speech. Whether they see or hear practices or nonpractices, these foolish beings measure them through their own discrimination and immediately give rise to attachment, believing they truly exist in themselves. At the level of ultimate meaning, they therefore cannot understand that the suchness of dharmas is inexpressible.
“When noble ones see or hear practices and nonpractices, they do not give rise to attachment or treat them as truly existent, each according to the capacity of their wisdom. They understand that no truly independent practice or nonpractice exists. People only falsely imagine the characteristics of practice and nonpractice. These dharmas possess only names established conventionally and no fixed entities such as the names describe.
“Noble ones still speak in accordance with convention so that others may understand the real meaning. Brahmā, with the vision of noble wisdom they know that the suchness of dharmas cannot be spoken; practice and nonpractice are likewise. They speak many conventional names so that others may personally realize and know.”
Who Can Understand Such Profound Dharma?
Great Brahmā asked Bodhisattva Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel: “How many sentient beings can understand such profound true Dharma?”
The bodhisattva answered: “Brahmā, many illusory people and their mental and associated mental dharmas can understand such profound true Dharma.”
Brahmā pressed further: “An illusory person has no entity that can be found. From where, then, do that person’s associated mental dharmas arise?”
The bodhisattva answered: “Sentient beings who know that the dharma-realm cannot be grasped as truly existent or as entirely nonexistent can understand the profound meaning.”
The Buddha Confirms Her Understanding and Bestows a Prediction
At that time, Brahmā addressed the Buddha: “World-Honored One, Bodhisattva Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel is truly inconceivable, for she can penetrate such profound meaning.”
The Buddha answered: “So it is, so it is, Brahmā. It is just as you say. Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel has already taught all of you to arouse the mind of the path and train in the Dharma of patience with regard to nonarising.”
Great Brahmā and the entire host of Brahmā gods then rose from their seats, bared their right shoulders, reverently joined their palms, bowed their heads at the feet of Bodhisattva Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, and said: “How rare, how rare! Today we have been fortunate to encounter this great being and hear the true Dharma.”
The World-Honored One told Brahmā: “In a future age Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel will become a buddha named Tathāgata Jeweled-Flame Auspicious Treasury, Worthy of Offerings, Completely Awakened, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Gone, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed Person, Trainer of Persons, Teacher of Gods and Humans, Buddha, World-Honored One.”
The Assembly Benefits, and Those Wishing to Retreat Arouse the Mind of Awakening Anew
As this chapter was taught, three thousand koṭis of bodhisattvas attained nonretrogression on the path to unsurpassed complete awakening. Eight thousand koṭis of divine sons and measureless, innumerable kings, ministers, and people became free of dust and defilement and obtained the purified Dharma eye.
At that time, five thousand koṭis of bhikṣus in the assembly were practicing the bodhisattva path but wished to lose the mind of awakening. After hearing Bodhisattva Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel teach, they attained inconceivable firmness. Their supreme aspiration for great awakening, penetrating benefit for self and others, was fulfilled, and they aroused the mind of awakening anew. Each removed an outer robe and offered it to the bodhisattva, again aroused the unsurpassed mind of further progress, and made this vow: “May all our qualities and wholesome roots never retreat or be lost, but be dedicated entirely to unsurpassed complete awakening.”
The Buddha told Brahmā: “Through this quality, these bhikṣus will continue to practice as taught. After ninety great kalpas, they will attain understanding and leave birth and death.”
The World-Honored One then bestowed a prediction upon them: “Bhikṣus, after thirty asaṃkhyeya kalpas you will become buddhas. That kalpa will be called King of Difficult-to-Surpass Light and the realm Stainless Light. All of you will simultaneously realize unsurpassed complete awakening and share one buddha-name: King Adorned and Interspersed with Vows, possessing all ten epithets.”
The Merit of Upholding the Sūtra, the Warrior, and the Seven Jewels of a Wheel-Turning King
The Buddha continued: “Brahmā, this wondrous Sūtra of Golden Light possesses great majestic power when correctly heard and upheld. Suppose one person practices the six perfections for hundreds of thousands of great kalpas but lacks skillful means, while a good man or good woman copies this Sūtra of Golden Light and single-mindedly recites it once every half month. The merit accumulated by the first practice does not reach even one hundredth of the latter merit; calculation and simile cannot measure it.
“Brahmā, I therefore now instruct you to train in it, recollect and uphold it, and explain it widely for others. Why? When I formerly practiced the bodhisattva path, I was like a warrior entering battle. Without cherishing my own life, I caused this wondrous king of sūtras to circulate, upheld and recited it, and explained it to others.
“Brahmā, when a wheel-turning sage king is present in the world, the seven jewels do not disappear. When the king dies, all seven jewels naturally vanish. While the wondrous king of sūtras Golden Light still circulates in the world, all unsurpassed Dharma jewels will not disappear. Without this sūtra, the Dharma jewels disappear everywhere.
“Therefore, all of you should listen single-mindedly to this king of sūtras, uphold and recite it, explain it to others, and encourage others to copy it. Practice the perfection of diligence without cherishing body or life and without fearing exhaustion. Among all qualities, this is supreme. All my disciples should train diligently in this way.”
The Gods Vow to Protect the Dharma, and the Buddha Praises Them
At that time, Great Brahmā and measureless Brahmā gods, together with Śakra, the Four Great Heavenly Kings, and many yakṣas, rose from their seats, bared their right shoulders, placed their right knees upon the ground, reverently joined their palms, and addressed the Buddha: “World-Honored One, we all vow to guard and circulate this wondrous Sūtra of Golden Light. Whenever the Dharma teacher encounters difficulties, we will remove them, cause the teacher to possess every good, provide complete complexion and strength, unobstructed eloquence, and peace of body and mind, and bring happiness to everyone hearing the Dharma in the assembly.
“If the realm where this sūtra is found encounters famine, hostile bandits, or invasion by nonhuman beings, we divine hosts will protect it and cause the people there to be secure, abundant, and happy, without unexpected calamity. All this comes through the protective power of our divine hosts. If someone makes offerings to this scripture, we will reverently make offerings to that person just as we would to the Buddha, without difference.”
The Buddha told Great Brahmā, the entire host of Brahmā gods, the Four Great Heavenly Kings, and the yakṣas: “Excellent, excellent! You have heard the profound, wondrous Dharma and can arouse the resolve to protect this wondrous king of sūtras and those who uphold it. You will obtain boundless and excellent merit and swiftly realize unsurpassed complete awakening.”
Brahmā and the others heard what the Buddha had said, joyfully placed it upon the crowns of their heads, and accepted it.
前一品重明空性，大眾聽後發願正修出離；這一品緊接著讓如意寶光耀天女站起來，請佛陀說明甚深理的修行法。問題不再只是『什麼是空』，而是更貼身的一步：當五蘊、名相與生滅都不可執實，菩薩如何仍能發願、行道、利益自他？
經文沒有把答案壓成一句口號。它先從法界與五蘊說起，經過已生未生之難、鼓聲三世空與一異之辨；接著由天女領受、實語願與四種譬喻，把所說落在行動中；後半再由幻師、世俗名言、授記、重發心、持經與護法，顯出『不執為實』和『仍然修說』如何同時成立。
以下只循本品自己的問答與事件而讀。後來的鏡面判釋留到末節再說，不先覆蓋經文。
天女所問的，不是離世之空
如意寶光耀天女聽見深法，歡喜踴躍，卻沒有停在歡喜。她起座、袒肩、跪地、合掌，請佛陀說明甚深理的修行之法。身體動作一層一層展開，把『請法』變成全身投入的行動。
品首三頌各有明確位置。第一頌由天女請問菩薩正行；第二頌是佛陀允許她隨意發問；第三頌才把核心問題完整說出：菩薩如何行菩提正行，離開對生死與涅槃的住著，又能饒益自己和他人？
這個問法已經阻止兩種簡化。若只求離開生死，容易把涅槃變成另一個住處；若只談不住兩邊，又不說饒益自他，則菩提行可能變成沒有對象的抽象平等。天女把離兩邊與自他利益放在同一頌中，所以佛陀接下來所說的空，從開頭便與行相連。
依法界：五蘊不可即，也不可離
佛陀先標出一句綱領：依法界行菩提法，修平等行。法界不是被拿來代替五蘊的另一種東西，因為下一句立刻把兩者放在一起：五蘊能現法界，法界即是五蘊；五蘊不可說，非五蘊也不可說。
經文隨即用斷、常兩見封住兩端。若把法界直接執成五蘊，便落斷見；若離開五蘊另找法界，便落常見。因此，『即是』不能被孤立成固定同一，『不可說』也不能被改寫成在五蘊之外另有一個不可說的實體。經文要求離開二相、不著二邊：不可見，超過所見，無名無相，這才叫作說法界。
這段話很有張力。它確實使用『五蘊』『法界』等名稱來說法，卻同時提醒名稱不能把所說固定起來。它也確實說法界即五蘊，卻立刻拒絕把兩者鎖成一個實體。修平等行的起點，不是先取得一個確定答案，而是對自己如何把語言變成邊見保持警覺。
已生與未生：究竟是哪一個東西正在生？
佛陀接著問：為什麼五蘊能現法界？經文說五蘊不從因緣生，隨即追問，若說從因緣生，究竟是已經生出的法再生，還是尚未生出的法能生？
若是已生，結果已經存在，便不需要因緣再把它生一次。若是未生，尚未生的法仍不可得，沒有名相，也不是校量與譬喻所能觸及；不能先把它當成一個已經存在的東西，再說它等待因緣來生。
這不是把因緣從經文中刪掉。後文會明說五蘊『非無因緣生』，天女也會說一切『但由因緣而得成』。此處只沿經文自己的兩問前進：已生之法不必再生，未生之法又不可先當成已有之物。至於這兩問針對哪一種外部學說，本段經文沒有另立名稱，正文也不代它補說。
鼓聲：條件俱在，仍找不到獨立聲體
鼓聲使前面的問難變得可聽。聲音要依木、皮、鼓槌、手等條件才能發出；少了這些條件，便沒有眼前這一聲。但若逐項追問，聲音並不單從木生，不單從皮生，也不單從槌或手生。
經文又把聲音放進三世：過去空、未來空、現在也空；並直說這個聲音不在三世中生起。條件俱足而聲音顯現，不等於其中藏著一個可以獨立取出的聲體。
由此，經文連續推展：若不可得生，便不可得滅；不可得滅，便無所從來；無所從來，也無所去；無來去，便非常非斷；非常非斷，便不一不異。每一步都承接上一步，沒有把『生』『滅』『來』『去』『常』『斷』『一』『異』變成八個彼此無關的名目。
鼓聲之喻因此沒有否認耳中所聞。經文一開始便承認它依眾緣而得出聲；所否定的是聲音從某一條件獨生、在三世中自立、可以被固定為常斷一異。所聞之聲與不可得之自性，同時留在譬喻中。
為何不能是一，也不能是異
佛陀先從『一』作反證。若五蘊與法界固定為一，凡夫看見五蘊時便應已見真諦，得到無上安樂涅槃；經驗並非如此，所以不能說是一。
接著反證『異』。若兩者固定相異，一切佛陀、菩薩所行之相便會成為執著，他們仍被煩惱繫縛，不能證得無上正等正覺。可是，一切聖者對行與非行同見真實性，所以也不能說是異。
經文最後把前段張力原樣保存：五蘊非有非無，不從因緣生，又非無因緣生；是聖者所知，不是其他境界，也不是言說所能窮盡；無名無相、無因無緣、無可固定的譬喻，始終寂靜，本來自空。正因不能被實有與全無抓住，所以五蘊能現法界。
這裡的『非無因緣生』十分重要。它讓鼓聲的條件、天女後文的因緣以及眼前修行仍有位置。經文同時保留非有非無、不從因緣生與非無因緣生，不把其中一句刪去來成全另一句。
不捨俗，不離真：領受立刻成為修學
佛陀由此勸求菩提的善男子、善女人：所行異真異俗，難可思量；在凡聖境中，體非一異；不捨世俗，也不離真實，依法界行菩提行。
真與俗在這裡都不能變成單獨住處。不捨俗，所以眾生、願行、說法與護持仍在；不離真，所以世俗名相不被執成自立實體。前面天女問如何離生死涅槃而饒益自他，佛答到此，兩邊都有了對應：不住著，卻也不棄捨。
善女天聽完便說『我今當學』。她沒有要求佛陀再給一個可背誦的定義，而是把所聞轉成承諾。這一短句是全品的重要轉折：前半由佛陀說習學之法，後半由天女在問答、發願與譬喻中顯示她如何領受。
實語願：安住之真，向一切眾生展開
大梵天王問她：這種菩提行如此難行，你怎能得到自在？天女先承認佛所說確實甚深，是凡夫不解、聖者微妙難知的境界；接著，她沒有用自我宣告證明自在，而以實語願把自己的安住繫於眾生所得。
她發願：若自己確實依法安樂而住，願五濁惡世中無量無數無邊眾生皆得金色、三十二相，非男非女，坐寶蓮花，受無量樂；願天花降下、天樂自鳴、供養具足。
願後，經文逐項記下所願之相：眾生金色具相，非男非女，坐蓮花而受樂；惡道不現，寶樹排列，七寶蓮花遍滿世界，天花與天樂俱起。天女自身也由女身轉作梵天身。
這段敘事沒有把『滿願』縮成個人願望成真。天女所願全部朝向五濁惡世眾生，自己的身形變化反而放在最後。她所說的安樂住，也不是遠離大眾的靜止狀態；它以眾生得樂、離惡道與供養具足顯出外向幅度。
四個不可能的回答，指向因緣而成
梵王再問：你如何行菩提行？天女連續回答：若水中月行菩提行，她也行；若夢中之境行，她也行；若陽焰行，她也行；若谷響行，她也行。
這四句表面上都不給梵王一個可抓住的行者。水中月依水與月光顯影，夢境在夢中出現，陽焰遠看似有，谷響隨聲而應；它們都顯現，卻沒有一個如所見那樣固定自立的體。天女把自己的菩提行放進同樣的句式，拒絕立一個不依條件的行者。
梵王問她依什麼義這樣說，天女給出全段總答：沒有一法是可執定的實相，一切但由因緣而得成就。四喻不把行取消，也不讓行者與所行被執成實體；經文把因緣成就與無一法具固定實相放在同一回答中，正文不再替兩句增設單一因果。
若都由因緣而成，凡夫為何沒有成佛？
梵王立即抓住難點：若是如此，所有凡夫豈不都應當得到無上正等正覺？
天女的回答先反問：愚者與智者、菩提與非菩提、解脫與非解脫，難道各自是固定不同的實體嗎？接著才說，一切法平等無異；法界真如不一不異，沒有一個中間位置可供執著，也沒有增減。
平等在此沒有把愚智、菩提與非菩提的語用全部擦掉。下文的幻師喻仍會明白區分愚者執實與智者審察；凡愚與聖者也會因是否執著而呈現不同。經文要解除的，是把這些差別立成互不相干、自有實體的兩邊，而不是否認迷悟在見解上有所不同。
幻師：愚者把所見當實，智者仍可如實說出
幻師和幻弟子在四衢道聚集沙土、草木、樹葉等，施作幻術，使人看見象群、馬群、車兵、七寶與倉庫。愚癡無智者不知幻本，便把自己的見聞判為實有，把其他理解全說成虛妄；此後也不再審察。
智者同樣有所見聞，卻知道象馬倉庫只是幻事，惑人眼目。它們有名稱、有可見的幻相，卻沒有一個與名字相應的固定實體。智者因此不把所見執為實有，日後繼續思惟，知道它們虛妄。
然而，智者並不因此拒絕一切語言。他仍隨順世俗，依見聞表宣其事；只是思惟真理時，不把世俗所說當成自性。更進一步，經文明說可以由假說顯出真實義。於是，『有名無實』與『假說顯實義』必須放在一起：名字不能保證實體，名字卻仍能成為引導他人理解的工具。
行與非行：聖者也說，只是不執名為實
凡愚沒有出世聖慧之眼，不知諸法真如不可說。他們看見、聽見行法與非行法，便依分別生執，認為如名所說確實有一個實體；因此不能在第一義中了知真如不可說。
聖者也看見、聽見行與非行，並沒有從世俗世界退場。差別在於，他們隨自己的智慧能力，不把見聞執為實有；他們了知沒有一個自立的行法，也沒有一個自立的非行法，所執之相只是妄想思量，唯有名字而無可執的實體。
聖者仍然隨世俗而說，是為了讓他人知道真實義；也正因了知真如不可說，才用種種世俗名言使他人證知。此處沒有用沉默反對言說，而是重新安排言說的位置：它不是把實體封存在名中，而是引導他人不住於名。
幻人能否有心：不落實有，也不落全無
梵王又問有多少眾生能解甚深正法。天女回答，有眾多幻人及其心、心所法能解。梵王立刻追問：幻人之體非有，心所又從哪裡生？
天女沒有改口把幻人說成實有，也沒有說既然如幻便全無心法。她的答案只守住一個界線：若知法界不有不無，這樣的眾生便能理解深義。
『不有不無』不是把有與無各取一半，也不是另立第三個中間實體。前文已說法界不一不異、無有中間可執；此處同樣拒絕把如幻之人定為自性實有，也拒絕由非有跳成一切全無。能理解深法者，正是不被這兩端固定的人。
印可與授記：所解之法進入共同見證
梵王向佛陀讚歎如意寶光耀菩薩不可思議，能通達甚深義。佛陀兩次印可，並說她已教導梵王等發心修學無生忍法。梵王與梵眾隨即起座、合掌、頂禮菩薩之足，稱歎今日幸遇大士而得聞正法。
佛陀接著為天女授記：她未來將成寶焰吉祥藏佛，十號具足。前面先記佛陀印可她已教梵王等修學無生忍，這裡再記未來授記；兩事在經文中相次出現，正文不另替它們設定單一因果。
說本品時，三千億菩薩於無上正等正覺得不退轉，八千億天子及無量無數國王臣民遠塵離垢、得法眼淨。經文把受記與聞益相次列出：一位菩薩的未來記別，與法會大眾當下所得，同在說法之中展開。
欲退者不是被排除，而是重新發心
法會中另有五十億苾芻正在行菩薩行，卻想退失菩提心。他們聽見天女說法，願心得到不可思議的堅固與滿足，重新發起菩提心；又各自脫衣供養，發起無上勝進之心，願自己的功德善根不退，全部迴向無上正等正覺。
這段沒有把『曾想退』變成永遠的身分。經文依次寫欲退、聞法、堅固、重發、供養、立願與迴向；轉折發生在同一群人身上。菩提行的正行，不只屬於從未動搖的人，也包含動搖之後再次起身。
佛陀說，他們依此功德如說修行，過九十大劫將得解悟、出離生死；又授記過三十阿僧祇劫將成佛，劫名難勝光王，國名無垢光，眾人同時成就無上正等正覺，同號願莊嚴間飾王，十號具足。劫數、國名、佛號各守經文位置，不相互替換。
經王在世：持法不是附錄，而是正行的延伸
佛陀以功德校量勸梵王修學。有人在百千大劫行六波羅蜜而無方便；另有人書寫《金光明經》，半月半月專心讀誦。經文說，前者功德連後者百分之一都不及，算數與譬喻也不能盡量。
隨後，佛陀以自己往昔行菩薩道作證：如勇士入戰陣，不惜身命，流通、受持、讀誦、解說經王。『行菩薩道』與『使經流通』在同一句追憶中相接，持法不是前面空義之外的附錄。
轉輪聖王的譬喻又把在世與滅失放在一起。王在世，七寶不滅；王命終，七寶自然滅盡。經王若在世，無上法寶不滅；若無此經，法寶隨處隱沒。因此，聽聞、受持、讀誦、解說、勸人書寫、行精進、不惜身命、不憚疲勞，成為本品交付弟子的具體修學。
這裡沒有把『依法界』留在前半抽象義理中。前段說由假說顯實義、聖者隨世俗名言令他證知，後段又列書寫、讀誦、解說與流通；這些節點可依經序並觀，卻不把後一段說成前一段的單一原因。
護經、護人、護國土：願行落到可受苦之處
大梵天王、梵眾、帝釋、四王與藥叉共同起座發願。他們所護的不是一個抽象書名：既護經典流通，也護說法師；既使法師眾善具足、色力充足、辯才無礙、身意泰然，也使會中聽者得到安樂。
願護又擴及經典所在國土。飢饉、怨賊、非人侵害若起，天眾願使人民安穩豐樂、免遭枉橫；供養經典者，也受他們如佛不異的恭敬供養。前面天女以五濁惡世眾生為實語願所向，末段諸天同樣把護法落在可受飢饉、侵害與不安的人群。
佛陀讚歎他們既聞甚深妙法，又願護經及持經者，將得無邊殊勝福德，速成無上正等正覺。梵王等歡喜頂受，全品至此收束。
回看品首，天女問的是如何離生死涅槃而饒益自他。到結尾，不住兩邊並未使行動消失：天女發願，智者隨俗說法，欲退者重發心，弟子流通經王，諸天護法護人。依法界的正行，不靠一個固定行者成立，卻在一連串因緣、言說與願行中清楚可見。
以唯識之眼，再看依空滿願
上來只依〈依空滿願品〉自身的問答、譬喻與敘事而說。這一系譯註另以慈恩慧沼《金光明最勝王經疏》作旁照之鏡——鏡非經；以下的遍計所執、依他、圓成、八識與位次，都是古德判釋，不冒充本品逐項自說。
此疏先把前後品判成境與行：前品明空為所觀境，本品正明依二空起行；但對前品已有聞益而本品再說修，保留三路答法：隨聞分修與正明修、前後二智二利、前為利根而本品為鈍根。疏家又把『依』判為所緣之境，同時區分流轉還滅所依與迷悟所依；這些分類都在鏡中，不改經句。
天女位次也沒有被疏定成一說：一向據真諦所傳作八地以上，一向由無生忍作或六地，疏家又依界淨與七寶蓮池相比較為第六地。實語願的瑞相則各有表義，有些節點再存另一個『或』：金色可表凡聖不一異，也可表同順真；非男女可表離男女相，也可表成佛而示現男女身；蓮花遍界又可由不捨利生說，或由稱真理無限而修說。位次與瑞相多解都只屬疏家。
到五蘊能現法界，疏家明存兩解。第一解說：「一云：依遍計所執相無自性、及所顯空性、故說五蘊能現法界、法界即是五蘊故。」（T39n1788 0278a09）第二解說：「二云：依他中唯有圓成，圓成中唯有依他。云五蘊能現法界，法界即是五蘊，約不離義云是五蘊。」（0278a25）一解由遍計無自性顯空性，一解由依他與圓成不離說；同疏又分別留下不一異解為勝與通說為勝的比較語。本編把兩解與兩句比較語並存，不替古德裁成單義。
鼓聲之後的『非有非無』，同疏也不只一種收法：「遠離二相云非有非無。或此結前已生未生云非有非無。或此非有無通結八不，以非有無故，所以非生滅等。」（0280b24）始終寂靜又可連前法說，也可接鼓聲三世空；『異真異俗』則有不住涅槃、不住生死一解，與菩提、菩提斷不即真如生死一解。凡聖非一異再分三路：蘊如不離而性別、同緣五蘊而凡實聖幻、凡執一異而聖見非一異。多解都留在疏家名下。
四喻在這面鏡中先逐項配讀：水月照定心似境，夢照愛憎境，陽焰照能取心迷亂，谷響照說法似聲；又另有總除有無相執，以及見、覺、知、聞四境之配。幻師更有三解：一作八識心王與心所，二作第八識與餘七轉識，三作佛弟子菩薩僧等隨四生機緣說法。疏家雖說第三解較勝，前二解並未因此消失。
『唯有名字，無有實體』也由一句限語防止墮入全無：「非無離言行非行法，但除其病不除法故。」（0284a01）幻人心心數則有漸入三性一解，也有寄執實眾生而說實人不可得一解；兩路最後都由法界不有不無，離開定有定無。
後半得益與流通仍有同疏異讀。五十億苾芻的欲退被分成已得、未得，再分信與行；九十劫、三十僧祇各有位次配釋。六度無方便，一路解作少拔濟、迴向等方便，另一路只說「或相似六度。」（0285b28）轉輪王七寶則說：「七寶喻七聖財，或喻七覺分。」（0285c15）無上法寶又可作七寶財、七覺分，或一切功德即經義。這些配釋都只屬鏡面，經文仍以持經、精進與護法為中央。
以此鏡回望，遍計之執被遣，不等於依緣之行被刪；依他、圓成的分判，也不把法界固定成離蘊別物。鏡中三性與多解，使『五蘊能現法界』的非即非離更清楚；經中天女發願、假說顯義、重發心與護流通，則讓所謂依空滿願不止於見解。此品承衍前品空境而起正行，又由諸天護法交到下一品四王觀察人天；鏡使執著的層次可辨，經仍居中央。
The preceding chapter clarifies emptiness again, after which the assembly vows to cultivate release correctly. This chapter immediately has the goddess Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel rise and ask the Buddha to explain the method of practice according to the profound principle. The question is no longer merely 『什麼是空』—“What is emptiness?” It comes one step closer: when the five aggregates, names, characteristics, arising, and ceasing cannot be grasped as real, how can a bodhisattva still make vows, practice the path, and benefit self and others?
The scripture does not compress its answer into a slogan. It begins with the dharma-realm and five aggregates, passes through the difficulty of what is already born and not yet born, the drum sound empty in the three times, and the distinction between one and different. The goddess’s reception, vow of true speech, and four similes then place what was said within action. In the latter half, the magician, conventional language, predictions, renewed arousal of the mind, upholding the scripture, and protection of the Dharma reveal how 『不執為實』—“not grasping as real”—and 『仍然修說』—“still practicing and speaking”—can stand together.
What follows reads only through this chapter’s own questions, answers, and events. The reflective judgments of later masters are reserved for the final section and do not cover the scripture in advance.
The Goddess Does Not Ask about an Emptiness Apart from the World
The goddess Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel hears the profound Dharma and leaps with joy, but does not stop at joy. She rises, bares her shoulder, kneels, and joins her palms, asking the Buddha to explain the method of practice according to the profound principle. Her bodily actions unfold one by one, turning 『請法』—“requesting Dharma”—into an action involving the whole person.
Each of the opening three stanzas has a precise place. In the first, the goddess asks about the bodhisattva’s true practice. In the second, the Buddha allows her to ask as she wishes. Only in the third does she state the central question fully: how does a bodhisattva practice the true practice of awakening, leave attachment to birth and death and nirvāṇa, and yet benefit self and others?
The form of the question already prevents two simplifications. If one seeks only to leave birth and death, nirvāṇa can easily become another dwelling. If one speaks only of not dwelling in either extreme without benefiting self and others, the practice of awakening can become an abstract equality without an object. The goddess places freedom from the two extremes and benefit for self and others in a single stanza. The emptiness the Buddha explains is therefore connected with practice from the beginning.
Relying upon the Dharma-Realm: the Five Aggregates Are Neither Identical with It nor Apart from It
The Buddha first states the guiding principle: practice the Dharma of awakening in reliance upon the dharma-realm and cultivate equality. The dharma-realm is not another thing substituted for the five aggregates, for the next sentence immediately places them together: the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm; the dharma-realm 『即是』—“is precisely”—the five aggregates; the five aggregates are 『不可說』—“inexpressible”; and what is not the five aggregates is likewise inexpressible.
The scripture immediately closes the two extremes through the views of annihilation and permanence. To grasp the dharma-realm directly as the five aggregates falls into annihilation; to seek it apart from the aggregates falls into permanence. Thus “is precisely” cannot be isolated as fixed identity, while “inexpressible” cannot be rewritten as an inexpressible entity apart from the aggregates. The scripture requires leaving both characteristics and clinging to neither extreme: it is invisible, beyond what is seen, nameless, and formless. This is called explaining the dharma-realm.
The passage carries real tension. It uses such names as 『五蘊』—“five aggregates”—and 『法界』—“dharma-realm”—to teach, while warning that the names cannot fix what is taught. It also says the dharma-realm is the five aggregates, then refuses to lock the two into one entity. The beginning of equal practice is not first to obtain a fixed answer, but to remain alert to the way one turns language into extreme views.
What Is Already Born and Not Yet Born: What Thing Is Actually Being Born?
The Buddha next asks why the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm. The scripture says they are not born from causes and conditions, then immediately asks: if they are born from causes and conditions, is an already-born dharma born, or can a not-yet-born dharma be born?
If it is already born, the result already exists and causes and conditions need not produce it again. If it is not yet born, the not-yet-born dharma cannot be found. It has no name or characteristic and cannot be reached by measurement or simile. It cannot first be treated as something already existent and then described as awaiting causes and conditions for birth; this is an inquiry into true nature, not a denial of appearances.
This does not delete causes and conditions from the scripture. Later it will say explicitly that the five aggregates are 『非無因緣生』—“not without arising through causes and conditions,” and the goddess will say that everything is 『但由因緣而得成』—“accomplished only through causes and conditions.” Here the scripture advances through its own two questions: what is already born need not be born again, while what is not yet born cannot first be treated as an existing thing. This passage does not separately name the external view targeted by these questions, and the main exposition does not add one on its behalf.
The Drum Sound: Conditions Are Present, Yet No Independent Sound-Entity Can Be Found
The drum sound makes the preceding difficulty audible. Sound must rely upon such conditions as wood, hide, drumstick, and hand. Without them, this present sound does not occur. Yet when each is questioned, the sound is not born solely from wood, hide, drumstick, or hand.
The scripture then places sound within the three times: empty in the past, future, and present, stating directly that it does not arise within the three times. Conditions are complete and sound appears, but this does not mean an independently extractable sound-entity lies hidden among them.
The scripture unfolds continuously from this point. If 『生』—“arising”—cannot be found, 『滅』—“ceasing”—cannot be found. Without ceasing, there is nowhere it 『來』—“comes”—from; without coming, there is nowhere it 『去』—“goes.” Without coming and going, it is neither 『常』—“permanent”—nor 『斷』—“annihilated.” Being neither permanent nor annihilated, it is neither 『一』—“one”—nor 『異』—“different.” Each step follows the preceding one; arising, ceasing, coming, going, permanence, annihilation, identity, and difference do not become eight unrelated names.
The drum simile therefore does not deny what the ear hears. The scripture begins by acknowledging that the sound issues in dependence upon many conditions. What it denies is that sound is born from one condition alone, stands independently in the three times, or can be fixed as permanent or annihilated, one or different. The heard sound and the unfindability of an intrinsic nature remain together in the simile.
Why They Can Be Neither One nor Different
The Buddha first argues against 『一』—“one.” If the five aggregates and the dharma-realm were fixed as one, ordinary beings seeing the five aggregates should already see ultimate truth and obtain the unsurpassed happiness of nirvāṇa. Experience is not so; therefore they cannot be called one.
He then argues against 『異』—“different.” If they were fixed as different, every characteristic of the practices of buddhas and bodhisattvas would become attachment. They would remain bound by afflictions and could not realize unsurpassed complete awakening. Yet all noble ones see the same reality in practice and nonpractice. Therefore they cannot be called different.
The scripture finally preserves the tension of the preceding passage exactly as it is: the five aggregates are neither existent nor nonexistent, not born from causes and conditions and yet 『非無因緣生』—“not without arising through causes and conditions.” They are known by noble ones, are not another sphere, and cannot be exhausted by speech. Nameless, formless, without independent cause or condition, without a simile that fixes them, quiescent from the beginning and originally empty, the five aggregates can precisely thereby disclose the dharma-realm.
The phrase “not without arising through causes and conditions” is crucial. It leaves room for the drum’s conditions, the goddess’s later statement about causes and conditions, and practice itself. The scripture retains together neither existent nor nonexistent, not born from causes and conditions, and not without arising through causes and conditions. It does not delete one sentence to preserve another.
Neither Abandoning the Conventional nor Departing from the Real: Reception Immediately Becomes Training
The Buddha therefore exhorts good men and women seeking awakening: their practice differs from the real and the conventional and is difficult to conceive. In the spheres of ordinary and noble beings, its essence is neither one nor different. They neither abandon the conventional nor depart from the real, but practice awakening in reliance upon the dharma-realm.
Neither the real nor the conventional can become a separate dwelling. Because the conventional is not abandoned, sentient beings, vows, teaching, and protection remain. Because the real is not left, conventional names and characteristics are not grasped as independent entities. The goddess originally asked how to leave birth and death and nirvāṇa while benefiting self and others. Here both aspects receive their answer: do not dwell, yet do not abandon.
After hearing, the good goddess says 『我今當學』—“I shall now train in it.” She does not ask the Buddha for another definition to memorize, but turns what she heard into a commitment. This brief sentence is an important turn in the chapter. In the first half, the Buddha explains the method of training; in the latter, the goddess’s questions, vow, and similes reveal how she receives it.
The Vow of True Speech: the Truth of Dwelling Opens toward All Sentient Beings
Great Brahmā asks how she can attain mastery in such a difficult practice. The goddess first acknowledges that the Buddha’s teaching is truly profound, incomprehensible to ordinary beings and subtly known by noble ones. She then does not prove her mastery through self-assertion, but binds her dwelling to what sentient beings obtain through a vow of true speech.
She vows that if she truly dwells happily in accordance with Dharma, all the measureless, innumerable beings of the evil age of five turbidities will become golden, possess the thirty-two marks, be neither male nor female, sit upon jeweled lotuses, and experience measureless happiness, with heavenly flowers, self-playing music, and offerings complete.
After the vow, the scripture records each vowed characteristic: beings become golden and marked, neither male nor female, seated on lotuses and experiencing happiness; evil destinies disappear, jeweled trees stand in rows, seven-jeweled lotuses fill the world, and heavenly flowers and music arise. The goddess herself finally transforms from a female body into a Brahmā body.
The narrative does not reduce 『滿願』—“fulfilling a vow”—to a personal wish coming true. Every part of the goddess’s vow points toward sentient beings in the evil age; her own bodily transformation comes last. Her happy dwelling is not a still state removed from the assembly. It discloses an outward reach through beings’ happiness, freedom from evil destinies, and complete offerings.
Four Impossible Answers Point to Accomplishment through Causes and Conditions
Brahmā asks again how she practices awakening. The goddess replies in sequence: if the moon in water practices, she practices; if a dream scene practices, she practices; if a mirage practices, she practices; if a valley echo practices, she practices.
On their surface, none of the four statements gives Brahmā a practitioner he can grasp. A moon in water appears through water and moonlight; a dream scene appears in a dream; a mirage seems present from afar; an echo responds to sound. All appear, yet none has a fixed, independent entity such as it seems to possess. The goddess places her practice within the same syntax and refuses to establish a practitioner independent of conditions.
When Brahmā asks what principle grounds her statement, the goddess gives the answer governing the passage: no dharma possesses a fixed reality; everything is accomplished through causes and conditions. The four similes do not cancel practice, nor do they permit practitioner and practice to be grasped as entities. The scripture puts accomplishment through conditions and the absence of fixed reality within the same answer, without adding a single causal scheme between the two.
If Everything Is Accomplished through Conditions, Why Are Ordinary Beings Not Buddhas?
Brahmā immediately seizes the difficulty: if this is so, should all ordinary beings not attain unsurpassed complete awakening?
The goddess first asks in return whether the foolish and wise, awakening and nonawakening, liberation and nonliberation are fixed and different entities. Only then does she say that all dharmas are equal and without difference. The suchness of the dharma-realm is neither one nor different, offers no middle position to grasp, and neither increases nor decreases.
Equality here does not erase every conventional distinction between foolishness and wisdom or awakening and nonawakening. The magician’s simile that follows still clearly distinguishes foolish grasping from wise examination; ordinary and noble beings likewise differ according to attachment. What the scripture removes is the establishment of these differences as two unrelated, self-existing extremes, not the fact that delusion and awakening differ in vision.
The Magician: the Foolish Take What Is Seen as Real, While the Wise Can Still Speak Accurately
A magician and student gather sand, earth, grass, trees, and leaves at a crossroads and perform illusions that make people see elephants, horses, chariots, troops, seven jewels, and storehouses. Foolish people, not knowing the basis of illusion, judge their seeing and hearing to be real and every other understanding false. Later they do not examine further.
Wise people see and hear the same things but know the elephants, horses, and storehouses are illusory events deceiving the eye. They possess names and visible appearances, but not fixed entities corresponding to those names. The wise do not grasp what they see as real and, by continuing to reflect, know the appearances to be illusory and false.
Yet the wise do not therefore refuse all language. They still accord with convention and express events according to what they see and hear. When reflecting on true principle, they do not treat conventional speech as intrinsic nature. More than this, the scripture explicitly says that provisional speech can disclose the real meaning. Thus 『有名無實』—“having names but no fixed entities”—and 『假說顯實義』—“provisional speech discloses the real meaning”—must be held together. A name does not guarantee an entity, but can still guide others toward understanding.
Practice and Nonpractice: Noble Ones Also Speak, but Do Not Grasp Names as Real
Foolish ordinary beings lack the eye of transmundane noble wisdom and do not know that the suchness of dharmas is inexpressible. When they see and hear practices and nonpractices, discrimination gives rise to grasping, and they believe an entity exists exactly as named. They therefore cannot understand at the level of ultimate meaning that suchness is inexpressible.
Noble ones likewise see and hear practice and nonpractice; they have not withdrawn from the conventional world. The difference is that, according to the power of their wisdom, they do not grasp seeing and hearing as truly existent. They know that neither an independent practice nor an independent nonpractice exists, that the grasped characteristics are deluded imagination, and that conventional names possess no fixed entity.
Noble ones still speak in accord with convention so that others may know the real meaning. Precisely because they know suchness is inexpressible, they use conventional names to enable others to realize it. This passage does not oppose speech with silence, but rearranges the place of speech. Speech does not seal an entity inside a name; it guides others not to dwell in names.
Can an Illusory Person Possess Mind? Falling Neither into Real Existence nor Total Nonexistence
Brahmā asks how many sentient beings can understand the profound true Dharma. The goddess answers that many illusory people and their mental and associated mental dharmas can understand it. Brahmā immediately asks: if the entity of an illusory person does not exist, from where do the associated mental dharmas arise?
The goddess does not change her answer by making the illusory person real, nor say that because the person is like an illusion all mental dharmas are entirely absent. Her answer guards one boundary only: sentient beings who know the dharma-realm to be 『不有不無』—“neither existent nor nonexistent”—can understand the profound meaning.
“Neither existent nor nonexistent” does not take half of existence and half of nonexistence or establish a third entity between them. The preceding text already says the dharma-realm is neither one nor different and provides no middle to grasp. Here too, it refuses to fix the illusory person as intrinsically existent and refuses to leap from nonexistence into total absence. Those able to understand profound Dharma are precisely those not fixed by either extreme.
Confirmation and Prediction: What Is Understood Enters Shared Witness
Brahmā praises Bodhisattva Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel before the Buddha as inconceivable and able to penetrate the profound meaning. The Buddha confirms him twice and says that she has already taught Brahmā and the others to arouse the mind and train in patience regarding nonarising. Brahmā and his host then rise, join their palms, bow to the bodhisattva’s feet, and praise their fortunate encounter with a great being and the true Dharma.
The Buddha next predicts that the goddess will become Buddha Jeweled-Flame Auspicious Treasury, possessing the ten epithets. First the scripture records the Buddha’s confirmation that she has taught Brahmā and the others to train in nonarising; then it records the future prediction. The two appear successively, and the main exposition does not establish a single causal relation between them.
As the chapter is taught, three thousand koṭis of bodhisattvas attain nonretrogression, while eight thousand koṭis of divine sons and measureless kings, ministers, and people become free of defilement and obtain the purified Dharma eye. Prediction and benefit through hearing are listed in sequence: one bodhisattva’s future prediction and the assembly’s present attainments unfold within the same teaching.
Those Wishing to Retreat Are Not Excluded but Arouse the Mind Anew
Five thousand koṭis of bhikṣus in the assembly are practicing the bodhisattva path but wish to lose the mind of awakening. After hearing the goddess teach, their vows become inconceivably firm and fulfilled. They arouse the mind anew, offer their robes, produce the unsurpassed mind of further progress, vow that their wholesome roots not retreat, and dedicate them to unsurpassed awakening.
The passage does not turn 『曾想退』—“having once wished to retreat”—into a permanent identity. It writes in order wishing to retreat, hearing Dharma, becoming firm, arousing anew, offering, vowing, and dedicating. The turn occurs within the same people. The true practice of awakening belongs not only to those who have never wavered, but also includes standing again after wavering.
The Buddha says that through this merit they will practice as taught and, after ninety great kalpas, attain understanding and leave birth and death. He then predicts that after thirty asaṃkhyeya kalpas they will become buddhas in the kalpa King of Difficult-to-Surpass Light, in the realm Stainless Light, all simultaneously attaining awakening under the shared name King Adorned and Interspersed with Vows. The number of kalpas, realm-name, and buddha-name each remain in their place and are not substituted for one another.
The King of Sūtras in the World: Upholding Dharma Is Not an Appendix but an Extension of True Practice
The Buddha uses a comparison of merit to exhort Brahmā to train. One person practices the six perfections for hundreds of thousands of great kalpas without skillful means; another copies the Sūtra of Golden Light and recites it single-mindedly every half month. The scripture says the former merit does not reach one hundredth of the latter and cannot be measured through calculation or simile.
The Buddha then testifies through his own former bodhisattva path. Like a warrior entering battle, he did not cherish his life but circulated, upheld, recited, and explained the king of sūtras. 『行菩薩道』—“practicing the bodhisattva path”—and 『使經流通』—“causing the sūtra to circulate”—meet within a single recollection. Upholding the Dharma is not an appendix outside the earlier meaning of emptiness.
The simile of the wheel-turning king places presence and disappearance together. While the king is in the world, the seven jewels do not disappear; when he dies, they vanish. While the king of sūtras is present, unsurpassed Dharma jewels do not disappear; without it, the Dharma jewels disappear everywhere. Hearing, upholding, reciting, explaining, encouraging copying, practicing diligence, not cherishing life, and not shrinking from fatigue therefore become concrete training entrusted to the Buddha’s disciples.
The first half’s 『依法界』—“reliance upon the dharma-realm”—is not left as an abstraction. The earlier passage says provisional speech discloses the real meaning and noble ones use conventional names so others may realize it; the latter lists copying, reciting, explaining, and circulation. These points can be viewed together in scriptural sequence without making the latter the sole cause of the former.
Protecting the Sūtra, People, and Realm: the Vow Reaches Places Where Suffering Occurs
Great Brahmā, the Brahmā host, Śakra, the Four Kings, and yakṣas rise together and make vows. What they protect is not an abstract title. They protect both the scripture’s circulation and its Dharma teachers, causing teachers to possess every good, complete strength, unobstructed eloquence, and peace, while listeners in the assembly also gain happiness.
The vow extends to the realms where the scripture is found. If famine, hostile bandits, or nonhuman invasion arises, the gods vow to make the people secure and abundant and free of unexpected calamity. Those who make offerings to the scripture receive the gods’ reverence as though they were the Buddha. Earlier the goddess directed her vow of true speech toward beings in the evil age; at the end, the gods likewise place protection within communities vulnerable to famine, invasion, and insecurity.
The Buddha praises them for hearing the profound Dharma and vowing to protect the sūtra and its upholders. They will obtain boundless merit and swiftly attain unsurpassed complete awakening. Brahmā and the others joyfully receive the teaching, and the chapter ends.
Returning to the opening, the goddess asked how one leaves birth and death and nirvāṇa while benefiting self and others. At the end, not dwelling in either extreme has not made action disappear. The goddess vows, the wise speak conventionally, those wishing to retreat arouse the mind anew, disciples circulate the sūtra, and gods protect Dharma and people. True practice in reliance upon the dharma-realm does not depend upon a fixed practitioner, yet is clearly visible in a succession of conditions, speech, vows, and practices.
Through the Eye of Consciousness-Only: Looking Again at Fulfilling Vows through Emptiness
Everything above follows only the questions, similes, and narrative of “Fulfilling Vows through Emptiness.” This translation-commentary series also takes the Ci’en master Huizhao’s Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King as a reflecting mirror—the mirror is not the scripture. The three natures, eight consciousnesses, and stages below are an ancient master’s judgments and are not presented as this chapter’s own itemized declarations.
The commentary first classifies the preceding and present chapters as object and practice: the preceding clarifies emptiness as the contemplated object, while the present explains practice arising in reliance upon the two emptinesses. Yet because the preceding chapter already records benefit through hearing and the present again discusses cultivation, it preserves three answers: partial cultivation upon hearing versus direct explanation of cultivation; the two wisdoms and two benefits in the preceding and following chapters; and the former for sharp faculties and the present for dull faculties. The commentator also treats 『依』—“reliance”—as the object taken as support, while distinguishing reliance in cyclic and reverse processes from reliance in delusion and awakening. These classifications remain in the mirror and do not alter a scriptural sentence; the wholly-imagined belongs to that mirror’s analytic vocabulary.
The goddess’s stage is likewise not fixed to one view. One path, attributed to Paramārtha, places her at the eighth ground or above; another infers the sixth ground from patience regarding nonarising; the commentator compares the purification of the realm and seven-jeweled lotus pond and also considers the sixth ground. The auspicious signs of the true-speech vow receive symbolic explanations, and some points preserve an alternative 『或』—“or”: golden color may signify that ordinary and noble are neither one nor different, or that both accord with the real; being neither male nor female may signify leaving those characteristics, or becoming a buddha while manifesting male and female bodies; lotuses filling the world may be read through not abandoning benefit for beings, or through cultivating in accord with the unlimited true principle. Stages and multiple explanations of signs belong only to the commentary.
For the five aggregates disclosing the dharma-realm, the commentary explicitly preserves two explanations. The first says: 「一云：依遍計所執相無自性、及所顯空性、故說五蘊能現法界、法界即是五蘊故。」—“One explanation: in reliance upon the absence of intrinsic nature in the imagined characteristic and the emptiness thereby disclosed, it is said that the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm and that the dharma-realm is precisely the five aggregates” (T39n1788 0278a09). The second says: 「二云：依他中唯有圓成，圓成中唯有依他。云五蘊能現法界，法界即是五蘊，約不離義云是五蘊。」—“A second explanation: within the other-dependent there is only the perfected, and within the perfected there is only the other-dependent. That the five aggregates disclose the dharma-realm and the dharma-realm is the five aggregates is said in the sense of nonseparation” (0278a25). One explanation discloses emptiness through the lack of intrinsic nature in the imagined; the other speaks through the nonseparation of the other-dependent and perfected. The same commentary also preserves comparative statements favoring the neither-one-nor-different explanation and favoring a more general explanation. This edition retains both explanations and both comparisons without deciding an ancient master’s alternatives as one.
After the drum sound, the same commentary also gives more than one way to gather 『非有非無』—“neither existent nor nonexistent”: 「遠離二相云非有非無。或此結前已生未生云非有非無。或此非有無通結八不，以非有無故，所以非生滅等。」—“Freedom from the two characteristics is called neither existent nor nonexistent. Or this concludes the preceding already-born and not-yet-born as neither existent nor nonexistent. Or this neither-existent-nor-nonexistent concludes all eight negations: because it is neither existent nor nonexistent, it is therefore neither arising nor ceasing, and so forth” (0280b24). Primordial quiescence can connect with the preceding doctrinal statement or with the drum sound’s emptiness in the three times. 『異真異俗』—“different from the real and different from the conventional”—receives one explanation as dwelling neither in nirvāṇa nor birth and death, and another through awakening and the severance belonging to awakening being neither identical with thusness nor with birth and death. Ordinary and noble beings being neither one nor different is divided three ways: aggregates and thusness are inseparable but distinct in nature; both take the five aggregates as object while ordinary beings see them as real and noble ones as illusory; ordinary beings grasp one and different while noble ones see neither one nor different. The multiple explanations remain under the commentator’s name.
The four similes are first paired individually in this mirror: moon in water with an object resembling concentration, dream with objects of love and hate, mirage with the deluded grasping mind, and valley echo with a sound resembling teaching. Another reading treats them generally as removing grasping at existence and nonexistence, and another pairs them with the four objects of seeing, awakening, knowing, and hearing. The magician receives three explanations: mind-king and mental factors among the eight consciousnesses; the eighth consciousness and the other seven transforming consciousnesses; and disciples of the Buddha, bodhisattvas, and the saṅgha teaching according to the conditions of beings born in the four modes. Although the commentary calls the third explanation better, the first two do not thereby disappear.
The statement 『唯有名字，無有實體』—“there are only names, without fixed entities”—is also guarded from falling into total nonexistence by one limiting sentence: 「非無離言行非行法，但除其病不除法故。」—“It is not that practices and nonpractices beyond speech do not exist; only the illness is removed, not the dharma” (0284a01). The mind and mental factors of an illusory person receive one explanation as gradual entry into the three natures and another as speaking through sentient beings who grasp reality, while the real person cannot be found. Both paths end in the dharma-realm being neither existent nor nonexistent, apart from fixed existence and fixed nonexistence.
The latter benefits and circulation also preserve different readings within this commentary. The five thousand koṭis of bhikṣus wishing to retreat are divided into those who have and have not attained, then into faith and practice; the ninety kalpas and thirty asaṃkhyeyas receive corresponding explanations of stages. The six perfections without skillful means are read in one way as lacking means such as extensive rescue and dedication, while another says only 「或相似六度。」—“Or, [they are] six perfections in semblance” (0285b28). The seven jewels of the wheel-turning king are explained: 「七寶喻七聖財，或喻七覺分。」—“The seven jewels symbolize the seven noble riches, or the seven factors of awakening” (0285c15). The unsurpassed Dharma jewel may likewise be the seven riches, the seven factors, or all qualities as the sūtra’s meaning. These explanations belong only to the mirror; upholding the sūtra, diligence, and protection of Dharma remain central in the scripture.
Seen through this mirror, dispelling imagined grasping does not delete conduct dependent upon conditions. Distinguishing the other-dependent and perfected does not fix the dharma-realm as a separate thing apart from the aggregates. The three natures and multiple explanations in the mirror clarify the neither-identical-nor-separate relation in 『五蘊能現法界』—“the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm.” The goddess’s vow, provisional speech disclosing meaning, renewed arousal of the mind, and protection of circulation keep fulfillment through emptiness from stopping at a view. This carrying forward takes the preceding chapter’s object of emptiness into true practice, then hands the protection of Dharma by the gods to the next chapter’s observation of humans and gods by the Four Kings. The mirror distinguishes layers of grasping; the scripture remains at the center.
考據Apparatus
全品定位 本品由如意寶光耀天女請問菩薩如何依甚深理修行，佛陀以依法界、現五蘊、離二邊、鼓聲三世空與不一不異作答；天女隨即發實語願，現瑞、轉作梵天身，再以水月、夢、陽焰、谷響及幻師喻說因緣假成。後半記印可、授記、三類得益、五十億苾芻重發心、持經校量與諸天護法。現存讖本沒有本品，而寶貴序將本品列入真諦四補品；義淨本收為第十品，慧沼有全品正疏，智顗、知禮、吉藏所據文獻均無本品逐文疏。版本負命題只述文本狀態，不由此另判補品的義理地位。
一、科判定位
義淨本卷五的品題「依空滿願品第十」在 T16n0665 0425a06，品身自 0425a07 至 0426c24；0426c25 已起〈四天王觀察人天品第十一〉。依經文自身的問答與動作，可分十七段：
| 段 | 出處 | 經文所行 |
|---|---|---|
| 一 | 0425a07–a10 | 天女聞深法歡喜，起座請說甚深理修行之法 |
| 二 | 0425a11–a17 | 天女請許、佛垂許、天女正問菩提正行三頌 |
| 三 | 0425a18–a23 | 佛標依法界修平等行，說五蘊能現法界、離二相二邊 |
| 四 | 0425a24–b17 | 破已生、未生，以鼓聲顯三世空、八不及一異難，結五蘊能現法界 |
| 五 | 0425b18–b21 | 勸善男子、善女人不捨俗、不離真，依法界行菩提行 |
| 六 | 0425b22–b23 | 天女歡喜領受，誓言修學 |
| 七 | 0425b24–c10 | 梵王問自在；天女立實語願，瑞相現前並轉作梵天身 |
| 八 | 0425c11–c17 | 梵王問行；天女以水月、夢、陽焰、谷響答，歸於因緣成就 |
| 九 | 0425c18–0426a08 | 梵王舉凡夫難；天女說平等無異及幻師、愚智之喻 |
| 十 | 0426a09–a19 | 凡聖見聞行非行不同，聖人隨世俗名言令他證知 |
| 十一 | 0426a20–a25 | 問能解者，以幻人心心數與法界不有不無作答 |
| 十二 | 0426a26–b03 | 梵王讚歎，佛陀印可，梵眾禮敬菩薩 |
| 十三 | 0426b04–b10 | 授天女佛記；菩薩、天子、國王臣民三類得益 |
| 十四 | 0426b11–b21 | 五十億苾芻止退重發心，受九十劫、三十阿僧祇劫之記 |
| 十五 | 0426b22–c09 | 持經校量、勇士與轉輪王七寶喻，勸精勤修學 |
| 十六 | 0426c10–c19 | 梵眾、帝釋、四王與藥叉誓護經、法師、國土、供養者 |
| 十七 | 0426c20–c24 | 佛陀讚歎護法，授其速成菩提；梵王等歡喜頂受 |
慧沼以三門開品：「依空滿願品，三門分別：一來意、二釋名、三解妨。」（T39n1788 0276b17）其大科又分六：天女請問、世尊答習學之方、天女領悟奉持、時眾得益、校量顯勝、諸天護流通（0276c07–c10）。經文十七段與疏家六科是兩種觀看尺度；前者循經事，後者誌為古德科判，不互相代替。
二、異譯對勘
四層見證：真諦四補品之四
第一層，現存讖本的負命題。 T16n0663 現存正文以「金光明經空品第五」（0340a07）起空品，隨後即見「金光明經四天王品第六」（0340c16），終卷品題為「金光明經囑累品第十九」（0358a02）。品目數、相鄰品序與全文檢索三層合看，均沒有〈依空滿願〉；全文零命中只是第三層覆核，不單獨承擔全稱證明。此處只說現存讖本沒有本品，不從負命題推定來源或義理。
第二層，寶貴合部的正面文本。 T16n0664 題作「金光明經依空滿願品第九」（0380a16），其下一行題署為「梁三藏真諦譯」（0380a17；此句在全檔第四次出現），品身 0380a18–0381c29。寶貴序先列三本，再說：「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，足前出沒為二十二品。」（T16n0664 0359b22；其中〈依空滿願〉起於 0359b24）本品由序文與當品題署兩面可稽。
第三層，義淨本收品。 T16n0665 題作「依空滿願品第十」（0425a06），品身 0425a07–0426c24，下品題在 0426c25。
第四層，大正編者校記。 義淨本品題下注原字為「梵本缺此品」（T16n0665 品十題下注 0425001，所指 0425a06）。這只證明編者所據之梵本無此品，是單一梵本之證，不是諸梵本皆缺之斷語。T664 題署另有星號校記，誌錄不同版本有無題署；本品 0380a17 是同組題署的第四次出現。兩則校記都不由此另判補品的義理地位。
義淨本與真諦補品逐段全量異存
下表依兩本完整事件塊甲至申十九項列差；每項所列增省、原字、語序、專名、數量與結尾均守其本，不以一方改另一方。未另標者，左為 T665、右為 T664。
| 項 | 節點 | 全部可見異存 |
|---|---|---|
| 甲 | 天女出場與三頌（0425a07／0380a18） | T665 多聞說深法、歡喜踊躍及長行請法，先長行後說頌；T664 直接起座而以偈白佛。名字作如意寶光耀天女／如意寶光耀善女天；惟願慈聽許／惟願垂聽許；若有疑惑者／汝若有疑者；饒益自他／利益自他。 |
| 乙 | 法界與五蘊（0425a18／0380a26） | 五蘊／五陰；謂於五蘊能現法界、法界即是五蘊／五陰能現法界、法界是五陰；若法界是五蘊／若五陰是法界；離於二相／離於二邊。T665 切作不可見、過所見、無名無相；T664 傳文可切作不可見過、所見無名、無相，標點不替原字裁決。 |
| 丙 | 已生未生（0425a24／0380b03） | 為已生故生、為未生故生／已生故得生、未生故得生；若已生生者，何用因緣／若已得生，何因緣生；T664 多若已生、不從因緣生；非校量譬喻之所能及／非算數譬喻之所能知；即是非有／則是不有。 |
| 丁 | 鼓聲、八不與一異（0425b01／0380b09） | 依木、依皮及桴手等／依木、依皮、依捊、依人工等；T664 先多是鼓聲空；無所去／無處去；非常非斷／不常不斷；同真實性／同智慧行；非有非無、不從因緣生、非無因緣生／非有、不從因緣生、非不有五陰；是聖所知、非餘境／不過聖境界；T664 多無有境界。兩本都由不生次第說不滅、無來、無去、不常斷、不一異，句法各異。 |
| 戊 | 結勸與領受（0425b18／0380b25） | 異真異俗／真異俗異；於凡聖境、體非一異／於聖凡境界、不異思惟；不捨於俗、不離於真／不捨於俗、不捨於真；從座／從坐；如上所說菩提正行／如上所說、菩提正行，切句不同。 |
| 己 | 梵王問與實語願（0425b24／0380c04） | 索訶／娑婆；汝今云何／汝心云何；如佛所說、實是甚深／若佛所說、是真甚深；異生不解其義／凡夫不得其味；若使我今依於此法／若使我心依於此法；是實語者／是真實語者；無量無數無邊／無量無邊；具大人相／具足三十二相；受無量樂／受無量快樂；寶蓮花、天花／寶蓮華、天華；又雨七寶上妙天花／雨眾七寶、上妙天華；轉女身／轉女形；兩本同作梵天身。 |
| 庚 | 四喻與因緣（0425c11／0380c19） | 仁者如何行菩提行，是現在所問／汝昔以何行菩提行，是過去所問；水中月行／水中月能行，我亦行／我亦已行；夢中／夢見；陽焰／焰、露；谷響／聲響；仁依何義／汝依何等；無有一法是實相者、但由因緣而得成／無有一法而有實相、因果相成。 |
| 辛 | 平等答難（0425c18／0380c26） | 仁以何意而作是說／以何思惟而作是說；T665 以連續問句列愚癡與智慧、菩提與非菩提、解脫與非解脫，T664 作陳述句；法界真如、不一不異／法界如如、不異；可執著／可執持；兩本同說無增無減。 |
| 壬 | 幻師與有智者（0425c24／0381a03） | 幻師及幻弟子善解幻術／幻師善巧幻術及幻弟子；沙土／土沙；象眾、馬眾、車兵等眾／象眾、馬眾、車眾、軍眾；T665 有餘皆虛妄、後更不審察思惟、後時思惟知其虛妄，並以有名無實表述；T664 兩度鋪陳隨能隨力、自言是實於他非真、後不重思惟，並作惟有名字無有實體；T665 末多「復由假說，顯實義故」（0426a08）。 |
| 癸 | 凡聖與行非行（0426a09／0381a16） | 愚癡異生、未得出世聖慧之眼／愚癡凡夫、未得出世聖智慧；真如不可說／如如不可言說；T664 多已見第一義諦，並反覆見聞、隨能隨力、自言是實於他非真、後不重思惟；種種世俗名言／種種名；T665 作了知一切無實行法、無實非行法，T664 作無實行法、無實非行法而增或人智慧等句；末段了法真如不可說、行非行亦復如是／不可言法如如攝行非行法、是法如如，句構不同。 |
| 子 | 幻人心心數（0426a20／0381b05） | 甚深正法／微妙甚深正法；能解／能解能通；有眾幻人心心數法／若干眾幻化人心數、若干眾生；體是非有／即是不有；從何而生／從何而得；能解深義／能解能通甚深義。 |
| 丑 | 印可與禮讚（0426a26／0381b12） | T664 在佛印前多何以故；已教汝等發心修學無生忍法／已教梵王學觀無生忍法；T664 多梵眾右膝著地；幸遇大士／得見大師。 |
| 寅 | 天女授記與三類得益（0426b04／0381b19） | T664 在佛告前多世尊於一切法通達無礙；寶焰吉祥藏／德寶焰吉上藏；T665 具十號，T664 只列如來、應供、正遍知；T665 把三千億菩薩、八千億天子、國王臣民置於說是品時，T664 合入佛告梵王並多說是金光明微妙經典；八千億天子遠塵離垢得法眼淨／得無垢淨於法成就清淨法眼，國王臣民句位亦異。 |
| 卯 | 五十億出家眾（0426b11／0381b25） | 苾芻行菩薩行／比丘行菩提行；聞菩薩說是法時／聞菩薩說法；滿足上願／滿足之願；更復發起／更復還發；無上勝進之心／無上勝進心；T664 重複發無上勝進心已；兩本同記脫衣供養、重發心與善根迴向。 |
| 辰 | 劫數、國名與佛名（0426b16／0381c01） | 依此功德如說修行／依此功德修行（「如說」有無·0426b17／0381c01）；當得解悟、出離生死／當得成就、出於生死；T665 以難勝光王為劫名，T664 以難勝光王為佛號；同傳國名無垢光；願莊嚴間飾王／願莊嚴間廁王佛；T665 多十號具足。 |
| 巳 | 校量與勇士（0426b22／0381c06） | 是功德聚／是善功德聚（「善」增文·0426b26／0381c09）；正聞持／正聞正聽；大威力／大神力；T664 多善男子、善女人已得聽聞；百千大劫中，T665 作百分不及一，T664 作百千分不及一分；半月半月專心讀誦／半月半月一過轉讀；令汝修學、憶念受持／當令修學、受持；T665 多勇士二字，T664 多得通此經。 |
| 午 | 轉輪王與結勸（0426c02／0381c14） | 是故應當於此經王／是故當依金光明經（句法與稱名異·0426c06／0381c17）；命終、所有七寶自然滅盡／過世、一切七寶自然而盡；微妙經王／微妙經典；無上法寶／大正法寶；T665 多若無是經、隨處隱沒；專心聽聞、受持、讀誦／聽聞、讀誦、受持；勸令書寫／令他書寫；不惜身命／不惜壽命；T665 多專心二字。 |
| 未 | 諸天願護（0426c10／0381c21） | 我等亦當恭敬供養／我亦當為作大擁護（主語與介詞異·0426c18／0381c29）；大梵天王／天主大梵天王；帝釋、四王及諸藥叉／帝釋四王及夜叉眾；我等皆願／我等一切為；及說法師／說法法師；除遣／除却及禳却；眾善／諸善；色力充足／色味滿足；身意泰然／身心開泰；聽者受安樂／時會之眾皆令快樂；人民安隱豐樂、無諸枉橫／人民豐盛歡逸；天眾之力／四王恩力；經典／經卷；恭敬供養／作大擁護。 |
| 申 | 佛讚收尾（0426c20／0381c29） | T665 獨有佛陀兩稱善哉、讚聞甚深妙法、護經及持經者得福速成菩提，末記梵王等歡喜頂受；T664 在諸天願護語後收品，沒有對應段。 |
甲至申共十九個事件塊，覆蓋兩本自請問至護法的全品對應內容。T663 沒有可與之逐段對位的本品，不拿相鄰〈空品〉或〈四天王品〉補成第三份正文。
三、唯識義之經據（眼）
本品經文直說依法界修平等行、五蘊能現法界、不一不異、因緣假成、行非行但有世俗名言，以及法界不有不無。慧沼的三性、識論、位次與科判只在這些節點上作鏡面解讀，不回填成經文自說。為免把同疏多解壓成單線，以下按節點全錄其分岔。
品名、來意與請問
| 節點 | 慧沼同疏並存之解 |
|---|---|
| 前品聞空已有得益，何待本品說修 | 一、前品明境，隨聞分修，本品正明修；二、前聞空生無分別智行利，後令起修二智二利；三、前為利根聞說得益，本品為鈍根（T39n1788 0276b26–b29）。 |
| 前三品不請、本品待請 | 一、不請為顯大悲、因請為令渴仰，故不一準；二、前為現會修、本品為後時學；又前為久修者，本品通近遠二修（0276c01–c04）。 |
| 天女位次 | 疏先據真諦所傳作八地以上；又以令證無生忍作或六地；再據界淨、七寶蓮池相判應第六地。兩個位次方向與後一比較語同存（0276c20–c22）。 |
| 所問正行 | 一、菩提正行與無住涅槃正行兩問；二、一正行通菩提與無住涅槃，或無住涅槃亦名菩提；三、以悲智解，智益自、悲益他；四、以信、般若、大定、大悲四行對四重障（0277a20–0277b09）。 |
法界、五蘊與八不
| 節點 | 慧沼同疏並存之解 |
|---|---|
| 法界為依 | 疏區分兩種所依：就流轉還滅依說第八識持種為因；就迷悟依說真如性。到本經依法界處，則判依為所緣之境，不作親因緣；又以法界不即、不離生死涅槃，照三身與平等行（0277b23–0277c25）。 |
| 五蘊能現法界 | 一云依遍計所執相無自性及其所顯空性；二云依他中唯有圓成、圓成中唯有依他，約不離說。另存二性俱非言境之解。慧沼說經文通二解，又分別保存不一異解為勝與通說為勝兩句比較語（0278a09–0278b13）。 |
| 斷見、常見 | 一向約遍計讀法界即蘊；另一向約依他，所設斷難又分二乘無餘時法界同斷，或隨有為真如有滅。真如是否可說常，疏再區分隨言分別執常與後得智離執觀常（0278b18–0278c07）。 |
| 已生、未生 | 疏先把所問背景分為因中有果與去來實有；因中有果又含只待緣生、只待緣顯兩向。已生段既可作破大生、小生，也另解兼破所生法；未生段則由果尚無體，問因對誰立名（0278c29–0279b09）。 |
| 破妄與鼓聲 | 已生、未生段先可約遍計所執無；鼓聲喻再顯依他假合。到不一不異，又分約遍計無與法界、約依他聲與木皮等、及蘊依法界生三路傳釋；其中另存「或不一故，遍計所執即離斷常等」（0280a09）。五蘊不從因緣生又可約五蘊真性，或約遍計自性；疏明言此處可就真如或遍計，不就依他（0280b26）。 |
| 非有非無 | 一、總作遠離二相；二、只結已生未生；三、通結八不（0280b24）。三種收束都保留。 |
| 始終寂靜、本來自空 | 一、準結文認為前文亦應具此；二、把它接回鼓聲三世俱空。慧沼另留前釋為勝之語（0280c08–c10）。 |
| 異真異俗 | 一、非住涅槃故異真、非住生死故異俗；二、四智菩提及菩提斷非即真如故異真、非即生死故異俗（0280c17）。異字不改寫成離字。 |
| 凡聖非一異 | 一、凡見蘊不離如、聖見如不離蘊而蘊如性別；二、聖見蘊如幻、凡見為實而同緣五蘊；三、凡見蘊如為一異、聖見非一異，因緣見解有別（0280c21–c24）。疏又把此處凡兼攝二乘，分別說凡夫住生死、二乘住涅槃（0280c26–c29）。 |
| 與無住涅槃會合 | 疏以如與蘊不一說不住生死，以不異說不住涅槃；這是慧沼答難，不是經文另立名目（0281a09）。 |
實語願、四喻與幻師
| 節點 | 慧沼同疏並存之解 |
|---|---|
| 梵王身分 | 或初靜慮王，或第四靜慮王、大千界主（0281b01）。 |
| 實語願諸瑞 | 金色可表凡聖不一異，或表同順真而當成佛；非男女可表解無男女相，或表成佛非男女而現男女身；蓮華表出生死淤泥、解非染淨；受樂、雨花、樂器自鳴、供養具足，各配證果、自他行因、任運說法與法行供養。寶樹、七寶蓮華又配七支戒、七聖財；華遍法界可說不捨利生，或說稱真理無限而修（0281b18–0281c08）。 |
| 四喻逐項 | 水月喻定心所行境似現而無心外實境；夢喻愛憎境與所受身不取為真；陽焰喻能取心心所迷亂及三輪境無實；谷響喻由他緣現而似有說法之聲（0281c17–0282a01）。 |
| 四喻總相 | 另釋四喻總除有無相執，因緣和合故非有而假相故不無；又依見、覺、知、聞次第配四種所取境界（0282a12–a25）。逐項釋、總相離有無、見覺知聞配三層並存。 |
| 第三問所問 | 一、前問自行修、此問為他說，前後互影而二利各具；二、直接問水月等既非實有，依何修說（0282a29–b06）。 |
| 通凡夫皆應得之難 | 通釋科可分總非、通釋、結成三分，也可只分總非與通釋二分。愚智等異可從執一異、有無生滅說，也可依俗諦說因果差別；平等無異又可約第一義，疏仍以後喻著重愚智所解之別（0282b17–c09）。 |
| 幻師第一解 | 幻師喻八識心王，弟子喻心所，四衢喻四諦；沙土草木等喻名色，其聚處可直作聚在一處，也可隨所起配苦集等處；象馬等喻四生內處，七寶倉庫喻外境（0282c17–c22）。 |
| 幻師第二解 | 幻師喻第八識，弟子喻餘七轉識，四衢喻四識住，沙土草木喻種子識，四緣力起五蘊（0282c23–c28）。 |
| 幻師第三解 | 幻師作佛弟子、菩薩僧等，四衢作四生處，幻術作巧方便智，材料作隨機所樂之法（0282c29–0283a03）。慧沼兩度說第三解較勝；比較語只標為慧沼判，不刪前二解。 |
| 世俗與愚智 | 世俗分執情世俗與聖智假設世俗。愚癡異生既可指全無聖智者，也可攝仍有一分異生性者；行是有為、非行是無為。行非行妄思的生起又可從業煩惱緣說，或從二乘法執之情說。為他知真實義另有令知有為無為真義、令證真第一義兩向，並以只除所執之病、不除離言之法限縮（0283b08–0284a01）。 |
| 幻人心心數 | 一、能知遍計無、依他如幻、進證圓成，作漸入三性；二、寄執實眾生之問，說實有眾生如幻人並無實人。梵王復由執無設難，答以緣生如幻有而無實性，雙離有無（0284a18–b10）。 |
印可、得益、校量與護法
| 節點 | 慧沼同疏並存之解 |
|---|---|
| 重言希有 | 一讚成勝德、二讚能利他；又可分為得遇、聞法兩事（0284b26）。 |
| 寶焰名義 | 寶焰既可因聞《金光明經》，又可因悟諸法如陽焰；吉祥、藏另依能與眾生吉祥及包含義解（0284c04）。 |
| 法眼淨與位次 | 八千億天子之益，先存色界迴心與約二乘說兩向；遠塵、離垢、法眼又依無間道、解脫道、種子麁重、習氣分說，並另存忍能遠塵、智能離垢而通三乘的隨轉門（0284c16–c27）。 |
| 五十億苾芻欲退 | 欲退分已得退、未得退；已得又分勝解、證法，勝解再分信、行；信退與行退、不退各有位次。經論所見劫數，疏以信行通相及大小劫不同作限語（0285a07–a12）。 |
| 九十劫、三十僧祇 | 九十劫依十迴向各十劫說；三十阿僧祇依十地各三祇說，皆屬慧沼位次判。五十億同時作佛又有兩路：一就化土現相不俱、他受用土與應化可說同時；二就同名國劫而方所器界各別（0285b01–b15）。 |
| 六度無方便 | 一、無拔濟與迴向二方便，又以本經所明無住方便補說；二、「或相似六度」（0285b28）。兩向均存。 |
| 七寶與無上法寶 | 七寶可喻七聖財，或喻七覺分；若配七覺分，輪、象、馬、珠、女、藏臣、兵臣逐一配念、擇、進、喜、倚、定、捨。無上法寶又有七寶財、七覺分、一切功德即經義三向（0285c15–c28）。 |
| 護流通 | 疏把所護分正法、法師、國土、供養者四類；法師有除惡、得善、身安、具辯、心泰五項，國土有除飢饉、怨賊、非人及總護四項（0286a14–b06）。 |
以上每一『或』『又』『一云』『二云』與比較語均留在慧沼名下；經文直說與疏家判釋不合併。
四、諸家異釋（古德·所據文本·並錄不判）
本品的古德材料不呈三家逐句競釋，而呈一家有正疏、三家無本品逐文疏的文本格局：
| 家／文獻 | 可確認之文本狀態 | 不由此推作 |
|---|---|---|
| 慧沼《金光明最勝王經疏》T39n1788 | 有「依空滿願品第十」（0276b16）正疏，正文起於 0276b17，末一疏單元止 0286b06，下品題 0286b14 | 不把慧沼三性、位次與比較語冒充經文直說 |
| 智顗《玄義》T39n1783 | 說「一部名事遍十八品」（0006a24）；是玄義體，不是本品句解 | 不由無逐文段推說智顗接受或拒斥本品義理 |
| 智顗《文句》T39n1785 | 明說四卷十八品（0046b28），也知真諦新文二十二品（0046c04）；實際逐文次序由「釋空品」（0066a18）直至「釋四天王品」（0073b06） | 不把其舊本〈空品〉之空義移作本品四喻、幻師喻句解 |
| 知禮《玄義拾遺記》T39n1784 | 解玄義，明辨曇無讖四卷與真諦七卷（0016a10–a12），但無本品題名、人物、四喻或授記的逐文單元 | 不拿一般依空、圓空之說代替本品正疏 |
| 吉藏《金光明經疏》T39n1787 | 自明所疏四卷；實際由〈空品〉段頭 0165a16 直接到〈四天王品〉0166a12 | 不以舊本〈空品〉疏取代本品，亦不由缺席推作義理否定 |
若以宗家歸類而言，慈恩慧沼有義淨本全品正疏；天台智顗及知禮、三論吉藏均無本品逐文疏。這是所據版本與著述體例的差異，只作傳錄，不判高下。
五、術語
依法界。 經文以法界為菩提行所依，隨即由五蘊不可說、非五蘊亦不可說展開。慧沼判此處依為所緣之境，另區分流轉還滅依與迷悟依；後兩名目屬疏，不替代經句。
五蘊能現法界。 經又說法界即是五蘊，同時警戒即蘊落斷、離蘊落常，故不能只取前半句作同一性斷語。慧沼存遍計無自性與依他、圓成不離兩解，並說不可定言一異。
不可見、過所見。 義淨本兩語相次。慧沼解不可見為非五識境，過所見為超出意識虛妄計度之境；無名、無相又分別對能詮、所詮。這是疏家逐詞鏡讀。
八不。 經由鼓聲說不生、不滅、無來、無去、非常非斷、不一不異；慧沼以八不概括。八不是疏家科名，經文自身依條件句連續推展。
異真異俗。 原句隨後即說不捨俗、不離真。慧沼保存不住真俗兩邊及菩提、菩提斷不即真俗兩解；不能為求順口把異改為離。
安樂住。 經以實語願說若依法得安樂住，願諸相現前。慧沼解為智慧於深理自在、不為煩惱相用所動，依此正觀而住；此為古德釋語。
索訶。 義淨本作索訶，真諦本作娑婆。慧沼依古德傳語解索訶為堪忍界，不另作後出語音還原。
行、非行。 前段「一切聖人於行非行，同真實性」（T16n0665 0425b13）在一異論證中；後段凡聖見聞「行非行法」（0426a11，本經第二見）時，慧沼才配有為、無為。兩個語境不混作一義。
唯有名字、無有實體。 經同時說聖人隨世俗名言令他證知真實義。慧沼以「非無離言行非行法，但除其病不除法故」（T39n1788 0284a01）設限：所除是執名為實之病，不是把離言之法判成全無。
無生忍法。 佛陀印可天女已教梵王等發心修學無生忍法；慧沼據此回判天女位次，另存六地、八地以上方向。位次不等於經文自報。
六、譬喻·修辭
鼓聲。 木、皮、桴手等條件和合而有聲，聲卻不由其中任何一項單獨生出，也不在三世中找到固定生處。譬喻把依緣顯現與不可得自性放在同一段，不能只取其一。
水月、夢、陽焰、谷響。 四答都用同一反覆句式：若彼能行，天女亦行。接下來才以沒有一法具固定實相、但由因緣成就總結。四喻共同鬆開實有執，慧沼另有逐項唯識配釋與見覺知聞總配，保留在目三。
實語願與瑞相。 天女把自己依法安住之真實，繫於眾生金色、具相、非男非女、坐蓮華、受樂、雨花、天樂自鳴與供養具足。願後諸相現前，天女由女身轉作梵天身。此處只依經文敘事，不把後世性別論述添入。
幻師與幻弟子。 愚者見象馬車兵、七寶倉庫而執實；智者知幻事有名無實，仍隨世俗表宣其事，以假說顯實義。幻相不是毫無顯現，世俗說也不是第一義實體。慧沼三解各守鏡面，不壓成一位固定幻師。
轉輪王七寶。 王在世則七寶不滅，王命終則七寶滅盡；經以此譬經王在世與法寶不滅。慧沼又以七聖財、七覺分兩解七寶，並有三解無上法寶；譬喻本身與配義分層書寫。
勇士入陣。 佛陀追述往昔行菩薩道時，不惜身命流通、受持、讀誦、解說經王；勇士意象在勸學段，不倒置到天女前半問答。
七、互讀·承衍
承〈重顯空性品〉。 前品末記大眾聞空性後願捨輪迴、正修出離、如說奉持；本品隨即由天女請問甚深理修行之法。相鄰文本把所觀的空性推到如何行菩提正行之問。慧沼另判前品明境、本品明修；這是疏家承接語，不替經文另造因果。
由法界到因緣。 佛答先由五蘊與法界不即不離，經鼓聲三世空而到不一不異；天女領受後，再用水月、夢、陽焰、谷響與幻師說因緣假成、假說顯義。兩段都拒絕固定實體，也都沒有取消世俗顯現與修說。
由滿願到受記。 實語願先在現前瑞相中得到敘事回應，後又展開天女授記、三類聞益與欲退苾芻重發心。經文依次記願、現相、說法、印可、受記與得益；不把後一段反推成前願的量化證明。
承〈四天王觀察人天品〉。 本品末由梵眾、帝釋、四王、藥叉發願護經、法師、國土與供養者，佛陀讚歎而眾喜受；下品才另起四天王觀察人天。此處只記四王已在護流通段出場，不預摻下品內容。
由此承衍，本品把前品的空性所觀轉成菩提正行之問，又把依法界、不一異與因緣假成落到領受、授記、重發心、持經與護法。傳本上，現存讖本沒有本品，真諦補品與義淨本則各有完整品文；義理上只依各本文句與古德自署判釋並列，不由版本缺存另下價值裁決。
八、校本定位
- 本譯注正文以義淨譯 T16n0665 為底本。品題 0425a06，品身 0425a07–0426c24，下品題 0426c25。
- 寶貴合部 T16n0664 題〈依空滿願品第九〉於 0380a16，當品「梁三藏真諦譯」題署在 0380a17，品身 0380a18–0381c29；0382a08 才見下一品題。
- 寶貴序 0359b20–b24 列曇無讖、闍那崛多與真諦三本，並把〈依空滿願〉列為真諦四補品之四。這是版本見證，不由此另判補品的義理地位。
- T16n0663 現存十九品；〈空品第五〉0340a07 後直接〈四天王品第六〉0340c16，終見〈囑累品第十九〉0358a02，全文亦無本品題名與人物、四喻、授記名。三層合看成立現存讖本無本品的負命題，零命中不單獨作證。
- 義淨本品題下注「梵本缺此品」只表明大正編者所據之梵本無此品，是單一梵本之證，不推及諸梵本。T664 題署的星號校記只誌版本有無題署。
- T664、T665 自天女請問至諸天願護有十九個可對位事件塊；其全部增省、原字、語序、稱名、數量與收尾差已在目二列出。T665 多佛讚與眾喜受收尾，T664 在願護語後收品。
- 慧沼 T39n1788 有本品正疏，品題 0276b16，正文 0276b17–0286b07，下品題 0286b14。同疏內的位次、三性、四喻、幻師、心心數、六度方便與七寶諸異解已在目三全錄，凡比較語仍署慧沼判。
- 智顗《玄義》《文句》、知禮《玄義拾遺記》與吉藏《疏》均無本品逐文段；其文獻體例、品數、相鄰品序與所據版本已在目四分列。缺席只作文本事實，不作義理否定。
三本的有無、兩種完整品文的逐字差、慧沼同疏多解與其餘古德的逐文缺席，各自有不同證據層級。校本所做的是把它們分層保存：不以零命中替代品序，不以一則梵本校記推遍諸本，不以疏家比較語抹去同疏異解，也不以後品內容補寫本品。如此，〈依空滿願品〉由依法界到護流通的全品弧線，才可在傳本與義理兩面同時覆核。
Placement of the complete chapter. The goddess Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel asks how a bodhisattva practices in reliance upon profound principle. The Buddha answers through reliance upon the dharma-realm, disclosure of the five aggregates, freedom from the two extremes, the drum sound’s emptiness in the three times, and neither identity nor difference. The goddess immediately makes a vow of true speech, auspicious signs appear, and she transforms into a Brahmā body; she then uses the similes of the moon in water, a dream, a mirage, an echo in a valley, and a magician to explain provisional formation through causes and conditions. The latter half records confirmation, prediction, three classes receiving benefit, five thousand koṭis of bhikṣus renewing the mind of awakening, a comparison establishing the value of upholding the sūtra, and divine protection of the Dharma. The received Dharmakṣema recension has no such chapter, while Baogui’s preface lists it among four supplementary chapters translated by Paramārtha. Yijing’s recension makes it Chapter 10, and Huizhao has a principal commentary on the whole chapter; the works followed by Zhiyi, Zhili, and Jizang have no line-by-line commentary on it. This negative textual proposition states only the condition of the witnesses and does not judge the doctrinal standing of the supplementary chapter.
I. Doctrinal-Outline Placement
In fascicle five of Yijing’s recension, the chapter title 「依空滿願品第十」—“Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows, Chapter 10” stands at T16n0665 0425a06, and the chapter body runs from 0425a07 through 0426c24; 0426c25 already begins “The Four Heavenly Kings Observe Gods and Humans,” Chapter 11. Following the questions, answers, and actions of the sūtra itself, seventeen movements can be distinguished:
| Segment | Source | Action in the sūtra |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0425a07–a10 | The goddess rejoices after hearing the profound Dharma, rises from her seat, and requests instruction in the method of practice according to profound principle |
| 2 | 0425a11–a17 | The goddess requests permission, the Buddha grants it, and in three stanzas she asks directly about the right practice of awakening |
| 3 | 0425a18–a23 | The Buddha first teaches equal practice in reliance upon the dharma-realm, saying that the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm and that one should leave the two characteristics and two extremes |
| 4 | 0425a24–b17 | What is already born and not yet born are refuted; the drum sound discloses emptiness in the three times, the eight negations, and the difficulty of identity and difference; it concludes that the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm |
| 5 | 0425b18–b21 | Good men and women are exhorted not to abandon the conventional or depart from the real, but to practice awakening in reliance upon the dharma-realm |
| 6 | 0425b22–b23 | The goddess joyfully receives the teaching and vows to train in it |
| 7 | 0425b24–c10 | Brahmā asks about mastery; the goddess establishes a vow of true speech, auspicious signs appear, and she transforms into a Brahmā body |
| 8 | 0425c11–c17 | Brahmā asks about practice; the goddess answers through the moon in water, a dream, a mirage, and an echo in a valley, returning to accomplishment through causes and conditions |
| 9 | 0425c18–0426a08 | Brahmā raises the difficulty concerning ordinary beings; the goddess explains equality without difference and uses the similes of a magician and of the foolish and wise |
| 10 | 0426a09–a19 | Ordinary and noble beings differ in seeing, hearing, practice, and nonpractice; noble ones use conventional names and speech to enable others to realize and know |
| 11 | 0426a20–a25 | Asked who can understand, she answers through the mental and associated mental factors of conjured persons and through the dharma-realm being neither existent nor nonexistent |
| 12 | 0426a26–b03 | Brahmā praises her, the Buddha confirms her teaching, and the Brahmā assembly reveres the bodhisattva |
| 13 | 0426b04–b10 | The Buddha predicts the goddess’s buddhahood; three classes—bodhisattvas, divine sons, and kings, ministers, and people—receive benefit |
| 14 | 0426b11–b21 | Five thousand koṭis of bhikṣus stop retreating and renew the mind; they receive predictions spanning ninety kalpas and thirty asaṃkhyeya kalpas |
| 15 | 0426b22–c09 | A comparison establishes the value of upholding the sūtra; the similes of a warrior and a wheel-turning king’s seven treasures exhort diligent cultivation and training |
| 16 | 0426c10–c19 | The Brahmā assembly, Śakra, the Four Kings, and yakṣas vow to protect the sūtra, Dharma teachers, realms, and those who make offerings |
| 17 | 0426c20–c24 | The Buddha praises their protection of the Dharma and predicts their swift attainment of awakening; Brahmā and the others joyfully receive the teaching with reverence |
Huizhao opens through three approaches: 「依空滿願品，三門分別：一來意、二釋名、三解妨。」—“The chapter ‘Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows’ is distinguished through three approaches: first, the reason for its coming; second, explanation of the name; third, resolution of difficulties” (T39n1788 0276b17). His major outline further has six parts: the goddess’s request, the World-Honored One’s answer concerning the method of training, the goddess’s understanding and reception, the assembly’s benefit, comparison displaying superiority, and the gods’ protection of circulation (0276c07–c10). The sūtra’s seventeen movements and the commentator’s six divisions are two scales of observation. The former follows the scriptural events; the latter is recorded as an ancient master’s doctrinal outline, and neither replaces the other.
II. Alternate Translations · Collation of the Three Translations
Four Levels of Witness: Fourth among Paramārtha’s Four Supplementary Chapters
First level: the negative proposition concerning the received Dharmakṣema recension. In the received text of T16n0663, 「金光明經空品第五」—“The Sūtra of Golden Light: Emptiness, Chapter 5” begins at 0340a07 and is followed immediately by 「金光明經四天王品第六」—“The Sūtra of Golden Light: The Four Heavenly Kings, Chapter 6” at 0340c16; the final chapter title of the work is 「金光明經囑累品第十九」—“The Sūtra of Golden Light: Entrustment, Chapter 19” at 0358a02. The chapter count, sequence of adjacent chapters, and complete-text search together show no “Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows”; zero search results are only the third layer of verification and do not alone bear the universal claim. The statement here is only that the received Dharmakṣema text has no such chapter; no conclusion about origin or doctrine is inferred from the negative proposition.
Second level: positive textual evidence in Baogui’s composite recension. T16n0664 titles it 「金光明經依空滿願品第九」—“The Sūtra of Golden Light: Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows, Chapter 9” at 0380a16. The next line attributes it, 「梁三藏真諦譯」—“Translated by the Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha of Liang” at 0380a17, the fourth occurrence of this sentence in the complete file; the chapter body is 0380a18–0381c29. Baogui’s preface first lists three recensions and then says: 「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，足前出沒為二十二品。」—“Later, in the Liang, the Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha translated in Jiankang four chapters—‘Distinguishing the Three Bodies,’ ‘Extinguishing Karmic Obstructions,’ ‘The Dhāraṇī of the Most Purified Grounds,’ and ‘Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows’—supplementing what was present and absent before to make twenty-two chapters” (T16n0664 0359b22; “Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows” begins at 0359b24). Both the preface and the attribution at the chapter title are open to verification.
Third level: inclusion in Yijing’s recension. T16n0665 titles it 「依空滿願品第十」—“Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows, Chapter 10” at 0425a06. The chapter body is 0425a07–0426c24, and the following chapter title stands at 0426c25.
Fourth level: the Taishō editors’ note. The original graphs in the note beneath the chapter title in Yijing’s recension read 「梵本缺此品」—“the Sanskrit manuscript lacks this chapter” (T16n0665, note beneath the Chapter 10 title, 0425001, referring to 0425a06). This proves only that the Sanskrit manuscript used by the editors lacked the chapter; it is evidence from one Sanskrit witness, not a claim that every Sanskrit manuscript lacks it. An asterisked note at T664’s attribution separately records whether that attribution occurs in different editions; 0380a17 is the fourth occurrence in the same attribution group. Neither note is used to judge the chapter’s doctrinal standing.
Complete Movement-by-Movement Variants between Yijing’s Text and Paramārtha’s Supplementary Chapter
The following table gives all differences across the nineteen complete event blocks A through S in the two recensions. Additions and omissions, original graphs, word order, personal names, numbers, and endings in each entry remain with their own witness; neither side is used to alter the other. Unless otherwise indicated, T665 is on the left and T664 on the right.
| Item | Node | All visible differences |
|---|---|---|
| A | The goddess appears and speaks three stanzas (0425a07／0380a18) | T665 adds hearing the profound Dharma, joyful elation, and a prose request; it places prose before the stanzas, while T664 has her rise directly and address the Buddha in verse. Her name is Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel Goddess / Good Goddess Radiant Wish-Fulfilling Jewel; “I pray you compassionately listen and grant permission” / “I pray you lower yourself to listen and grant permission”; “if there is one who has doubts” / “if you have doubts”; “benefit self and others” / “benefit self and others,” with distinct original wording. |
| B | Dharma-realm and five aggregates (0425a18／0380a26) | Five aggregates / five skandhas; “within the five aggregates one can disclose the dharma-realm, and the dharma-realm is precisely the five aggregates” / “the five skandhas can disclose the dharma-realm, and the dharma-realm is the five skandhas”; “if the dharma-realm is the five aggregates” / “if the five skandhas are the dharma-realm”; “apart from the two characteristics” / “apart from the two extremes.” T665 can be divided as “cannot be seen,” “beyond what is seen,” and “without name or characteristic”; T664’s transmitted wording can be divided as “cannot be seen beyond,” “what is seen is nameless,” and “without characteristic.” Punctuation does not decide the original graphs. |
| C | Already born and not yet born (0425a24／0380b03) | “Does it arise because already born, or because not yet born?” / “Does it come to arise because already born, or because not yet born?”; “If the already born arises, what use are causes and conditions?” / “If it has already come to arise, from what causes and conditions does it arise?” T664 adds, “If already arisen, it does not arise from causes and conditions”; “beyond the reach of comparison and simile” / “beyond calculation and simile”; “it is precisely nonexistence” / “it is then not existent.” |
| D | Drum sound, eight negations, and identity and difference (0425b01／0380b09) | “In reliance upon wood, skin, mallet, hand, and so forth” / “in reliance upon wood, skin, pou, human work, and so forth”; T664 first adds, “This drum sound is empty”; “nowhere to go” / “no place to go”; “neither permanent nor annihilated” / “not permanent and not annihilated”; “the same true nature” / “the same practice of wisdom”; “neither existent nor nonexistent, not arisen from causes and conditions, and not arisen without causes and conditions” / “not existent, not arisen from causes and conditions, and not five aggregates that are not nonexistent”; “known by the noble, not the sphere of others” / “not beyond the sphere of the noble”; T664 adds, “there is no sphere.” Both recensions proceed from nonarising through nonceasing, no coming, no going, neither permanence nor annihilation, and neither identity nor difference, but their syntax differs. |
| E | Concluding exhortation and reception (0425b18／0380b25) | “Different from the real and different from the conventional” / “the real differs and the conventional differs”; “within the spheres of ordinary and noble beings, the substance is neither identical nor different” / “within the spheres of noble and ordinary beings, contemplation is not different”; “do not abandon the conventional, do not depart from the real” / “do not abandon the conventional, do not abandon the real”; “from the seat” / “from sitting”; the phrase “the right practice of awakening explained above” is divided differently. |
| F | Brahmā’s question and vow of true speech (0425b24／0380c04) | Suohe / Saha; “How do you now…” / “How does your mind…”; “What the Buddha has taught is truly profound” / “If what the Buddha has taught is truly profound”; “ordinary beings do not understand its meaning” / “ordinary people cannot obtain its flavor”; “if I now rely upon this Dharma” / “if my mind relies upon this Dharma”; “if this is true speech” / “if this is truthful speech”; “measureless, innumerable, and boundless” / “measureless and boundless”; “possess the marks of a great person” / “fully possess the thirty-two marks”; “experience measureless happiness” / “experience measureless pleasure”; jeweled lotus and heavenly flowers / jeweled lotus and heavenly flowers, with distinct original graphs; “further, let the seven treasures and finest heavenly flowers rain down” / “let the multitude of seven treasures and finest heavenly flowers rain down”; transform the female body / transform the female form. Both recensions say that she becomes a Brahmā body. |
| G | Four similes and causes and conditions (0425c11／0380c19) | “How, good sir, do you practice the practice of awakening?” asks about the present / “Through what did you formerly practice the practice of awakening?” asks about the past; “the moon in water practices” / “the moon in water can practice”; “I likewise practice” / “I likewise have practiced”; “in a dream” / “seen in a dream”; mirage / flame and dew; echo in a valley / reverberating sound; “Upon what meaning do you rely?” / “Upon what do you rely?”; “No single dharma has a fixed true characteristic; it is accomplished only through causes and conditions” / “No single dharma possesses a true characteristic; cause and result mutually accomplish it.” |
| H | Answering the difficulty through equality (0425c18／0380c26) | “With what intention do you make this statement?” / “With what reflection do you make this statement?” T665 uses a sequence of questions concerning foolishness and wisdom, awakening and nonawakening, and liberation and nonliberation; T664 uses declarative sentences. “Dharma-realm and suchness, neither identical nor different” / “dharma-realm and suchness, not different”; “can be grasped with attachment” / “can be held with attachment.” Both say there is neither increase nor decrease. |
| I | Magician and the wise (0425c24／0381a03) | A magician and the magician’s disciples skillfully understand the art of illusion / a magician skillful in the art of illusion and the magician’s disciples; sand and earth / earth and sand; hosts of elephants, horses, chariots, and soldiers / hosts of elephants, horses, chariots, and armies. T665 adds “all the rest are false,” “afterward he does not further examine and reflect,” and “later, upon reflecting, he knows their falsity,” and describes them as having a name but no reality. T664 twice unfolds “according to ability and strength,” “declaring it real to oneself but not true for others,” and “later not reflecting again,” and says they have only names and no entity. T665 finally adds 「復由假說，顯實義故」—“Moreover, provisional speech reveals the real meaning” at 0426a08. |
| J | Ordinary and noble beings; practice and nonpractice (0426a09／0381a16) | Foolish ordinary beings who have not attained the eye of transmundane noble wisdom / foolish ordinary people who have not attained transmundane noble wisdom; “suchness cannot be spoken” / “suchness cannot be expressed in words.” T664 adds “having seen the truth of ultimate meaning” and repeatedly gives seeing and hearing, acting according to ability and strength, declaring something real to oneself but not true for others, and not reflecting again. “Various conventional names and speech” / “various names.” T665 says that all unreal dharmas of practice and unreal dharmas of nonpractice are known; T664 speaks of unreal dharmas of practice and unreal dharmas of nonpractice while adding sentences about a person’s wisdom. The ending “understanding the true suchness of dharmas as ineffable, and likewise practice and nonpractice” / “the ineffable suchness of dharmas embraces dharmas of practice and nonpractice; this is the suchness of dharmas” has a different syntactic structure. |
| K | Mental and associated mental factors of conjured persons (0426a20／0381b05) | Profound right Dharma / wondrous and profound right Dharma; “can understand” / “can understand and penetrate”; “the mental and associated mental factors of the multitude of conjured persons” / “the mental factors of various multitudes of conjured persons and various sentient beings”; “their substance is nonexistent” / “they are not existent”; “from where do they arise?” / “from where are they obtained?”; “can understand the profound meaning” / “can understand and penetrate the profound meaning.” |
| L | Confirmation and reverence (0426a26／0381b12) | T664 adds “Why is that?” before the Buddha’s confirmation; “has already taught you to arouse the mind and train in patience regarding nonarising dharmas” / “has already taught Brahmā to contemplate and train in patience regarding nonarising dharmas”; T664 adds the Brahmā assembly placing their right knees on the ground; “fortunate to encounter the great being” / “able to see the great teacher.” |
| M | Prediction for the goddess and three classes receiving benefit (0426b04／0381b19) | T664 adds before the Buddha’s address that the World-Honored One penetrates all dharmas without obstruction; Treasure-Blaze Auspicious Treasury / Virtue-Treasure Blaze Supreme Treasury; T665 gives all ten epithets, while T664 lists only Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, and Perfectly Awakened. T665 places the three thousand koṭis of bodhisattvas, eight thousand koṭis of divine sons, and kings, ministers, and people at the moment this chapter is taught; T664 incorporates them into the Buddha’s address to Brahmā and adds “teaching this wondrous scripture of Golden Light.” The eight thousand koṭis of divine sons “become far removed from dust and free from defilement, attaining the pure Dharma eye” / “attain undefiled purity and accomplish the pure Dharma eye”; the position of the sentence on kings, ministers, and people also differs. |
| N | Five thousand koṭis of renunciants (0426b11／0381b25) | Bhikṣus practicing bodhisattva practice / monks practicing the practice of awakening; “when they heard the bodhisattva explain this Dharma” / “when they heard the bodhisattva teach the Dharma”; “fulfill the supreme vow” / “fulfill the vow”; “again aroused” / “again returned to arouse”; “the unsurpassed mind of superior progress” / “the unsurpassed mind of superior progress,” with distinct syntax. T664 repeats “having aroused the unsurpassed mind of superior progress.” Both record offering their robes, renewing the mind, and dedicating roots of goodness. |
| O | Kalpa totals, realm name, and buddha name (0426b16／0381c01) | “In reliance upon this merit, practicing as taught” / “in reliance upon this merit, practicing” (presence or absence of 「如說」—“as taught”—0426b17／0381c01); “will attain understanding and leave birth and death” / “will attain accomplishment and emerge from birth and death.” T665 gives Difficult-to-Conquer Light King as the kalpa name, while T664 makes Difficult-to-Conquer Light King the buddha’s name. Both transmit Stainless Light as the realm’s name. Adornment-of-Vows Interspersed King / Buddha Adornment-of-Vows Interspersed King. T665 adds the full ten epithets. |
| P | Comparison and warrior (0426b22／0381c06) | “this accumulation of qualities” / “this wholesome accumulation of qualities” (addition of 「善」—“wholesome”—0426b26／0381c09); “correctly hear and uphold” / “correctly hear and correctly listen”; great awesome power / great spiritual power; T664 adds “good men and good women have already obtained hearing.” Within a hundred thousand great kalpas, T665 says one hundredth does not approach one, while T664 says one part in one hundred thousand does not approach one part. “Single-mindedly read and recite every half-month” / “read through it once every half-month”; “cause you to train, recollect, receive, and uphold” / “cause you to train, receive, and uphold.” T665 adds the two characters “warrior,” while T664 adds “come to penetrate this sūtra.” |
| Q | Wheel-turning king and concluding exhortation (0426c02／0381c14) | “Therefore one should, with regard to this king of sūtras” / “Therefore one should rely upon the Sūtra of Golden Light” (different syntax and title—0426c06／0381c17); “when his life ends, all seven treasures naturally disappear” / “when he passes away, all seven treasures naturally come to an end”; wondrous king of sūtras / wondrous scripture; unsurpassed Dharma jewel / great right-Dharma jewel. T665 adds “If this sūtra is absent, it disappears wherever it was found”; “single-mindedly hear, receive and uphold, read and recite” / “hear, read and recite, receive and uphold”; “exhort others to copy it” / “cause others to copy it”; “not spare body or life” / “not spare lifespan.” T665 adds the two characters “single-mindedly.” |
| R | The gods vow to protect (0426c10／0381c21) | “We also shall reverently make offerings” / “I also shall give great protection” (different subject and preposition—0426c18／0381c29); Great Brahmā King / Lord of Gods Great Brahmā King; Śakra, the Four Kings, and yakṣas / Śakra, the Four Kings, and the yakṣa host; “we all vow” / “we all act for”; “and the Dharma teacher who teaches it” / “the Dharma teacher who teaches Dharma”; remove / remove and perform expulsion; the multitude of good / every good; fullness of complexion and strength / fullness of complexion and flavor; body and mind at ease / body and mind open and at ease; “listeners receive happiness” / “the assembly at that time is made happy”; “the people remain secure and abundant, free of unjust calamity” / “the people are abundant, flourishing, joyful, and at ease”; power of the divine host / beneficent power of the Four Kings; scripture / sūtra scroll; reverently make offerings / give great protection. |
| S | The Buddha’s praise and closing (0426c20／0381c29) | T665 alone has the Buddha twice say “Excellent,” praise their hearing the profound wondrous Dharma, say that protecting the sūtra and its upholders brings merit and swift attainment of awakening, and finally record Brahmā and the others joyfully receiving it with reverence. T664 ends the chapter after the gods’ vow to protect and has no aligned passage. |
Items A through S comprise nineteen event blocks and cover the complete corresponding content of both recensions from the request through protection of the Dharma. T663 has no chapter that can be aligned with it movement by movement; the adjacent “Emptiness” or “Four Heavenly Kings” chapter is not used to fabricate a third chapter body.
III. Scriptural Grounds for the Consciousness-Only Meaning (the Point of the Eye)
The sūtra directly teaches equal practice in reliance upon the dharma-realm, that the five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm, neither identity nor difference, provisional formation through causes and conditions, that practice and nonpractice possess only conventional names and speech, and that the dharma-realm is neither existent nor nonexistent. Huizhao’s three natures, analyses of consciousness, stages, and doctrinal outlines serve only as mirror readings at those nodes and are not inserted as statements made by the sūtra itself. To avoid compressing multiple explanations within one commentary into a single line, every branch is recorded below by node.
Chapter Title, Reason for Coming, and the Request
| Node | Parallel explanations within Huizhao’s commentary |
|---|---|
| Since hearing emptiness in the preceding chapter already brought benefit, why wait until this chapter to explain cultivation? | First, the preceding chapter clarifies the object, whereupon one cultivates in part as one hears, while this chapter directly clarifies cultivation. Second, the preceding hearing of emptiness produces the benefits of nondiscriminating wisdom and practice, while the following passage causes the two wisdoms and two benefits to be cultivated. Third, the preceding passage is for those of sharp faculties who benefit upon hearing, while this chapter is for those of dull faculties (T39n1788 0276b26–b29). |
| The preceding three chapters were not requested, while this one waits for a request | First, teaching without a request displays great compassion, while teaching upon request causes thirst and aspiration; there is no single fixed rule. Second, the preceding chapters concern cultivation in the present assembly, while this chapter concerns later study. Again, the preceding is for those trained for a long time, while this chapter includes both near and distant cultivation (0276c01–c04). |
| The goddess’s stage | The commentary first follows Paramārtha’s transmission and places her at the eighth ground or above; it also takes causing realization of patience regarding nonarising as perhaps the sixth ground; it then compares the purification of the realm and the sign of the seven-jeweled lotus pond and judges that she should be at the sixth ground. Both directions concerning stage and the latter comparative statement remain together (0276c20–c22). |
| The right practice asked about | First, there are two questions: the right practice of awakening and the right practice of non-abiding nirvāṇa. Second, one right practice extends through awakening and non-abiding nirvāṇa, or non-abiding nirvāṇa is also called awakening. Third, compassion and wisdom explain it: wisdom benefits oneself, compassion benefits others. Fourth, four practices—faith, prajñā, great concentration, and great compassion—answer four heavy obstructions (0277a20–0277b09). |
Dharma-Realm, Five Aggregates, and the Eight Negations
| Node | Parallel explanations within Huizhao’s commentary |
|---|---|
| Dharma-realm as reliance | The commentary distinguishes two forms of reliance. In cyclic and reverse processes, the eighth consciousness holds seeds and serves as cause; in delusion and awakening, suchness is the nature serving as reliance. At the present sūtra’s “reliance upon the dharma-realm,” however, it judges reliance to be the object taken as support, not a direct cause and condition. It further uses the dharma-realm’s neither identity with nor separation from birth and death and nirvāṇa to illuminate the three bodies and equal practice (0277b23–0277c25). |
| The five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm | One explanation relies on the wholly-imagined characteristic’s lack of intrinsic nature and the emptiness thereby disclosed. A second says that within the other-dependent there is only the perfectly-accomplished, and within the perfectly-accomplished only the other-dependent, speaking in terms of nonseparation. Another explanation says that both natures lie beyond the sphere of speech. Huizhao says the sūtra accommodates both explanations and separately preserves comparative statements that the neither-identical-nor-different explanation is superior and that a general explanation is superior (0278a09–0278b13). |
| Annihilationism and eternalism | One direction reads “the dharma-realm is precisely the aggregates” entirely in terms of the wholly-imagined. Another reads it through the other-dependent; the difficulty concerning annihilation is then divided between the dharma-realm being annihilated together with the two vehicles’ final remainderless state, or suchness conditioned by formations having cessation. On whether suchness may be called permanent, the commentary further distinguishes permanence grasped through verbal discrimination from permanence contemplated without grasping by subsequently-attained wisdom (0278b18–0278c07). |
| Already born and not yet born | The commentary first divides the background of the question between fruit already existing within cause and the real existence of past and future. Fruit existing within cause further includes two directions: merely awaiting conditions in order to arise and merely awaiting conditions in order to be disclosed. The already-born passage can refute great arising and small arising, and another explanation also includes refuting the dharma produced. Because the fruit in the not-yet-born passage still has no substance, it asks in relation to whom the cause receives its name (0278c29–0279b09). |
| Refuting delusion and the drum sound | The passages on what is already born and not yet born can first be read through the nonexistence of the wholly-imagined; the drum-sound simile then discloses the provisional combination of the other-dependent. At neither identity nor difference, three transmitted explanations are further distinguished: in relation to the nonexistence of the wholly-imagined and the dharma-realm; in relation to the other-dependent sound and the wood, skin, and other conditions; and in relation to the aggregates arising in reliance upon the dharma-realm. It also preserves, 「或不一故，遍計所執即離斷常等」—“Or because they are not identical, the wholly-imagined is thereby free from annihilationism, eternalism, and so forth” (0280a09). The five aggregates not arising from causes and conditions can in turn be read in terms of their true nature or the wholly-imagined intrinsic nature. The commentary expressly says this can concern suchness or the wholly-imagined, not the other-dependent (0280b26). |
| Neither existent nor nonexistent | First, it serves generally as freedom from the two characteristics. Second, it concludes only what is already born and not yet born. Third, it concludes all eight negations (0280b24). All three conclusions are retained. |
| Primordially quiescent and originally empty | First, following the concluding text, this should also have been present in the preceding passage. Second, it connects back to the drum sound’s emptiness throughout the three times. Huizhao separately retains the judgment that the former explanation is superior (0280c08–c10). |
| Different from the real and different from the conventional | First, it differs from the real because it does not dwell in nirvāṇa and differs from the conventional because it does not dwell in birth and death. Second, the awakening of the four wisdoms and the severance belonging to awakening are not identical with suchness and therefore differ from the real, and are not identical with birth and death and therefore differ from the conventional (0280c17). The graph “different” is not rewritten as “depart.” |
| Ordinary and noble beings are neither identical nor different | First, ordinary beings see aggregates not separate from suchness and noble beings see suchness not separate from aggregates, while aggregates and suchness differ in nature. Second, noble beings see the aggregates as illusory and ordinary beings see them as real, while both take the five aggregates as object. Third, ordinary beings see the aggregates and suchness as identical or different, while noble beings see neither identity nor difference; their views differ through causes and conditions (0280c21–c24). The commentary also includes the two vehicles under “ordinary” here, separately saying that ordinary people dwell in birth and death and the two vehicles dwell in nirvāṇa (0280c26–c29). |
| Convergence with non-abiding nirvāṇa | The commentary uses the nonidentity of suchness and aggregates to explain not dwelling in birth and death, and their nondifference to explain not dwelling in nirvāṇa. This is Huizhao’s answer to a difficulty, not a separate term established by the sūtra (0281a09). |
Vow of True Speech, Four Similes, and the Magician
| Node | Parallel explanations within Huizhao’s commentary |
|---|---|
| Brahmā’s identity | Either king of the first dhyāna or king of the fourth dhyāna and lord of the great-thousand world (0281b01). |
| Auspicious signs of the vow of true speech | Golden color may signify that ordinary and noble are neither identical nor different, or that both accord with the real and will become buddhas. Neither male nor female may signify understanding the absence of male and female characteristics, or becoming a buddha who is neither male nor female while manifesting male and female bodies. The lotus signifies emerging from the mud of birth and death and understanding neither defilement nor purity. Experiencing happiness, the rain of flowers, music sounding of itself, and complete offerings respectively correspond to realization of fruit, causal practices for self and others, effortless teaching of Dharma, and offerings through Dharma practice. Jeweled trees and seven-jeweled lotuses also correspond to the seven limbs of discipline and the seven noble treasures. Flowers filling the dharma-realm can be read as not abandoning benefit for beings, or as cultivating in accord with the unlimited true principle (0281b18–0281c08). |
| The four similes item by item | The moon in water likens the object appearing to a concentrated mind while having no real object outside the mind. The dream likens objects of love and hate and the body experienced to what is not taken as real. The mirage likens the confused grasping mind and associated mental factors and the unreal objects of the three spheres. The echo in a valley likens an apparently existent sound of Dharma that manifests through other conditions (0281c17–0282a01). |
| Overall meaning of the four similes | Another explanation takes the four similes together as removing grasping at the characteristics of existence and nonexistence: they are not existent because they arise through a combination of causes and conditions, yet not nonexistent because provisional characteristics appear. It also maps them in sequence to four kinds of apprehended sphere: seen, experienced, known, and heard (0282a12–a25). The itemized explanations, overall freedom from existence and nonexistence, and seen-experienced-known-heard mapping remain as three layers. |
| What the third question asks | First, the earlier question asks about one’s own cultivation and this one about teaching others; each of the two benefits is also present in the other by implication. Second, it directly asks: since the moon in water and the others do not truly exist, in reliance upon what does one cultivate and teach? (0282a29–b06). |
| The difficulty that every ordinary person should then attain it | The general explanation can be divided into general negation, comprehensive explanation, and conclusion, or only into general negation and comprehensive explanation. The difference between foolish and wise can be discussed through grasping identity and difference, existence and nonexistence, arising and ceasing, or through causal differences on the level of conventional truth. Equality without difference can instead be discussed through ultimate meaning, while the later simile still emphasizes the difference between what the foolish and wise understand (0282b17–c09). |
| First explanation of the magician | The magician represents the mind-kings of the eight consciousnesses; disciples represent mental factors; the crossroads represent the four truths. Sand, earth, grasses, trees, and the like represent name-and-form; the place of their gathering can simply be a gathering in one place or can be assigned according to their arising to the places of suffering, origination, and so forth. Elephants, horses, and other figures represent the internal bases of the four kinds of birth, while storehouses of the seven treasures represent external objects (0282c17–c22). |
| Second explanation of the magician | The magician represents the eighth consciousness, the disciples the other seven active consciousnesses, the crossroads the four stations of consciousness, and sand, earth, grasses, and trees the seed consciousness; the force of four conditions gives rise to the five aggregates (0282c23–c28). |
| Third explanation of the magician | The magician becomes the Buddha’s disciples, the bodhisattva saṅgha, and others; the crossroads become the places of the four kinds of birth; the art of illusion becomes skillful wisdom in means; and the materials become dharmas pleasing to particular capacities (0282c29–0283a03). Huizhao twice says that the third explanation is superior. Those comparative statements are marked as Huizhao’s judgment and do not delete the first two explanations. |
| Conventional language and the foolish and wise | The conventional is divided into convention based on grasping dispositions and convention provisionally established by noble wisdom. Foolish ordinary beings may refer to those entirely without noble wisdom or include those in whom some ordinary nature remains. Practice is conditioned and nonpractice unconditioned. The arising of deluded thought about practice and nonpractice can be explained through conditions of karma and affliction or through the two vehicles’ disposition of dharma-grasping. Enabling others to know the true meaning also has two directions: enabling them to know the true meaning of conditioned and unconditioned dharmas, and enabling them to realize the real ultimate meaning. It is restricted by removing only the sickness of what is grasped, not removing the ineffable Dharma (0283b08–0284a01). |
| Mental and associated mental factors of conjured persons | First, one knows the wholly-imagined as nonexistent and the other-dependent as illusory, then advances to realize the perfectly-accomplished; this is gradual entry through the three natures. Second, the question is placed in the mouth of one who grasps sentient beings as real: a truly existent sentient being is like a conjured person, and neither has a real person. Brahmā then raises a difficulty through grasping nonexistence; the answer says that what arises through conditions exists like an illusion but has no real nature, thereby leaving both existence and nonexistence (0284a18–b10). |
Confirmation, Benefits, Comparison, and Protection of the Dharma
| Node | Parallel explanations within Huizhao’s commentary |
|---|---|
| Repeated “rare” | First it praises her accomplishment of excellent virtue, second her ability to benefit others; alternatively, it can be divided into two matters, encountering her and hearing the Dharma (0284b26). |
| Meaning of Treasure-Blaze | “Treasure-Blaze” may derive from hearing the Sūtra of Golden Light or from realizing that dharmas are like a mirage. “Auspicious” and “treasury” are further explained through the ability to give sentient beings auspiciousness and the meaning of containing (0284c04). |
| Purity of the Dharma eye and stages | Concerning the benefit of the eight thousand koṭis of divine sons, the commentary first preserves two directions: beings in the form realm turning toward the path and an explanation in terms of the two vehicles. “Far from dust,” “free from defilement,” and “Dharma eye” are differentiated through the uninterrupted path, path of liberation, coarse heaviness of seeds, and habitual tendencies. It further preserves a conforming gate common to the three vehicles in which patience can remove dust and wisdom can remove defilement (0284c16–c27). |
| Five thousand koṭis of bhikṣus wishing to retreat | Wishing to retreat is divided between retreating from what has already been attained and from what has not yet been attained. What has already been attained is further divided into resolute understanding and realization of Dharma, with resolute understanding divided again into faith and practice; retreat in faith and practice, and non-retreat, each have stages. Concerning the kalpa totals seen in sūtra and treatise, the commentary limits its statement through the common characteristics of faith and practice and the difference between great and small kalpas (0285a07–a12). |
| Ninety kalpas and thirty asaṃkhyeyas | Ninety kalpas are explained as the ten dedications, each lasting ten kalpas; thirty asaṃkhyeyas as the ten grounds, each lasting three. Both are Huizhao’s stage judgments. There are also two approaches to the five thousand koṭis becoming buddhas simultaneously: first, manifested signs in a transformation land are not simultaneous, while other-enjoyment lands and responsive transformations can be called simultaneous; second, their realms and kalpas share a name while their places and world-vessels are distinct (0285b01–b15). |
| Six perfections without means | First, there are no two means of rescue and dedication, supplemented by the non-abiding means explained in this sūtra. Second, 「或相似六度」—“or they are semblances of the six perfections” (0285b28). Both directions are retained. |
| Seven treasures and the unsurpassed Dharma jewel | The seven treasures can represent the seven noble treasures or the seven factors of awakening. If mapped to the seven factors, wheel, elephant, horse, jewel, woman, treasurer-minister, and general correspond in order to mindfulness, discernment, energy, joy, repose, concentration, and equanimity. The unsurpassed Dharma jewel likewise has three directions: the wealth of seven treasures, the seven factors of awakening, or all qualities as the meaning of the sūtra (0285c15–c28). |
| Protection of circulation | The commentary divides what is protected into four classes: right Dharma, Dharma teacher, realm, and person who makes offerings. For the Dharma teacher it lists five points: removal of evil, attainment of good, bodily security, possession of eloquence, and mental ease. For the realm it lists four: removal of famine, hostile bandits, nonhuman beings, and general protection (0286a14–b06). |
Every “or,” “again,” “one explanation,” “second explanation,” and comparative statement above remains under Huizhao’s name. The sūtra’s direct teaching and the commentator’s judgments are not merged.
IV. Explanations of Various Masters
The ancient material for this chapter does not present three masters competing in sentence-by-sentence exegesis. Its textual configuration is one complete principal commentary and three works with no line-by-line passage on this chapter:
| Master / work | Confirmable textual state | Not inferred from it |
|---|---|---|
| Huizhao’s Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King T39n1788 | It has a principal commentary titled 「依空滿願品第十」—“Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows, Chapter 10” at 0276b16. The commentary begins at 0276b17, its final unit ends at 0286b06, and the next chapter title stands at 0286b14 | Huizhao’s three natures, stages, and comparative statements are not passed off as direct statements of the sūtra |
| Zhiyi’s Profound Meaning T39n1783 | It says, 「一部名事遍十八品」—“The names and matters of the whole work pervade eighteen chapters” at 0006a24; this is the body of the profound meaning, not a sentence-by-sentence explanation of the present chapter | The absence of a line-by-line passage is not used to claim that Zhiyi accepted or rejected the chapter’s doctrine |
| Zhiyi’s Words and Phrases T39n1785 | It expressly speaks of four fascicles and eighteen chapters at 0046b28 and also knows Paramārtha’s new text in twenty-two chapters at 0046c04. Its actual line-by-line sequence goes directly from 「釋空品」—“Explaining the Emptiness Chapter” at 0066a18 to 「釋四天王品」—“Explaining the Four Heavenly Kings Chapter” at 0073b06 | The emptiness teaching in its older “Emptiness” chapter is not transferred into a sentence-by-sentence explanation of the four similes or magician simile here |
| Zhili’s Supplementary Notes on the Profound Meaning T39n1784 | It explains the Profound Meaning and clearly distinguishes Dharmakṣema’s four-fascicle text from Paramārtha’s seven-fascicle text at 0016a10–a12, but has no line-by-line unit under this chapter title, its figures, four similes, or prediction | General teachings on reliance upon emptiness or perfect emptiness are not substituted for the principal commentary on this chapter |
| Jizang’s Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light T39n1787 | It identifies itself as a commentary on the four-fascicle text; its actual sequence goes directly from the “Emptiness” chapter beginning at 0165a16 to “The Four Heavenly Kings” at 0166a12 | Its commentary on the older “Emptiness” chapter does not replace this chapter, and absence is not taken as doctrinal rejection |
Classified by school, Cien master Huizhao has a complete principal commentary on the chapter in Yijing’s recension; Tiantai masters Zhiyi and Zhili and Sanlun master Jizang have no line-by-line commentary on it. This is a difference in textual basis and literary form. It is recorded without adjudicating relative standing.
V. Terminology
Reliance upon the dharma-realm. The sūtra takes the dharma-realm as the support of the practice of awakening and immediately unfolds this through the five aggregates being ineffable and what is not the five aggregates likewise being ineffable. Huizhao judges reliance here to be the object taken as support and separately distinguishes reliance in cyclic and reverse processes from reliance in delusion and awakening. Those latter terms belong to the commentary and do not replace the scriptural phrase.
The five aggregates can disclose the dharma-realm. The sūtra also says the dharma-realm is precisely the five aggregates, while warning that identifying it with the aggregates falls into annihilationism and separating it from them falls into eternalism. The first half therefore cannot be isolated as a claim of simple identity. Huizhao preserves explanations through the wholly-imagined lacking intrinsic nature and through the nonseparation of the other-dependent and perfectly-accomplished, and says that identity and difference cannot be asserted definitively.
Cannot be seen; beyond what is seen. These two expressions are successive in Yijing’s recension. Huizhao explains the first as not being an object of the five consciousnesses and the second as exceeding the sphere falsely calculated by mental consciousness; namelessness and absence of characteristic are further correlated with expression and what is expressed. This is the commentator’s phrase-by-phrase mirror reading.
Eight negations. Through the drum sound, the sūtra teaches nonarising, nonceasing, no coming, no going, neither permanence nor annihilation, and neither identity nor difference; Huizhao gathers these as the eight negations. “Eight negations” is a commentarial outline term, while the sūtra itself advances continuously through conditional sentences.
Different from the real and different from the conventional. The original sentence is immediately followed by “do not abandon the conventional and do not depart from the real.” Huizhao preserves two explanations: dwelling in neither extreme of the real and conventional, and awakening together with its severance not being identical with either the real or conventional. The graph “different” cannot be changed to “depart” merely for fluency.
Dwelling happily. In the vow of true speech, the sūtra says that if the goddess dwells happily in accordance with Dharma, she wishes the signs to appear. Huizhao explains this as wisdom mastering profound principle, unmoved by the characteristics and functions of afflictions, and dwelling through this right contemplation. This is an ancient master’s explanation.
Suohe. Yijing’s recension has Suohe, while Paramārtha’s has Saha. Huizhao follows ancient transmitted terminology in explaining Suohe as the realm of endurance and does not restore a later sound-form.
Practice and nonpractice. The earlier statement, 「一切聖人於行非行，同真實性」—“All noble ones, regarding practice and nonpractice, accord with the true nature” (T16n0665 0425b13), occurs within the argument concerning identity and difference. Only later, when ordinary and noble beings see and hear 「行非行法」—“dharmas of practice and nonpractice” at 0426a11, its second occurrence in this sūtra, does Huizhao correlate them with conditioned and unconditioned. The two contexts are not collapsed into a single meaning.
Only names, without an entity. The sūtra also says that noble ones use conventional names and speech to enable others to realize and know the true meaning. Huizhao limits this through 「非無離言行非行法，但除其病不除法故」—“It is not that ineffable dharmas of practice and nonpractice are nonexistent; only the sickness is removed, not the Dharma” (T39n1788 0284a01). What is removed is the sickness of grasping a name as real, not the ineffable Dharma itself.
Patience regarding nonarising dharmas. The Buddha confirms that the goddess has taught Brahmā and the others to arouse the mind and train in patience regarding nonarising dharmas. Huizhao uses this to judge her stage retrospectively, while preserving directions toward the sixth ground and the eighth ground or above. Stage is not a self-report made by the sūtra.
VI. Similes · Rhetoric
Drum sound. Sound exists through the combination of conditions such as wood, skin, mallet, and hand, yet does not arise from any one of them alone, nor can a fixed place of arising be found in the three times. The simile holds dependent manifestation and the non-apprehension of intrinsic nature within a single passage; neither side can be isolated.
Moon in water, dream, mirage, and echo in a valley. Each of the four answers uses the same repeated formulation: if that can practice, the goddess too practices. Only afterward does she conclude that no dharma has a fixed true characteristic and that it is accomplished through causes and conditions. Together the four similes loosen grasping at real existence. Huizhao’s separate consciousness-only mappings and the overall sequence of seen, experienced, known, and heard remain in Topic III.
Vow of true speech and auspicious signs. The goddess links the truth of her dwelling in accordance with Dharma to sentient beings becoming golden, possessing the marks, being neither male nor female, sitting on lotuses, experiencing happiness, heavenly flowers raining, divine music sounding of itself, and offerings being complete. After the vow, the signs appear, and the goddess transforms from a female body into a Brahmā body. This follows only the sūtra’s narrative and adds no later discourse concerning gender.
Magician and magician’s disciples. The foolish see elephants, horses, chariots, soldiers, and storehouses of the seven treasures and grasp them as real; the wise know that conjured things have names but no entity, yet still proclaim them according to convention, using provisional speech to reveal real meaning. Illusory appearance is not an absolute lack of manifestation, and conventional speech is not an entity of ultimate meaning. Huizhao’s three explanations each remain at the mirror level and are not compressed into one fixed identity for the magician.
The wheel-turning king’s seven treasures. While the king lives, the seven treasures do not disappear; when his life ends, they disappear. The sūtra uses this to liken the king of sūtras remaining in the world and the Dharma jewel not disappearing. Huizhao further gives two explanations of the seven treasures through the seven noble treasures and seven factors of awakening, and three explanations of the unsurpassed Dharma jewel. The simile and its correlated meanings are written on separate levels.
A warrior enters battle. The Buddha recalls that when he formerly practiced the bodhisattva path, he did not spare body or life but circulated, received and upheld, recited, and explained the king of sūtras. The warrior image belongs to the exhortation to train and is not moved backward into the goddess’s questions in the first half.
VII. Cross-Reading · Carrying Forward
Continuing “Reaffirming Emptiness.” At the end of the preceding chapter, after hearing emptiness the assembly vows to abandon cyclic existence, cultivate release correctly, and receive and practice as taught. The present chapter immediately has the goddess ask about the method of practicing according to profound principle. The adjacent texts move the contemplated emptiness into the question of how to perform the right practice of awakening. Huizhao separately judges that the preceding chapter explains the object and the present chapter practice; that is the commentator’s language of connection and does not fabricate an additional scriptural cause.
From dharma-realm to causes and conditions. The Buddha’s answer first moves from the nonidentity and nonseparation of five aggregates and dharma-realm, through the drum sound’s emptiness in the three times, to neither identity nor difference. After receiving it, the goddess uses the moon in water, a dream, a mirage, an echo in a valley, and a magician to explain provisional formation through causes and conditions and the revelation of meaning through provisional speech. Both passages refuse a fixed entity, and neither cancels conventional appearance, cultivation, or teaching.
From fulfillment of the vow to prediction. The vow of true speech first receives a narrative response through signs appearing in the present; the text then unfolds the prediction of the goddess, three classes benefiting from hearing, and bhikṣus who wished to retreat renewing the mind. The sūtra records in sequence the vow, signs, teaching, confirmation, prediction, and benefit. The later passage is not projected backward as quantitative proof of the earlier vow.
Carrying forward into “The Four Heavenly Kings Observe Gods and Humans.” At this chapter’s end, the Brahmā host, Śakra, the Four Kings, and yakṣas vow to protect the sūtra, Dharma teachers, realms, and those who make offerings. The Buddha praises them, and the assembly joyfully receives the teaching; only in the next chapter do the Four Heavenly Kings begin to observe gods and humans. This records only that the Four Kings already appear in the present protection-of-circulation passage and does not mix in the content of the following chapter prematurely.
In this carrying forward, the chapter turns the contemplated emptiness of the preceding chapter into a question about the right practice of awakening, then brings reliance upon the dharma-realm, neither identity nor difference, and provisional formation through conditions into receiving, prediction, renewed arousal of the mind, upholding the sūtra, and protecting the Dharma. In textual transmission, the received Dharmakṣema recension has no such chapter, while Paramārtha’s supplementary chapter and Yijing’s recension each have a complete text. Doctrinally, the wording of each recension and the ancient master’s self-attributed judgments are placed side by side; the absence of a chapter from one version is not made into a separate value judgment.
VIII. Placement of the Editions
- The translated and annotated text takes Yijing’s T16n0665 as its base. Chapter title 0425a06, body 0425a07–0426c24, and following chapter title 0426c25.
- Baogui’s composite T16n0664 titles it “Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows,” Chapter 9, at 0380a16. The chapter attribution 「梁三藏真諦譯」—“Translated by the Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha of Liang” stands at 0380a17, and the chapter body is 0380a18–0381c29; the next chapter title does not appear until 0382a08.
- Baogui’s preface at 0359b20–b24 lists the three recensions of Dharmakṣema, Jñānagupta, and Paramārtha and identifies “Reliance on Emptiness, Fulfillment of Vows” as the fourth of Paramārtha’s four supplementary chapters. This is textual evidence and is not used to judge the chapter’s doctrinal standing.
- The received T16n0663 has nineteen chapters. “Emptiness,” Chapter 5, at 0340a07 is followed directly by “The Four Heavenly Kings,” Chapter 6, at 0340c16, and finally “Entrustment,” Chapter 19, at 0358a02; the complete text likewise has no chapter title, figures, four similes, or prediction name from the present chapter. Together the three layers establish the negative proposition that the received Dharmakṣema text has no such chapter; zero search results do not alone constitute proof.
- The note 「梵本缺此品」—“the Sanskrit manuscript lacks this chapter” under the title in Yijing’s recension shows only that the Sanskrit manuscript used by the Taishō editors lacked it. It is evidence from one Sanskrit witness and is not extended to every Sanskrit manuscript. The asterisked note at T664’s attribution records only the presence or absence of the attribution in different editions.
- T664 and T665 have nineteen alignable event blocks from the goddess’s request through the gods’ vow to protect. Every addition and omission, original graph, difference of word order and name, number, and ending is listed in Topic II. T665 adds the closing Buddha-praise and the assembly’s joyful reception; T664 ends after the vow to protect.
- Huizhao’s T39n1788 has a principal commentary on this chapter: chapter title 0276b16, commentary 0276b17–0286b07, and following chapter title 0286b14. Its internal alternatives concerning stages, the three natures, four similes, magician, mental and associated mental factors, means in the six perfections, and the seven treasures are fully recorded in Topic III; every comparative statement remains attributed to Huizhao’s judgment.
- Zhiyi’s Profound Meaning and Words and Phrases, Zhili’s Supplementary Notes on the Profound Meaning, and Jizang’s Commentary have no line-by-line passage on this chapter. Their literary form, chapter count, adjacent chapter sequence, and textual basis are separately listed in Topic IV. Absence is recorded only as a textual fact and not as doctrinal rejection.
The presence or absence of the chapter across three recensions, the complete textual differences between the two extant chapter bodies, Huizhao’s multiple explanations within one commentary, and the absence of a line-by-line passage among the other ancient masters each occupy a different level of evidence. The apparatus preserves them separately: zero results do not replace chapter sequence; one note about a Sanskrit manuscript is not projected across all witnesses; a commentator’s comparative statement does not erase alternatives within the same commentary; and the following chapter is not used to supplement this one. Only with those distinctions can the chapter’s entire arc—from reliance upon the dharma-realm through protection of circulation—be verified in both transmission and doctrine.