金光明最勝王經 無染著陀羅尼品第十三

Śāriputra asks what a dhāraṇī means, yet within his question he first says that it is neither a location nor a non-location. The Buddha then unfolds the answer in full: it is neither a dharma nor a non-dharma; neither past, future, nor present; neither a matter nor a non-matter; neither a condition nor a non-condition; neither an activity nor a non-activity. No dharma arises, and no dharma ceases.

After seven sets of negations, then, why is it still taught and still upheld?

The Buddha does not let the exchange end in silence. Precisely in order to benefit bodhisattvas, he says, this explanation is still made. He then establishes, one by one, the dhāraṇī’s efficacy, right path, purport of principle, and power, as well as the qualities, prohibitions, training, hidden intention, and birthplace of all buddhas. Continuous negation does not mean that nothing need be said. The absence of a single affirmative definition does not mean that there is no sequence one can practice.

Śāriputra immediately asks the Buddha to proclaim it, because bodhisattvas who can abide in it do not retreat from unsurpassed awakening, accomplish right vows, attain non-reliance and eloquence from their own nature, attain rare things, and abide on the noble path. The Buddha then names in turn those who attain the Dharma, those who support them, and those who hear and uphold it. A bodhisattva who attains this Dharma is to be honored; to make offerings to, serve, and supply that bodhisattva is to make offerings to a buddha. Other people who hear, uphold, recite, and give rise to faithful understanding should likewise receive reverence and offerings.

Only then does the Buddha proclaim the transmitted Han sounds of the dhāraṇī. The sūtra does not assign a newly invented meaning to every syllable.

After the proclamation, the text names a long expanse of time: one eon, a hundred eons, a thousand eons, and a hundred thousand eons, throughout which right vows have no end. The body is not harmed by blades or clubs, poison, water, fire, or ferocious animals. Even if someone filled ten asaṃkhyeyas of trichiliocosms with the seven treasures and also honored the buddhas for innumerable eons with the finest clothing, food, drink, and every kind of offering, the sūtra still compares this with the merit of upholding even one phrase of the dhāraṇī.

Twice the chapter speaks of 『母』—“mother.” At the beginning the dhāraṇī is called the mother of bodhisattvas; at the end it is called the mother of the buddhas of the past, future, and present. The sūtra does not invent a separate scene around the image. It lets us see only that this Dharma gate is not a name offered merely for conceptual understanding: it keeps vows from retreating, practice from breaking off, and people truly engaged in receiving and upholding it.

Why, then, after seven sets of negations is it still taught and still upheld? Because the text does not treat negation as the end of practice. It goes on to speak of benefit, establishment, attainment, offering, and correct upholding. Śāriputra first asks; the Buddha teaches for the sake of benefit; and finally Śāriputra and the assembly greatly rejoice and all vow to uphold it. The question is not sealed by a single affirmative definition. At the moment they willingly uphold the teaching, however, it becomes a cultivation they can continue to enact.

A vernacular rendering of Chapter 13, “The Stainless Dhāraṇī,” from fascicle seven of Yijing’s Tang translation of The Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King. The transmitted Han transcription of the dhāraṇī is preserved exactly as it appears in the base text: it is neither translated nor regularized.

The Stainless Dhāraṇī Is the Dharma Gate Cultivated by Bodhisattvas and Upheld by Bodhisattvas of the Past

At that time, the World-Honored One told the Venerable Śāriputra: “There is now a Dharma gate called the Stainless Dhāraṇī. It is a practice cultivated by bodhisattvas, a teaching received and upheld by bodhisattvas of the past, and the mother of bodhisattvas.”

When the World-Honored One had spoken, the Venerable Śāriputra addressed the Buddha: “World-Honored One, what is the meaning expressed by ‘dhāraṇī’? World-Honored One, a dhāraṇī is neither a location nor a non-location.”

The Buddha praised Śāriputra: “Excellent, excellent! Śāriputra, within the Great Vehicle you have already been able to arouse aspiration, understand the Great Vehicle through faith, and honor the Great Vehicle. As you have said, a dhāraṇī is neither a location nor a non-location; neither a dharma nor a non-dharma; neither past, future, nor present; neither a matter nor a non-matter; neither a condition nor a non-condition; neither an activity nor a non-activity. No dharma arises, and no dharma ceases.

“Nevertheless, this explanation is made for the benefit of bodhisattvas. This dhāraṇī is established in terms of efficacy, the right path, the purport of principle, and power. It is the qualities of all buddhas, the prohibitions of all buddhas, what all buddhas train in, the hidden intention of all buddhas, and the birthplace of all buddhas. It is therefore called the most wondrous Dharma gate of the Stainless Dhāraṇī.”

None of the Attainments of Abiding in This Dharma Is Omitted

When the Buddha had finished, Śāriputra again requested the teaching: “World-Honored One, I only ask the Well-Gone One to teach me this dhāraṇī Dharma. If bodhisattvas can abide in it, first, they will no longer retreat from unsurpassed awakening; second, they will accomplish right vows; third, they will attain non-reliance; fourth, they will attain eloquence from their own nature; fifth, they will attain rare things; and sixth, they will abide on the noble path. All six arise through attaining this dhāraṇī.”

The Buddha again praised him: “Excellent, excellent! So it is, so it is! It is as you say. If a bodhisattva attains this dhāraṇī, one should know that this person does not differ from a buddha. If someone makes offerings to, honors, serves, and supplies this bodhisattva, one should know that this is the same as making offerings to a buddha.

“Śāriputra, if other people hear this dhāraṇī, receive and uphold it, recite it, and give rise to faithful understanding, they too should receive the same reverence and offerings and should be regarded as not different from a buddha. Through these causes and conditions, they will attain the unsurpassed fruit.”

The World-Honored One Proclaims the Transmitted Han Sounds of the Dhāraṇī

At that time, the World-Honored One proclaimed the dhāraṇī before the assembly. What follows preserves the base text’s Han transcription, full-width spaces, and interlinear notes exactly; it is neither translated nor regularized:

「怛姪他　刪陀喇儞　嗢多喇儞　蘇三鉢囉底瑟恥哆　蘇那麼　蘇鉢喇底瑟恥哆鼻逝也　跋羅　薩底也　鉢喇底慎若　蘇阿　嚧訶　慎若那末底　嗢波彈儞　阿伐那末底　阿毘師彈儞　阿鞞毘耶訶囉　輸婆　伐底　蘇尼室唎多〔引〕薄虎郡社〔引〕阿毘婆䭾〔引〕莎訶」—the dhāraṇī’s transmitted Han sound sequence.

Inexhaustible Right Vows, Freedom from Bodily Harm, and the Comparison of Merit

The Buddha next told Śāriputra: “These are the phrases of the Stainless Dhāraṇī. If a bodhisattva can abide well in it and uphold it correctly, one should know that throughout one eon, a hundred eons, a thousand eons, or a hundred thousand eons, the right vows made by that bodhisattva will have no end. The bodhisattva’s body will not be harmed by blades or clubs, poison, water, fire, or ferocious animals.”

The Buddha explained the reason: “Śāriputra, this Stainless Dhāraṇī is the mother of the buddhas of the past, the mother of the buddhas of the future, and the mother of the buddhas of the present.

“Śāriputra, suppose that someone filled ten asaṃkhyeyas of trichiliocosms with the seven treasures and gave those treasures to the buddhas, and also honored the buddhas for innumerable eons with the finest clothing, food and drink, and every kind of offering. Suppose another person could receive and uphold even a single phrase of this dhāraṇī. The merit generated by the latter would be twice as great as the former offering.

“Why is this? Śāriputra, it is because this profound Dharma gate of the Stainless Dhāraṇī is the mother of all buddhas.”

When the World-Honored One had taught this Dharma gate, the Venerable Śāriputra and the whole assembly heard it, greatly rejoiced, and all vowed to receive and uphold it.

At the chapter’s very beginning, a Dharma gate is entrusted to Śāriputra. It has a name—the Stainless Dhāraṇī—and is a teaching cultivated by bodhisattvas and upheld by bodhisattvas of the past. Yet Śāriputra’s next question asks precisely what meaning this name expresses.

The Buddha’s answer is unusual. He speaks seven consecutive sets of negations, yet he does not therefore cease speaking. Instead, he says explicitly that this explanation is made in order to benefit bodhisattvas. The entire chapter advances within this tension: from asking about meaning to upholding, and from paired negations to inexhaustible right vows.

One Dharma Gate Placed at Once in the Present, the Past, and the Position of Mother of Bodhisattvas

The World-Honored One tells the Venerable Śāriputra that a Dharma gate now exists called the Stainless Dhāraṇī. He states three things in succession: it is a teaching cultivated by bodhisattvas, a teaching received and upheld by bodhisattvas of the past, and the mother of bodhisattvas.

Present cultivation and past upholding show that this Dharma gate is more than a name appearing for the first time. The text also calls it 『母』—“mother”—but constructs no further simile here and explains no scene of giving birth. It simply places 『是菩薩母』—“it is the mother of bodhisattvas”—at the position of the Dharma gate’s importance for bodhisattvas. Near the chapter’s end, it will speak again of the mother of the buddhas of the three times, so the opening and close illuminate one another.

Śāriputra immediately asks what meaning the term dhāraṇī expresses. At the same time he proposes that a dhāraṇī is neither a location nor a non-location. The question thus asks more than the literal meaning of a name: it has already brought the first pair of negations before the Buddha.

This opening also fixes the chapter’s principal persons and actions with great clarity. The World-Honored One is the teacher; the Venerable Śāriputra asks for the Dharma and requests its proclamation; and bodhisattvas are the subjects who cultivate and attain it. Only at the chapter’s end do the listeners expand from Śāriputra alone to Śāriputra and the whole assembly. The speaker does not change midway, nor does the text expand the identity of the practitioners into other classes. An exchange that begins by naming the Dharma ends in a shared vow to uphold it.

The verbs at the opening already reveal three temporal levels: a Dharma gate is now present, bodhisattvas cultivate it now, and bodhisattvas of the past once upheld it. 『是菩薩母』—“it is the mother of bodhisattvas”—immediately follows these three statements and closes the passage. Each placement belongs to the scripture itself. One cannot remember only the Dharma gate’s name while omitting who cultivates it, who upholds it, and how it is finally named.

Not One of the Seven Sets of Negations Can Be Reduced to 『什麼都不是』—“It Is Nothing at All”

The Buddha first praises Śāriputra for already being able to arouse aspiration within the Great Vehicle, understand it through faith, and honor it. He then confirms Śāriputra’s formulation. What follows is not the vague 『皆非』—“all are negated”—but seven ordered sets of statements.

First, it is neither a location nor a non-location. Second, it is neither a dharma nor a non-dharma. Third, it is neither past, future, nor present. Fourth, it is neither a matter nor a non-matter. Fifth, it is neither a condition nor a non-condition. Sixth, it is neither an activity nor a non-activity. Seventh, no dharma arises, and no dharma ceases.

The scripture lists location, dharma, the three times, matter, condition, activity, arising, and cessation one by one. If the reader retains only 『一切皆非』—“everything is negated”—the actual content of each set is swallowed up. If only the first half of each set is retained, the immediately following second half is lost. The first task here is to let all seven sets stand complete in their original order.

The syntax of the seven is not entirely uniform. The five sets concerning location, dharma, matter, condition, and activity take paired, opposed forms. The set concerning the three times lists past, future, and present in succession. The final set directly says that no dharma arises and no dharma ceases.

Before answering, the Buddha also affirms Śāriputra’s threefold attitude toward the Great Vehicle: he can already arouse aspiration, understand through faith, and honor it. These three are not interpretations of the seven negations, but praise offered before the Buddha formally answers. The movement into “as you have said” and the seven sets begins only after arousal, faithful understanding, and honor directed toward the Great Vehicle; this progression must not be skipped.

But the Buddha does not make ineffability the period at the end of the passage. He immediately says that this explanation is still made for the benefit of bodhisattvas. Speech is then established through four items—efficacy, the right path, the purport of principle, and power—and followed by five more: the qualities, prohibitions, training, hidden intention, and birthplace of all buddhas. Neither the four nor the five is replaced by a generic label. Only then is the teaching named the most wondrous Dharma gate of the Stainless Dhāraṇī.

The chapter thus does not cancel the Dharma gate, its efficacy, and its cultivation simply because it first sets out seven negations. The scripture’s own sequence is this: after the paired negations, it explicitly speaks of benefiting bodhisattvas; that statement of benefit takes form in four aspects of establishment, five aspects belonging to the buddhas, and the name of the Dharma gate. The inability to fix it in one proposition does not deprive what is said of its sequence.

The four and five also occupy distinct syntactic positions. Efficacy, the right path, the purport of principle, and power occur before 『安立』—“established.” The qualities, prohibitions, training, hidden intention, and birthplace of all buddhas occur after 『即是』—“it is precisely.” The first list has four items and the second five. The scripture neither merges the lists nor says that items on either side may be omitted.

What Śāriputra Requests Is the Complete Attainment of Bodhisattvas after They Abide in the Teaching

When Śāriputra again asks the Buddha to proclaim the dhāraṇī, he does not seek merely to hear a sequence of sounds. Within his request he already identifies six attainments of bodhisattvas who can abide in this Dharma: they no longer retreat from unsurpassed awakening, accomplish right vows, attain non-reliance, attain eloquence from their own nature, obtain rare things, and abide on the noble path. All six arise through attaining this dhāraṇī, and none is replaced by another.

The Buddha confirms his words with two declarations of “excellent” and two of “so it is.” A bodhisattva who attains this dhāraṇī, he says, should be known as 『與佛無異』—“not different from a buddha.” To make offerings to, honor, serve, and supply this bodhisattva is to make offerings to a buddha. The text then widens its scope to other listeners: anyone who hears this dhāraṇī, receives and upholds it, recites it, and gives rise to faithful understanding should receive the same reverence and offerings, be 『與佛無異』—“not different from a buddha”—and through these causes and conditions attain the unsurpassed fruit.

The sequence visible in the scripture is first a bodhisattva who attains the dhāraṇī, then the person who makes offerings to that bodhisattva, and then other people who hear, uphold, recite, and give rise to faithful understanding. Practitioner, supporter, and hearer-upholder each has a distinct place. One cannot retain only 『受持者有功德』—“the upholder has merit”—and let all the other persons disappear.

The acts of support are themselves listed in full: offering, honoring, serving, and supplying. For the other listeners, the text again gives a complete list: hearing, receiving and upholding, reciting, and giving rise to faithful understanding. The first list describes how another person treats a bodhisattva who has attained the Dharma; the second describes how listeners themselves approach the dhāraṇī. They are not the same list, but both are connected to reverence, offerings, and the unsurpassed fruit.

Śāriputra’s six requested attainments also correspond to the later display of excellence. The request first speaks of accomplishing right vows; the later passage extends the time to one eon, a hundred eons, a thousand eons, and a hundred thousand eons and says that those right vows have no end. The request first says that a bodhisattva can abide; the later passage speaks again of abiding well and upholding correctly. This is an internal connection between two passages in the same chapter; no meaning from outside the text is needed to perceive it.

『與佛無異』—“not different from a buddha”—also has a precise context in this chapter: it is spoken in connection with attaining the dhāraṇī, receiving reverent offerings, and attaining the unsurpassed fruit.

The Transmitted Sound Sequence Stands after the Request to Teach and before the Display of Excellence

After confirming Śāriputra’s words, the Buddha formally proclaims the dhāraṇī. The scripture preserves an entire passage of ancient Han transcription without explaining each syllable or translating it into a sequence of modern meanings. What it preserves is the order of its graphs and sounds, its full-width spaces, and its interlinear notes.

The sound sequence does not stand alone within the chapter. Before it come the name of the Dharma gate, the seven sets of negations, the four aspects of establishment, the five aspects belonging to the buddhas, the six attainments, and the acts of offering and hearing-upholding. After it come inexhaustible right vows, freedom from bodily harm, the motherhood of the buddhas of the three times, and the comparison of merit. The proclamation is placed after Śāriputra’s request has been confirmed and before the excellence of upholding is displayed; both sides remain connected through his exchange with the Buddha.

Before the sound sequence, the text says only that the World-Honored One then proclaimed the dhāraṇī. Afterward, the Buddha again calls the sequence 『此無染著陀羅尼句』—“these phrases of the Stainless Dhāraṇī.” The two statements clearly enclose the sounds within the dhāraṇī.

This placement also means that 『受持』—“receiving and upholding”—is more than remembering a sequence of sounds. The preceding text has already spoken of abiding, faithful understanding, recitation, and offering; the following passage speaks together of abiding well and upholding correctly.

From One Eon to a Hundred Thousand Eons: Right Vows, Bodily Protection, and the Comparison Each Remain Complete

After the proclamation, the Buddha calls these the phrases of the Stainless Dhāraṇī. If a bodhisattva can abide well and uphold correctly, then throughout one eon, a hundred eons, a thousand eons, and even a hundred thousand eons, the right vows that bodhisattva makes will have no end. The four scales of time increase successively, and the claim is that the right vows remain inexhaustible through them.

One eon, a hundred eons, a thousand eons, and a hundred thousand eons are all introduced in sequence by the same graph 『若』—“whether.” The text says that right vows remain inexhaustible throughout these durations; it does not state how many new vows are formed in each eon or provide a total number of vows.

The scripture also lists five external sources from which the body will suffer no harm: blades or clubs, poison, water, fire, and ferocious animals.

The Buddha explains the reason for these two benefits: the Stainless Dhāraṇī is the mother of buddhas of the past, the mother of buddhas of the future, and the mother of buddhas of the present. Each of the three times is named separately. By not hurriedly reducing them to 『三世諸佛母』—“mother of the buddhas of the three times”—one can see how the mother of bodhisattvas at the opening corresponds to the mother of buddhas here.

The inexhaustibility of right vows and freedom from bodily harm are adjacent yet distinct sentences. The first concerns vows and lists four durations; the second concerns the body and lists five kinds of harm. The scripture does not rewrite them as one kind of benefit. Only the following “why is this?” gathers both beneath the motherhood of the buddhas of the past, future, and present.

The final comparison also has two clearly defined sides. On one side, someone fills ten asaṃkhyeyas of trichiliocosms with the seven treasures and gives them to the buddhas, then honors them for innumerable eons with the finest clothing, food, drink, and every kind of offering. On the other side, someone can receive and uphold even a single phrase of this dhāraṇī. The text says that the merit produced by the latter is twice that of the former because this profound Dharma gate is the mother of all buddhas.

This does not disparage every act of generosity or every offering. It is a specific comparison made according to the quantities, offered goods, recipients, duration, and single phrase of upholding explicitly named in this chapter. If the seven treasures, the buddhas, clothing, food and drink, innumerable eons, or the single phrase upheld were omitted, the shape of the comparison would change.

The chapter opens no new theory at its end. After hearing the Dharma, the Venerable Śāriputra and the whole assembly greatly rejoice and all vow to receive and uphold it. At first Śāriputra asks what the phrases mean; at the end he and the assembly vow to uphold them. The seven sets of negations in between do not interrupt action but lead throughout to the request, hearing, abiding, and continued upholding.

Seeing Stainlessness through the Eye of Consciousness-Only

Everything above has followed what the “Stainless Dhāraṇī” chapter itself says. The Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light, the Supreme King by the Ci’en master Huizhao offers another mirror through the lens of consciousness-only. The doctrinal divisions, three natures, two truths, stages, and classifications of cultivation below all belong to an old master’s interpretation: the mirror is not the scripture.

The commentator begins with three approaches—the chapter’s occasion, the explanation of its name, and the resolution of difficulties—and then divides the chapter itself into six parts: the Buddha identifies its name and theme; question and answer address name and substance; Śāriputra asks the Buddha to set it forth; the Buddha praises him before proclaiming it; the Buddha displays its excellence and exhorts cultivation; and the assembly hears the teaching, rejoices, and studies it. Huizhao reads three neighboring chapters as three modes of protection: the preceding chapter protects and supports through offerings; this chapter protects practitioners so that they leave defilement and do not retreat; and the next protects them so that they leave obstructions and obtain what they seek. This is the commentator’s navigation, not a reason for the chapter division stated by the scripture itself.

The commentary does not adjudicate the dhāraṇī as belonging uniquely to one class. Huizhao first reads it as a dhāraṇī that enables bodhisattvas to attain patience regarding the non-arising of dharmas, then proposes a spell-formula of retention, and finally permits both to apply because the scripture does not distinguish between them. He explains “stainless” through the most purified dharma-realm and freedom from defilement, abiding, and attachment. His judgment concerning the old title 〈銀主〉 remains one ancient interpretation and cannot be used to delete or alter the title of another Han translation.

In the mirror, the seven sets of negations are read successively as existence and emptiness, what can and cannot be expressed, the three times, matter and principle, conditioned and unconditioned, permanent and impermanent, and characteristic and non-characteristic. The overall judgment likewise retains several paths: they may be read through the perfectly-accomplished nature, through the wholly-imagined and ultimate truth, through negation and affirmation according to the two truths, or across all three natures. The commentary gathers the sūtra’s purport under the thought of true ultimate truth in which the way of words is cut off, yet preserves all these branching routes rather than deciding on a single meaning for the reader.

For the four aspects of establishment, Huizhao explains efficacy through its function of attaining the fruit, the right path through right principle free from extremes, the purport of principle through the meaning of the Dharma upheld, and power through the Dharma’s potency. He then matches the five aspects belonging to the buddhas with qualities, freedom from faults, what is studied, the profound and hidden, and the birthplace of a buddha-body. All these item-by-item supplements belong to the mirror.

For the attainments requested by Śāriputra, Huizhao first explains six items, then retains an alternative that reads non-reliance together with eloquence from one’s own nature and thus totals five. He also preserves both a general allocation and an item-by-item allocation to stages. 『與佛無異』—“not different from a buddha”—is limited by future certain attainment and equality in the principle realized; it does not directly equate an upholder’s present stage of fruition with buddhahood.

When displaying excellence and exhorting cultivation, Huizhao explains abiding well by taking the dhāraṇī as what one relies upon, and correct upholding as practices that arise in reliance upon it. He further allocates correct receiving and correct upholding to wisdom from hearing and wisdom from reflection and cultivation. Inexhaustible right vows belong to inward retention; freedom from harm by blades or clubs, poison, water, fire, and ferocious animals belongs to freedom from invasive external conditions. All these classifications remain within the attributed mirror.

Looking back through the mirror, the chapter neither uses the severing of the path of words to cancel cultivation nor uses benefit and protection to fix the meaning of its phrases. The commentator lets the layered readings of the seven negations, the multiple allocations of the six attainments, and the internal and external benefits remain distinguishable. The scripture itself continues by carrying forward from question to teaching, hearing, and upholding. The mirror clarifies paths of meaning; the sūtra remains at the center.