金光明最勝王經 · 名相Glossary

BhagavānYijing’s common introduction reads 「一時薄伽梵」—“at one time, the Bhagavān” 〔T16n0665 0403a07〕, while the other two recensions read “at one time, the Buddha.” The honorific used by each recension is returned to that recension.

The most purified, profound dharma-realmThe sūtra directly calls this the sphere of the buddhas and the dwelling place of the Tathāgata. Huizhao interprets “most purified” as freedom from the two obstructions, “profound” as not shared with the two vehicles, and “dharma-realm” as the intrinsic nature of all dharmas 〔T39n1788 0184a14〕. The scriptural sentence and the commentary’s interpretation illumine one another while remaining in distinct layers.

Perfection of the introduction and attestation of trustHuizhao identifies the first and the perfection of the audience as the common introduction and attestation of trust, while identifying the remainder as the specific introduction and occasioning 〔T39n1788 0183c25〕. Zhiyi separately explains introduction through the three meanings of ordering the opening, narration, and occasioning; Jizang divides it into the trust-attesting and occasioning introductions. Each terminology has its own boundaries of analysis.

LicchaviThe sūtra lists 580 million Licchavi youths. Huizhao preserves variant transcriptions and accounts of their social identity: 「舊云離車或云離咕毘，今云利車毘，有云王種，有云婆羅門姓。」—“Two earlier Han transcriptions were used; the present text uses a third. Some say the Licchavis are of royal stock, while others say they belong to a brahmin clan” 〔T39n1788 0189a27〕. He further says, 「或是王種亦名長者，如祇域長者。」—“Alternatively, they are of royal stock and are also called elders, like the elder Jīvaka” 〔T39n1788 0189b01〕.

GaruḍaThe sūtra reads 「復有四萬九千揭路茶王，香象勢力王而為上首」—“There were also forty-nine thousand garuḍa kings, headed by the king Fragrant-Elephant Power” 〔T16n0665 0403c26〕. Huizhao says, 「鳥王眾：此云妙翅，下隨舊譯亦云金翅。」—“The assembly of bird kings: the term means wondrous-winged; below, following the older translation, it is also rendered golden-winged” 〔T39n1788 0190a02〕. The king Fragrant-Elephant Power further receives three explanations: power like a fragrant elephant, power able to terrify fragrant elephants, and a reading in which bird and elephant are separate classes 〔T39n1788 0190a03〕.

The afternoon and the ritual approach to the BuddhaThe śrāvakas, bodhisattvas, and subsequently listed assemblies repeatedly approach the Buddha in the afternoon. The first complete description of the ritual is 「各於晡時從定而起，往詣佛所，頂禮佛足，右遶三匝，退坐一面。」—“Each emerged from samādhi in the afternoon, went to the Buddha, bowed at the Buddha’s feet, circumambulated him three times to the right, withdrew, and sat to one side” 〔T16n0665 0403a18〕. Huizhao analyzes this into four levels—time of arrival, emergence from samādhi, approach to the Buddha, and deportment upon arrival 〔T39n1788 0186b24〕. The fourfold analysis belongs to the commentary; the sequence of actions belongs to the sūtra.

Recited verse and responsive verseHuizhao asks and answers: 「問：諷誦、應頌，二頌何別？答：應頌之頌是教，諷誦之誦是言。」—“Question: what is the difference between recited verse and responsive verse? Answer: the ‘verse’ in responsive verse is teaching, while the ‘recitation’ in recited verse is speech” 〔T39n1788 0190b04〕. The forty-eight verse lines following the prose form twenty-four verses, with two lines to each verse.

The measure of the Tathāgata’s life; this chapter teaches that none can reckon it

The questioning bodhisattva; Yijing and Dharmakṣema use different names

The standard Tang rendering of nirvāṇa; Huizhao preserves the ancient transcription as evidence

Nirvāṇa and relics are taught to remove the two obstructions of slighting the Buddha and indolence

The third of the ten dharmas; scriptural ground for transformation of the basis

The first of the ten dharmas; the two obstructions’ complete severance is nirvāṇa

The sixth item in the second set of ten; a figurative name showing that afflictions are not the master

The ninth of the ten Tathāgata practices; the Tathāgata’s omniscient wisdom without discrimination

A simile for the rarity of buddhas’ appearance in the world

The basis for provisionally manifesting nirvāṇa and leaving relics

The body that appears in response to sentient beings’ intent, realm, and conduct, at the appropriate time and place.

The body that teaches ultimate truth to bodhisattvas and appears with the thirty-two marks through the power of original vows grounded in suchness and the wisdom of suchness.

Suchness and the wisdom of suchness alone: truly existent and the basis of the first two bodies.

The principle of suchness that is realized and the non-discriminating wisdom that realizes it.

The three characteristics that bind and obstruct ordinary beings; that is, the names of the three natures (Yijing uses the Xuanzang-lineage terminology).

The three levels of mind through which ordinary beings fail to reach the three bodies; when the three paths sever them, the three bodies are accordingly manifested.

Neither abiding in saṃsāra nor abiding in nirvāṇa; established on the basis of the three bodies.

The Tathāgatas’ mystery asked about by Ākāśagarbha: the three bodies.

The two illnesses removed by the responsive body: fear of saṃsāra and delight in nirvāṇa (following 「生死涅槃是一味」—“saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are of one taste”).

The numbered set of qualities exclusive to buddhas that manifests through great wisdom (the two editions agree).

Disclosing an offense to another so that it may be removed; the proper designation is disclosing offenses.

The proper title of this chapter.

The drum seen in the dream, from which the gāthā of repentance resounds.

Three layers within the eighty-four stanzas that separately clarify repentance for the three obstructions.

The Tiantai repentance practices, shared by lesser and great vehicles and removing the three obstructions.

The five branches of fault-abandoning conduct identified by the Sanlun tradition in this chapter.

The great-vehicle five heinous acts, not the account common to the three vehicles.

Three actions × three times × three kinds of retribution, arising from greed, anger, and delusion.

Celebrating others’ goodness in accord with it; faith, aspiration, and resolute understanding are its nature.

Karma itself is the obstruction; repentance and the other three practices can extinguish it.

An obstruction constituted by karma that impedes the noble path.

Four practices: confessing offenses, requesting, rejoicing, and dedication.

Requesting the buddhas to turn the Dharma wheel and not enter parinirvāṇa.

Benefits self and others, leaves the three realms, purifies the dharma-body, is inexhaustible, and severs ignorance.

Encompasses all dharmas, falls into neither eternalism nor annihilationism, and abides in the middle way.

Roots of goodness are cultivated without abiding in characteristics and shared with sentient beings toward right awakening.

The buddha encountered in the birth story who predicts that the woman Merit-Jewel Light will become Śākyamuni.

The Sahā world in Yijing’s newer Han transcription.

Mind of awakeningThe chapter first asks for its causes and then for its nature. The sūtra says that awakening, mind, sentient beings, and many verbal designations are unobtainable, yet immediately follows with ten causes, fifty dharmas, and the cultivation and realization of the ten grounds. “Unobtainable” therefore does not cancel practice. Huizhao’s 「但除其病，不無法故。」—“It only removes the illness; dharmas are not nonexistent.” (T39n1788 0253a12) makes clear that what is refuted is the illness of grasping, not the existence of dharmas altogether.

Ten causes of the mind of awakeningThe ten similes are paired in sequence with giving, ethical discipline, patience, vigorous effort, meditative concentration, wisdom, skillful and supreme knowledge, vow, power, and knowledge. Each simile both indicates a perfection and shows how the mind of awakening benefits sentient beings, bears wholesome dharmas, remains fearless and non-retrogressive, dispels darkness, crosses danger, purifies domains, adorns them, and reaches consecration.

Five dharmas of the ten perfectionsEvery perfection has five dharmas, making fifty in all. The sūtra’s list cannot be compressed into the phrase “cultivate the ten perfections.” Huizhao’s seven excellences form a framework for illuminating modes of practice; they do not replace the sūtra’s fifty items.

Seventeen meanings of perfectionThe sūtra explains perfection in seventeen levels: cultivating supreme benefit; completing profound knowledge; not grasping practice or non-practice; correctly contemplating birth and death and nirvāṇa; embracing fool and sage; revealing Dharma jewels; attaining unobstructed liberation; distinguishing the dharma realm and realm of sentient beings; reaching non-retrogression; completing acceptance of non-arising; maturing roots of goodness; accomplishing a buddha’s ten powers and other qualities; knowing birth and death and nirvāṇa as nondual; delivering all; subduing external challenges; turning the subtle Dharma wheel; and remaining without attachment, view, or burdensome affliction. The sequence opens from self-cultivation through buddhahood and benefit for beings.

GroundThe ten grounds are not ten isolated ranks. In this chapter every ground has a prior portent, a name and meaning, two kinds of ignorance, an ascendant perfection, a samādhi, and dhāraṇī protection. “Most purified” thus includes freedom from obstruction, cultivation, and protection.

Two kinds of ignoranceThe first through tenth grounds have twenty items, with two more added for the buddha ground. Huizhao gathers them under eleven obstructions, calling them obstructions in general and delusions specifically. Three forms survive in relation to the second ground: mistaken, guarded, and a graphic variant of mistaken transgression. Yijing reads 「微細學處誤犯無明」—“ignorance that mistakenly transgresses subtle training” (T16n0665 0419c24); the scriptural text quoted by Huizhao reads 「微細學處護犯無明」—“ignorance that guards transgression in subtle training” (T39n1788 0263a09); and his explanation reads 「性悞有所犯，初地未斷，入二地斷。」—“By nature one mistakenly commits a transgression; it is not severed on the first ground and is severed upon entering the second.” (T39n1788 0263a12) Each graph is returned to its own witness, without silent emendation or a ruling on right and wrong. The ninth ground likewise preserves “unobstructed” and “immeasurable” variants. Yijing reads 「於所說義及名句文此二無礙未善巧無明」—“ignorance that is not yet skillful in the two unobstructed understandings of the meanings taught and of names, phrases, and letters” (T16n0665 0420a05). Huizhao’s quotation reads 「於所說義及名句文此二無量未得善巧無明」—“ignorance that has not attained skill in these two immeasurables, the meanings taught and names, phrases, and letters” (T39n1788 0264a17), while his explanation says 「所說義，義無礙解。及名句文，法無礙解。於此二中未得自在，云未得善巧。」—“The meanings taught are unobstructed understanding of meaning; names, phrases, and letters are unobstructed understanding of Dharma. Not yet attaining mastery of these two is called not yet attaining skill.” (T39n1788 0264a19) Base text, quoted text, and commentary are recorded without adjudicating.

SamādhiEach of the ten arousals of mind produces a samādhi. These are gates of concentration for cultivating every ground and are also connected by the commentator with the practice ascendant among the ten perfections; they must not be treated as merely ten names.

DhāraṇīWhat is obtained on each ground in this chapter is mantra-retention, and each passage contains a name, formula, the many buddhas who spoke it, and its protective benefit. Hearing the sūtra later yields ten inexhaustible and undiminishing dhāraṇī gateways. The first set emphasizes protection on every ground; the second emphasizes hearing and teaching the sūtra and maturing sentient beings inexhaustibly and undiminishingly. The two groups must not be collapsed into one table.

Praise through the Lotus SimileThe lotus is the simile, while praise is the dharma illustrated. Flower and lotus may separately reveal cause and result, and emergence from mud without stain reveals freedom from defilement while one is still in a defiled stage. The simile also applies both to the pure mind, wisdom, and speech of the one who praises and to the Buddha’s qualities that are praised. Huizhao preserves two grammatical readings—“using the lotus as a simile to praise the Buddha” and “the words of praise themselves being called a lotus simile”—without adjudicating them into a single reading.

Single-mindedness“Single-mindedly” in the opening stanza does not refer only to one instant. Huizhao says: 「專注於境名為一心，非一剎那等。」—“Concentrated attention upon the object is called single-mindedness; it does not mean a single instant and so forth” (T39n1788 0269c16). Here body, speech, and mind are concentrated upon the buddhas of the three times and ten directions to whom homage is paid.

Form-body and name-bodyHuizhao treats fifteen stanzas as praising the form-body and five as praising the name-body. The form-body section differentiates the bodily marks, bodily light, and benefit for sentient beings; the name-body section differentiates the boundless number of buddhas, taking refuge and making offerings, and the inability of speech to exhaust their qualities.

Udumbara lotusHuizhao uses an ancient master’s transmitted phonetic form when explaining how difficult it is to encounter the buddhas and the vow to praise them. The name is recorded only as transmitted in the ancient commentary; no modern Sanskrit edition is used to reconstruct it anew.

DedicationKing Golden Dragon gives sentient beings the excellent merit gained by praising with body, speech, and mind and wishes that they may swiftly become buddhas. This stanza stands between the twenty stanzas of praise and fourteen stanzas of vows, ensuring that the merit of praising the Buddha is not retained for oneself.

Promise of predictionThis chapter says of the two sons only 「當授我所記」—“I shall bestow my prediction upon them” (T16n0665 0423b20). It promises a future prediction and does not give the buddha names in this chapter. The formal predictions of Wonderful Banner and the two sons occur in a later chapter and are not poured backward into the present narrative.

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

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

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

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

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

EmptinessThe title says “Reaffirming Emptiness,” while the opening prose says that emptiness is again clarified. The sūtra discloses emptiness passage by passage through the body, faculties, objects, consciousness, four great elements, ignorance, dependent arising, and five aggregates. Huizhao then explains the title through three meanings: emptiness itself as nature, the nature of emptiness, and the other-dependent as the nature of non-arising; he also says that only the two attachments are emptied, while the other-dependent and perfectly-accomplished are not emptied. The sūtra and commentary remain distinct layers.

Empty aggregate and six thievesThe sūtra says that the body is like an empty aggregate and that the six thieves depend upon it. Huizhao both explains the body through the instability of a mass of foam and reads “empty aggregate” as conditioned, false, and devoid of qualities; because the six faculties and six objects can serve as conditions that damage wholesome qualities, they are called thieves. The empty aggregate is not a haunt for external spirits, nor do the six thieves form a separate substantial entity apart from faculties and objects.

Non-arisingThe sūtra says of the great elements 「本非實有體無生」—“Originally not truly existent, their substance is unarisen” (T16n0665 0424b26). Huizhao explains, 「皆從緣起，無自然生，故云無生。」—“All arise from conditions and have no spontaneous arising; therefore they are called unarisen” (T39n1788 0274c17–c18). Conditioned arising and the absence of spontaneous arising are both preserved here; non-arising is not turned into a denial of every dependently arisen appearance.

IgnoranceThe sūtra says both 「無明自性本是無」—“the self-nature of ignorance is originally absent” and 「藉眾緣力和合有」—“through the power of many conditions, it exists in conjunction” (T16n0665 0424b28), then says it is named ignorance because right wisdom has been lost. Huizhao explains that it is not born from a spiritual self or an inherent nature but exists only through many conditions; Jizang separately reads it through suchness as pure mind and the simile of water and waves. Each explanation remains attached to its own master and does not replace another.

Non-dispersal emptinessThis name occurs only in Huizhao’s outline. His commentary assigns the stanza beginning 「我斷一切諸煩惱」—“I have severed all afflictions” (T16n0665 0424c05) to non-dispersal emptiness and explains its operation as abandoning neither saṃsāra nor nirvāṇa. The sūtra itself does not separately label this kind of emptiness.

Intrinsic-nature emptiness and original-nature emptinessHuizhao’s general outline says “intrinsic-nature emptiness,” while the line-by-line explanation of the nectar stanza says “original-nature emptiness.” Both original wordings remain where they occur; one term is not normalized into the other.

The two emptinesses of persons and dharmasFollowing Dharmakṣema’s recension, Zhiyi divides both object and contemplation into person-emptiness and dharma-emptiness. This is a Tiantai line-by-line outline; it is not transferred into Huizhao’s scheme of eight emptinesses or presented as a list explicitly stated by Yijing’s sūtra text.

NectarYijing’s recension has a city gate, vessel, true taste, and giving to the multitude of beings. The older recension additionally has a gate, vessel, city, chamber, and taste. Huizhao, Zhiyi, and Jizang correlate these differently. Whenever nectar is correlated with nirvāṇa, buddha-nature as practice, stages, or the three wisdoms of hearing, reflection, and cultivation, the explanation is explicitly identified as an ancient master’s judgment.

Reliance upon the dharma-realmThe 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-realmThe 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 seenThese 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 negationsThrough 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 conventionalThe 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 happilyIn 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.

SuoheYijing’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 nonpracticeThe 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 entityThe 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 dharmasThe 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.

Observing gods and humansThe sūtra presents as the concrete action the four kings’ vow to 「觀察擁護此贍部洲」—“observe and protect this continent of Jambudvīpa” (T16n0665 0427a19). Huizhao then distinguishes observing as illumination by wisdom and examining as discerning inspection, taking the four kings as observers and gods and humans as what is observed. Lexical meaning and commentary remain on separate levels.

Protectors of the worldThe four kings observe and protect Jambudvīpa through their pure divine eyes and yakṣa retinues, after which the sūtra immediately says, 「以此因緣，我等諸王，名護世者」—“For this reason, we heavenly kings are called protectors of the world” (T16n0665 0427a19). Huizhao further explains the name through propagation of right Dharma to transform sentient beings and through name and practice not being empty; this latter level is ancient commentary.

Awakening the Dharma teacherThe four kings say that they will go together to awaken and invite the bhikṣu Dharma teacher who upholds the sūtra, and then that the teacher will go to the realm through the awakening power of their supernormal abilities. The sūtra does not say whether this awakening occurs through a dream, visible appearance, or any other means. It is therefore rendered only as making the teacher aware and inviting the teacher; Zhiyi’s three methods—majestic power, visible appearance, and dream—remain explicitly attributed to him.

Bhikṣu, bhikṣuṇī, upāsaka, and upāsikāYijing’s chapter lists the fourfold community through its own set of transmitted Han forms; the Dharmakṣema and Combined recensions use their respective earlier Han forms. Each set remains with its own recension and is not substituted into Yijing’s text. The English uses the established Buddhist forms only as pronunciation aids for the anciently attested categories, not as a reconstruction that alters the Han witnesses.

When the person arrives, the Dharma followsThe sūtra says that when a bhikṣu Dharma teacher who upholds the sūtra reaches the realm, one should know that the sūtra has reached it too. Huizhao gathers this in 「人能弘道，人至法隨」—“A person can propagate the Way; when the person arrives, the Dharma follows” (T39n1788 0287b23). This does not identify a person with the sūtra; it is his explanation of how the sūtra-holder enables the Dharma to circulate.

Protecting the realmThe 『國』—“realm”—in the chapter title includes the ruler, retinue, people, cities, palaces, and territory. The scripture further treats circulation, hearing, offerings, the ten wholesome actions, nonaggression and nonplunder, compassion, and humility as causes of security. Huizhao additionally explains protection as defense that removes calamity and nurturing that increases merit and wisdom, and he takes protection of persons as extending to protection of the realm; the latter must remain attributed to the ancient commentary.

The current of right DharmaThe Four Kings say that when a ruler abandons the sūtra, the deities 『背甘露味，失正法流』—“turn away from the flavor of ambrosia and lose the current of right Dharma”; when the ruler propagates it, the divine hosts obtain the flavor of the ambrosia of Dharma. 『流』—“current”—corresponds to the scripture’s circulation, broad proclamation, continuity without interruption, and not quickly disappearing; it does not mean merely preserving a static scroll.

The fourfold communityThe present chapter lists bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās. Neither the vernacular nor the exposition may replace them only with a vague 『大眾』—“assembly”—nor may they add beneficiaries not listed by the scripture.

Dharma teacherThe scripture has the human ruler 『於法師所起大師想』—“regard the Dharma teacher as a great teacher”—and go outside the city to welcome that teacher; it also has the buddhas of the ten directions praise the Dharma teacher. At the latter location Huizhao preserves readings referring to the preacher, the ruler who makes offerings and supports circulation, and both locations as mutually inclusive. One reading cannot be used to erase the others.

Yama’s realmThe scripture lists it together with hells, hungry ghosts, and animals. Huizhao explains it by distinguishing the three evil destinies and principally including the ghost destiny, while separately citing an ancient treatise to resolve a difficulty. A contemporary rendering may use this supplement only when attributing it to the ancient commentary and may not expand it into direct scriptural speech.

Fragrant canopy and golden lightThe scripture says that incense smoke rises into empty space, transforms into canopies, emits golden light, and pervades divine palaces, the trichiliocosm, and buddha-lands in the ten directions. Huizhao uses faculty and object to explain 『香有金光』—“fragrance having golden light”—as golden-colored light manifested by the smoke supporting the fragrance; Zhiyi separately gives a contemplation-of-mind explanation. The literal level, the consciousness-only resolution, and the Tiantai contemplative interpretation are not mixed.

Dhāraṇī and spellThe chapter’s wish-fulfilling jewel method preserves several passages of ancient phonetic transcription, the sequence of recitation, and rules for offerings. The transcription is not translated, regularized, or reconstructed from a modern critical edition. Huizhao gives glosses such as Vaiśravaṇa, great, king, the Three Jewels, wealth, and giving only within the range witnessed by the ancient commentary; the phonetic graphs of the different texts are not altered by one another.

KārṣāpaṇaYijing’s base text and Huizhao’s quotation each contain an interlinear annotation whose graphs and punctuation are not wholly identical. They must be preserved separately. The annotation in Yijing’s text reads: 〔T16n0665 0431a23〕 一百迦利沙波拏〔此是根本梵音，惟目貝齒而隨方不定，或是貝齒，或是金銀銅鐵等錢，然摩揭陀現今通用一迦利沙波拏有一千六百貝齒，總數可以准知，若准物直隨處不定。若人持呪得成就者，獲物之時自知其數。有本云：每日與一百陳那羅，即金錢也。乃至盡形日日常得，西方求者多有神驗，除不至心也〕 — “One hundred kārṣāpaṇas [This is the original Sanskrit sound. It designates cowrie shells, but varies according to region: it may be cowrie shells, or coins of gold, silver, copper, iron, and so forth. In Magadha at present, one kārṣāpaṇa in common use consists of one thousand six hundred cowrie shells, from which the total can be calculated. If measured by the value of goods, it varies by place. When a person who upholds the spell attains accomplishment, upon obtaining the objects that person knows their number. Some witnesses say: each day he gives one hundred dīnāras, that is, gold coins. This continues every day to the end of one’s life. In the Western Regions, many who seek it obtain spiritual responses, except those who are not utterly sincere.]” Huizhao’s quoted annotation reads: 〔T39n1788 0294b12〕 一百迦利沙波拏〔此是根本梵音，唯見貝齒。而隨方不定，或是貝齒，或是金銀銅鐵等錢。然摩揭陀現今通用一迦利沙波拏有一千六百貝齒，總數可以準知。若準物直，隨處不定。若人持呪得成就者，獲物之時自知其數。有本云「每日與一百陳那羅」，即金錢也，乃至盡形日日常得。西方求者多有神驗，除不志心也〕 — “One hundred kārṣāpaṇas [This is the original Sanskrit sound. Only cowrie shells are seen. Yet it varies according to region: it may be cowrie shells, or coins of gold, silver, copper, iron, and so forth. In Magadha at present, one kārṣāpaṇa in common use consists of one thousand six hundred cowrie shells, from which the total can be calculated. If measured by the value of goods, it varies by place. When a person who upholds the spell attains accomplishment, upon obtaining the objects that person knows their number. Some witnesses say that each day he gives one hundred dīnāras; these are gold coins. This continues every day to the end of one’s life. In the Western Regions, many who seek it obtain spiritual responses, except those who are not utterly sincere.]”

The scripture and Huizhao’s quotation of the scriptureThe wording below belongs respectively to each text; the abbreviated form in the commentary cannot be written back into the base text:

「汝等應當勤加守護，令得安隱。」—“You should diligently increase your protection and cause him to obtain security” 〔T16n0665 0427b27〕

「能除眾苦、怨賊、飢饉及諸疾疫。」—“It can remove every suffering, hostile bandits, famine, and all illnesses and epidemics” 〔T16n0665 0427c03〕

「發向彼國欲為討罰。」—“[He] sets out toward that realm, intending to conduct a punitive expedition” 〔T16n0665 0427c24〕

「無有鬪戰繫縛等苦。」—“There is no suffering from battle, binding, and the like” 〔T16n0665 0428a10〕

「其土人民自生愛樂，上下和穆，猶如水乳」—“The people of that land themselves give rise to affection and happiness; those above and below are harmonious, like water and milk” 〔T16n0665 0428a11〕

StainlessYijing uses this as the name of the Dharma gate. Huizhao separately transmits the ancient sound-form 「仳[跳-兆+東]𪏭沙」—an ancient Han transcription 〔T39n1788 0296c13〕 and explains it as “Stainless.” The composite edition is titled “Silver Lord,” while its chapter body twice says “Non-Attached.” Both title and chapter-body name must be preserved.

DhāraṇīThe sūtra locates it through paired negations, establishment of the Dharma gate, sound transcription, upholding, and merit; it does not explain each sound-form word by word within the chapter. Huizhao preserves three readings: a dhāraṇī of patience regarding non-arising, a spell-formula of retention, and an interpretation permitting both. This edition does not choose one on behalf of the ancient commentary.

Efficacy, the right path, the purport of principle, and powerThe four are listed continuously in Yijing and cannot be contracted into the generic word “power.” Huizhao explains them respectively as the function of attaining the fruit, right principle free from extremes, the meaning of the Dharma upheld, and the Dharma’s potency. The composite edition instead renders them as enacted path, conjunction, power, and abiding. Each translation retains its own wording.

The qualities, prohibitions, training, hidden intention, and birthplace of all buddhasAll five are listed in sequence. The vernacular and exposition must not say merely “the Dharma of all buddhas” and swallow the remaining four. Interpretive correlations from the ancient commentary are used only where that source is named.

Mother of bodhisattvas and mother of the buddhas of the three timesAt the beginning, the Dharma gate 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 separately construct a reproductive simile or explain the words one by one. Both explicit statements of motherhood are therefore retained without adding a figurative explanation.

The sūtra text and Huizhao’s lemmataThe literal forms below each belong to their own textual witness. The abbreviated forms in the commentary are not used to alter Yijing’s main text:

「已能發起」—“already able to arouse aspiration” 〔0432c23〕

「刪陀喇儞」—transmitted Han sound-form 〔0433a14〕

「阿伐那末底」—transmitted Han sound-form 〔0433a17〕

「阿鞞毘耶訶囉」—transmitted Han sound-form 〔0433a18〕

「阿毘婆䭾〔引〕」—transmitted Han sound-form with lengthening note 〔0433a19〕

「此無染著陀羅尼句，若有菩薩」—“These phrases of the Stainless Dhāraṇī: if a bodhisattva…” 〔0433a21〕

Wish-Fulfilling JewelThe scripture names the dhāraṇī the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel. Huizhao transmits Zhenduo as “wish-fulfilling” and moni as “jewel,” while preserving the two explanations involving simile and Dharma. The available ancient explanation reaches only the simile in which the jewel can remove danger and fulfill what one seeks; no new etymological collation is made for sound-forms the ancient master does not explain.

Dhāraṇī and retentionAsked which of the four retentions this belongs to, Huizhao answers 「是呪陀羅尼」—“it is spell-formula dhāraṇī” (T39n1788 0299c07). The transmitted sound-forms of this chapter’s spells are not divided sound by sound into semantic glosses.

The Four Kings of Radiant LightningThe scripture gives all four directions and names: Ajieduo in the east, Shedilu in the south, Zhuduoguang in the west, and Suduomoni in the north. Huizhao explains only Ajieduo as “come,” Suduo as “such,” and moni, as above, as “jewel.” No contextual explanation is given for Shedilu or Zhuduoguang, so none is supplied here.

General and Particular Names of the SpellsThe Buddha’s and Avalokiteśvara’s proclamations both bear the name Wish-Fulfilling Jewel. Vajrapāṇi Lord of Secrets first calls his formula 「陀羅尼呪，名曰無勝」—“a dhāraṇī spell named Invincible” (T16n0665 0433c14), and later calls it 「我此神呪名曰無勝擁護」—“this spell of mine is called Invincible Protection” (0433c21). King Brahmā calls his 「我此神呪名曰梵治」—“this spell of mine is called Brahmā’s Cure” (0434a10). Lord Śakra calls his 「陀羅尼，名跋折羅扇儞」—“a dhāraṇī named Bazheluoshenni” (0434a14). The Four Heavenly Kings call theirs 「神呪，名施一切眾生無畏」—“a spell named Giving Fearlessness to All Beings” (0434a25). The five dragon kings call theirs 「如意寶珠陀羅尼」—“the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel dhāraṇī” (0434b03). Each name is preserved within its own passage; no one name is used to erase all the particular designations.

The transmitted character for accidental deathT665 uses the character 『抂』 in the expression 『抂死』 throughout this chapter rather than normalizing it to 『枉死』. Huizhao’s citations mostly use 『枉死』. Each witness retains its own character.

The Goddess of Great EloquenceHuizhao preserves the ancient sound transcription: 「梵云摩訶〔此云大〕薩羅悉知婆底〔此云辨才〕提婆仳〔此云天女〕。」—“In the Indic language: Mohe [this means great], Saluoxizhipodi [this means eloquence], Tipoqi [this means goddess]” 〔T39n1788 0301b10〕. This edition transmits only the sound transcription and Han explanations recorded by the ancient master and does not restore them from a modern critical edition.

The four kinds of unobstructed eloquenceThe scripture directly states eloquence in speech, words and meanings, awakening to understanding, and complete retention. Huizhao correlates them with unobstructed eloquence in expression, Dharma, meaning, and joyful exposition, while Jizang and Zhiyi make different sentence-level correlations following the older recension. All three masters see the four kinds, but the detailed correlations remain with their respective commentaries.

Dhāraṇī and complete retentionHuizhao says that retaining the four without forgetting is called the four complete retentions and encompasses mindfulness and wisdom. He further describes understanding as comprehending the four forms of unobstructedness and eloquence as expressing them. The scripture’s many formula passages preserve ancient sound transcriptions, full-width spaces, repeated syllables, variant graphs, rare characters, and interlinear notes; they are neither translated nor regularized.

Thirty-two aromatic medicinesYijing’s general marker in its original characters is 「當取香藥三十二味」—“one should obtain thirty-two aromatic medicines” 〔T16n0665 0434c13〕; no additional category names are invented. In order, the thirty-two items are changpu, niuhuang, muxuxiang, shexiang, xionghuang, hehunshu, baiji, xiongqiong, gouqigen, songzhi, guipi, xiangfuzi, chenxiang, zhantan, linglingxiang, dingzi, yujin, polügao, weixiang, zhuhuang, xidoukou, gansong, huoxiang, maogenxiang, chizhi, aina, anxixiang, jiezi, maqin, longhuaxu, baijiao, and qingmu. Their interlinear sound transcriptions also belong to the transmitted witness and are not replaced by modern pharmacological names.

Praise according to conventional truthKauṇḍinya explicitly says, 「我今更欲依世諦法讚彼勝妙辯才天女。」—“I now further wish to praise that supremely wondrous Goddess of Eloquence according to conventional truth” 〔T16n0665 0437a04〕. Huizhao explains, 「勝義絕言，故云依俗。」—“Ultimate meaning is beyond words; therefore it says according to the conventional” 〔T39n1788 0305a08〕. The former is directly stated by the scripture; the latter is the commentator’s judgment.

The four sciencesHuizhao explains the four sciences as the four Pituo treatises and in sequence interprets the science of lifespan, sacrificial science, leveling science, and technical science. He further associates the scriptural phrase 「幻化呪等悉皆通」—“she comprehends transformations, formula methods, and the like” 〔T16n0665 0437a26〕 with the fourth science. This is only the ancient commentary’s explanation of the name and is not expanded into a modern academic taxonomy.

Names in Part TwoFor the invocation passage, Huizhao preserves ancient explanations: Wuma means cessation; Sijiantuo means aggregates; Manasi means a compassionate mind; Feishuinü means many hands; Pimo corresponds to the older Bishoujiemo; Shili means auspiciousness; Shiliduomo means auspicious wisdom; Xili is said to have 「此無可翻」—“nothing by which it can be translated” 〔T39n1788 0307a09〕; and Helidi means blue-colored. This layer records only explanations already present in the ancient commentary and does not supplement names left unexplained.

True speech and the broad and long tonguePart Two makes the buddhas’ freedom from false speech over long eons, their broad and long tongues, and their ability to remove the burning heat of afflictions the basis for invoking eloquence. Huizhao divides true speech into cause, result, and rejoicing; the tongue into the cause of freedom from false speech and the result of the organ of speech; and benefit into the reason for invoking empowerment 〔T39n1788 0306b21–0306c02〕. This is the commentary’s division and is not added to the vernacular rendering as scriptural speech.

The Four Requisites and Other SupportsThe four requisites are food, clothing, bedding, and medicine. The sūtra additionally speaks of every other necessary support; Zhili’s line-by-line record likewise explains other resources as all supports beyond the four requisites. The general name “four requisites” therefore must not erase the sūtra’s other supports, and the enumeration of jewels must not be compressed into the single generic term “wealth.”

Three Spatial Terms and Three SuperknowledgesT665 gives, in order, whatever place is thought of, whatever direction is viewed, and whatever country is reached; both old recensions use “direction” for all three. Huizhao and Jizang further correlate them with three superknowledges. The present text preserves the base recension’s distinction among place, direction, and country; the three superknowledges appear only as the ancient commentators’ interpretive layer.

Increase adds to what was little; growth causes what did not previously exist to arise.

The seven precious things and four requisites are the commentator’s explanation of the title.

Different translated forms for the same northern heavenly king are reproduced in their original characters. The English reader uses Vaiśravaṇa as an identification aid, not to replace either Han witness.

Sound-transcription and translated meaning of the city name are preserved as alternate recensional forms.

Neither this chapter nor the ancient commentaries used here establish a separate material definition at this locus. The transmitted name is therefore retained without adding an unsupported explanation.

The scriptural name and commentary’s explanation remain distinct; this is not a word-by-word translation of the sounds of the formula.

The sūtra states the duration; the commentary determines the communities to which the prescription applies.

It is the finest share of what has been obtained, not a portion kept solely for oneself.

The remaining offerings are exchanged for their value and used to make offerings again. This follows the ancient master’s explanation without adding another procedure.

The sense of a dwelling place and the Dharma sense coexist in the ancient commentary.

T665’s chapter body places Firm and Steadfast before earth deity; T663 and T664 place earth deity before Firm and Steadfast

After hearing the Dharma, the earth deity receives its flavor and increases in majestic radiance

The earth deity causes the flavor of the earth to increase, followed by land, plants, crops, and what beings use

The chapter speaks both of the fourfold assembly ascending the seat to preach and of men, women, and members of the fourfold assembly upholding the dhāraṇī

The earth deity first gives the general designation “heart-formula,” then transmits three sequences of sounds and their respective recitation methods

Coincidence of the eighth day of the bright fortnight with the Busha constellation is the time the sūtra specifies for recitation

At the chapter’s end, the Buddha uses this name in praising the earth deity’s formula

The sound-form and translated name coexist in Yijing’s chapter and are not standardized into one form

The older translation “spirit” is not used to alter the base text

Belongs only to the names and meanings in the ancient commentaries on the older recension; it does not replace Sengshen’erye

Not normalized or reduced to a generic expression

Commentarial meaning enters only the Apparatus and mirror layer

The sūtra’s terms and the commentary’s correlations remain layered

The vernacular says only that this is a treatise on the right Dharma a king should follow; analysis of the individual words remains in the mirror of meanings.

The ancient master explicitly identifies the figure as Brahmā; removing suffering and giving happiness through compassion is attributed to Huizhao’s judgment.

The transcription is retained without silently altering its Chinese graph-form.

All four names retain the original graphs of T665; T1788’s 『旃荼羅』 is not used to alter them.

They mean checking and dealing with wrongdoing according to Dharma and are not contracted into arbitrary violence.

The vernacular retains the expression; the exposition sets Huizhao’s two explanations—“the three realms” and “human beings, animals, and the hundred grains”—side by side.

Following Huizhao’s 『食不資大』—“food does not nourish the great elements,” it says only that food cannot nourish the great elements.

The sūtra’s wording is read as giving up the body to propagate Dharma; the commentarial lemma 『忘身』—“forget the body”—is recorded separately without altering either witness.

Good-Born follows T665; Good-Collection in the two old translations is listed separately, and neither revises the other. The ancient reported forms remain reversible sound-forms, without modern reconstruction.

Jewel-Accumulation follows T665; Jewel-Darkness in the two old translations is separately preserved. The ancient reported forms remain reversible sound-forms, without modern reconstruction.

This chapter has 128 seven-character lines, four lines to a stanza, for a total of thirty-two stanzas.

Refers to the profound sphere of the Buddha’s practice upheld by Jewel-Accumulation; the commentary’s lemmata do not replace the sūtra’s characters.

The transmitted name is retained; the old translations’ king of wish-fulfilling jewels and wish-fulfilling jewel of jade are listed separately.

Refers to the bhikṣu saṅgha within the teaching left after Buddha Jeweled Topknot’s extinction.

Huizhao’s parallel explanations through the characteristic and nature of wisdom, and through suchness and the four wisdoms, all remain as the commentarial mirror.

The Vernacular explains it as a record of future buddhahood; etymology and classifications remain in the Apparatus and mirror layer.

Preserves the sequence in which they become buddhas in the same world without adding an external institution of succession.

Explains the transmitted form Yintuoluo only according to the ancient master’s gloss; it does not invent additional symbolism for the entire world-name.

Huizhao distinguishes only prediction of lineage, name, and sequence and gives no additional lexical explanation; the Vernacular adds no symbolism.

Retains the term according to the sūtra; it does not rewrite the tree deity’s “never heard” as proof that the divine princes did not practice them.

Refers to her doubt about receiving predictions after brief hearing; it is not expanded into an extra-scriptural psychological category.

Rendered as regarding the sūtra deeply and earnestly; deeper readings through the three bodies by the commentators remain in their own layer.

Increase and decrease of the four great elementsThe chapter explains the suffering of illness through disharmony among the four great elements and asks about their increase and decrease and the times when illness arises. This is the scripture’s medical context. The commentators additionally correlate the five phases, months, and the arising and cessation of illness; such explanations must be attributed and not merged into what the scripture directly states.

Four illnessesYijing’s recension lists wind, yellow heat, phlegm-fluid, and combined illness. Combined illness has wind, heat, and phlegm-fluid together, with two or three present and one predominating. The two older recensions have such translated terms as lung illness and equal division; each remains with its own witness, and neither set is used to erase the other.

Four seasons and six periodsThe scripture treats three months as one season and two months as one period, listing the six periods of flowers, heat, rain, autumn, cold, and ice and snow. Zhiyi and Jizang each preserve multiple explanations through the conventional system, the Buddhist system, yin-and-yang months, and other schemes. These explanations have all been recorded in Section IV; no modern climatic conversion is used to decide among them.

Seven constituentsThe scripture lists the taste constituent, blood, flesh, fat, bones, marrow, and brain. Huizhao further explains the taste constituent through the sound-forms Aluopo and Quluo. The scriptural terms and the commentator’s explanation remain distinct layers.

Eight artsThe scripture enumerates eight items: needling, ruptures and wounds, bodily illness, ghosts and spirits, malignant poisons, children, extending years, and increasing strength. Huizhao’s transmitted numbering proceeds directly from three to five.

Ceasing, freeing, and returning to healthAll three terms describe what the ill obtain at the end of the chapter. Some hear reassuring words and are freed from the suffering of illness; others request the physician, take wondrous medicine, and are cured; the conclusion states that illness throughout the kingdom has ceased. Zhiyi and Jizang treat these as two routes for lighter and graver illness.

The Merchant’s Son Flowing Water“Merchant’s son” both identifies him as the son of the merchant Holding Water and preserves his own virtue of nurturing sentient beings. “Flowing Water” is established through 「一能流水，二能與水」—“first, being able to make water flow; second, being able to give water” 〔T16n0665 0449a13〕. Bringing water and giving it to sentient beings remain two meanings; the name is not reduced to rescuing fish alone.

Water-Shoulder Treasury, Water-Full, and Water-TreasuryThese are the names of the wife and two sons in T665. The two earlier recensions have Water-Empty Dragon Treasury, Water-Empty, and Water-Treasury. The correspondences identify the persons across translations; neither set of names is used to alter the other.

Tathāgata Jeweled TopknotT665 has Jeweled Topknot; the two earlier recensions have Jeweled Victory. Flowing Water proclaims the Tathāgata’s ten epithets and recounts his former vow: one who hears his name near death will afterward be born in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Each translation retains its own buddha-name and designation for the heavenly abode.

Twelvefold Dependent ArisingThe twelve links are ignorance, formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense fields, contact, feeling, craving, grasping, existence, birth, and old age and death. The scripture first teaches their forward sequence of circulation and the ensuing sorrow, lamentation, suffering, and distress. It then teaches the forward sequence of cessation from the cessation of ignorance through the cessation of old age and death and the cessation of sorrow, lamentation, suffering, and distress. These latter four arise in dependence upon old age and death, and Huizhao explicitly says 「非是支攝」—“they are not included among the links” 〔T39n1788 0328c25〕. No thirteenth link is therefore established.

Dhāraṇī Corresponding to the Twelvefold Dependent ArisingThe chapter first teaches dependent arising and afterward proclaims the corresponding dhāraṇī; the Four Heavenly Kings then separately proclaim a protective formula. Both are anciently transmitted sound-texts. They are not semantically translated, normalized, or restored from a later reconstructed text. The interlinear note 「徒洽，下同」—“tu-qia; the same below” 〔T16n0665 0450a17〕 within the four kings’ formula remains in its transmitted position.

The 10,000 Fish and 10,000 Divine PrincesThe tree deity reports exactly 10,000 fish; they later die together, are born in heaven, and are finally identified by the Buddha as the 10,000 divine princes. Their number, rebirth, repayment of kindness, and causes and conditions for prediction are enumerated according to the scripture and are not expanded to include unlisted classes.

The 40,000 Pearl NecklacesThe 10,000 divine princes place 10,000 necklaces beside Flowing Water’s face, 10,000 at his feet, 10,000 on his right side, and 10,000 on his left; the minister therefore reports a total of 40,000. The four placements cannot be reduced to an unspecified quantity of necklaces. The necklaces, flowers, light, and music are acts of repaying kindness. The causes of heavenly rebirth and later prediction are separately stated as water, food, the buddha-name, dependent arising, and the corresponding dhāraṇī; repayment and causal roots are not exchanged.

A place name. Both explanations are Han glosses supplied by the commentary, not self-explanations within Yijing’s scriptural text.

A place where people gather and dwell. The commentary further describes its geography, on a level distinct from the scripture’s description of the grove.

The seven-jeweled caitya in the scripture; the commentator says it may generally designate the Buddha’s halls and stūpas.

The commentator’s separate name for a Buddha hall.

Stūpa. Later in the scripture it is used for enshrining the relics, making the vow, and the stūpa’s arising.

The chapter first sees white relics, then relates Mahāsattva’s remaining bones and the stūpa offered to them.

The eldest son of King Great Chariot; the repeated verse calls him Great Channel.

The second son of King Great Chariot; the repeated verse calls him Great Deva.

The youngest son, Mahāsattva. The commentary explains his courage through seeking great awakening and casting away his body to benefit beings.

The scripture explicitly lists the three fragrances of discipline, concentration, and wisdom. The commentary harmonizes them with the five-part fragrance of Dharma; the other two parts are not presented as members of the scriptural list.

King Great Chariot’s form of address when comforting the queen. Only the meaning of the form of address is taken; no further identity is inferred.

It denotes what cannot be enumerated. According to the scripture, those receiving benefit are listed only as the great assembly of humans and gods.

The five parts follow the base text and are not rewritten with the old recensions’ different wording.

Each of the four terms retains its own meaning; they are not compressed into “praising the Buddha together.”

The sūtra states only that there are eight; no one set is inserted into its main text.

Uses only the ancient master’s transmitted gloss “wondrous-voiced bird” and adds no recent etymology.

All explanations are recorded under Topic III; no single account is used to rewrite the vernacular.

Preserves the scriptural chain of nectar, the city of nirvāṇa, and unconditioned happiness.

The sūtra’s and commentary’s different character forms for safe and secure remain in their respective works.

Retains the base text’s character form and does not normalize it to the common alternate.

Wonderful Banner follows the base recension; the transmitted sound-form and old translated name are separately listed, and none replaces another. No Sanskrit restoration is asserted.

Refers to the perfectly complete marks and excellent characteristics praised in this stanza; no additional enumeration is supplied.

The sūtra line is recorded verbatim; “four immeasurables” is marked as a commentarial judgment.

No distinct sequence of cultivation is inferred beyond the commentary’s explanation.

The base retains “radiant marks”; the variant and the commentary’s citation are preserved separately.

Each work retains its own original characters.

“Deity of the bodhi tree” follows the base recension. Whether she and the earth deity are the same remains preserved as Huizhao’s two views; no modern botanical identification is asserted.

Each work retains its original characters. No Sanskrit restoration is asserted.

The vernacular uses only Huizhao’s first explanation for limited clarification. The other three explanations remain in the apparatus and at the end of the exposition.

It indicates rarity and difficulty of encounter; no botanical theory is supplied.

Both city and gate follow the context of the stanza; ancient masters’ body distinctions and definitions remain in attributed interpretation.

The dharma-body is directly stated by the sūtra; the correlation of the three bodies with the stanzas belongs to ancient masters’ outlines.

It remains “humans and gods” according to the sūtra and is not expanded to unlisted classes of beings.

The vernacular may identify equal-awakening bodhisattvas on the commentary’s authority, without adding further stages.

The benefit stated in the sūtra is preserved without adding a quantity, time limit, or unique causal condition.

Both explanations of the name are preserved in Huizhao’s principal commentary.

Direct prose praise; it is not rearranged as verse.

The sūtra lists only the general name; the meaning supplied by the commentary is separately identified as an ancient explanation.

The three gates of liberation and the three paths to awakening are not collapsed into a single item.

All four items are retained individually.

Each of the three graphic forms is returned to its own text.

The commentary’s original character is transmitted and not replaced by a graphically similar one.

Because the chapter does not name the eight individually, this edition does not supplement a list.

The title is explained through conferring and placing in another’s care; circulation in the later age is Huizhao’s explanation of the name.

Each term remains with its source and is not orthographically normalized against the others.

Each work retains its own original graph-form and variant.

Both refer to this chapter’s stanzas; the original graphs remain distinct.

These are alternate translated name-forms for the same aligned group.

It means serving as a protecting friend without waiting to be invited and is not generalized into a maxim about friendship.

The word “little” is retained in its quantitative sense and is not given a new meaning.

Sūtra and commentary remain separate textual witnesses.

These are alternate translated honorifics for the same speaker.

The four classes are retained item by item and not contracted into a generic category absent from the list.