辯中邊論 白話全本

In plain language: where the Madhyāntavibhāga comes from, what its title means, and how it is built — an entry point for first readers. For the patristic source and locators, see 〈Prefatory · Source〉 and 〈Prefatory · Apparatus〉.

Where this treatise comes from

As recorded in Kuiji's Commentarial Record on the Madhyāntavibhāga: about nine hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, the bodhisattva Asaṅga appeared and ascended to request the teaching from the bodhisattva Maitreya (Cí-shì). Maitreya spoke the root verses of this treatise, the Verses Discerning Middle and Extremes (辯中邊頌); Asaṅga received them and entrusted them to his younger brother, the bodhisattva Vasubandhu, who composed the detailed prose commentary — the Madhyāntavibhāga (辯中邊論).

So the work has three authorial layers: the verses are Maitreya's, the commentary is Vasubandhu's, and the transmission passed through Asaṅga. The opening "verse of homage" (Vasubandhu's 「稽首造此論……」) is Vasubandhu's reverence as he composed the commentary; the verses that follow are all Maitreya's.

What "辯中邊 / Madhyānta-vibhāga" means

Kuiji glosses the title word by word:

• 辯 (vibhāga) — to discern, to clarify (to lay a truth bare).
• 中 (madhya) — the right that departs from extremes (the correct path that falls on neither side).
• 邊 (anta) — the deviant and faulty (grasping at either extreme).

Together: this is a treatise that clarifies the right path and discerns away the biased — letting one see plainly the truth of "dwelling in the Middle Way, apart from the two extremes." Why "Middle-and-Extremes" rather than "Wrong-and-Right"? Because being merely "right" is not enough: views biased toward existence or toward emptiness, though "good," are still not the "Middle"; only departing from both is the Middle Way. (Kuiji also notes that the old title, Treatise Distinguishing Middle and Extremes, fits the sense poorly.)

How the seven chapters are built

Kuiji groups the seven chapters into three phases — object, practice, fruit — which is also the patristic framework underlying each chapter's Doctrinal Outline (科判定位):

Maitreya's root has 113 verses: the first totalizes the whole, the last concludes, and the middle is the main body.

The two Chinese translations

The treatise was first rendered by Paramārtha (titled 中邊分別論; in the Chen period, c. 557–569 — Kuiji's Shuji places the rendering "in the Liang") and later re-translated by Xuanzang (辯中邊論, with the verses also issued separately as 辯中邊論頌). Xuanzang re-translated it because the old version was "garbled in text and astray in sense"; the point-by-point differences are read side by side within each chapter's apparatus. This translation takes Xuanzang's rendering as its base text and Paramārtha's as the ancient comparative witness.

〔Summary Verse / uddāna〕

唯相障真實，及修諸對治， 即此修分位，得果無上乘。

The whole treatise comes down to these seven matters: the characteristics (of phenomena), the obscurations that veil them, the reality on which the characteristics rest, the cultivation of antidotes to the obscurations, the stages through which cultivation proceeds, the fruit attained thereby, and finally why this path is the unsurpassed vehicle. The seven chapters that follow unfold in exactly this order. This verse carries no doctrine; it is the table of contents for the work.

〔1〕The unreal imagination exists

虛妄分別有，於此二都無， 此中唯有空，於彼亦有此。

This is the pivot of the entire treatise. Four lines establish four points, none of which may be displaced:

First, "the unreal imagination exists." The "unreal imagination" (abhūta-parikalpa) is the ceaseless constructive activity of mind. It is called "unreal" not because it does not occur, but because the object-appearances it throws up are not what they seem. The activity itself genuinely exists, genuinely turns. (This is the other-dependent nature, paratantra: the conditioned flow of mind.)

Second, "in it, the two do not exist at all." The "two" are grasper (the subject that seizes) and grasped (the object seized). The moment mind stirs, it splits into "I here, object there." But examined within this unreal imagination, that subject–object division is wholly absent. (This is the wholly-imagined nature, parikalpita: a subject–object opposition merely projected, never real.)

Third, "here there is only emptiness." Strip away that false dividing line and what remains is emptiness (śūnyatā). Emptiness is not a blank nothing; emptiness just is the fact that the duality does not hold — and it is found nowhere else but within this very unreal imagination. (This is the perfectly-accomplished nature, pariniṣpanna: the reality disclosed when, upon the other-dependent, the two never were.)

Fourth, "and in that, this too exists." Conversely: within that emptiness, the unreal imagination still exists. Emptiness and the imagination are not two storeys but two faces of one thing.

Taken together: the imagination exists, the two are absent, emptiness exists, the imagination also exists — falling neither into substantial existence (which would over-affirm) nor into sheer nonexistence (which would under-deny).

〔2〕Accord with the middle way

故說一切法，非空非不空， 有無及有故，是則契中道。

Following from the previous verse: thus all phenomena are said to be neither empty nor non-empty. In view of the existence of the unreal imagination and of emptiness, they are not simply empty; in view of the absence of the two, they are not simply non-empty. Existence (of imagination and emptiness), absence (of the two), and existence again (of imagination within emptiness) — these three asserted together, leaning to no extreme, constitute accord with the middle way. This "middle" is no splitting of the difference; it is the measure of seeing things as they are.

〔3〕Consciousness transforms into four semblances

識生變似義、有情、我及了， 此境實非有，境無故識無。

The content of the unreal imagination is specified. When consciousness arises, it transforms so as to appear as four kinds of semblance: semblance of object — as if there were an external object (artha, the cognized field); semblance of sentient being — as if there were sense-bodies and beings (the five faculties); semblance of self — as if there were an abiding self (the self grasped by the defiled manas); semblance of cognizing — as if there were an act of discerning (the six consciousnesses that cognize objects).

〔The proponent concludes:〕 These four semblance-objects truly do not exist — all are transformations of consciousness, not real things outside mind. Since the object does not exist, the consciousness too does not stand (a grasper depends on a grasped; the grasped being empty, the grasper qua grasper likewise dissolves).

〔4〕Neither substantially existent nor wholly nonexistent

虛妄分別性，由此義得成， 非實有全無，許滅解脫故。

The nature of the unreal imagination is established precisely by the foregoing. Its nature is neither substantially existent nor wholly nonexistent:

〔Objection:〕 If the unreal imagination is substantially existent, how can you call it empty? If wholly nonexistent, what is there to analyse? 〔Reply:〕 Not substantially existent — for if it were, it would abide unalterably and could never cease. Not wholly nonexistent — for the Dharma admits that its cessation is liberation. What can cease is not nothing (nothing has nothing to cease); what liberates upon ceasing is not substantial (the substantial cannot cease). Its nature therefore lies between existence and nonexistence — exactly the true character of the other-dependent nature.

〔5〕The ground of the three natures

唯所執、依他，及圓成實性， 境故分別故，及二空故說。

The three natures and the grounds on which each is posited: the wholly-imagined (parikalpita) — spoken of by reason of the object, i.e. the seemingly external field that appears; the other-dependent (paratantra) — spoken of by reason of discrimination, i.e. the discriminating unreal imagination itself; the perfectly-accomplished (pariniṣpanna) — spoken of by reason of the twofold emptiness, i.e. the reality disclosed when grasper and grasped are both empty.

No phenomenon falls outside these three natures; and the three natures are nothing other than the "existence, absence, emptiness" of the earlier verse.

〔6〕The method of entering signlessness

依識有所得，境無所得生； 依境無所得，識無所得生。

The sequence of entering "consciousness-only," in which two "non-apprehensions" arise in mutual dependence: first, based on the apprehension that there is consciousness (knowing that all is but appearance of consciousness), there arises the non-apprehension of object (the external object is not found); then, based on the non-apprehension of object (the external being unfindable), there arises the non-apprehension of consciousness (the grasping consciousness too is not found).

When the object is dissolved, consciousness too is dissolved — the grasper, having a grasped no longer, is itself emptied. This is no annihilation, but the dual abandonment of grasper and grasped in order to accord with non-discrimination.

〔7〕Grasping and non-grasping are equal

由識有得性，亦成無所得， 故知二有得，無得性平等。

From the apprehending (grasping) nature of consciousness, there finally comes about non-apprehension as well. Know therefore that apprehension (the clinging of grasper-and-grasped) and non-apprehension (the vanishing of both) are equal in nature — both are turnings within the unreal imagination, neither able to stand alone and abide. The subject–object correlation once broken, their equal nature is disclosed.

〔8〕Mind and mental factors

三界心心所，是虛妄分別， 唯了境名心，亦別名心所。

The extension of the unreal imagination is fixed: all mind and mental factors of the three realms are the unreal imagination — no factor lies outside it. That which merely cognizes the object as a whole is called mind (citta); that which seizes the particular modes of the object is called mental factors (caitta). Mind apprehends the whole, the factors apprehend the particulars; both are subsumed within the unreal imagination.

〔9〕The conditioning consciousness and the experiencer

一則名緣識，第二名受者， 此中能受用，分別推心所。

Within the turning of mind, a further twofold division: the first is called the "conditioning consciousness" — the root consciousness on which the arising of the other consciousnesses depends (the ālaya, which holds the seeds and serves as condition for the rest to arise); the second is called the "experiencer" — the consciousnesses that turn in dependence on the conditioning consciousness and experience their fields. Within this experiencer, the functions of experiencing (reception, i.e. vedanā), discriminating (seizing the mark, i.e. saṃjñā), and impelling (driving formation, i.e. cetanā) are the associated mental factors.

〔10〕The unreal imagination manifests as defilement

覆障及安立、將導、攝、圓滿、 三分別、受用、引起并連縛、 現前、苦果故，唯此惱世間， 三、二、七雜染，由虛妄分別。

How the unreal imagination manifests the entire course of cyclic existence — this is the twelvefold dependent origination, matched link by link: veiling (ignorance, which veils reality), establishing (formations, which lay down the seeds of habit), leading on (consciousness, which draws one toward rebirth), gathering (name-and-form, the coalescing of the embryonic self), completing (the six sense-bases, the faculties brought to completion), threefold discrimination (contact, the seizing-as-distinct of the meeting of faculty-object-consciousness), experiencing (feeling, the reception of pleasure and pain), giving rise (craving, greed arising from feeling), binding (grasping, the clinging that will not let go), manifesting (becoming, karma matured into present effect), suffering-fruit (birth, aging-and-death, the pure mass of suffering).

This one chain alone afflicts the world; there is no other. These twelve links are further gathered into three, two, seven defilements: the three are the defilement of affliction (ignorance, craving, grasping); the two are the defilement of karma (formations, becoming); the seven are the defilement of birth/event (consciousness, name-and-form, the six bases, contact, feeling, birth, aging-and-death). All three classes of defilement arise from the unreal imagination — cyclic existence has no separate root; it is just the self-manifesting of this one imagination.

〔11〕The framework for analysing emptiness

諸相及異門，義差別成立， 應知二空性，略說唯由此。

The exposition of emptiness now sets up four headings: its characteristic (the essential mark of emptiness), its synonyms (the alternative names of emptiness), the differentiation of meaning (the precise sense carried by each name), and its establishment (the reasoning by which emptiness is secured). The essentials of the two emptinesses (of person and of dharma) are, in brief, exhausted by just these four. They unfold in turn below.

〔12〕The characteristic of emptiness

無二有無故，非有亦非無， 非異亦非一，是說為空相。

First, the characteristic of emptiness. Emptiness is the existence of the very fact that grasper and grasped do not exist — by reason of "the existence of the nonexistence of the two," emptiness is asserted: not existent — since grasper and grasped are themselves absent, it cannot be called existent; yet not nonexistent — since the absence of the two genuinely obtains, it cannot be called nonexistent; not different — emptiness has no substance apart from the unreal imagination, so it is not other than it; yet not identical — emptiness is the never-having-been of the two disclosed upon the imagination, not the imagination itself, so it is not one with it. Not existent nor nonexistent, not one nor different — this is the characteristic of emptiness.

〔13〕The synonyms of emptiness

略說空異門，謂真如、實際、 無相、勝義性、法界等應知。

Next, the synonyms (alternative names) of emptiness. Briefly, emptiness bears further names, to be known: suchness (tathatā), the true limit (bhūtakoṭi), the signless (animitta), the ultimate (paramārthatā), the dharma-realm (dharmadhātu), and so on — different in name, one in referent, all designating this perfectly-accomplished emptiness.

〔14〕The sense of each synonym

由無變無倒，相滅聖智境， 及諸聖法因，異門義如次。

The grounds for each name, respectively: called suchness — because it is unchanging (ever thus in nature, neither shifting nor altering); called the true limit — because it is non-erroneous (the ultimate point of truth, free of mistake); called the signless — because in it all marks cease (every unreal sign is here stilled); called the ultimate — because it is the object of holy wisdom (the field ranged over by non-discriminating noble cognition); called the dharma-realm — because it is the cause of holy dharmas (the noble dharmas arise in dependence on it; "realm/dhātu" carries the sense of "cause"). The five names, matched in order, are alternative designations of one emptiness.

〔15〕Defilement and purity rest on emptiness

此雜染、清淨，由有垢、無垢， 如水界金空，淨故許為淨。

The relation of emptiness to defilement and purity. This emptiness is spoken of now as defiled, now as pure: when with stain it is called defiled, when without stain it is called pure. Its substance is never altered; what alters is only the presence or absence of stain — just as water, gold, and space, pure by nature, may be obscured by adventitious dirt and so seem defiled; when the dirt departs, purity shows, and because its nature is pure, it is admitted as pure. So too emptiness: defilement is not its own nature; purity is its original condition.

〔16〕The bases for contemplating emptiness

能食及所食，此依身所住， 能見如此理，所求二淨空。

The objects on which the contemplation of emptiness bears, gathering the several emptinesses: the consumer (the six inner bases, that which receives), the consumed (the six outer fields, that which is received), the body on which these two depend (the sense-body itself), the dwelling in which the body resides (the receptacle world, its supporting locus), the seer (the contemplating subject), and the principle thus seen (the truth contemplated); and on up to the two purified emptinesses that the practitioner seeks (the twofold pure emptiness to be realized). Inner, outer, support, dwelling, subject, object — each is contemplated as empty. Emptiness is not single; the several emptinesses are posited according to the matter contemplated.

〔17〕The reasons for contemplating emptiness (i)

為常益有情、為不捨生死、 為善無窮盡，故觀此為空。

Why the bodhisattva contemplates emptiness. First set: to benefit beings perpetually (not seizing quiescence and abandoning beings), not to forsake saṃsāra (abiding in saṃsāra undefiled by it, so as to deliver beings), that good be inexhaustible (wholesome conduct continuing without end) — for these three the bodhisattva contemplates this as empty. Contemplating emptiness is not for one's own quietude, but is the resource for endless benefit to others.

〔18〕The reasons for contemplating emptiness (ii)

為種性清淨、為得諸相好、 為淨諸佛法，故菩薩觀空。

Second set: for the purity of the [buddha-]lineage (the cleansing of the tathāgata-gotra), to attain the marks and signs (the major and minor marks of a buddha), to purify the buddha-dharmas (perfecting all the qualities of buddhahood) — for these three the bodhisattva contemplates emptiness. The former three serve others; these three are the cause of one's own awakening. The single practice of contemplating emptiness subsumes both the benefit of self and of others.

〔19〕Why two emptinesses are separately posited

補特伽羅法，實性俱非有， 此無性、有性，故別立二空。

The establishment of emptiness. Person (the one who takes up the aggregates) and dharma: the real nature of both is nonexistent — the person has no real self, dharmas have no real own-being. Yet this very lack of real nature is itself an existent nature (the truth of their being unreal genuinely obtains — this is the perfectly-accomplished). Because the real-clinging is removed in each of the two domains, person and dharma, two emptinesses are separately posited: the emptiness of person and the emptiness of dharma. Emptiness does not lapse into mere annihilation; it is the real existent disclosed by removing what is clung to.

〔20〕Defilement and purity must both obtain

此若無雜染，一切應自脫； 此若無清淨，功用應無果。

Showing in reverse that mind-nature must hold both defilement and purity: 〔Objection one:〕 If this [mind-nature] had no defilement at all, then all beings should be liberated of themselves — with no defilement to remove, why await practice? But it is not so; hence there is adventitious defilement. 〔Objection two:〕 If this had no purity (no nature capable of being purified), then the exertion of practice should bear no fruit — with no purity to disclose, practice would be in vain. But practice does bear fruit; hence there is original purity. The two objections, set side by side, force the conclusion of the next verse.

〔21〕The nature of mind is originally pure

非染非不染，非淨非不淨， 心性本淨故，由客塵所染。

The chapter on characteristics concludes. The character of mind-nature is neither defiled nor undefiled, neither pure nor impure: not defiled — because the nature of mind is originally pure, defilement is not its own nature; not undefiled — because it is defiled by adventitious dust, it is not wholly without defilement; not pure — because it is presently veiled by adventitious dust, its purity is not [yet] manifest; not impure — because its nature is primordially pure, it is not truly impure. The whole point lies in two clauses: the nature of mind is originally pure, yet defiled by adventitious dust — original purity is the substance, adventitious defilement the condition; the defilement can be removed and the purity restored. This is the conclusion of the "characteristic" expounded in this chapter, and the very basis on which the next chapter, on the obscurations and their antidotes, rests.

This chapter enumerates the obscurations that veil reality — the two aspects of obscuration, the nine fetters, the obscurations to practice, and the ten obscurations of the ten grounds — concluding that the exhaustion of the two obscurations is liberation from all.

〔1〕The two aspects of obscuration

具分及一分，增盛與平等， 於生死取捨，說障二種性。

This verse lists five obscurations, matched to the two lineages (the bodhisattva and the śrāvaka and the rest). By extent: full-portion obscuration (both the afflictive and the cognitive obscurations arising together, veiling in full) and partial obscuration (only the afflictive obscuration arising). By the mode in which the afflictions operate: intensified (some one coarse affliction predominating) and equal (the afflictions operating in equal measure, none predominating). And there is the obscuration of grasping-and-rejecting saṃsāra (the dharma-clinging that grasps nirvāṇa and rejects saṃsāra, obstructing the bodhisattva's non-abiding nirvāṇa). The five do not obscure all alike; each meets the lineage it fits — the full-portion and the grasping-rejecting obscure the bodhisattva alone, the partial the śrāvaka and other two-vehicle [lineages] alone, while the intensified and the equal obscure all three vehicles.

〔2〕The nine fetters obscure renunciation and true seeing

九種煩惱相，謂愛等九結， 初二障厭捨，餘七障真見，

The character of the afflictive obscuration. The afflictions have nine aspects, the nine fetters (craving, hostility, conceit, ignorance, view, clinging-to-view, doubt, envy, miserliness): the first two (craving and hostility) obscure renunciation — they veil the turning-away from saṃsāra toward emancipation; the remaining seven (conceit, ignorance, view, clinging, doubt, envy, miserliness) obscure true seeing — they veil the arising of correct insight into things as they are.

〔3〕What the remaining seven obscure

謂能障身見，彼事滅道寶， 利養恭敬等，遠離遍知故。

What each of the seven obscures — all seven are objects of a full-knowledge (a thorough, all-round knowing): the full-knowledge of the view of self, of its object-basis (the appropriating aggregates on which the view of self rests), of the truth of cessation, of the truth of the path, of the Three Jewels, of [the faults in] gain and honor and the like, and of seclusion (few wants, non-attachment to the requisites of life). Because they obscure these seven full-knowledges, the remaining seven fetters obscure true seeing — each fetter veiling its own object, impeding the resources of the path of seeing.

〔4〕The obscurations to practice (the full list)

無加行非處，不如理不生， 不起正思惟，資糧未圓滿； 闕種性善友，心極疲厭性， 及闕於正行，鄙惡者同居； 倒麁重三餘，般若未成就， 及本性麁重，懈怠放逸性； 著有著資財，及心性下劣， 不信無勝解，如言而取義； 輕法重名利，於有情無悲， 匱聞及少聞，不修治妙定。

A full list of what obstructs the arising of wholesome states; all of these obscure: lack of application (not engaging the effort of cultivation), wrong place, impropriety (attention not in accord with reason), non-arising (of the wholesome), failure of right reflection (no reasoned discernment), incomplete provisions (the equipment of merit and wisdom unprepared); lack of lineage (no capable disposition), lack of good friends (no spiritual guide to take one up), acute weariness (deep aversion to right practice), lack of right practice, dwelling among the base (living amid inferior, evil persons); the three remaining kinds of perverted coarseness (the coarse latencies of perversion and the rest), prajñā not yet accomplished, innate coarseness (the congenital coarse seeds), laxity and heedlessness; attachment to existence (clinging to the three realms), attachment to wealth, inferiority of mind (lowly aspiration), absence of faith, absence of resolve (no settled conviction in the teaching), literal grasping (clinging to the letter, missing the depth); slighting the Dharma while valuing fame and gain, absence of compassion for beings, want of learning or scant learning, and not cultivating excellent concentration. All such obscurations veil the wholesome and keep it from arising.

〔5〕Ten wholesome bases, each with three obscurations

善菩提攝受，有慧無亂障， 迴向不怖慳，自在名善等。 如是善等十，各有前三障。 於覺分度地，有別障應知。

The wholesome states obscured are gathered into ten: the wholesome (the roots of good), awakening (orientation toward great enlightenment), embracing (taking up the good), possessing wisdom, non-distraction (mind without scattering), freedom from obscuration, dedication (turning the good toward the great vehicle), fearlessness (no dread before the profound teaching), non-miserliness (no withholding of the Dharma), and mastery (sovereignty over the good) — named "the wholesome" and so on, ten in all. These ten wholesome matters each carry the three classes of obscuration set out above (each wholesome state being veiled by the three kinds of obstacle). Further, with respect to the factors of awakening (the thirty-seven), the perfections, and the grounds, there are distinct obscurations, to be known as follows.

〔6〕Obscurations to the factors of awakening

於事不善巧，懈怠、定減二， 不植羸劣性，見麁重過失。

The obscurations to the thirty-seven factors of awakening: lack of skill in the matter (no dexterity regarding the object), laxity, deficient concentration — these two — failure to plant (the roots of good not sown), feebleness of disposition (a timid, weak faculty), and the fault of the path of seeing being burdened by coarseness. By these faults the factors of awakening are obscured and kept from fulfillment.

〔7〕Obscurations to the perfections

障富貴、善趣、不捨諸有情、 於失德減增、令趣入、解脫， 障施等諸善、無盡亦無間、 所作善決定、受用法成熟。

The obscurations to the perfections, by the virtues they veil in the order of giving and the rest: wealth and nobility (the fruit of giving), good destinies (of morality), not forsaking beings (the virtue of patience), the decrease of faults and increase of virtue (of vigor), causing entry (of concentration, leading the mind to enter), and liberation (of wisdom). Thus they obscure giving and the other wholesome deeds, and further obscure their being inexhaustible (good without end), uninterrupted (practice unbroken), resolute in the good done (settled, non-regressing in the good), and the maturing of the enjoyment of the Dharma. Each perfection has its obscuration, veiling its excellent virtue.

〔8〕The tenfold meaning of the dharma-realm obscured across the ten grounds

遍行與最勝，勝流及無攝， 相續無差別，無雜染清淨， 種種法無別，及不增不減， 并無分別等，四自在依義。

To set out the obscurations to the ten grounds, first the ten meanings in which the dharma-realm is realized across the ten grounds: all-pervadingness (realized on the first ground, the dharma-realm as everywhere present), supremacy (second), excellent outflow (third, the outflow of the true Dharma), non-appropriation (fourth), undifferentiated continuity (fifth), freedom from defilement-and-purity (sixth), the non-difference of the various dharmas (seventh), neither increase nor decrease (eighth), non-discrimination and the rest (ninth), and the meaning that is the basis of the four masteries (tenth, the ground of the four kinds of sovereignty). Each ground realizes one meaning of the dharma-realm, from the shallow to the deep.

〔9〕The ten obscurations are undefiled ignorance

於斯十法界，有不染無明， 障十地功德，故說為十障。

With respect to these ten meanings of the dharma-realm, there is an undefiled ignorance (a not-knowing not of afflictive character — the subtle aspect of the cognitive obscuration) that veils them. This ignorance is not associated with defilement, yet it can obscure the virtues of the ten grounds, keeping the ten meanings of the dharma-realm from full disclosure. Since on each of the ten grounds it obscures one meaning, it is said to be the ten obscurations. This is the form taken by the cognitive obscuration on the bodhisattva path.

〔10〕The exhaustion of the two obscurations is liberation

已說諸煩惱，及諸所知障， 許此二盡故，一切障解脫。

The chapter on the obscurations concludes. We have now set out the afflictive obscuration (the fetters and the obscurations to practice, which obscure liberation) and the cognitive obscuration (undefiled ignorance and the ten obscurations, which obscure awakening). Because the exhaustion of these two obscurations is admitted, there is liberation from every obscuration — with the afflictive obscuration exhausted one attains the fruit of liberation, with the cognitive obscuration exhausted one attains the fruit of awakening; both exhausted, no obscuration remains. The obscurations expounded in this chapter being clear, the next chapter, on reality, sets out the reality that the obscurations veil.

This chapter expounds the reality that the obscurations veil, establishing ten kinds of reality, all aimed at removing the view of self. The ten rest on the three natures and run through the four truths, the two truths, the five things, the seven suchnesses, the differentiations of self-view, and the ten skills. The doctrine is extremely dense; its layers are unfolded verse by verse.

〔1〕The ten realities, stated together

真實唯有十，謂根本與相、 無顛倒、因果，及麁細真實、 極成、淨所行、攝受并差別， 十善巧真實，皆為除我見。

There are only ten kinds of reality: (1) the root reality (the three natures), (2) the reality of characteristic, (3) the non-perverted reality, (4) the reality of cause and fruit, (5) the coarse-and-subtle reality, (6) the well-established reality, (7) the reality of the pure domain, (8) the reality of subsumption, (9) the differentiated reality, and (10) the reality of the ten skills. All ten are set up to remove the view of self — the analysis of reality is not idle theory but a tool against the view of a real self.

〔2〕The root reality — the three natures

許於三自性，唯一常非有， 一有而不真，一有無真實。

The first, the root reality, is the three natures, on which the other nine rest: the wholly-imagined — always nonexistent (forever without substance, merely fancied by deluded mind); the other-dependent — existent but not real (existent through conditions, yet not substantially real, seeming-but-not-true); the perfectly-accomplished — the reality of existence-and-nonexistence (the truth of "the existence of an absence" and "the absence within existence" — the real nature disclosed when, upon the other-dependent, the two never were). The remaining nine realities are all unfolded upon these three natures.

〔3〕The reality of characteristic — free of superimposition and denial

於法數取趣，及所取能取， 有非有性中，增益損減見； 知此故不轉，是名真實相。

The second, the reality of characteristic. Regarding dharma and the person (pudgala), and regarding grasped and grasper, in respect of their existence and nonexistence, two perverted views regularly arise: the view of superimposition (falsely positing the nonexistent as existent, as in clinging to a real self or real dharmas) and the view of denial (falsely negating the existent, as in denying the existence of the perfectly-accomplished). Knowing this — the true measure of what exists and what does not — these two views no longer operate. This is the reality of characteristic: knowing as it is what exists and what does not, so that neither extreme stands.

〔4〕The non-perverted reality — the four aspects of the truth of suffering, three each

無性與生滅、垢淨三無常； 所取及事相、和合苦三種； 空亦有三種，謂無、異、自性； 無相及異相、自相三無我。 如次四三種，依根本真實。

The third, the non-perverted reality, treats the sixteen aspects of the four truths, each made threefold according to the three natures. First, the four aspects of the truth of suffering (impermanence, suffering, emptiness, no-self), each in three: impermanence, three — impermanence as no-nature (wholly-imagined: without inherent nature), impermanence as arising-and-ceasing (other-dependent: with rise and fall), impermanence as defilement-and-purity (perfectly-accomplished: the difference of state from stained to pure); suffering, three — the suffering of the grasped (wholly-imagined), the suffering of the event-mark (other-dependent: the mark of conditioned suffering), the suffering of combination (perfectly-accomplished: suffering contemplated in conjunction with reality); emptiness, three — nonexistence (wholly-imagined: utterly absent), difference (other-dependent: other than what is fancied), own-nature (perfectly-accomplished: the very nature of emptiness); no-self, three — no-self as signlessness (wholly-imagined: the mark itself is absent), no-self as other-marked (other-dependent: marked otherwise than as clung to), no-self as own-mark (perfectly-accomplished: having no-self as its own mark). Respectively, the four aspects in three kinds each rest on the root reality (the three natures).

〔5〕The non-perverted reality — origin, cessation, path, three each

苦三相已說，集亦有三種， 謂習氣、等起，及相未離繫。 自性、二不生、垢寂二三滅， 遍知及永斷、證得三道諦。

The threefold aspects of suffering told, next origin, cessation, and path, each likewise threefold: the truth of origin, three — latent energy (wholly-imagined: the latency of what is clung to), co-arising (other-dependent: the simultaneously arising cause), the mark not yet freed from bondage (perfectly-accomplished: the state in which the real mark is still bound); the truth of cessation, three — cessation by nature (wholly-imagined: being natureless, it is already ceased), cessation as the non-arising of the two (other-dependent: the non-arising of grasper and grasped), cessation as the quieting of stain (perfectly-accomplished: the stilling of adventitious stain); the truth of the path, three — full knowledge (thoroughly knowing suffering), permanent severance (severing origin forever), realization (realizing cessation). The four truths in three each — the whole of the non-perverted reality.

〔6〕The reality of cause and fruit — the two truths, three each

應知世俗諦，差別有三種， 謂假、行、顯了，如次依本三。 勝義諦亦三，謂義、得、正行， 依本一無變，無倒二圓實。

The fourth, the reality of cause and fruit, that is, the two truths, also follow the three natures: the conventional truth, three — conventional designation (wholly-imagined: nominal positing), conventional conduct (other-dependent: the conditioned course of activity), manifesting convention (perfectly-accomplished: conventional discourse that discloses reality) — resting respectively on the three root natures. the ultimate truth, three — ultimate as object (the suchness cognized), ultimate as attainment (the nirvāṇa realized), ultimate as right practice (the noble path that realizes it) — all resting on the single root (the perfectly-accomplished), in its aspects of being unchanging and non-perverted; all three ultimates are subsumed by the perfectly-accomplished.

〔7〕The well-established reality and the reality of the pure domain

世極成依一，理極成依三。 淨所行有二，依一圓成實。

The sixth, the well-established reality: the worldly-established (the reality commonly acknowledged in convention) rests on one root nature (the other-dependent, the matter the world agrees on); the reason-established (the reality established by correct reasoning) rests on the three natures (achieved by the discernment of reason). The seventh, the reality of the pure domain: it has two kinds (the reality that is the domain of the wisdom purifying the cognitive obscuration and the wisdom purifying the afflictive obscuration), both resting on the root perfectly-accomplished — the domain of purified wisdom is the perfectly-accomplished alone.

〔8〕The reality of subsumption — the five things mapped to the three natures

名遍計所執，相分別依他， 真如及正智，圓成實所攝。

The eighth, the reality of subsumption, first by subsuming the five things (name, mark, discrimination, suchness, correct cognition) under the three natures: name — subsumed by the wholly-imagined (the merely posited name); mark and discrimination — subsumed by the other-dependent (the mark that appears, the discrimination that makes it appear); suchness and correct cognition — subsumed by the perfectly-accomplished (the suchness realized, the correct cognition that realizes it). The five things do not fall outside the three natures.

〔9〕The reality of subsumption — the seven suchnesses mapped to the three natures

流轉與安立，邪行依初二， 實相唯識淨，正行依後一。

Further, the seven suchnesses subsumed under the three natures: the suchness of saṃsāric flux, of establishment, and of wrong conduct — rest on the first two natures (wholly-imagined and other-dependent; cyclic flux, the establishing of suffering-and-origin, and wrong conduct all belong to the defiled); the suchness of true characteristic, of consciousness-only, of purity, and of right conduct — rest on the last one nature (the perfectly-accomplished; the true characteristic, the nature of consciousness-only, cessation-purity, and the right path all belong to the pure). The seven suchnesses divide between defiled and pure, none apart from the three natures.

〔10〕The differentiated reality — refuting the eleven imputations of self-view

於蘊等我見，執、一、因、受者、 作者、自在轉、增上義及常、 雜染清淨依、觀、縛解者性。 此所執分別，法性義在彼。

The ninth, the differentiated reality, treats the various fancies that self-view raises upon the aggregates (and elements and bases), eleven in all: positing [a self] as a grasper (one who seizes), as a unity (a single whole), as a cause (a generating cause), as an experiencer (one who receives), as an agent (one who acts), as autonomous (turning of its own accord), as dominant (a sovereign overlord), as permanent (everlasting), as the basis of defilement and purity (a self on which the stained and pure rest), as an observer (one who contemplates), and as one bound and freed (a self that is fettered and then liberated). These eleven are all the discriminations that self-view clings to (false imputations); and the true meaning of the dharma-nature lies in their opposite (no grasper, no unity, no cause, no experiencer-or-agent … down to no self that is bound and freed) — to refute the fancies is to disclose the dharma-nature; this is the differentiated reality.

〔11〕The reality of the ten skills — aggregate, element, base, dependent origination

非一及總略、分段義名蘊。 能所取、彼取，種子義名界。 能受、所了境，用門義名處。 緣起義於因、果、用無增減。

The tenth, the reality of the ten skills, is the skillful knowledge of ten matters that removes ten kinds of self-view. First, four matters: the sense of aggregate — not-one (a plurality), summation (gathered briefly into a class), division (parceled into phases); by these three it is called "aggregate." the sense of element — grasped-and-grasper and the seeds of those; by the sense of seed it is called "element" (the eighteen elements as the seed-kinds that generate phenomena). the sense of base — receiver (faculty) and cognized object (field); as the gateway of function for the arising of consciousness, it is called "base." the sense of dependent origination — in cause, fruit, and function, neither increase nor decrease (cause, fruit, and function just as they are, neither over-affirmed nor under-denied); this is the sense of dependent origination.

〔12〕The reality of the ten skills — the possible-and-impossible, faculties, time

於非愛、愛、淨、俱生及勝主、 得、行不自在，是處非處義。 根於取、住、續、用、二淨增上。 因果已未用，是世義應知。

Next, three matters: the sense of the possible and the impossible — concerning the obtaining of an unwished result, a wished result, a pure result, and concerning co-arising (e.g. two world-honored ones not appearing together), a sovereign (e.g. only one wheel-turning monarch), attainment (whether a fruit can be won), and non-autonomy in conduct (e.g. a female body's incapacity for certain roles) — discerning what is a possible ground (allowed by reason) and what is impossible (not allowed by reason); this is skill in the possible-and-impossible. the sense of faculties — the twenty-two faculties each exercise a dominant function in cognizing (the six faculties seizing their fields), maintaining (the life-faculty sustaining the life-span), continuing (the male and female faculties continuing the kind), function (the five feelings receiving), and the two purities (the five faculties of faith and so on, and the three undefiled faculties of "coming-to-know," etc., with respect to the worldly and supramundane purities); this is skill in the faculties. the sense of time — by the used (cause-and-fruit already spent, hence past), the not-yet-used (not yet arisen, hence future), (and the now-functioning, hence present) — the meaning of the three times is to be known; this is skill in time.

〔13〕The reality of the ten skills — truths, vehicles, conditioned-and-unconditioned

受及受資糧，彼所因諸行， 二寂滅對治，是諦義應知。 由功德過失，及無分別智， 依他自出離，是乘義應知。 有為、無為義，謂若假、若因、 若相，若寂靜、若彼所觀義。

The last three matters: the sense of truths — feeling (reception, i.e. the truth of suffering), the provisions of feeling and the formations that cause it (the cause that summons reception, i.e. the truth of origin), the two quiescences (analytic cessation and the quieting of both affliction and its event, i.e. the truth of cessation), and the antidote (the path that can cure, i.e. the truth of the path); the meaning of the four truths is to be known — skill in the truths. the sense of vehicles — by contemplating virtue (the qualities of nirvāṇa and awakening) and fault (the failings of saṃsāra), by the non-discriminating wisdom, and by self-emancipation through the other-dependent nature (emancipation through the transformation of the basis) — this is the sense of the three vehicles' emancipation, skill in the vehicles. the sense of conditioned and unconditioned — the conditioned: as designation (nominally posited), as having cause, as having mark (the marks of arising, abiding, change, ceasing); the unconditioned: as quiescence (cessation apart from marks), as what is contemplated thereof (the object contemplated by noble wisdom). To distinguish conditioned from unconditioned is the last skill.

With the ten skills clear, the ten realities are complete. The reality expounded being manifest, the next chapter, on the cultivation of antidotes, sets out the antidotes cultivated in dependence on this reality.

This chapter establishes cultivation in dependence on reality, expounding the thirty-seven factors of awakening — the foundations of mindfulness, the right exertions, the bases of power (with the five faults and eight abandonments), the five faculties and five powers, the seven factors of awakening, and the eightfold path — concluding with how the bodhisattva's cultivation differs from that of the two vehicles.

〔1〕The four foundations of mindfulness

以麁重愛因，我事無迷故， 為入四聖諦，修念住應知。

First, the four foundations of mindfulness, which counter the four distortions and lead into the four truths: regarding coarseness (the coarseness of the body — counter to the distortion "pure," leading to the truth of suffering), regarding the cause that is craving (feeling as the cause of craving — counter to "pleasant," leading to the truth of origin), and regarding non-delusion about the matter of self (the foundations of mind and of phenomena — breaking the distortions "permanent" and "self," leading to the truths of cessation and path) — in order to enter the four noble truths, one should cultivate the foundations of mindfulness of body, feeling, mind, and phenomena.

〔2〕The four right exertions

已遍知障治，一切種差別， 為遠離修集，勤修四正斷。

Next, the four right exertions. Having now fully known the obscuration (what is to be abandoned) and the antidote (what is to be cultivated) in all their kinds, then for the sake of distancing (severing arisen evil, preventing unarisen evil) and of cultivating-and-gathering (giving rise to unarisen good, increasing arisen good), one diligently cultivates the four right exertions — mindfulness having established wisdom, right exertion arouses effort to sever and to cultivate.

〔3〕The four bases of power, and the five faults

依住堪能性，為一切事成， 滅除五過失，勤修八斷行。 懈怠、忘聖言，及惛沈、掉舉、 不作行作行，是五失應知。

Next, the four bases of power. Resting on the capacity of meditative abiding (concentration), for the accomplishment of all matters (the basis of the supernormal powers), one must remove the five faults, and so diligently cultivates the eight abandonments. The five faults to be removed: (1) laxity (lack of diligence), (2) forgetting the instruction (loss of the remembered teaching), (3) dullness and agitation (sinking and excitation, two aspects taken as one fault), (4) non-application (failing to apply the antidote when dullness or agitation is present), (5) over-application (continuing to apply the antidote when dullness or agitation has already been subdued). These five are to be known as the obstacles to cultivating concentration.

〔4〕The eight abandonments counter the five faults

為斷除懈怠，修欲、勤、信、安， 即所依、能依，及所因、能果。 為除餘四失，修念、智、思、捨， 記言覺沈掉，伏行滅等流。

The eight abandonments counter the five faults. The first four counter laxity: cultivate aspiration, effort, faith, and pliancy — related to one another thus: aspiration is the basis (that on which effort rests), effort is what rests on it (effort arises in dependence on aspiration), faith is the cause (the proximate cause from which aspiration arises — believing in the fruit, one then wishes for it), and pliancy is the fruit (the result the diligent effort produces — the attaining of superior concentration). The latter four counter the remaining four faults: cultivate mindfulness, clear awareness, will, and equanimity — mindfulness retains the instruction (countering forgetting the instruction), clear awareness detects dullness and agitation (countering dullness-and-agitation), will applies the antidote (when dullness or agitation is present, it engages, countering non-application), and equanimity lets the even flow rest (when they have been subdued, it lets go so the mind flows evenly, countering over-application). With the eight in place the five faults are removed, and the bases of power are accomplished.

〔5〕The five faculties and five powers

已種順解脫，復修五增上， 謂欲、行、不忘、不散亂、思擇。 即損障名力，因果立次第。 順決擇二二，在五根、五力。

Next, the five faculties and five powers. Having now sown the [roots] conducive to liberation, one further cultivates the five dominant ones (the five faculties, "faculty" meaning dominance), namely: aspiration (the function of faith, the wish), exertion (the function of vigor), non-forgetting (the function of mindfulness), non-distraction (the function of concentration), and discernment (the function of wisdom) — these are the five faculties of faith, vigor, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. When these reach the point of damaging the obscurations, they are then called "powers" (the five powers, not bent by obscuration). Cause (faculty) and fruit (power) establish their order. Further, the stages conducive to penetration (the four wholesome roots: warmth, summit, forbearance, supreme-mundane-dharma) are distributed two and two: warmth and summit at the stage of the five faculties, forbearance and supreme-mundane-dharma at the stage of the five powers.

〔6〕The seven factors of awakening

覺支略有五，謂所依、自性、 出離并利益，及三無染支。 由因緣所依，自性義差別， 故輕安、定、捨，說為無染支。

Next, the seven factors of awakening, briefly gathered into five classes: the factor of basis (the awakening-factor of mindfulness, on which the rest rest), the factor of essence (the awakening-factor of discerning phenomena, awakening's own substance), the factor of emergence (the awakening-factor of vigor, able to emerge), the factor of benefit (the awakening-factor of joy, benefiting body and mind), and the three factors of non-defilement (pliancy, concentration, equanimity). Why these three are named "non-defilement" rests on the differences of cause, basis, and essence: pliancy is the cause of non-defilement, concentration its basis, equanimity its essence — and so pliancy, concentration, and equanimity are called the factors of non-defilement. With the seven factors complete, the awakening of the path of seeing is fulfilled.

〔7〕The eightfold path

分別及誨示，令他信有三， 對治障亦三，故道支成八。 表見戒遠離，令他深信受， 對治本隨惑，及自在障故。

Next, the eightfold path, made eight by function in four classes: discernment (right view, discerning the essence — one factor), instructing (right intention, giving rise to speech that instructs others — one factor), causing others' faith (three factors), and countering obscuration (three factors), eight in all. The three factors causing others' faith: expressing view (right speech, voicing one's correct view), morality (right action, purity of bodily conduct), and seclusion (right livelihood, withdrawing from wrong livelihood and defilement) — causing others to deeply believe and accept. The three factors countering obscuration: right effort counters the root afflictions, right mindfulness counters the secondary afflictions, and right concentration counters the mastery-obscuration (the obscuration that impedes sovereignty over excellent qualities). With the eight in place, the practice of the path of cultivation is complete.

〔8〕The three differences in cultivation

有倒順無倒，無倒有倒隨， 無倒無倒隨，是修治差別。

The three differences in the cultivation of the thirty-seven factors, by depth of stage: (1) with distortion, yet conducing to non-distortion (the mundane stage — still bearing distortion, but inclined toward the undistorted), (2) undistorted, yet with distortion's residue (the stage of the learner — non-distortion attained, but the latent residue of distortion not yet exhausted), (3) undistorted, with no residue of distortion (the stage beyond learning — undistorted and without any residue of distortion). These are the differences of the three stages of cultivation.

〔9〕The bodhisattva differs from the two vehicles

菩薩所修習，由所緣作意， 證得殊勝故，與二乘差別。

The chapter concludes. The thirty-seven factors that the bodhisattva cultivates, though sharing the names used by the two vehicles, differ from the two vehicles by three superiorities: superiority of object (taking both one's own and others' continua as object, not merely one's own person), superiority of attention (contemplating with the aspect of non-apprehension — the prajñā of no-attainment brought into the factors of awakening — rather than the aspect of impermanence and the like), and superiority of realization (cultivating not for the swift release of one's own person, but for the realization of the non-abiding nirvāṇa). The same path-factors, superior in object, attention, and realization alike, mark the difference between the great vehicle and the lesser. Cultivation now expounded, the next chapter, on the stages of cultivation, sets out the sequence of stages through which cultivation proceeds.

This chapter sets out the stages through which the cultivation of antidotes proceeds: opened into eighteen stages, gathered into three, and concluding that "persons" are merely posited according to the differences of stage.

〔1〕The eighteen stages

所說修對治，分位有十八， 謂因、入、行、果、作、無作、殊勝、 上、無上、解行、入、出離、記、 說、灌頂及證得、勝利、成所作。

The practice of cultivating antidotes, just expounded, passes through eighteen stages: (1) the cause stage (the lineage, the causal basis of cultivation), (2) the entering stage (first entry into cultivation), (3) the practice stage (the actual preparatory practice), (4) the fruition stage (the fruit cultivation attains), (5) the stage with action (effort still remaining to be done, the learner), (6) the stage without action (no effort left to do, beyond learning), (7) the distinguished stage (having accomplished the supernormal powers and other distinguished qualities), (8) the stage that still has a beyond (having surpassed the śrāvakas and entered the bodhisattva grounds, with buddhahood still above), (9) the unsurpassed stage (the ultimate buddha-ground, above which there is no higher stage); then, opened out for the bodhisattva path in particular: (10) the stage of resolute practice (practicing through resolve, before the grounds), (11) the entering stage (entering the path of seeing and ascending the grounds), (12) the emergence stage (emerging on the path of cultivation), (13) the stage of receiving prophecy (receiving the buddha's prediction), (14) the teaching stage (capable of teaching the Dharma), (15) the consecration stage (the tenth ground, the Dharma-cloud, the consecration to office), (16) the realization stage (realizing great awakening), (17) the benefit stage (gaining the benefit of nirvāṇa), and (18) the stage of accomplishing what is to be done (accomplishing the buddha-work of benefiting beings). The eighteen stages comprise cultivation from beginning to end.

〔2〕The three stages

應知法界中，略有三分位， 不淨、淨不淨、清淨隨所應。

The eighteen stages are further gathered briefly into three, dividing by the degree to which the dharma-realm (suchness) is veiled by adventitious stain: the impure stage (the dharma-realm wholly veiled by adventitious dust, the stage of the ordinary being), the pure-and-impure stage (the dharma-realm partly pure and partly defiled, the learner's stage of the bodhisattva on the grounds), and the pure stage (the dharma-realm with adventitious stain wholly purified, the buddha's stage beyond learning). As appropriate, the stages are subsumed under these three — one dharma-realm in substance, differing only in the measure of stain and purity.

〔3〕Persons are merely posited according to stage

依前諸位中，所有差別相， 隨所應建立，諸補特伽羅。

In dependence on the differences found among the foregoing stages, the various persons (ordinary being, learner, one beyond learning, bodhisattva, buddha, and so on) are posited as appropriate. 〔The point made explicit:〕 A person is no real self; it is merely a designation set up according to the difference of cultivation-stage — the stage differing, the name differs; and though the name differs, no self can be found. This accords precisely with the "selflessness of person" of the earlier chapter. The stages now expounded, the next chapter, on the attainment of fruit, sets out the fruit attained in dependence on the stages.

This chapter sets out the fruit attained in dependence on the stages of cultivation: first the five fruits proper, then briefly the ten further fruits.

〔1〕The five fruits

器說為異熟，力是彼增上， 愛樂增長淨，如次即五果。

The five fruits attained through cultivation, respectively: the vessel (the capacitated supporting body, as a vessel holds) is called the maturation fruit (the maturation summoned by past karma); power (the capacity that cultivation accomplishes) is the dominant fruit of it (the fruit of dominant force); delight (what is enjoyed) is the outflow fruit (the fruit that flows out homogeneous with its cause); growth (progressive increase) is the fruit of effort (the fruit accomplished by one's own exertion); purity (the purity that is free of stain) is the disjunction fruit (the fruit disclosed by separation from bondage). Vessel, power, delight, growth, purity — respectively the maturation, dominant, outflow, effort, and disjunction fruits, the five.

〔2〕The ten further fruits

復略說餘果，後後初數習， 究竟順障滅，離勝上無上。

Further, briefly, ten more fruits, all alternative ways of speaking of the attainment of fruit: the each-later fruit (each stage being fruit relative to the one before, in succession), the first fruit (the fruit attained at the outset), the fruit of repeated practice (accomplished by cultivating again and again), the ultimate fruit (the fruit at the very limit), the conducive fruit (the fruit inclined toward further advance), the fruit of obscuration's cessation (the fruit disclosed when obscuration is exhausted), the disjunction fruit (the fruit of separation from bondage), the excellent fruit (the fruit that surpasses), the fruit-with-a-beyond (with further advance still above it), and the unsurpassed fruit (the ultimate, unsurpassed buddha-fruit). The five fruits set out directly, the ten gathered alongside — the character of attaining fruit being manifest, the next chapter, on the unsurpassed vehicle, sets out why this path is unsurpassed.

This chapter sets out why the Great Vehicle is unsurpassed: it establishes the three unsurpasseds (practice, object, cultivation-realization) and unfolds the six kinds of practice, gathering in the ten perfections, the ten dharma-practices, and the practice-according-to-dharma (non-distraction, non-perversion). It closes with a summary verse for the whole treatise. All 30 verses [84]–[113] are covered.

〔1〕The three unsurpasseds

總由三無上，說為無上乘， 謂正行、所緣，及修證無上。

Why the Great Vehicle is called the "unsurpassed vehicle": by reason of three unsurpasseds in sum: unsurpassed practice (the practice cultivated is supreme), unsurpassed object (the object taken is the broadest — all phenomena / the dharma-realm), and unsurpassed cultivation-and-realization (what is cultivated and realized is most ultimate). Having these three, it alone is called unsurpassed. The practice is now expounded at length.

〔2〕The six kinds of practice

正行有六種，謂最勝、作意、 隨法、離二邊、差別、無差別。

Unsurpassed practice opens further into six kinds: (1) supreme practice, (2) practice of attention, (3) practice according to dharma, (4) practice free of the two extremes, (5) differentiated practice, (6) undifferentiated practice. These are treated in turn.

〔3〕Supreme practice in twelve aspects

最勝有十二，謂廣大、長時、 依處及無盡、無間、無難性、 自在、攝、發起、得、等流、究竟， 由斯說十度，名波羅蜜多。

Supreme practice has twelve aspects (twelve superiorities): vast (vast in mind and object), long-time (over the three immeasurable eons), based (resting on all beings as its basis), inexhaustible (inexhaustible through dedication to awakening), uninterrupted (unbroken in the interchange of self and other), without difficulty (made easy by rejoicing in others' good), masterful (mastery in sustaining and maturing), embracing (embracing great awakening), initiating (initiated moment after moment), attaining (realized), outflowing (each later one an outflow of the prior), ultimate (perfect to the very limit). By these twelve superiorities the ten [perfections] of giving and the rest are spoken of and named "perfection" (going to the far shore) — having these superiorities, they earn the names "supreme" and "perfection."

〔4〕The ten perfections

十波羅蜜多，謂施、戒、安忍、 精進、定、般若、方便、願、力、智。

The ten perfections listed directly: giving, morality, patience, vigor, concentration, wisdom, skillful means, vow, power, and knowledge. The first six are shared; the latter four are the distinctively Mahāyāna increments.

〔5〕The functions of the ten perfections

饒益、不害、受、增德、能入、 脫、無盡、常起、定、受用成熟他。

The distinct function of each perfection, in order: giving — to benefit (enriching beings with goods and Dharma); morality — non-harm (not injuring others); patience — to endure (bearing harm without retaliation); vigor — to increase virtue (the growth of qualities); concentration — to enable entry (leading the mind to one-pointed entry); wisdom — to liberate (release from saṃsāra); skillful means — inexhaustibility (dedication making the good inexhaustible); vow — constant arising (the power of vow keeping the good ever-arising); power — steadfastness (unshaken, unsubdued); knowledge — enjoying and maturing others (one's own enjoyment of the Dharma's savor, and the maturing of beings). Each of the ten has its function; lacking one, supremacy is not accomplished.

〔6〕The practice of attention

菩薩以三慧，恒思惟大乘， 如所施設法，名作意正行。

The practice of attention: the bodhisattva, by the three wisdoms (of learning, reflection, and cultivation), constantly contemplates the teaching of the Great Vehicle, attending to the dharmas as they have been set forth — this is the practice of attention. The three wisdoms attending continuously to the Mahāyāna teaching constitute the substance of this practice.

〔7〕The fruit of attention and the ten dharma-practices

此增長善界，入義及事成。 此助伴應知，即十種法行。

This attention is able to increase the wholesome realm (nourishing the seeds of supramundane good), to enter the meaning (penetrating the sense of the teaching), and to accomplish the matter (bringing the task to completion). Its aids are to be known as the ten dharma-practices — attention being the principal, the ten dharma-practices its support.

〔8〕The ten dharma-practices

謂書寫、供養、施他、聽、披讀、 受持、正開演、諷誦及思、修。

The ten dharma-practices, ten activities performed toward the true Dharma: (1) copying (writing out the scripture), (2) making offerings (to the scripture), (3) giving to others (the gift of Dharma), (4) listening, (5) reading (perusing and reciting), (6) upholding (receiving and retaining in memory), (7) expounding (rightly teaching it to others), (8) reciting (chanting and circulating), (9) reflecting (pondering its meaning), and (10) cultivating (practicing in accord with the meaning). The ten support and accomplish the practice of attention.

〔9〕The merit of the ten dharma-practices

行十法行者，獲福聚無量。 勝故、無盡故，由攝他不息。

One who performs these ten dharma-practices gains an immeasurable mass of merit. The merit is immeasurable for three reasons: because [the Mahāyāna teaching] is superior, because [its merit] is inexhaustible (inexhaustible through dedication to awakening), and because one embraces others ceaselessly (continually attracting and maturing beings without rest). For these three, the merit cannot be measured.

〔10〕Practice according to dharma — two kinds

隨法行二種，謂諸無散亂、 無顛倒轉變，諸菩薩應知。

Practice according to dharma has two kinds: (1) non-distraction (the mind unscattered) and (2) non-perverted transformation (no perversion regarding the letter, the meaning, and so on). Bodhisattvas should know these two; they are treated separately below.

〔11〕Non-distraction — free of the six distractions

出定、於境流、味沈掉、矯示、 我執、心下劣，諸智者應知。

Non-distraction means being free of the six distractions, which the wise should know and avoid: (1) the distraction of going out from concentration (the five sense-consciousnesses chasing objects and leaving concentration — distraction of own-nature), (2) the distraction of flowing toward objects (the mind straying to external objects — outward distraction), (3) the distraction of relishing (with sinking and agitation) (savoring meditative states, sinking and agitation intermixed — inward distraction), (4) the distraction of false display (feigning marks of attainment to gain fame and gain — distraction of marks), (5) the distraction of self-grasping (giving rise to the clinging to "I" and "mine" — distraction of coarseness), (6) the distraction of inferior mind (cultivating with the inferior attention of the two vehicles — distraction of attention). Free of these six, there is non-distraction.

〔12〕Non-perversion — non-perversion regarding the letter

智見於文義，作意及不動， 二相染淨客，無怖高無倒。 知但由相應、串習或翻此， 有義及非有，是於文無倒。

Non-perversion means that, with wisdom, one rightly sees and is not perverted with respect to ten loci: the letter, the meaning, attention, immovability, the two characteristics (own-mark and shared-mark), defilement, purity, the adventitious, non-fear, and non-exaltation — these are the ten non-perversions, treated one by one below. First, non-perversion regarding the letter: knowing that the letter (verbal designation) conveys meaning only through the conjunction [of word and sense] and habituation, or the reverse (where unconjoined or un-habituated, it conveys nothing); therefore the letter both has [signified] meaning and has non-[signified] being (the letter neither necessarily signifies nor necessarily fails to signify) — knowing this as it is, is non-perversion regarding the letter.

〔13〕Non-perversion — non-perversion regarding the meaning

似二性顯現，如現實非有， 知離有非有，是於義無倒。

Non-perversion regarding the meaning: the meaning (the signified object) appears as having the nature of the two (appearing as grasper and grasped), yet as it appears, it is really nonexistent (the appearing duality never was); knowing it as free of [superimposed] existence and of [denied] nonexistence — knowing this as it is, is non-perversion regarding the meaning.

〔14〕Non-perversion — regarding attention

於作意無倒，知彼言熏習， 言作意彼依，現似二因故。

Non-perversion regarding attention: knowing that the appearing of the two arises from the habituation of language (the impregnation by names), and that attention rests on that verbal latency (attention's object depends on these linguistic latencies) — because the verbal latency is the cause of the appearing-as-two. Knowing as it is that attention rests on verbal habituation, is non-perversion regarding attention.

〔15〕Non-perversion — regarding immovability

於不動無倒，謂知義非有， 非無如幻等，有無不動故。

Non-perversion regarding immovability: knowing that the meaning (object) is not [substantially] existent, yet not [utterly] nonexistent, like an illusion and the like (seeming-but-not-real, unreal-but-not-nothing); because one is unmoved by either existence or nonexistence — not clinging to substantial existence, not denying into sheer nothing — this is non-perversion regarding immovability.

〔16〕Non-perversion — regarding own-characteristic

於自相無倒，知一切唯名， 離一切分別，依勝義自相。

Non-perversion regarding own-characteristic: knowing that all phenomena are only name (merely nominal positing), free of all discrimination (the own-characteristic is not the range of discrimination), and contemplating in reliance on the ultimate own-characteristic (the own-mark disclosed at the level of ultimate truth) — knowing as it is that the own-characteristic of phenomena is merely nominal and free of discrimination, is non-perversion regarding own-characteristic.

〔17〕Non-perversion — regarding shared-characteristic

以離真法界，無別有一法， 故通達此者，於共相無倒。

Non-perversion regarding shared-characteristic: because apart from the true dharma-realm there is no separate single dharma (the shared-characteristic of all phenomena just is the suchness-dharma-realm, no dharma having its own substance outside the dharma-realm); therefore one who penetrates this — that the shared-characteristic is the dharma-realm — is non-perverted regarding shared-characteristic.

〔18〕Non-perversion — regarding defilement and purity

知顛倒作意，未滅及已滅， 於法界雜染，清淨無顛倒。

Non-perversion regarding defilement and purity: knowing that when perverted attention has not yet ceased the dharma-realm appears as defiled, and when it has already ceased the dharma-realm appears as pure — defilement and purity are posited only according to whether perverted attention has ceased or not, not because the dharma-realm's own nature has defilement or purity. Knowing this as it is, one is non-perverted regarding both the defilement and the purity of the dharma-realm.

〔19〕Non-perversion — regarding the adventitious

知法界本性，清淨如虛空， 故染淨非主，是於客無倒。

Non-perversion regarding the adventitious: knowing that the dharma-realm's nature is originally pure, like space (primordially pure, not made defiled); hence defilement and purity are not the master (not the intrinsic substance of the dharma-realm, but the coming-and-going of adventitious dust) — knowing that both defilement and purity are adventitious, not the master, is non-perversion regarding the adventitious.

〔20〕Non-perversion — regarding non-fear and non-exaltation

有情法無故，染淨性俱無， 知此無怖高，是於二無倒。

Non-perversion regarding non-fear and non-exaltation: because person and dharma are both without [real nature], the natures of defilement and purity are both absent (there being neither a real defilement to remove nor a real purity to gain); knowing this, one neither fears (no dread at there being no defilement to remove) nor is exalted (no pride at a purity gained) — this is non-perversion regarding the two, non-fear and non-exaltation. With the ten non-perversions complete, non-perverted transformation is fulfilled.

〔21〕Practice free of the two extremes — the extremes of identity-and-difference, eternalism-and-annihilation, defilement-and-purity, and the rest

異性與一性，外道及聲聞， 增益損減邊，有情法各二。 所治及能治，常住與斷滅， 所取能取邊，染淨二三種。

Practice free of the two extremes means treading the middle way, free of the various views that fall into an extreme. The extremes to be left: the extreme of difference and identity (clinging to self as identical with the aggregates, or as different), the extreme of the outsiders (superimposition) and the śrāvakas (denial), the extremes of superimposition and denial — regarding both person and dharma, each has these two extremes. Further: the extreme of the to-be-countered and the counteragent, of eternalism and annihilation, of the grasped and the grasper, and of defilement and purity. All such extremes, paired two by two and ranged in their classes, are to be abandoned.

〔22〕Practice free of the two extremes — the seven discriminations of two extremes

分別二邊性，應知復有七， 謂有非有邊，所能寂怖畏， 所能取正邪，有用并無用， 不起及時等，是分別二邊。

The nature of the discrimination of two extremes should be known to have, further, seven kinds (seven pairs): (1) the extreme of existence / nonexistence, (2) the extreme of the to-be-pacified / the pacifier, (3) the extreme of fear (the feared / the fearer), (4) the extreme of the grasped / the grasper, (5) the extreme of right / wrong (right conduct and wrong conduct), (6) the extreme of the useful / the useless, and (7) the extreme of non-arising / arising-in-time and the like. These are the seven discriminations of two extremes — each left behind by the middle way, completing the practice free of the two extremes.

〔23〕Differentiated and undifferentiated practice

差別無差別，應知於十地， 十波羅蜜多，增上等修集。

The differentiated practice and the undifferentiated practice should be known with respect to the ten grounds and the ten perfections: as differentiated practice, on each of the ten grounds one of the ten perfections is cultivated as dominant (giving dominant on the first ground, discipline on the second); as undifferentiated practice, on every ground all ten perfections are cultivated equally. Each ground has its emphasis, yet no ground omits the full cultivation — such are the two practices. With this the six kinds of practice are fully expounded.

〔24〕The unsurpassed object

所緣謂安、界、所能立、任持、 印內持、通達、增、證、運、最勝。

Next, the unsurpassed object. The object of the Great Vehicle is the broadest and most excellent, namely: the established (the established teaching of the Great Vehicle), the dharma-realm, the established-and-establisher (the thesis to be proved and the means of proving it), sustaining (sustaining the true Dharma), sealing (decisive certitude), inner holding (inwardly self-realized holding), penetration (penetrating reality), increase, realization, conveying, and the supreme (the ultimate, most excellent). Cultivating with these as object, the object is unsurpassed.

〔25〕The unsurpassed cultivation-realization

修證謂無闕、不毀動、圓滿、 起、堅固、調柔、不住、無障息。

Next, the unsurpassed cultivation-realization. What is cultivated and realized is most ultimate, namely: without lack (the provisions undeficient), unbroken and unmoved (not damaged or moved by adverse conditions), complete (merit and wisdom perfected), arising (able to arise moment after moment), firm (firm, non-regressing), pliant (the mind grown supple), non-abiding (abiding in neither saṃsāra nor nirvāṇa), and without obstruction or cessation (unobstructed and continuing without end). Having these, the cultivation-realization is unsurpassed. The three unsurpasseds complete, the meaning of the unsurpassed vehicle is established.

〔26〕Closing verse

此論辯中邊，深密堅實義， 廣大一切義，除諸不吉祥。

The closing verse gathers the whole treatise. This treatise distinguishes the "middle" from the "extremes" (discerning the middle way between superimposition and denial); its meaning is profound and hidden (deep and subtle in import), firm and solid (not to be toppled or broken), and vast (embracing the meaning of all phenomena without remainder); and it can dispel all that is inauspicious (clearing away every distortion, obscuration, defilement, and the unrest of saṃsāra). The seven chapters of the whole — characteristics, obscurations, reality, the cultivation of antidotes, the stages of cultivation, the attainment of fruit, and the unsurpassed vehicle — are herewith complete. The purport of distinguishing the middle from the extremes is, in this, fully told.