瑜伽師地論 獨覺地

The middle vehicle among the three. A mirror that holds up to the light "awakening yet thin in compassion": the loneliness and silence already written into the lineage.

In one line: Awakening can be walked, by one person, all the way to the end; but without the holding of great compassion, it can only accomplish a solitary one "wholly bent toward quiescence, using the body in place of the mouth" — by his silence, the pratyekabuddha says on the bodhisattva path's behalf why "great compassion" cannot be dispensed with.

Three Points of the Eye

1. The lineage is the ending. The pratyekabuddha's three [marks of] lineage — thin defilement (loving stillness) · thin compassion (not delighting to benefit beings) · middling faculties acting with pride (longing to realize [awakening] teacherless and of himself) — have already written the fruit ("born in an age without a buddha, awakening of himself without a teacher, delighting in quiescence and not expounding the Dharma") into the cause. Lineage is destiny's artery, the principle that "each [factor] arises from its own seed" enlarged across a whole road to buddhahood.

2. The rhinoceros-horn / the group-dwelling: two kinds of solitary. The rhinoceros-horn simile = solitary by birth (in dependence on the first path · a hundred aeons · reserving completion, alone, for a buddha-less age); the group-dwelling simile = solitary by practice (originally on the śrāvaka path, having aroused warmth-summit-acceptance / attained a fruit of the renunciant's life, lacking the power to consummate it in the present life, completing it alone in a later age). The common bone: born in an age without a buddha, teacherless able of himself to cultivate the thirty-seven factors of awakening and, contemplating the profound dependent origination, to realize [the goal] (Jinaputra: middling in practice and middling in fruit · teacherless awakening alone · also named a condition-awakener).

3. Awakened, yet unable to say it aloud. He dwells in the utmost emptiness, wishlessness, and signlessness, seeing through dependent origination; yet in "conduct" the thin compassion shows its limit — "he rescues and delivers by the body, not by speech" (manifesting bodily form alone · displaying supernormal power · uttering no words), "from the outset wholly bent toward quiescence." There is awakening, but the compassion is not full: he can deliver others by the body, but not by the Dharma.

The 漢 root text (Xuanzang, T30n1579) is kept as a de-emphasized visual anchor for bilingual readers; the English below renders every word of it in plain, continuous prose.

Setting the Theme: The Pratyekabuddha Stage Has Five Marks

云何獨覺地？當知此地有五種相。一者、種姓，二者、道，三者、習，四者、住，五者、行。

What is the Pratyekabuddha Stage? It should be known that this stage has five marks: first, lineage; second, the path; third, the practice; fourth, the dwelling; fifth, the conduct.

One · The Pratyekabuddha Lineage (Three Marks)

云何獨覺種姓？謂由三相，應正了知。一者、本性獨覺，先未證得彼菩提時，有薄塵種姓。由此因緣，於憒鬧處，心不愛樂；於寂靜處，深心愛樂。二者、本性獨覺，先未證得彼菩提時，有薄悲種姓。由是因緣，於說正法利有情事，心不愛樂；於少思務寂靜住中，深心愛樂。三者、本性獨覺，先未證得彼菩提時，有中根種，姓，是慢行類。由是因緣，深心希願無師、無敵而證菩提。

What is the pratyekabuddha lineage? It should be rightly understood through three marks. First: the one who is a pratyekabuddha by intrinsic nature, before he has yet realized that awakening, has the lineage of thin defilement — the dust of affliction is comparatively thin in him; and for this reason, in clamorous places his mind takes no delight, while in quiet places his heart delights deeply. Second: [such a one], before he has yet realized that awakening, has the lineage of thin compassion — his compassion is comparatively thin; and for this reason, in the matter of expounding the true Dharma and benefiting sentient beings his mind takes no delight, while in dwelling quietly with few affairs and cares his heart delights deeply. Third: [such a one], before he has yet realized that awakening, has the lineage of the middling faculties — of the class that acts with pride; and for this reason his heart deeply longs to realize awakening without a teacher and without a rival. 〔On 「中根種，姓」: the comma between 種 and 姓 in the base text is a CBETA editorial-layer mark; the canonical reading is 種姓 = lineage (gotra); the Ming and Sheng editions read this character as 性 (種性). Both readings recorded — see the apparatus, Heading II.〕

Two · The Pratyekabuddha Path (Three Paths)

云何獨覺道？謂由三相，應正了知。謂有一類，安住獨覺種姓，經於百劫，值佛出世，親近承事，成熟相續，專心求證獨覺菩提。於蘊善巧、於處善巧、於界善巧、於緣起善巧、於處非處善巧、於諦善巧勤修學故，於當來世，速能證得獨覺菩提。如是名為初獨覺道。復有一類，值佛出世，親近善士，聽聞正法，如理作意，於先所未起順決擇分善根，引發令起，謂煗、頂、忍；而無力能即於此生證法現觀，得沙門果。復修蘊善巧、修處善巧、修界善巧、修緣起善巧、修處非處善巧、修諦善巧故，於當來世能證法現觀，得沙門果。是名第二獨覺道。復有一類，值佛出世，親近善士，聽聞正法，如理作意，證法現觀，得沙門果；而無力能於一切種至極究竟，畢竟離垢，畢竟證得梵行邊際阿羅漢果。復修蘊善巧、修處善巧、修界善巧、修緣起善巧、修處非處善巧、修諦善巧故，依出世道，於當來世至極究竟，畢竟離垢，畢竟證得梵行邊際阿羅漢果。是名第三獨覺道。

What is the pratyekabuddha path? It should be rightly understood through three marks. The first path: there is a class [of persons] who, settled in the pratyekabuddha lineage, pass through a hundred aeons, meet a buddha's coming into the world, draw near and serve him, ripen their continuum, and single-mindedly seek to realize pratyekabuddha awakening; and because they diligently cultivate and study skill in the aggregates, skill in the sense-bases, skill in the elements, skill in dependent origination, skill in the possible-and-impossible, and skill in the [four] truths, in a future age they are able swiftly to realize pratyekabuddha awakening. This is called the first pratyekabuddha path. The second path: there is a further class who meet a buddha's coming into the world, draw near to a good friend, hear the true Dharma, and attend to it in accordance with reason, and who draw forth and arouse the roots of good belonging to the [factors] conducive to penetration that had not before arisen — namely warmth, summit, and acceptance; yet who lack the power to realize, in this very life, the direct realization of the Dharma and to attain a fruit of the renunciant's life. Cultivating further skill in the aggregates, skill in the sense-bases, skill in the elements, skill in dependent origination, skill in the possible-and-impossible, and skill in the truths, in a future age they are able to realize the direct realization of the Dharma and to attain a fruit of the renunciant's life. This is called the second pratyekabuddha path. The third path: there is a further class who meet a buddha's coming into the world, draw near to a good friend, hear the true Dharma, attend to it in accordance with reason, realize the direct realization of the Dharma, and attain a fruit of the renunciant's life; yet who lack the power, in every respect, to reach the utmost consummation — to be finally freed of defilement and finally to realize the arhatship that is the furthest limit of the holy life. Cultivating further skill in the aggregates, skill in the sense-bases, skill in the elements, skill in dependent origination, skill in the possible-and-impossible, and skill in the truths, then in dependence on the supramundane path, in a future age they reach the utmost consummation, are finally freed of defilement, and finally realize the arhatship that is the furthest limit of the holy life. This is called the third pratyekabuddha path.

Three · The Pratyekabuddha Practice (the Rhinoceros-Horn Simile · the Group-Dwelling Simile)

云何獨覺習？謂有一類，依初獨覺道，滿足百劫修集資糧。過百劫已，出無佛世。無師自能修三十七菩提分法，證法現觀，得獨覺菩提果，永斷一切煩惱，成阿羅漢。復有一類，或依第二、或依第三獨覺道。由彼因緣，出無佛世，無師自能修三十七菩提分法，或證法現觀，乃至得阿羅漢果，或得沙門果，至極究竟，畢竟離垢，畢竟證得梵行邊際，證得最上阿羅漢果。當知此中，由初習故成獨覺者，名麟角喻。由第二、第三習故成獨勝者，名部行喻。

What is the pratyekabuddha practice? There is a class who, in dependence on the first pratyekabuddha path, complete a full hundred aeons of cultivating and gathering the provisions [for awakening]. When the hundred aeons have passed, they are born in an age without a buddha; teacherless, they are able of themselves to cultivate the thirty-seven factors of awakening, to realize the direct realization of the Dharma, to attain the fruit of pratyekabuddha awakening, forever to cut off all afflictions, and to become an arhat. There is a further class who [proceed] in dependence either on the second or on the third pratyekabuddha path; through those conditions they are born in an age without a buddha, and teacherless are able of themselves to cultivate the thirty-seven factors of awakening — either realizing the direct realization of the Dharma and on up to attaining the fruit of arhatship, or [first] attaining a fruit of the renunciant's life and [then] reaching the utmost consummation, being finally freed of defilement, finally realizing the furthest limit of the holy life, and realizing the supreme fruit of arhatship. It should be known that, among these, the one who becomes a pratyekabuddha through the first practice is called [an instance of] the rhinoceros-horn simile (like the single horn of a rhinoceros, wholly alone from first to last); and the one who becomes a solitary victor through the second and third practice is called [an instance of] the group-dwelling simile (one who once practiced within the community, the assembly, and only afterward became solitary).

Four · The Pratyekabuddha Dwelling

云何獨覺住？謂初所習麟角喻獨覺，樂處孤林，樂獨居住，樂甚深勝解，樂觀察甚深緣起道理，樂安住最極空、無願、無相作意。若第二、第三所習部行喻獨勝，不必一向樂處孤林、樂獨居住，亦樂部眾共相雜住。所餘住相，如麟角喻。

What is the pratyekabuddha dwelling? The rhinoceros-horn-simile pratyekabuddha, [formed] by the first practice, delights to abide in a solitary grove, delights to dwell alone, delights in profound resolute conviction, delights to contemplate the principle of the profound dependent origination, and delights to rest in the attention to the utmost emptiness, wishlessness, and signlessness. As for the group-dwelling-simile solitary victor, [formed] by the second and third practice, he does not necessarily always delight to abide in a solitary grove and to dwell alone, but also delights to dwell mingled together with the assembly of the community. The remaining marks of his dwelling are as for the rhinoceros-horn simile.

Five · The Pratyekabuddha Conduct

云何獨覺行？謂一切獨覺，隨依彼彼村邑聚落而住，善護其身、善守諸根、善住正念，隨入彼彼村邑聚落，或為乞食。或濟度他下劣愚昧，以身濟度，不以語言。何以故？唯現身相為彼說法，不發言故。示現種種神通境界，乃至為令心誹謗者生歸向故。又彼一切，應知本來一向趣寂。

What is the pratyekabuddha conduct? All pratyekabuddhas, dwelling in dependence on this or that village, town, and settlement, well guard their body, well watch over their faculties, and well rest in right mindfulness; and entering this or that village, town, and settlement, they [go] either to beg for food, or to rescue and deliver others who are lowly and benighted — yet they rescue and deliver by the body, not by speech. Why so? Because they expound the Dharma to them by manifesting bodily form alone, and do not utter words; they display all manner of realms of supernormal power, so as even to make one whose mind harbors slander come to give himself over [to the Dharma]. And all these [pratyekabuddhas], it should be known, are from the outset wholly bent toward quiescence.

After the Śrāvaka, Before the Bodhisattva — Why Set Up This One Vehicle by Itself

Among the seventeen stages, the śrāvaka (thirteenth), pratyekabuddha (fourteenth), and bodhisattva (fifteenth) stages stand joined in a row — exactly the three vehicles set side by side. Both the śrāvaka and the bodhisattva are familiar to us: the one hears the Buddha's vocal teaching and cultivates the four truths; the other arouses the mind of great compassion and practices the six perfections. But this "pratyekabuddha," wedged in between, what exactly is it? He neither hears the Dharma in a buddha's age nor arouses the resolve to deliver beings — he seems to lean on neither side. Why, then, does the treatise still set up a stage for him by himself, and gravely at that, expounding his lineage, path, practice, dwelling, and conduct?

Jinaputra's commentary points out his rank in a single stroke: "He constantly delights in quiescence and does not wish to dwell mingled [with others]; his intensified practice being complete, without the teaching of teacher or friend he awakens of himself, alone and spontaneously, and forever departs the world. Middling in practice and middling in fruit, he is therefore named a pratyekabuddha [a solitary awakener]. Or, because he awakens to the noble fruit by contemplating conditions, he is also named a pratyekabuddha [a condition-awakener]" 〔Jinaputra's Commentary〕. His is a vehicle "middling in practice and middling in fruit": his practice does not reach the greatness of the bodhisattva, yet it surpasses the śrāvaka's reliance on a teacher; his fruit does not reach the fullness of a buddha, yet it goes beyond the three realms. What most repays reflection in him is not what he realizes, but how he realizes it — and why, having realized it, he does not speak. This stage is, when the three vehicles are set side by side, the very mirror that shows what "awakening yet thin in compassion" looks like.

Within the Lineage, the Ending Is Already Stored Up

The treatise says the pratyekabuddha lineage has three marks. On a first reading they look like three qualifications; looked at closely, they are three buried threads — the loneliness and silence of the pratyekabuddha's whole life are already written into the lineage.

First, thin defilement: the dust of affliction is by nature thin in him, and so "in clamorous places his mind takes no delight, while in quiet places his heart delights deeply" — he inclines, from birth, toward the still. Second, thin compassion: his compassion is by nature thin, and so "in the matter of expounding the true Dharma and benefiting sentient beings his mind takes no delight, while in dwelling quietly with few affairs and cares his heart delights deeply" — he is, from birth, disinclined to trouble himself with the affairs of beings. Third, middling faculties, acting with pride: his capacity is of the middling grade and carries the habit of pride, and so "his heart deeply longs to realize awakening without a teacher and without a rival" — he wants, from birth, to realize the path relying on himself, wanting neither teacher nor rival.

Read these three marks together, and the pratyekabuddha's "fruit" already takes form within his "cause": loving stillness (thin defilement), not delighting to benefit beings (thin compassion), and willing to accomplish the goal alone (proud practice) — a lineage such as this must bear, as its fruit, an awakened one who is "born in an age without a buddha, awakens of himself without a teacher, delights in quiescence and does not expound the Dharma." Lineage is destiny's very artery: what lineage you are, that is the path you walk and the fruit you accomplish. This is precisely the Consciousness-Only principle that "each [factor] arises from its own seed," enlarged across a whole road to buddhahood — the pratyekabuddha's being a pratyekabuddha is not a choice made midway, but something carried within the lineage from the start.

The Rhinoceros Horn and the Group-Dwellers: Two Kinds of "Solitary"

So how is a pratyekabuddha cultivated to completion? The treatise lists three paths and three practices, and draws them to a close with two similes, dividing out two kinds of "solitary."

For the one who follows the "first pratyekabuddha path": he settles in the lineage, passes a hundred aeons, draws near and serves [a buddha] in a buddha's age, and cultivates the "six skills" — in the aggregates, the sense-bases, the elements, dependent origination, the possible-and-impossible, and the truths — yet reserves his realization for an age without a buddha. This class, "the one who becomes a pratyekabuddha through the first practice, is called [an instance of] the rhinoceros-horn simile": like that single horn upon the rhinoceros's head, from first to last he alone, a wholly solitary awakening. For the one who follows the "second and third paths": he is originally one who, on the śrāvaka path, has already aroused warmth, summit, and acceptance, or has already attained a fruit of the renunciant's life, only that in the present life he lacks the power to reach the consummation, and so reserves it for a later, buddha-less age to complete alone. This class "is called [an instance of] the group-dwelling simile": one who once practiced within the community (the assembly) and in the end became solitary.

The two solitudes differ in weight: the rhinoceros-horn is "solitary by birth"; the group-dwelling is "solitary by practice." Dunlun draws the distinction here sharply: "The first is named the rhinoceros-horn; the latter two are named the group-dwelling," and he cites the Abhidharma-samuccaya, fascicle thirteen, for comparison 〔Dunlun, Notes〕. But whichever of the two, the common point is those very words — born in an age without a buddha, teacherless able of himself to cultivate the thirty-seven factors of awakening and so to realize [the goal]. With no buddha, no teacher, no teaching, he contemplates dependent origination through to the end of himself and cultivates the path through to the end. This is the pratyekabuddha's hardest bone: awakening can be walked, by one person, all the way to the end.

The Dwelling and the Conduct: Awakened, Yet Unable to Say It Aloud

Yet it is precisely in the "dwelling" and the "conduct" that the pratyekabuddha comes to the one step he cannot walk past.

The "dwelling" of the rhinoceros-horn-simile pratyekabuddha is to "delight to abide in a solitary grove, delight to dwell alone, delight in profound resolute conviction, delight to contemplate the principle of the profound dependent origination, delight to rest in the attention to the utmost emptiness, wishlessness, and signlessness" — he dwells in the deepest emptiness and quiescence, contemplating the twelvefold dependent origination, forward and reverse, through to the very bottom. This is an exceedingly high station: teacherless, yet able to see through dependent origination and to rest in the three gates of liberation.

But when it comes to "conduct," the lineage of thin compassion shows its limit. The treatise says the pratyekabuddha dwells in dependence on villages and towns, well guarding his body, faculties, and right mindfulness, and that even when he meets one who is lowly and benighted, he "rescues and delivers" him — but how does he rescue and deliver? "He rescues and delivers by the body, not by speech": he only manifests bodily form and displays supernormal power, so as even to turn one who has aroused slander toward giving himself over [to the Dharma] — yet "because he expounds the Dharma to them by manifesting bodily form alone, and does not utter words." When he delivers others, it is by silently manifesting a body and showing a little supernormal power, and from beginning to end he does not open his mouth to expound the Dharma. Why does he not speak? The lineage already wrote it down: thin compassion. His compassion being thin, he cannot bring forth the tireless vow to "proclaim the Dharma for the sake of beings." And so the treatise's closing line sets the whole keynote of the pratyekabuddha: "And all these [pratyekabuddhas], it should be known, are from the outset wholly bent toward quiescence." — From the very root, he heads by a single road toward quiescence.

This is the pratyekabuddha's most moving, and most reflection-worthy, stroke: he has true awakening, can awaken alone, and dwells in the deepest emptiness and quiescence, yet because his compassion is thin, he "attains the awakening but cannot say it aloud"; he can deliver others by the body, but cannot deliver them by the Dharma. Awakening and compassion, in him, are set apart — there is awakening, but the compassion is not full.

The One Meaning This Stage Holds Up to the Light

The Pratyekabuddha Stage looks like nothing more than a résumé entered for the "middle vehicle," but it is in fact the most crucial of mirrors when the three vehicles are set side by side: it holds up to the light what "awakening yet thin in compassion" ends in — wholly bent toward quiescence, using the body in place of the mouth, raising no transformation-through-Dharma. To place the pratyekabuddha between the śrāvaka and the bodhisattva is precisely to throw into relief, by contrast: the śrāvaka awakens in reliance on a teacher; the pratyekabuddha, teacherless, [inclines to] quiescence; and the bodhisattva runs awakening and compassion together, in great practice and great fruit, and "does not abide [in nirvāṇa]." The pratyekabuddha reaches the utmost of "awakening, by one person, to the end," and yet at that very utmost he halts — halts at "bent toward quiescence," unable to cross the pass of "the compassionate vow to deliver beings."

So this stage is not asking us to admire the pratyekabuddha's lonely loftiness, nor to disparage the thinness of his compassion, but to make us see clearly: awakening, if it is not held and gathered by great compassion, can only accomplish a solitary one bent toward quiescence; to abide neither in birth-and-death nor in nirvāṇa, one must have awakening and compassion at once. By his silence, the pratyekabuddha says on the bodhisattva path's behalf why the two words "great compassion" cannot be dispensed with. An awakened one who cannot say it aloud is the most forceful proof, by contrary, of the great-compassion gate of the Dharma.

Carrying Forward

The pratyekabuddha meaning here in the Basic Section is carried forward by the later treatises for mutual reference: the Abhidharma-samuccaya (the Compendium and the Miscellaneous Compendium), fascicle thirteen, discusses the pratyekabuddha (cited by Dunlun); the Section on Ascertainment sets up no separate ascertainment of the Pratyekabuddha Stage (the outline notes "the Pratyekabuddha Stage is absent"); and the division into the rhinoceros-horn simile and the group-dwelling simile is constantly drawn upon, in the later classification of the teachings, as the authority for "the two classes of the middle vehicle." Contemplating the three vehicles together, the pratyekabuddha stands squarely in the midst — inheriting above the śrāvaka's reliance on the four truths, and setting off below the bodhisattva's great compassion; the three stages are a single line, and without this middle vehicle the three vehicles are not complete.