瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 自他利品

In one line: The Chapter on Benefiting Self and Others = the map of the bodhisattva path (the overall thread of training at the seven sites) + two iron laws (self and other are not two · merit and knowledge are not partial) — benefit is like a cause, ease-and-joy like a fruit; merit is the most excellent, knowledge is the unsurpassed.

Three points of the eye:

1. Training at the seven sites (the frame of the first section): benefiting self · benefiting others · the true meaning · might · the ripening of sentient beings · the ripening of one's own buddha-Dharma · awakening. Gathering the seven into five chapters, this is the guiding thread of all the chapters that follow in the first section (the true meaning = site 3 · might = site 4 · ripening = sites 5/6 · awakening = site 7). Benefiting self and others is of ten kinds (pure / shared · the class of benefit / of ease-and-joy · subsumed under cause / under fruit · this world / the other world · ultimate / non-ultimate); both pure self-benefit and pure benefiting-of-others have a part to be cut off (attachment to the pleasant abiding of concentration, casting aside the deliverance of beings = the fault of pure self-benefit; giving through wrong views, and violating precepts and teaching Dharma through the view of no-cause and no-fruit = the fault of pure benefiting-of-others).
2. Benefit is like a cause · ease-and-joy like a fruit (self and other are not two): bestow the beneficial matter attended by grief-and-suffering, strip away the unbeneficial matter attended by joy-and-pleasure — to make beings assuredly attain ease-and-joy afterward. Ease-and-joy is the five pleasures (the cause / feeling / the counteragent-to-suffering / the cessation of feeling / freedom from vexation-and-harm), and the pleasure free of vexation-and-harm is fourfold (renunciation / seclusion / quiet / the three-fold awakening); according to the ultimate meaning all feelings are suffering, and only the pleasure of the three-fold awakening is the true pleasure of the perpetual cessation of ultimate-meaning suffering.
3. The two wheels of merit and knowledge · merit is the most excellent, knowledge is the unsurpassed: three causes and three fruits (maturation / merit / knowledge). The eight endowments of maturation (life-span / bodily form / clan and family / sovereign command / trustworthy speech / great majesty / human [male] nature / great strength) = the capital for delivering beings (brought about by eight causes · increased by three conditions 〔purity of mind / of applied practice / of the field〕· attaining the eight fruits, benefiting beings well); merit = giving, discipline, patience · knowledge = wisdom · vigor and the meditative absorptions run through both parts; the substance and merit of maturation are all born from merit, and merit relies on knowledge to be raised up; lacking one, awakening is not realized.

Appended pointers:

• Training at the seven sites unfolds in the Chapter on the True Meaning (15-01-04) and the chapters that follow; the two accumulations of merit and knowledge are broadly performed in the six perfections, from the Chapter on Giving (09) onward. Arousing the mind (the vow) → benefiting self and others (the thread of practice) → the various perfections (the topics of practice): one continuous line.
• The ten gates → Master Yuan's five pairs · pure self-benefit in Jing's ten sentences / Ji's eight · the three conditions from Lord Jing (purity of mind = faith) · the substance of the pleasure-that-counteracts-suffering in Woncheuk's record of two old explanations (the Tripiṭaka-master keeping to the latter) · merit is the most excellent and knowledge the unsurpassed (Ji · the Concise Compendium is wanting in this verdict) — see the Apparatus, Heading IV, recorded but not adjudicated.
• The Section on Ascertainment ascertains anew by the bodhisattva's nine right practices (nine similes) · the five wrong practices · the fivefold capacity and incapacity (Apparatus, Heading II · Heading VI).

The Bodhisattva's Grounds of Training: The Seven Sites

This is the first part of the third chapter, the Chapter on Benefiting Self and Others, within the First Section of the fifteenth stage in the Basic Section, the Bodhisattva Stage. In this way, once the bodhisattva has already aroused the mind [of awakening], how is he to cultivate the various bodhisattva practices? Stated briefly, the bodhisattva's "grounds of training," his "training thus," and his "capacity to train" — all of this, gathered together into one, is named "the bodhisattva practice."

At what sites do these bodhisattvas train? They train at "seven sites." Which seven? The summary verse (uddāna) says: benefiting self, benefiting others, the true meaning, might, the ripening of sentient beings, the ripening of one's own buddha-Dharma, and the seventh, the site of awakening. Set out in order, the first is the training-site for cultivating and accomplishing one's own benefit; the second, for cultivating and accomplishing the benefit of other beings; the third, for comprehending the true meaning as it truly is; the fourth, for cultivating and accomplishing might; the fifth, for teaching and ripening sentient beings; the sixth, for cultivating and ripening one's own buddha-Dharma; and the seventh, for advancing toward and realizing unsurpassed perfect awakening.

Benefiting Self and Others Is of Ten Kinds

What is the site of benefiting self and others? Benefiting self and others, stated briefly, is of ten kinds: first, pure benefiting of self and others; second, shared benefiting of self and others; third, benefiting of self and others of the class of benefit; fourth, benefiting of self and others of the class of ease-and-joy; fifth, benefiting of self and others subsumed under cause; sixth, benefiting of self and others subsumed under fruit; seventh, benefiting of self and others in this world; eighth, benefiting of self and others in the other world; ninth, ultimate benefiting of self and others; tenth, non-ultimate benefiting of self and others.

The Pure and the Shared

What is the bodhisattva's pure and shared benefiting of self and others? As for "pure benefiting of self and others," the bodhisattvas should know it and should cut it off, because it transgresses and does not accord with the bodhisattva's code of conduct; as for the rest, they should diligently train in it, because it does not transgress and does accord with the bodhisattva's code of conduct.

Here, what the bodhisattva should know and cut off as "pure self-benefit" is this: to seek wealth and enjoyment for one's own pleasure; or, out of a stinginess with the Dharma, to seek out and hold to the teachings spoken by the buddhas and bodhisattvas [for oneself alone]; or, for the sake of being reborn in the heavens and receiving heavenly pleasures, to hold to the precepts and prohibitions and to rouse diligent effort in cultivating meditative concentration and wisdom; or to seek worldly, contaminated fruits of reward, and, for the sake of worldly wealth and food, to revere and make offerings to the buddhas' stūpas and shrines; or, coveting gain and honor, to speak of oneself, for the sake of gain and honor, as having all sorts of meaningless and untrue merits, deceiving and deluding others and gathering in gain and honor; or, wishing out of greed to make of others one's own servants, to gather a following unlawfully, not in accord with the true Dharma, in order to have them at one's command; to use deceitful expedients to rescue sentient beings, freeing them from being another's servant, only to turn about and take them in as one's own servants; to rescue sentient beings, freeing them from bonds, only to turn about and grasp them for one's own undertakings; to rescue sentient beings, freeing them, in another's hands, from the terrors of various punishments, only to turn about and subdue them so that they stand in fear of oneself; and for the bodhisattva to be attached to the pleasant abiding in the present state that the various concentrations afford, casting aside the contemplation of matters that benefit sentient beings — these, it should be known, are named "pure self-benefit." The bodhisattva should know and should cut off this practice of pure self-benefit.

If the bodhisattvas, with compassion foremost, or for the sake of dedicating [merit] to unsurpassed awakening, and also for the sake of [beings'] rebirth in the heavens, cultivate giving, patience, and the rest at all times — this, it should be known, is named "self-benefit shared with others." Again, apart from the marks stated above, all the rest of the bodhisattva's self-benefiting practices that run counter to that [pure self-benefit] — these, it should be known, are all named "self-benefit shared with others." The bodhisattva should diligently train in this.

Here, what the bodhisattva should know and cut off as "pure benefiting-of-others" is this: to cultivate giving and the rest through wrong views; and, through the view of no-cause and the view of no-fruit, to violate the moral discipline, to depart from right conduct, and [thus] to teach the Dharma to others. 〔These two are to be cut off.〕 As for these: if the bodhisattvas, skillfully turning about within the meditative absorptions and having already transcended the lower grounds, yet take in [again] the wholesome factors of the lower grounds — that is, being already able to abide securely in the absorptions, they, by the power of compassion and vow, relinquish the absorptions and, according to their wish, take rebirth again in the desire realm; and again, the bodhisattvas, having already attained mastery, work in the ten directions all sorts of transformations, performing all sorts of benefits and welfare for beings; and again, the various sages [muni], having already accomplished their own task, relying on the Tathāgata's powers, fearlessnesses, and all the other exclusive buddha-Dharmas, are able to perform immeasurable great works of benefit for immeasurable beings throughout the ten directions — these, it should be known, are named "pure benefiting-of-others." As for the practice of pure benefiting-of-others just stated, the bodhisattva should know and cut off those [first] two (giving through wrong views; violating precepts and teaching Dharma through the view of no-cause and no-fruit); as for the rest of the pure benefiting-of-others stated, he should for the most part train in it. Again, apart from the marks stated above, all the rest of the bodhisattva's practices of benefiting-others that run counter to that [pure benefiting-of-others] — these, it should be known, are all named "benefiting-others shared with self." The bodhisattva should diligently train in this.

The Class of Benefit · The Five Marks and the Four Ways of Undertaking the Dharma

What is the bodhisattva's benefiting of self and others of the class of benefit? Stated briefly, it should be known to have five marks: first, the mark of blamelessness; second, the mark of taking-in; third, the mark of this world; fourth, the mark of the other world; fifth, the mark of quiescent cessation.

If the bodhisattvas are themselves able, to whatever degree, to take in and increase wholesome factors, or cause others, to whatever degree, to take in and increase wholesome factors — exhorting, disciplining, settling, and establishing [them] — this is named the bodhisattva's benefiting of self and others of the class of benefit, the "mark of blamelessness." If the bodhisattvas are able to draw forth all the undefiled pleasure, or the pleasure of requisites, or the pleasure of abiding in concentration, of both self and others — this is named the "mark of taking-in." If the bodhisattvas' benefiting of self and others is such that some can be of benefit in this world but not in the other world, or of benefit in the other world but not in this world, or of benefit in both this world and the other, or of benefit in neither this world nor the other — these four kinds of benefiting of self and others are matched with the "four ways of undertaking the Dharma," each in its own order, as should fittingly be known. What are the four ways of undertaking the Dharma? There may be an undertaking of the Dharma that receives pleasure at present but the maturational fruit of suffering in the world to come; or that receives suffering at present but the maturational fruit of pleasure in the world to come; or that receives pleasure at present and the maturational fruit of pleasure in the world to come; or that receives suffering at present and the maturational fruit of suffering in the world to come. These four, expounded at length, should be known as in the sūtra. This is named the "mark of this world and the other world" of the benefiting of self and others of the class of benefit. If [it is] all the bodhisattvas' nirvāṇa, and the factors — mundane and supramundane — that are portions of nirvāṇa by which nirvāṇa is attained — this is named the "abridged mark of quiescent cessation." It should be known that this mark, compared with all the rest, is unsurpassed and most excellent.

The Class of Ease-and-Joy · The Five Pleasures

What is the bodhisattva's benefiting of self and others of the class of ease-and-joy? Stated briefly, it should be known to be subsumed under five pleasures. Which five? First, the pleasure that is a cause; second, the pleasure of feeling; third, the pleasure that is a counteragent to suffering; fourth, the pleasure of the cessation of feeling; fifth, the pleasure free of vexation-and-harm.

The pleasure that is a cause: this is the faculties and objects of the two categories of pleasure, all of them being causes of a contact that accords with pleasant feeling, together with all present and future actions of lovable fruit — all this, gathered together into one, is named the pleasure that is a cause, and beyond this there is nothing further or greater. The pleasure of feeling: this is, awaiting the ceasing of suffering, the arising — by the three conditioning factors subsumed under the aforesaid pleasure-that-is-a-cause — of a feeling able to take in and benefit body and mind; this is named the pleasure of feeling. This pleasure is, stated briefly, of two kinds: first, contaminated; second, uncontaminated. Uncontaminated pleasure is the pleasure of the trainee and the pleasure of the one-beyond-training; contaminated pleasure is the pleasure bound to the three realms — the desire, form, and formless realms. And all this pleasure bound to the three realms, according as is fitting, in dependence on the distinctions of the six sense-fields, is of six kinds — that arisen from eye-contact through to that arisen from mind-contact. These six are further gathered into two: first, bodily pleasure; second, mental pleasure; that associated with the five [sense-]consciousnesses is named bodily pleasure, that associated with mental consciousness is named mental pleasure. The pleasure that is a counteragent to suffering: this is, when — from such matters as cold, heat, hunger, and thirst — there arise the various kinds of suffering-feeling, not of one sort but of many categories, the ceasing, through a counteragent, of the sufferings of cold, heat, hunger, thirst, and the rest, whereupon, at the time of suffering's cessation, there arises the awareness of pleasure; this is named the pleasure that is a counteragent to suffering. The pleasure of the cessation of feeling: the attainment of the cessation of perception-and-feeling is named the pleasure of the cessation of feeling. The pleasure free of vexation-and-harm: it should be known, stated briefly, to be again of four kinds — first, the pleasure of renunciation; second, the pleasure of seclusion; third, the pleasure of quiet; fourth, the pleasure of the three [-fold] awakening [sambodhi]. To leave home in right faith and go forth to the homeless state, released from the various great sufferings of the household's oppression, as from a cage — this is named the pleasure of renunciation. To cut off the desires and the evil, unwholesome factors, and to realize the joy-and-pleasure born of seclusion that is the first meditative absorption — this is named the pleasure of seclusion. The ceasing of applied and sustained thought in the absorptions of the second meditative absorption and above — this is named the pleasure of quiet. The utter release from bondage of all the afflictions, and the equal awakening, as they truly are, to the things to be known — this pleasure is named the pleasure of the three [-fold] awakening.

Here the pleasure that is a cause is a cause of pleasure, and so is named pleasure, but is not the intrinsic nature of pleasure; the pleasure of feeling is the intrinsic nature of pleasure, and so is named pleasure, but is not a cause of pleasure; the pleasure that is a counteragent to suffering ceases the many sufferings and dispels the many sufferings, and so is named pleasure, but is neither a cause of pleasure nor its intrinsic nature; the pleasure of the cessation of feeling is neither a cause of pleasure, nor its intrinsic nature, nor does it cease and dispel the various sufferings, and [yet] is named pleasure — for, according to the ultimate meaning, all feelings whatsoever are suffering, and, at the time of abiding in the cessation attainment, this ultimate-meaning suffering is for a while brought to quiet, and so it is named pleasure. As for the last of those subsumed under the pleasure free of vexation-and-harm, the "pleasure of the three [-fold] awakening": because in the world to come this ultimate-meaning suffering is forever brought to cessation, and because in the present state all the coarse-and-heavy [tendencies] adhering to the afflicting categories of the [bodily] support are forever brought to cessation, it is named pleasure; and all the rest of the pleasure free of vexation-and-harm, because it accords with that last pleasure, is a portion of it, and is able to draw it forth, should also be known as pleasure free of vexation-and-harm.

Here the bodhisattva only bears in mind the ease-and-joy that is of the category beneficial to beings, and never bears in mind the ease-and-joy that is of the category without benefit. As for the ease-and-joy of the category without benefit, the bodhisattva, with unerring wisdom, knows it as it truly is, and exhorts the beings to relinquish it all, stripping it away by whatever expedient means lie within his power. If there is a matter that is "attended by suffering yet of benefit," then even though the beings have no wish or liking for it, the bodhisattva, relying on skillful expedient means, should bestow it upon them even though it be attended by grief-and-suffering; if there is a matter that is "attended by pleasure yet without benefit," then even though the beings have wish and liking for it, the bodhisattva, relying on skillful expedient means, should strip it away from them even though it be attended by joy-and-pleasure. Why? It should be known that skillful expedient means of this kind — bestowing the beneficial matter attended by grief-and-suffering, stripping away the unbeneficial matter attended by joy-and-pleasure — are able to make the beings assuredly attain ease-and-joy afterward. Therefore, if the bodhisattva takes pleasure in benefiting the beings, it should be known that his meaning and intent is precisely to take pleasure in their ease-and-joy; if the bodhisattva bestows benefit upon the beings, it should be known that his meaning and intent is precisely to bestow ease-and-joy. Why? Benefit is like a cause, ease-and-joy like a fruit; therefore it should be known that, if he bestows benefit upon the beings, he must bestow ease-and-joy. It should be known that, as for the pleasure-that-is-a-cause and the pleasure-that-is-a-counteragent-to-suffering subsumed under present and future actions of lovable fruit, together with the pleasure of the cessation of feeling and the pleasure free of vexation-and-harm — regarding these the bodhisattva should not deliberate, but should bestow them upon beings without exception, because they benefit and are blameless. As for the pleasure-of-feeling and the pleasure-that-is-a-cause subsumed under the contact of faculty-and-object: if it is able to give rise to defilement, or is defiled by nature, is blameworthy and without benefit, and unsuitable, it should not be bestowed upon beings; if it does not give rise to defilement, is undefiled by nature, is blameless and beneficial, and suitable, then it should be bestowed. Herein the bodhisattva, according to his own power and ability, should also cultivate and take up his training in this way. It should be known that this is named the bodhisattva's benefiting of self and others of the class of benefit-and-ease-and-joy, and beyond this there is nothing further or greater.

Subsumed under Cause and Subsumed under Fruit: The Three Causes and Three Fruits

What is the bodhisattva's benefiting of self and others subsumed under cause and subsumed under fruit? Stated briefly, it should be known to have three causes and three fruits. Which three? First, the maturational cause and the maturational fruit; second, the meritorious cause and the meritorious fruit; third, the cause of knowledge and the fruit of knowledge.

The Eight Endowments of Maturation

What is maturation? Stated briefly, it is of eight kinds: first, endowment with life-span; second, endowment with bodily form; third, endowment with clan and family; fourth, endowment with sovereign command; fifth, endowment with trustworthy speech; sixth, endowment with great majesty; seventh, endowment with human [male] nature; eighth, endowment with great strength. If the bodhisattvas are long-lived and abide long, this is named endowment with life-span. To be upright and stately in bodily form, delightful for the multitude to behold, of surpassingly wondrous features and complexion — this is named endowment with bodily form. To be born into a wealthy and noble family — this is named endowment with clan and family. To gain great wealth and station, to have great friends and supporters, to possess a great retinue of officers — this is named endowment with sovereign command. To be trusted and looked up to by the multitude, [so that one] settles disputes and provides the rule, does not practice flattery and deceit or use false measures and scales and the like, never diverges from what is entrusted, and speaks nothing false to any being — for which reason whatever one says is trusted and accepted without exception — this is named endowment with trustworthy speech. To have great renown, spread abroad and heard throughout the world — that is, to be endowed with valor, health, and vigor, with firm resolve, quickness, and thorough discernment, and good conduct, wondrously understanding, one after another, all sorts of arts, crafts, and skilled undertakings, surpassing all others, for which reason one is treasured and revered by the world, and is offered offerings, reverence, esteem, and praise by the great multitudes — this is named endowment with great majesty. To possess the marks of a man and to be accomplished in the male faculty — this is named endowment with human [male] nature. To be by nature little-ill, or wholly without illness, and to have great capacity — this is named endowment with great strength. It should be known that the aforesaid eight kinds of maturation have as their cause these eight kinds now to be stated.

The Maturational Causes

What are the maturational causes? For the bodhisattvas to inflict no harm on the various beings, and to be far removed from all intent to harm — this is named the cause of endowment with life-span. To bestow bright, fresh, and clean garments — this is named the cause of endowment with bodily form. To relinquish arrogance toward the various beings — this is named the cause of endowment with clan and family. To bestow, according to their wish, upon the beings who are wanting in the requisites of living and who wander about begging — this is named the cause of endowment with sovereign command. To speak with sincerity and truth, and also not to be fond of practicing divisive [i.e. slanderous], harsh, or incoherent speech — this is named the cause of endowment with trustworthy speech. To take in and hold within one's own person the various future merits, to set forth vast vows, and to make offerings to the Three Jewels and to the various elders and superiors — this is named the cause of endowment with great majesty. To take pleasure in the body of a man, and to loathe the female body, deeply seeing its faults, and, by two conditioning causes, to bestow human [male] nature on others — first, [in the case of] a woman who takes pleasure in the female body, to exhort her to loathe it and be freed from the female body; second, [in the case of] a man about to lose the male faculty, by expedient means to protect and take him in so that it be not lost or damaged, and to teach the true Dharma so that he attain the male body — this is named the cause of endowment with human [male] nature. To serve the various beings with one's own body, going to aid in whatever lawful undertakings they perform, to the utmost of one's own power and ability, by the true Dharma and not by haste and rough violence, and to bestow upon the various beings all sorts of food and drink — cakes, cooked rice, gruel, and the like — that are able to increase the strength of body and mind — this is named the cause of endowment with great strength. It should be known that the aforesaid eight kinds of maturation have as their cause these eight kinds now stated.

Increase by Three Conditions

Again, these causes, stated briefly, by three conditions attain increase, and are able to bring about a maturation that is perfect, superior, and vast. Which three conditions? First, purity of mind; second, purity of applied practice; third, purity of the field. If, having a pure aspiration toward unsurpassed perfect awakening, one uses those roots of good, with the fierce and keen aspiration of a decisive dedication [of merit], with pure faith substantial, vast, and pure, and cultivates practice; delights deeply on seeing those of the same Dharma; and, day and night, instant by instant, [engages] in manifold according-with-the-Dharma, according-with-searching, according-with-examining — this is named purity of mind. Just within this, to practice repeatedly over a long time, to act without interval, to act constantly and earnestly, and — as for another's good in this, praising it so that he take it up if he has not yet taken it up, praising it so that he rejoice if he has already taken it up — thereupon to settle and establish oneself in all such roots of good — this is named purity of applied practice. It should be known, stated briefly, that what is able rightly to give rise to applied practice of this kind, and rightly to abide in the fruit of this applied practice, is named purity of the field.

The Maturational Fruits

What are the maturational fruits? Because the bodhisattvas are endowed with life-span, they are able, over a long time, to cultivate the categories of good, and, in dependence on the benefit of self and others, to accumulate and increase immeasurable roots of good — this is the fruit of endowment with life-span. Because they are endowed with bodily form, the multitude loves and delights [in them], and because the multitude loves and delights [in them], all together turn to and revere [them]; being thus lovable and thus turned-to-and-revered, whatever they speak forth is heeded and heeded without exception — this is the fruit of endowment with bodily form. Because they are endowed with clan and family, the multitude honors, reveres, makes offerings, and praises [them], and thereby, when they exhort beings to strive diligently to train in this or that matter, [the beings] without exception revere and heed [them], practice swiftly, without transgression and without violation — this is the fruit of endowment with clan and family. Because they are endowed with sovereign command, they are able to gather in the various beings by giving, and swiftly bring them to ripening — this is the fruit of endowment with sovereign command. Because they are endowed with trustworthy speech, they are able to gather in the various beings by kind speech, beneficial action, and shared benefit, and swiftly bring them to ripening — this is the fruit of endowment with trustworthy speech. Because they are endowed with great majesty, they are able to aid the beings in all sorts of undertakings and to dispense kindness and virtue, and, because this kindness and virtue move the minds of the beings, [the beings], knowing this kindness, all come and turn [to them], and the teachings they utter are swiftly followed, revered, trusted, and heeded — this is the fruit of endowment with great majesty. Because they are endowed with human [male] nature, they are accomplished in the male faculty, and are fit to be vessels of all the excellent merits; they are able, in all undertakings they perform, to deliberate upon all the objects to be known, without any fear, coursing without obstruction; and all beings at all times all come to them and gather together, and, in hidden places and open places alike, speaking and dwelling together, partaking of food and drink together, [there is] no aversion and no obstruction — this is the fruit of endowment with human [male] nature. Because they are endowed with great strength, they are, in the applied practice able to draw in wholesome factors and in the applied practice able to benefit beings, without weariness — vigorous with a bold vigor, vigorous with a firm vigor, swiftly realizing penetrating knowledge — this is the fruit of endowment with great strength.

If the bodhisattvas are accomplished in these eight kinds of maturation and possessed of the eight kinds of fruit, they are able well to benefit all beings and, in accord [therewith], to give rise to all the buddha-Dharmas. When the bodhisattva abides in the maturational fruit, [and] as for the various and manifold undertakings of benefit toward the beings, he himself has the power and ability, and is also able well to settle the beings to be transformed and cause them to act in accord [with him] in his own undertakings — this is named "accomplishing whatever he wishes and does." If the bodhisattva himself has the power and ability but is not able well to settle the beings to be transformed and cause them to act in accord with him in his own undertakings, then in this case the benefit he performs for others is not named flourishing and not named according [with them], and by this he is not named able to perform works of benefit for others. If the bodhisattva does not himself have the power and ability, though he is able well to settle the beings to be transformed and cause them to act in accord with him in his own undertakings, then in this case too the benefit he performs for others is not named flourishing and not named according [with them], and by this he is not named able to perform works of benefit for others. Therefore the bodhisattva must possess the two matters (himself having the power and ability + being able well to settle the beings to be transformed), and only then is the benefit he performs for beings named flourishing and named according [with them], and only then is he named able to perform works of benefit for others. Thus, when the bodhisattva abides in the maturational fruit, he is himself able to bring to ripening all the buddha-Dharmas, and is also able to cause others, upon the path of the three vehicles, according as is fitting, swiftly to attain ripening; and again he is able to cause himself swiftly to realize unsurpassed perfect awakening, and is also able to cause others who are already ripened swiftly to attain liberation. Because the bodhisattvas, abiding in the eight kinds of maturational fruit, are able to make beings [attain] benefit and ease-and-joy, therefore the beginningless birth-and-death — void of the meaningful and the beneficial — in which all beings dwell, the bodhisattva, dwelling therein, is able to make not-void, possessed of great meaning-and-benefit.

Merit and Knowledge

What is merit? What is knowledge? Stated briefly, merit is the three perfections — the perfection of giving, the perfection of discipline, the perfection of patience. Knowledge is one perfection only — the perfection of wisdom. The perfections of vigor and of the meditative absorptions should be known to run through both parts: first, the part of merit; second, the part of knowledge. If, in dependence on vigor, one cultivates giving, upholds and guards pure discipline, and cultivates the four immeasurables — loving-kindness and the rest — this kind of vigor is named the part of merit; if, in dependence on vigor, one practices the three [kinds of] wisdom accomplished through hearing, reflection, and cultivation, cultivates skill-in-the-aggregates, skill-in-the-elements, skill-in-the-sense-fields, skill-in-dependent-origination, and skill-in-the-tenable-and-the-untenable; cultivates the ability to contemplate suffering as truly suffering, arising as truly arising, cessation as truly cessation, the path as truly the path; and, amid all wholesome and unwholesome factors, the blameworthy and the blameless, the inferior and the superior, the black and the white, and, in the broadly distinguished dependently-arisen factors, is able in all of them to deliberate and contemplate them as they truly are — this kind of vigor is named the part of knowledge. If, in dependence on the meditative absorptions, one cultivates the four immeasurables — loving-kindness and the rest — this kind of absorption is named the part of merit; if, in dependence on the meditative absorptions, one is able to cultivate the skill-in-the-aggregates and the rest stated above in [the passage on] vigor, this kind of absorption is named the part of knowledge. Thus merit and knowledge are, stated briefly, of six kinds, and each, distinguished one by one, should be known to be immeasurable.

The Cause of Merit · The Cause of Knowledge

What is the cause of merit, the cause of knowledge? Stated briefly, the cause of merit and the cause of knowledge are, in all, of three kinds: first, the "wish" that is able to attain, to abide in, and to increase merit and knowledge; second, the "condition" that is well able to accord with, and does not run counter to, merit and knowledge; third, the prior repeated practice of merit and knowledge. Here, the "condition that accords and does not run counter" is this: that the erroneous condition is not present before one and is not met with, and the unerroneous condition is rightly present before one and is rightly met with. If one meets with an evil friend who expounds merit and knowledge invertedly, or, by inverted attention, grasps [them] invertedly, this is named the erroneous condition being present and met with; the white category that runs counter to this is named the unerroneous condition being present and met with. If, as regards the attaining, abiding-in, and increase of merit and knowledge, one diligently cultivates and practices, causing the obstacles to be far removed and not to arise, this is named the condition that does not run counter. If the bodhisattvas are wanting in any of these three kinds of cause of merit and knowledge, it should be known that they cannot give rise to merit, cannot give rise to knowledge.

The Fruit of Merit · The Fruit of Knowledge

What is the fruit of merit, the fruit of knowledge? Because the bodhisattvas rely on merit, though they revolve for a long time in birth-and-death they are not injured or afflicted by extreme suffering, and, according to their wish, are able to gather in beings and perform for them what is meaningful and beneficial. Because they rely on knowledge, the merit they gather in is right and not wrong, and again they are able to raise up and perform all sorts of immeasurable and skillful works, until, in the end, they realize unsurpassed perfect awakening. Thus, stated briefly, the fruit of merit and the fruit of knowledge should be known, according as is fitting, to be of four kinds, and the distinctions of category are, again, immeasurable.

It should be known that here, the substance of maturation, the cause of maturation, and the fruit of maturation — all of these rely on merit and are born from merit; and merit, again, relies on knowledge and is raised up from knowledge. Therefore the two kinds (merit and knowledge), as regards the realization of unsurpassed perfect awakening, are, though both excellent, [such that] within them merit is the most excellent and knowledge is the unsurpassed. If the bodhisattvas are wanting in any one of merit or of knowledge, they assuredly cannot realize unsurpassed perfect awakening. This is named the bodhisattva's benefiting of self and others subsumed under cause and subsumed under fruit.

The Present Factors and the Later Factors · The Ultimate and the Non-Ultimate

What is the bodhisattva's benefiting of self and others [in] the present factors and the later factors? The bodhisattvas, by means of lawful crafts, skilled undertakings, and human exertion, accumulate wealth and goods, and, with respect to the wealth and goods so accumulated, enjoy them with knowledge of measure; and again, the maturational fruit of previously done actions of lovable fruit ripens, and in the present factors they enjoy that fruit; and again, those bodhisattvas who skillfully turn about within the meditative absorptions, [do so] in order to gain the pleasant abiding in the present factors, relying on these absorptions in the present factors, [and] do not rely on these absorptions in order to establish the matter of benefiting others; and again, the Tathāgatas' nirvāṇa in the present factors, [and] all the conditioned factors, mundane and supramundane, able to attain nirvāṇa in the present factors — this is named the bodhisattva's present-factor self-benefit. As is the bodhisattva's present-factor self-benefit, [so] the beings to be transformed by the bodhisattva thereby gain benefit in the present factors — it should be known that this is precisely present-factor benefiting-of-others. If, in the desire realm, one is able to gain, in the other world, endowment with wealth and treasure and endowment with one's own person, and is able in the world to come to be reborn in the meditative absorptions and the formless [attainments]; if, being reborn among the meditative absorptions and the formless, one is able to gain, in the other world, endowment with wealth and treasure and endowment with one's own person; if, in the present factors, together with grief-and-suffering, one repeatedly deliberates and cultivates the wholesome causes — this is named the bodhisattva's cultivation of later-factor benefiting of self and others. If the bodhisattvas, in the present factors, together with joy-and-pleasure, cultivate the wholesome causes for endowment, in the world to come, with wealth and treasure and with one's own person, together with the non-retrogressing-portion meditative absorptions, formless [attainments], and all the [other] meditative attainments — this is named the bodhisattva's present-factor-and-later-factor benefiting of self and others.

What is the ultimate and the non-ultimate benefiting of self and others? As for the causes and fruits of endowment, in the desire realm, with wealth and treasure and with one's own person, and the causes and fruits of the worldly purity of the various ordinary beings — [these] are non-ultimate benefiting of self and others. If it is the entire and perpetual cutting-off of all the afflictions, if it is the eightfold noble path, if it is all the worldly wholesome factors attained in dependence on this — this is named ultimate benefiting of self and others. By three conditioning causes should the ultimate and the non-ultimate be known: first, by intrinsic nature; second, by retrogressing and not-retrogressing; third, by whether the enjoyed fruit has an end or no end. By intrinsic nature: final nirvāṇa is named ultimate, all that is conditioned is named non-ultimate. By retrogressing and not-retrogressing, and by whether the enjoyed fruit has an end or no end: because the eightfold noble path is without retrogressing, and because its enjoyed fruit is without end, it is named ultimate; all the rest of the wholesome contaminated factors, because they have retrogressing, and because their enjoyed fruit comes to an end, are named non-ultimate.

Thus, as for the bodhisattva's ten kinds of benefiting of self and others, whether in brief or at length, the bodhisattva, according to his power and according to his ability, should diligently train in them, and beyond this there is nothing further or greater. All the benefiting of self and others whatsoever, past and future, already trained in and to be trained in, is likewise only these ten kinds of benefiting of self and others, and beyond this there is nothing further or greater.

Having Aroused the Mind, Where Does One Go? — Training at the Seven Sites

The Chapter on Arousing the Mind fixed the vow; but where is that vow to land and be cultivated? The Chapter on Benefiting Self and Others, at its very first breath, spreads out the whole map: "At what sites do these bodhisattvas train? They train at the seven sites" 〔this treatise〕 — benefiting self, benefiting others, the true meaning, might, the ripening of sentient beings, the ripening of one's own buddha-Dharma, and unsurpassed awakening. These seven sites are precisely the guiding thread of all the chapters that follow in the first section of the Bodhisattva Stage: gathering the seven into five chapters, the Chapter on the True Meaning is the third site, the Chapter on Might is the fourth, the Chapters on Ripening are the fifth and sixth, and the Chapter on Awakening is the seventh. Kuiji and Master Ji both point out: why are the seven factors listed here all at once at the head of the Chapter on Benefiting Self and Others? "Because they are listed at the head of the section on the factors of awakening" 〔Dunlun citing Ji; Kuiji〕. Woncheuk further sets out their sequence of mutual production: "The bodhisattva's contemplative practice takes benefiting self and benefiting others as its root … practice must rely on principle, and so, after the chapter on self-and-others, the true meaning is clarified" 〔Dunlun citing Woncheuk〕. In other words, the Chapter on Benefiting Self and Others is the legend of this map — it first sets up the overall direction of "for self, for others," and then, in order, unfolds principle (the true meaning), power (might), the ripening of beings and of the Dharma, and finally awakening.

Benefiting Self and Others: First Divided into Ten Kinds, Then Seeing Clearly the Trap of the "Pure"

Then how is "benefiting self and others" itself to be cultivated? The treatise first divides it into ten kinds: pure / shared, the class of benefit / the class of ease-and-joy, subsumed under cause / subsumed under fruit, this world / the other world, ultimate / non-ultimate. Huiyuan gathers these ten gates into five pairs: the one benefited, the substance of benefit, the season of benefit (the benefit of cause being present, the benefit of fruit being future), this world and the other world, the true and the false 〔Dunlun citing Master Yuan〕 — a fine-grained table of ten cells.

Most worth savoring is the way "pure" and "shared" are adjudicated. The treatise says: both pure self-benefit and pure benefiting-of-others have a part that "should be known and cut off". Within pure self-benefit a trap lies hidden: seeking wealth for one's own pleasure; holding to the teaching out of stinginess with the Dharma; cultivating precepts, concentration, and wisdom for the sake of rebirth in the heavens; speaking of untrue merits in oneself for the sake of gain and honor; and even feigning to rescue beings from another's servitude, only to turn about and take them in as one's own servants (the treatise puts it "turning about, taking them in oneself as one's own servants") — all these, which use the name of benefiting-others while doing the deed of benefiting-self, are to be cut off. Even "being attached to the pleasant abiding in the present state of the various concentrations, and casting aside the contemplation of matters that benefit beings" counts as a fault of pure self-benefit — if the ease-and-joy of meditative concentration becomes a nest for evading the deliverance of beings, then it is what the bodhisattva must cut off. And within pure benefiting-of-others there are likewise two kinds to be cut off: cultivating giving through wrong views, and, through the view of no-cause and no-fruit, violating the precepts and teaching the Dharma — a good-hearted deed done wrongly is spoiled all the same. What the bodhisattva is to cultivate is "self-benefit shared with others" and "benefiting-others shared with self" — bearing in mind the benefit of others while benefiting self, and not abandoning one's own cultivation while benefiting others. Self and other should never, from the very start, be cut apart.

One Iron Law: Benefit Is Like a Cause, Ease-and-Joy Like a Fruit

This "not cutting apart" the treatise erects, within [the passage on] the class of ease-and-joy, into one iron law. It first takes "pleasure" apart to the finest degree — the five pleasures (the pleasure that is a cause, the pleasure of feeling, the pleasure that is a counteragent to suffering, the pleasure of the cessation of feeling, the pleasure free of vexation-and-harm), and the pleasure free of vexation-and-harm is divided again into four (the pleasures of renunciation, of seclusion, of quiet, and the pleasure of the three [-fold] awakening); and it exposes one deep meaning: "according to the ultimate meaning, all feelings whatsoever are suffering" — even the pleasure of the cessation of feeling (the attainment of the cessation of perception-and-feeling) is only this ultimate-meaning suffering brought to quiet for a while, and only the pleasure of the three [-fold] awakening is the true pleasure of the perpetual cessation of ultimate-meaning suffering.

Then comes that iron law. When the bodhisattva gives pleasure to beings, it is not a blanket pleasing of them: as for a matter "attended by suffering yet of benefit," though the beings do not want it, the bodhisattva should bestow it even should it be attended by grief-and-suffering; as for a matter "attended by pleasure yet without benefit," though the beings want it, the bodhisattva should strip it away even should it be attended by joy-and-pleasure — because skillful expedient means are able to make beings "assuredly attain ease-and-joy afterward." Why dare to do it this way? The treatise gives the ground: "Benefit is like a cause, ease-and-joy like a fruit … if he bestows benefit upon the beings, he must bestow ease-and-joy". Benefit is the cause, ease-and-joy the fruit; bestow the right benefit, and ease-and-joy will bear its own fruit. The bodhisattva's compassion is not a sentimental doling-out of pleasure; it is a compassion that has taken clear aim at the cause-and-fruit of "benefit–ease-and-joy," willing to give even a momentary suffering in order to plant an assured ease-and-joy.

The Bodhisattva's Merit-Reward Is the Capital for Delivering Beings

For benefiting self and others to be made real, the bodhisattva must have "capital." The treatise, within [the passage on] subsumption under cause and under fruit, speaks of three causes and three fruits — maturation, merit, and knowledge. Among them, maturation (rendered "reward" in the two old translations) has eight endowments: with life-span, bodily form, clan and family, sovereign command, trustworthy speech, great majesty, human [male] nature, and great strength. Long life, an upright and stately form, birth into a wealthy and noble family, great wealth and station and retinue, one's word trusted by the multitude, great renown, the male body, and being little-ill and of great strength — at first glance this looks like a discourse on the enjoyment of merit-reward, yet the treatise states its use plainly and clearly: the accomplishing of the eight endowments is for the sake of being "able well to benefit all beings and, in accord [therewith], to give rise to all the buddha-Dharmas" 〔the conclusion on the maturational fruit〕. Because the form is upright and stately, the multitude loves and delights [in one], and so what one says is heeded without exception; because the clan is honored and noble, the exhortation to train is revered and followed without exception; because trustworthy speech is complete, one is able to gather in the multitude by kind speech, beneficial action, and shared benefit … Every item of merit-reward the treatise translates into a kind of capacity for delivering beings. The bodhisattva seeks merit-reward not for enjoyment but to amass the capital for delivering beings. And this capital has a rule too: the bodhisattva must have both matters complete — "himself having the power and ability" plus "settling well the beings to be transformed" — before he can be said truly to perform works of benefit for others 〔the close〕 — with only one's own power but the beings not according [with one], or with the beings according but oneself without power, neither counts.

And these eight kinds of maturation, the treatise says, are brought about by eight causes and increased by three conditions (purity of mind, purity of applied practice, purity of the field). Lord Jing expounds the three conditions plainly: purity of mind is precisely faith; purity of applied practice is the rising of practice out of faith; purity of the field is being fit to receive offerings by reason of faith-and-practice 〔Dunlun citing Jing〕 — faith, practice, fitness-to-receive: it is from here that merit-reward grows.

The Two Wheels: Merit Is the Most Excellent, Knowledge Is the Unsurpassed

Those three causes and three fruits, in the end, are drawn together to the two words "merit" and "knowledge." The treatise adjudicates it to the finest degree: merit is the three perfections of giving, discipline, and patience; knowledge is the one perfection of wisdom; and vigor and the meditative absorptions run through both parts of merit and knowledge. And on the relation of the two, the treatise hands down a famous verdict: "Whether the substance of maturation, or the cause of maturation, or the fruit of maturation — all of these rely on merit and are born from merit; and merit, again, relies on knowledge and is raised up from knowledge … merit is the most excellent, and knowledge is the unsurpassed. If the bodhisattvas are wanting in any one of merit or of knowledge, they assuredly cannot realize unsurpassed perfect awakening". Master Ji explains: within merit it is excellent, and so is named the most excellent; looking beyond to knowledge, higher still, and so knowledge is the unsurpassed 〔Dunlun citing Ji〕. Merit is the foundation (maturation and merit-virtue are both born from it), knowledge is the summit (merit again relies on and is raised up from knowledge); the two are like the two wheels of a cart, and, lacking one, one cannot reach awakening. The bodhisattva path has never been "cultivating merit only" or "cultivating wisdom only" — it is a single path of merit and wisdom borne on together.

The One Meaning This Chapter Casts into Relief

The Chapter on Benefiting Self and Others looks to have many tangled threads (the seven sites, the ten kinds, the five marks, the five pleasures, the three causes and three fruits …), but in truth it erects only two great matters: the first is a map — the overall thread of training at the seven sites, spreading out at one stroke the whole course of the bodhisattva path; the second is an iron law — self and other are not two (benefit is like a cause, ease-and-joy like a fruit), and merit and knowledge are not partial (merit is the most excellent, knowledge is the unsurpassed). What makes a bodhisattva a bodhisattva is not that, having aroused the vow, he buries his head in his own cultivation, nor that he sentimentally doles out pleasure with a single blanket hand, but that he follows this map and keeps to this iron law: at every site of training, "for self is precisely for others"; using merit-reward as the capital for delivering beings; and, by merit and wisdom borne on together, heading toward awakening. The Chapter on Arousing the Mind set up the vow; the Chapter on Benefiting Self and Others tells him: this vow is to be walked in just this way.

Carrying Forward

The meaning of benefiting self and others in this chapter is carried forward by, and mutually consulted with, the later chapters: the overall thread of training at the seven sites opens in this chapter, and the Chapter on the True Meaning (site 3), the Chapter on Might (site 4), the Chapters on Ripening (sites 5/6), and the Chapter on Awakening (site 7) are its site-by-site unfolding — this chapter sets up the thread, the later chapters spread out its topics; and the two accumulations of merit and knowledge (giving, discipline, and patience as merit · wisdom as knowledge · vigor and the meditative absorptions running through both parts) are broadly performed in the six chapters of the perfections, from the Chapter on Giving onward. The Section on Ascertainment separately sets up a Chapter Ascertaining the Benefiting of Self and Others, which, by the bodhisattva's nine right practices (each bound to a simile: the sick toward medicine, the good physician toward disease, the householder toward the young child …), the five kinds of wrong practice, and the fivefold capacity and incapacity, ascertains anew, unfolding together with this chapter's marks of benefiting self and others along two mutually illuminating axes. Arousing the mind (the vow) → benefiting self and others (the thread of practice) → the various perfections (the topics of practice): one continuous line, carried forward.