瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 菩提品

In one line: Awakening is the fruit at the very summit of the whole bodhisattva path; in one line = "the two eliminations and the two knowledges" — the elimination of the afflictive obstruction gaining the knowledge free of defilement and unbound, the elimination of the cognitive obstruction gaining the knowledge unhindered and unobstructed toward all that is knowable. This is the ripened fruit of the Chapter on Maturation's "elimination-and-purity of the two obstructions," and the ultimate of the Chapter on Reality's fourth reality (the Section on Ascertainment, for its part, says this fruit otherwise by "the four characteristics of the transformation of the basis," the two axes illuminating each other).

Three Points of the Eye

1. The intrinsic nature of awakening = the two eliminations and the two knowledges (the eye). The two eliminations = the elimination of the afflictive obstruction · the elimination of the cognitive obstruction; the two knowledges = the knowledge, from the elimination of the afflictive obstruction, that is free of defilement and no longer bound by any affliction · the knowledge, from the elimination of the cognitive obstruction, that is unhindered and unobstructed toward all that is knowable 〔0498c20〕. The ancients' reading: the two eliminations too are named awakening because they are the fruit of awakening (Tai) · the two knowledges = the knowledge of the emptiness of persons and of dharmas (Woncheuk) · the awakening of the three bodies (Kuiji) 〔Dunlun 0523a04 / a16 · Kuiji 0141a06〕. Demarcation: the whole Basic Section carries not the word "transformation of the basis," and the commentary on the Chapter on Awakening frames it neither by the twofold transformation of the basis nor by the four knowledges; the name "transformation of the basis" issues from the Chapter Ascertaining Awakening in the Section on Ascertainment (the intrinsic nature of great awakening = the transformation of the basis surpassing the two vehicles · four characteristics: the basis of the transformation whereby [the path] arises / whereby [affliction] no longer arises / the fruit of the well-examined knowable / the purity of the dharma-realm 〔0707a05〕) — so the two eliminations and two knowledges ↔ the transformation of the basis illuminate each other within the scriptures, and the four knowledges are not to be drawn in (there is no source for them here). Paramārtha's original-awakening-as-dharma-body reading and Xuanzang's disclosed-suchness-is-not-the-substance-of-consciousness reading are only recorded, not adjudicated 〔Dunlun 0523a13〕.

2. The three alternate formulations · the one hundred forty exclusive buddha-dharmas · the seven supremacies · the three abidings (the eye). The alternate formulations = the pure knowledge / the knowledge of all 〔realm ×2 · event ×2 · all classes · time ×3〕 / the unimpeded knowledge 〔0498c24〕; the one hundred forty exclusive buddha-dharmas 〔0499a11〕 (Kuiji 136 + 4 = 140 〔0141a12〕 · Dunlun cites the Anuttarāśraya-sūtra for one hundred eighty 〔0523b15〕 · set side by side, not adjudicated · detailed in the Chapter on Establishment); the seven supremacies (basis / right conduct / perfection / knowledge / might / elimination / abiding · whence the buddha's awakening is supreme 〔0499a15〕); the three abidings — noble / divine / pure — plus the four supreme abidings (the noble abiding: emptiness · the attainment of cessation; the divine abiding: the unmoving fourth absorption; the pure abiding: great compassion 〔0499b07〕).

3. The ten titles · the appearance of buddhas · not a female body (the eye). The Tathāgata's ten kinds of merit-title, the merits for recollection 〔0499b18〕 (Kuiji judges: the last one is the general title · the first nine are distinct titles · the first three [pertain to] the twofold benefit, the middle three to self-benefit, the last three to benefiting others); the appearance of buddhas = one buddha to one buddha-land (the compassionate vow, "I shall be the one and only, in worlds that have no leading head, acting as the leading head" · no realm has two buddhas appearing twice over · to press forth the vigor of sentient beings 〔0499c–0500a〕) · all the merits of the Tathāgatas are equal, save only four dharmas (length of life / title / clan and lineage / bodily marks 〔0500a20〕); awakening not realized in a female body 〔0500a23〕 — the ancient masters reconcile the Lotus dragon-girl as "transforming into a male and only then becoming a buddha · not by a female body" 〔Dunlun 0525b25 · Kuiji 0142a05〕 · transmitted as it is, neither added to nor diminished. Closing praise: awakening is inconceivable (passing beyond discursive thought) · measureless (composed of boundless merits) · unsurpassed (generating the merits of the three vehicles) · the awakening realized by buddhas alone is the highest, most honored, most marvelous, most supreme 〔0500b03〕.

Appended Directions

• Carries forward from the Chapter on Maturation (the ripened fruit of the elimination-and-purity of the two obstructions) · the Chapter on Reality (the fourth reality, the knowledge that has purified the cognitive obstruction) · the Chapter on Might (the supremacy of might among the seven = the six supernormal powers); the one hundred forty exclusive buddha-dharmas are detailed in the Chapter on Establishment. Next comes the Chapter on the Lineage of Power (the lineage of power by which awakening is accomplished).
• The ancients' readings of the two eliminations and two knowledges (Tai: the fruit of awakening · Woncheuk: the two emptiness-knowledges · the Paramārtha–Xuanzang dispute over original awakening) · the two accounts of one hundred forty / one hundred eighty · the seven supremacies and three abidings · the ten titles · the female-body / dragon-girl resolution — see the Apparatus, Headings III–IV, only recorded, not adjudicated.
• Alternate translations: Dharmakṣema's Chapter on Unsurpassed Awakening (fasc. 7) (the two eliminations · the seven unsurpassed [things]: body, path, right… · the one hundred forty with "the four unhindered knowledges · the purity of every kind" · analyzed at length in the Chapter on Establishment); Guṇavarman's Chapter on Awakening (fasc. 8) (the two liberations · the seven unsurpassed [things]: body, upholding, endowment… · the one hundred forty with "the four pure practices" · not a female body, "the two-finger knowledge" with its own gloss · analyzed at length in the Chapter on Abiding); the Section on Ascertainment's Chapter Ascertaining Awakening re-expounds great awakening by the five characteristics of the transformation of the basis (intrinsic nature / function / means / turning / returning) (Apparatus, Heading II).

1 · The Intrinsic Nature of Awakening: The Two Eliminations, the Two Knowledges

What is awakening (bodhi)? Stated briefly, it is the "two eliminations" together with the "two knowledges" — this is named awakening.

The "two eliminations" are: first, the elimination of the afflictive obstruction; second, the elimination of the cognitive obstruction. The "two knowledges" are: first, the knowledge by which — because the afflictive obstruction has been eliminated — one is ultimately free of defilement and no longer bound by any affliction; second, the knowledge by which — because the cognitive obstruction has been eliminated — one is without hindrance and without obstruction toward all that is knowable.

2 · An Alternate Formulation (One): The Pure Knowledge, the Knowledge of All, the Unimpeded Knowledge

There is also another way of putting it: namely, the pure knowledge, the knowledge of all, and the unimpeded knowledge. When all afflictions together with their latent tendencies are harmed away without remainder for good, and the undefiled ignorance (avidyā) that pervades every kind [of object] is eliminated without remainder for good, this is named unsurpassed perfect awakening.

The pure knowledge: because all afflictions together with their latent tendencies have been ultimately cut off and exhausted, it is named the pure knowledge. The knowledge of all: because knowledge operates without hindrance throughout all realms, all events, all classes, and all times, it is named the knowledge of all. Here "realm" is of two kinds: first, the physical world; second, the world of sentient beings. "Event" is of two kinds: first, the conditioned; second, the unconditioned. Taking these two events, the conditioned and the unconditioned, in their measureless differences of class, this is named "all classes" — that is, the differences of kind that unfold from the particular character, the differences of common character, the differences of cause and effect, the differences of realm and destiny, and the differences of the wholesome, the unwholesome, and the neutral (and so there are measureless classes). "Time" is of three kinds: first, the past; second, the future; third, the present. Because [awakening] knows just as they are all such realms, all events, all classes, and all times, it is named the knowledge of all. The unimpeded knowledge: at a single moment of attention, its knowledge at once operates throughout everything without hindrance, swiftly, and without impediment; it need not attend again and again, but by a single act of attention it is able to know all-pervadingly (and so is named the unimpeded knowledge).

3 · An Alternate Formulation (Two): The One Hundred Forty Exclusive Buddha-Dharmas

There is also yet another way of putting it: namely, the one hundred forty exclusive buddha-dharmas, together with the Tathāgata's non-contention, wish-knowledge, unhindered discernments, and the like — this is named unsurpassed perfect awakening.

What is called the "one hundred forty exclusive buddha-dharmas" are: the thirty-two marks of a great person, the eighty minor excellences, the four purities of every kind, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the three foundations of mindfulness, the three things needing no guarding, the great compassion, the quality of never forgetting, the everlasting harming-away of the latent tendencies, and the marvelous knowledge of every kind. These buddha-dharmas will be analyzed at length in the Chapter on Establishment.

4 · The Supremacy of Awakening: The Seven Supremacies

Such awakening is named supreme, because it is associated together with the "seven supremacies"; and by this cause, among all [forms of] awakening it is the most excellent. What are the seven supremacies? First, supremacy of the basis; second, supremacy of right conduct; third, supremacy of perfection; fourth, supremacy of knowledge; fifth, supremacy of might; sixth, supremacy of elimination; seventh, supremacy of abiding.

Supremacy of the basis: because all the Tathāgatas adorn their bodies with the thirty-two marks of a great person and the rest, it is named supremacy of the basis. Supremacy of right conduct: because all the Tathāgatas benefit themselves and benefit others, benefit and bring ease to measureless sentient beings, take pity on the world, and cause gods and humans to gain worth and profit, benefit and ease, and so practice right conduct, it is named supremacy of right conduct. Supremacy of perfection: because all the Tathāgatas accomplish the four unsurpassed, unequaled perfections — perfection of discipline, perfection of view, perfection of standards, and perfection of pure livelihood — accomplishing them all, it is named supremacy of perfection. Supremacy of knowledge: because all the Tathāgatas accomplish the four unsurpassed, unequaled unhindered discernments — the unhindered discernment of the Dharma, of the meaning, of the wording, and of eloquent exposition — accomplishing them all, it is named supremacy of knowledge. Supremacy of might: because all the Tathāgatas accomplish the six kinds of supernormal power, unsurpassed and unequaled, as stated before, accomplishing them all, it is named supremacy of might. Supremacy of elimination: because all the Tathāgatas accomplish the unsurpassed, unequaled everlasting elimination of all afflictions and their latent tendencies, and the everlasting elimination of the whole cognitive obstruction, accomplishing them all, it is named supremacy of elimination. Supremacy of abiding: because all the Tathāgatas abide much in the three unsurpassed, unequaled abidings — the noble abiding, the divine abiding, and the pure abiding — it is named supremacy of abiding.

One should know that among these: the abiding in emptiness, the abiding in wishlessness, the abiding in the markless, and the abiding in the attainment of cessation are named the noble abiding; the four meditative absorptions and the four formless attainments are named the divine abiding; the four immeasurables are named the pure abiding. Among these three abidings, the Tathāgata abides much in the "four supreme abidings" — that is, within the noble abiding he abides much in the abiding in emptiness and the abiding in the attainment of cessation; within the divine abiding he abides much in the unmoving fourth-absorption abiding; and within the pure abiding he abides much in the abiding in great compassion. By this, the Tathāgata, at the six periods of day and night (three by day, three by night), constantly observes the world with the buddha-eye as to who increases and who decreases: whom I ought to cause to plant wholesome roots where none have arisen — and, to state it at length, down to — whom I ought to establish in the supreme fruit of an arhat.

Further (because of the seven supremacies, the Tathāgata gains seven titles): because of the supremacy of the basis, he is named the "Great Person"; because of the supremacy of right conduct, the "Greatly Compassionate One"; because of the supremacy of perfection, the "One of Great Discipline" and the "One of Great Dharma"; because of the supremacy of knowledge, the "One of Great Wisdom"; because of the supremacy of might, the "One of Great Supernormal Power"; because of the supremacy of elimination, the "One of Great Liberation"; because of the supremacy of abiding, the "One Who Abides Much, Who Abides Vastly."

5 · The Ten Merit-Titles (Merits for Recollection)

Further, the Tathāgatas have, stated briefly, ten kinds of merit-title, which are merits for recollection. Which ten? Namely, the Bhagavat is titled: the Thus-Come One (Tathāgata), the Worthy One (Arhat), the Perfectly Awakened One, the One Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Person Who Tames and Guides, the Teacher of Gods and Humans, the Buddha, the Bhagavat.

The Thus-Come One: because his word is without falsehood, he is named the Thus-Come One. The Worthy One: because he has gained every worth that should be gained, deserves to act as the unsurpassed field of merit for the world, and deserves to be reverenced and made offerings to by all [beings], he is named the Worthy One. The Perfectly Awakened One: because he awakens to all dharmas just as they are in their ultimate meaning, he is named the Perfectly Awakened One. The One Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct: "knowledge" is the three knowledges; "conduct" is the two categories of calm and insight as stated in the scriptures — utterly well perfected, and so it is said "perfect in knowledge and conduct." The Well-Gone One: because he ascends to the utmost and never turns back, he is named the Well-Gone One. The Knower of the World: because he well knows the defiled and pure characteristics of every class within the physical world and the world of sentient beings, he is named the Knower of the World. The Unsurpassed Person Who Tames and Guides: because he is the one and only [true] person in all the world, and well knows the supreme means for taming the mind, he is said to be the Unsurpassed Person Who Tames and Guides. The Teacher of Gods and Humans: because he acts (for beings) as a true eye, a true knowledge, a true meaning, and a true Dharma; because he acts as a guide toward the manifest and revealed meaning, as the support for all meaning, as that which can make known the meaning not yet made known, as that which can sever the doubt that arises, and as that which can reveal the profound; because he makes (the Dharma) bright and clear, acts as the root of all dharmas, acts as a guide, and acts as a support; and because he is able to admonish and instruct gods and humans rightly, causing them to escape from all the multitude of sufferings — for these reasons the Buddha is named the Teacher of Gods and Humans. The Buddha: because, toward the class of dharmas that draw in worth and profit, toward the class of dharmas that draw in what is neither worth nor profit, and toward the class of dharmas that draw in what is neither worth-nor-profit nor not-worth-nor-profit, he is fully and equally awakened, present [to them] in every kind, he is named the Buddha. The Bhagavat: because he is able to break the great, mighty legions of the māras, and is furnished with manifold merits, he is named the Bhagavat.

6 · The Appearance of Buddhas in the World

Sometimes there are many eons in which not a single buddha appears in the world; sometimes there is a single eon in which many buddhas appear in the world. Among those measureless, countless worlds of the ten directions, one should know that at one and the same time measureless buddhas appear in the world. Why so? Because within the worlds of the ten directions there presently exist measureless, countless bodhisattvas who, at the same time, make their vows and alike diligently cultivate and accumulate the provisions for awakening. If there is a single bodhisattva who, on such a day, such a portion [of the day], such a month, such a year, arouses the mind of awakening and vows to press on toward awakening — then on the very same day, the same portion, the same month, the same year, all [the bodhisattvas elsewhere] do likewise. As one bodhisattva is valiant and spurs himself on, blazing with vigor, so too are they all. Even now one plainly sees that within this world there are many hundreds of bodhisattvas who at the same time make their vows, at the same time cultivate giving, cultivate pure discipline, cultivate patience, cultivate vigor, cultivate meditative absorption, and cultivate wisdom — how much more so throughout the measureless, boundless buddha-worlds of the ten directions. Again, in the ten directions there presently exist measureless, countless three-thousandfold great-thousand buddha-lands; yet there is no [case] of two bodhisattvas at the same time cultivating and accumulating the provisions for awakening, at the same time reaching perfection, appearing together in one and the same buddha-land, and becoming buddhas at one time — how much less is there any [case] of measureless, countless bodhisattvas becoming buddhas at one time in a single world.

Nor, again, should it be said: that many bodhisattvas who at the same time cultivate and accumulate the provisions for awakening and at the same time reach perfection then avoid one another in turn and become buddhas in sequence; nor should it be said: that none of the bodhisattvas becomes a buddha. Therefore one should know that of the many bodhisattvas who at the same time cultivate and accumulate the provisions for awakening and at the same time reach perfection, [each] appears separately in one of the measureless, countless buddha-lands of the ten directions — each according to what he has purified, empty of a Tathāgata — and they become buddhas at the same time. By this reasoning, within many worlds there definitely ought to be many bodhisattvas becoming buddhas at the same time; and there is definitely no single buddha-land in which two Tathāgatas appear in the world at the same time.

Why so? Because throughout the long night the bodhisattva arouses this vow and lets it grow from time to time: "I shall be the one and only — in the worlds that have no leading head, I shall act as the leading head, taming sentient beings, causing them to be freed from the multitude of sufferings and to reach parinirvāṇa." Because the great vow thus aroused throughout the long night grows from time to time, and the right conduct it takes up is brought to fulfillment, [it comes about that] no two Tathāgatas appear together in one world. Again, a single Tathāgata is able, throughout a single three-thousandfold great-thousand buddha-land, to perform all the works of a buddha universally; and so a second Tathāgata's appearing in the world would be of no benefit. Again, when a single Tathāgata appears in the world in one buddha-land, he causes sentient beings to accomplish the worth and profit of their own persons — exceedingly blazingly, exceedingly conformably. Why so? Because those sentient beings will think thus: "In all the world there is only one Tathāgata, and no second; if in this land the work of transformation is finished, or [if] he goes to another region, or enters cessation, from where shall we cultivate the holy life? From where shall we hear the right Dharma?" Having thought thus, they arouse a deep and weighty aspiration, diligence, and vigor, and hasten to cultivate the holy life and hasten to hear the right Dharma. If in one buddha-land many buddhas were to appear in the world, then toward the work to be done [those beings] would be unable [to accomplish it] swiftly. Therefore, one buddha appearing in the world in one buddha-land causes sentient beings to accomplish their own worth — exceedingly blazingly, exceedingly conformably.

All the merits of all the Tathāgatas are equal and equal, without difference, save only for four dharmas: first, length of life; second, title; third, clan and lineage; fourth, bodily marks. All the Tathāgatas have a character of increase and decrease in these four dharmas — but it is not the case with the remaining merits (that they differ).

Further, it is not a female body that can realize unsurpassed perfect awakening. Why so? Because all bodhisattvas, at the point of passing beyond the first incalculable eon, have already forsaken the female body, and, down to sitting upon the fine seat of awakening, have never been female. All women (the female body) are by nature much given to affliction, by nature much given to bad discernment; and it is not that a body given by nature to much affliction and much bad discernment can realize unsurpassed perfect awakening.

7 · Conclusion: One Should Know [It] as It Truly Is · The Awakening Realized by Buddhas Alone Is Supreme

Such unsurpassed perfect awakening: as its "intrinsic nature" was stated, one should know it as it truly is; as its "supremacy" was stated, one should know it as it truly is; as its "ten kinds of merit-title, the merits for recollection," were stated, one should know it as it truly is; as its "appearance" was stated, one should know it as it truly is; as its "differences" were stated, one should know it as it truly is. Further, this awakening is inconceivable — because it passes beyond every path of discursive thought; it is measureless — because it is composed of boundless merits; it is unsurpassed — because it generates all the merits of the śrāvakas, the pratyekabuddhas, and the Tathāgatas. Therefore, the awakening realized by buddhas alone is the highest, the most honored, the most marvelous, the most supreme.

When Maturation Has Reached Its Utmost, What Is There?

At the close of the Chapter on Maturation, the treatise says that the bodhisattva cultivates the six kinds of maturation "in order to mature his own buddha-dharmas." Then, at the moment when his own buddha-dharmas have matured to the utmost — when the seed has ripened to the point where, without interval, it can realize the purity of the two obstructions — what is the fruit that is borne? This is the Chapter on Awakening. Kuiji marks the sequence very clearly: "Having realized reality (the Chapter on Reality), and manifested great supernormal power (the Chapter on Might), and matured self and others (the Chapter on Maturation), there must be a realization of the fruit; and so, after the Chapter on Maturation, [the treatise] sets forth the Chapter on Awakening". The six chapters before are cause, are conduct, are ripening; the Chapter on Awakening is fruit.

The definition the treatise gives to awakening is astonishingly short: "What is awakening? Stated briefly, it is the two eliminations and the two knowledges — this is named awakening" 〔the treatise〕. The whole bodhisattva path of measureless eons has, at its very summit, a fruit of just eight words: the two eliminations, the two knowledges.

The Two Eliminations, the Two Knowledges: What Is Eliminated, What Is Gained

The "two eliminations" are the elimination of the afflictive obstruction and the elimination of the cognitive obstruction; the "two knowledges" are the two knowledges that these two eliminations each bring about — because the afflictive obstruction is eliminated, one gains the "knowledge of being ultimately free of defilement, no longer bound by any affliction"; because the cognitive obstruction is eliminated, one gains the "knowledge that is without hindrance and without obstruction toward all that is knowable" 〔the treatise〕. The one makes a person utterly clean of afflictions, never again bound; the other makes a person free of every impediment toward all that is knowable.

This definition does not come out of nowhere; it is precisely the ripened fruit of the several chapters that precede. The Chapter on Maturation says that the intrinsic nature of maturation is that which "conduces to the elimination-and-purity of the two obstructions" — that is the state of "about to ripen but not yet eliminated"; by the Chapter on Awakening, the two obstructions are truly eliminated and the knowledges truly manifest — this is being "fully ripened." The Chapter on Reality says that the fourth and most excellent reality is "the sphere ranged over by the knowledge that has purified the cognitive obstruction" — that is the object to be realized; by the Chapter on Awakening, the "unhindered, unobstructed knowledge" of the eliminated cognitive obstruction manifests before one, and the object has become fruit. Lineage sows the untainted seed, Reality sees clearly the object beyond words, Maturation nurtures the seed to the threshold, and Awakening is the fruit come to ground. That single phrase, "the two eliminations and the two knowledges," gathers up the whole path.

The ancient masters resolved one fine question here: the two eliminations (the elimination of the afflictive obstruction and the elimination of the cognitive obstruction) are, in themselves, "elimination," which is unconditioned; their substance is not "awakening" — so how can they be called "awakening (that which awakens)"? Tai answers crisply: "Just as the nine severing-knowledges are named 'knowledge' because they are the fruit of knowledge, so the two eliminations too are named 'awakening' because they are the fruit of awakening" 〔Dunlun〕 — elimination, though not awakening, is the fruit that awakening bears, and so is named by its fruit. Woncheuk, drawing on the three bodies of the Compendium of the Great Vehicle and the nature of suchness as merits countless as the Ganges' sands, says that [suchness] "is able to generate the gateways of every merit, and so is named 'awakening'"; and he points out that these two knowledges are precisely the knowledge of the emptiness of persons and the knowledge of the emptiness of dharmas 〔Dunlun〕. (Here too is recorded an old dispute between Paramārtha and Xuanzang: Paramārtha posits "an original-awakening knowledge that takes the principle of equality as its object, as the dharma-body," while Xuanzang says that the suchness disclosed by the emptiness of persons and dharmas is not the substance of consciousness and cannot illumine itself — "one raises knowledge to disclose suchness and names it the dharma-body; it is not that knowledge, or suchness [itself], is named the dharma-body" 〔Dunlun〕. Two readings of the ancients; here they are only recorded, not adjudicated.)

One Point of Demarcation That Matters: Where "the Transformation of the Basis" Is Spoken Of

A reader of Consciousness-Only, seeing "the two eliminations and the two knowledges," will naturally think of the "twofold transformation of the basis" — transforming the reliance on the afflictive obstruction to gain nirvāṇa, and transforming the reliance on the cognitive obstruction to gain awakening. But one point of demarcation must be honestly stated: the whole Chapter on Awakening in the Basic Section does not carry the two words "transformation of the basis," and neither Dunlun's nor Kuiji's commentary on the Chapter on Awakening frames it with the "twofold transformation of the basis" or the "four knowledges." The one who plainly marks out this meaning of "the transformation of the basis" is the Chapter Ascertaining Awakening in the Section on Ascertainment: there it says, "the intrinsic nature of great awakening is the transformation of the basis that surpasses the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas," and unfolds it into four characteristics — the basis of the transformation whereby [the supramundane path] arises, the basis of the transformation whereby [affliction] no longer arises, the fruit of the well-examined knowable, and the purity of the dharma-realm 〔the Section on Ascertainment〕.

These two axes illuminate each other exactly: the Section on Ascertainment's "basis of the transformation whereby [affliction] no longer arises (the latent tendencies of affliction not arising)" matches this chapter's "knowledge free of defilement from the elimination of the afflictive obstruction"; and its "fruit of the well-examined knowable + purity of the dharma-realm" matches this chapter's "unhindered knowledge from the elimination of the cognitive obstruction." So "the two eliminations and the two knowledges" and "the four characteristics of the transformation of the basis" speak of one and the same fruit — only, the Basic Section speaks of it by way of "elimination and knowledge," and the Section on Ascertainment by way of "the transformation of the basis." But the demarcation must be kept: the name "transformation of the basis" issues from the Section on Ascertainment, and is another axis within the scriptures, not the text of the Basic Section of this chapter; this chapter honestly is "the two eliminations and the two knowledges."

The Three Alternate Formulations and the One Hundred Forty Exclusive Buddha-Dharmas: The Unfolding of the Fruit's Merits

The treatise then says this awakening over twice more by two "alternate formulations." The one is: the pure knowledge (all afflictions and their latent tendencies ultimately eliminated), the knowledge of all (knowledge operating without hindrance throughout all realms, events, classes, and times), and the unimpeded knowledge (one act of attention and it knows all-pervadingly, with no need to think again and again). The other is "the one hundred forty exclusive buddha-dharmas" — the thirty-two marks, the eighty minor excellences, the four purities of every kind, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the three foundations of mindfulness, the three things needing no guarding, the great compassion, the quality of never forgetting, the everlasting harming-away of the latent tendencies, and the marvelous knowledge of every kind — these being the dharmas a buddha alone has, not shared with the two vehicles (the treatise says the fine details are "to be analyzed at length in the Chapter on Establishment"). This number "one hundred forty" Kuiji reckons very finely: the first seven categories (marks · excellences · the four purities of every kind · the ten powers · the four fearlessnesses · the three foundations of mindfulness · the three things needing no guarding) come to one hundred thirty-six in all; add the four — great compassion, the quality of never forgetting, the everlasting harming-away of the latent tendencies, and the knowledge of every kind — and it comes exactly to one hundred forty. Dunlun, on the other hand, cites the Anuttarāśraya-sūtra for "one hundred eighty exclusive dharmas" — two numbers of different provenance, set side by side and not adjudicated.

The Seven Supremacies and the Three Abidings: Why the Buddha's Awakening Is Supreme

The treatise says this awakening "is named supreme" because it is associated with seven supremacies: the basis (a body adorned with the thirty-two marks), right conduct (benefiting self and others, taking pity on the world), perfection (the four perfections — discipline, view, standards, and pure livelihood), knowledge (the four unhindered discernments), might (the six kinds of supernormal power, that is, what the Chapter on Might makes clear), elimination (the everlasting elimination of all afflictions and their latent tendencies, and of the cognitive obstruction), and abiding (abiding much in the three abidings — noble, divine, and pure) 〔the treatise〕. Because the seven merits are complete together, it is the most excellent among all [forms of] awakening; and by these seven supremacies the Tathāgata also gains seven titles — the Great Person, the Greatly Compassionate One, the One of Great Discipline and the One of Great Dharma, the One of Great Wisdom, the One of Great Supernormal Power, the One of Great Liberation, and the One Who Abides Much and Abides Vastly.

The most worth savoring among the three abidings is the "four supreme abidings": within the noble abiding the Tathāgata abides much in the abiding in emptiness and the abiding in the attainment of cessation, within the divine abiding much in the "unmoving fourth absorption," and within the pure abiding much in the "abiding in great compassion" 〔the treatise〕. The ancient masters gloss "unmoving": the fourth absorption is even in concentration and wisdom, cannot be moved, and is free of the peril of the three catastrophes, and so the Buddha abides much [in it] 〔Dunlun〕; while his abiding much in great compassion within the pure abiding is because "sentient beings have much suffering, and the Buddha's intent lies much in gathering in the suffering." Where a buddha abides most deeply is in the even [and unshakable] concentration, and in the great compassion that does not forsake sentient beings.

The Ten Titles and the Appearance of Buddhas: The Compassionate Vow of a Single Tathāgata

The treatise lists the Tathāgata's ten kinds of merit-title (merits for recollection) — the Thus-Come One, the Worthy One, the Perfectly Awakened One, the One Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, the Well-Gone One, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Person Who Tames and Guides, the Teacher of Gods and Humans, the Buddha, the Bhagavat — each with its meaning (as "the Thus-Come One" = his word is without falsehood; "the Well-Gone One" = ascending to the utmost and never turning back; "the Teacher of Gods and Humans" = acting for sentient beings as a true eye and true knowledge, able to admonish rightly and cause them to escape the multitude of sufferings).

Most moving of all is the passage on "the appearance of buddhas in the world." The treatise asks: why does a single buddha-land have only a single buddha, with no two Tathāgatas appearing in the world at the same time? What the treatise gives is not a limitation of supernormal power, but a compassionate vow: the vow the bodhisattva arouses through the long night is, "I shall be the one and only — in the worlds that have no leading head, I shall act as the leading head, taming sentient beings, causing them to be freed from the multitude of sufferings and to reach parinirvāṇa" 〔the treatise〕 — precisely because each bodhisattva vows to go to "a place without a buddha" and act as the one and only leading head, the buddhas appear each separately in lands empty of a Tathāgata, and no single realm has two buddhas appearing twice over. Again, a single buddha, within a single three-thousandfold great-thousand realm, is already able to perform all the works of a buddha universally, and so a second buddha's appearing in the world would be of no benefit. More to the point still: if sentient beings know "in the world there is only one Tathāgata, and no second; if this buddha enters cessation I shall have nowhere to cultivate the holy life and hear the right Dharma," they will arouse a deep and weighty vigor and hasten to practice — one buddha to one realm is in order to press forth the vigor of sentient beings. And all the merits of the Tathāgatas are equal and equal, without the slightest difference, save only that four dharmas have a character of increase and decrease: length of life, title, clan and lineage, and bodily marks 〔the treatise〕. Between buddha and buddha, these four things alone differ; all the remaining merits are wholly equal.

A Sensitive Point: Awakening Not Realized in a Female Body

The treatise then says: "Further, it is not a female body that can realize unsurpassed perfect awakening," the reason being that all bodhisattvas, at the point of passing beyond the first incalculable eon, have already forsaken the female body, and, down to sitting on the seat of awakening, have never been female 〔the treatise〕. This is the text of the treatise, and it is transmitted here just as it is. To the doubt that follows upon it — did not the dragon-girl of the Lotus become a buddha? — the ancient masters too long had a transmitted resolution: Dunlun and Kuiji alike say that "that dragon-girl too transformed into a male and only then became a buddha; it was not by a female body that she became a buddha" 〔Dunlun · Kuiji〕. This meaning the ancient masters have already reconciled thus; it is transmitted word for word, neither added to nor diminished.

The One Meaning This Chapter Discloses

The Chapter on Awakening may look as though it is laying out the various adornments of the buddha-fruit (the one hundred forty exclusive dharmas, the seven supremacies, the three abidings, the ten titles), but in truth it establishes only a single summit-fruit: the whole bodhisattva path, its fruit is just "the two eliminations and the two knowledges" — the elimination of the afflictive obstruction gaining the knowledge free of defilement, the elimination of the cognitive obstruction gaining the unhindered knowledge. What Lineage sowed, what Reality saw, what Might used, what Maturation nurtured, all comes here to be gathered up into this one fruit (the Section on Ascertainment, for its part, says this fruit otherwise by the "four characteristics of the transformation of the basis," the two axes illuminating each other). And the reason this fruit is unsurpassed lies not in how much supernormal power and adornment it has, but in its "generating all the merits of the śrāvakas, the pratyekabuddhas, and the Tathāgatas" and its "passing beyond every path of discursive thought" — and therefore the awakening realized by buddhas alone is the highest, the most honored, the most marvelous, the most supreme 〔the treatise〕. When a path is walked to its very top, at the top is that single thought of purity and unimpededness — the two obstructions eliminated to exhaustion, the two knowledges brought to manifestation.

Carrying Forward

The meaning of awakening in this chapter carries forward from what precedes and opens onto what follows, gathering up the whole frame: the two eliminations of awakening (the elimination of the afflictive obstruction · the elimination of the cognitive obstruction) carry forward the ripened fruit of the Chapter on Maturation's "conducing to the elimination-and-purity of the two obstructions", and the unhindered knowledge from the elimination of the cognitive obstruction carries forward the fourth reality of the Chapter on Reality (the sphere ranged over by the knowledge that has purified the cognitive obstruction); the supremacy of might among the seven supremacies is precisely the six kinds of supernormal power of the Chapter on Might; the one hundred forty exclusive buddha-dharmas are detailed in the Chapter on Establishment. The Section on Ascertainment separately sets up a Chapter Ascertaining Awakening, re-expounding great awakening by the five characteristics of the transformation of the basis (intrinsic nature 〔the four characteristics of the transformation of the basis〕 / function 〔the ten masteries〕 / means 〔the four kinds of manifestation〕 / turning / returning), illuminating this chapter's two eliminations and two knowledges reciprocally — only, the name "transformation of the basis" issues from the Section on Ascertainment, and is not the text of the Basic Section of this chapter. Next comes the Chapter on the Lineage of Power (the eighth) — awakening now being made clear, [the treatise] goes on to make clear the lineage of power by which awakening is accomplished.