瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 力種姓品

In one line: The power-lineage = the seed of the ten powers, the acquired lineage (as against the Chapter on Lineage's lineage-by-intrinsic-nature, the seed-by-nature); this chapter is a syllabus for "growing the seed-by-nature into the ten powers" — the seven sections (being furnished with the many resolute convictions · seeking the true Dharma · teaching the true Dharma · practice in accord with the Dharma · instruction · admonition · the four means of gathering); by seeking the five sciences, understanding the ten causes and five fruits of the Inner Science, cultivating calm and insight, and teaching others and gathering the assembly, one makes the lineage of the ten powers (knowing the possible-and-impossible · knowing one's own deeds + the eight knowledge-powers) attain purity and increase.

Three points of the eye:

1. The power-lineage = the acquired seed of the ten powers (the eye): "power" = the ten powers; the power-lineage = the seed of the ten powers; the Chapter on Lineage clarifies the lineage that abides by intrinsic nature (the seed-by-nature, the naturally-there uncontaminated seed), the Chapter on the Power-Lineage clarifies the acquired (the acquired lineage) 〔Dunlun 0525c25 · Kuiji 0142a06 "the former is the lineage-by-nature, the present the acquired lineage"〕. The seven sections = a bodhisattva's syllabus of cultivation for the learning-points (the uddāna 〔0500b11〕). Being furnished with the many resolute convictions = the eight bases of resolute conviction (the merits of the Three Jewels / the power of the buddhas and bodhisattvas / the true meaning / cause / fruit / the meaning to be attained / the means of attaining / good words and good teaching) · the two causes-and-conditions (much cultivating resolute conviction · amassing a fierce and keen forbearance) 〔0500b18〕.
2. The ten causes · four conditions · five fruits of the Inner Science = the establishment of cause-and-fruit (the consciousness-only reading · the eye): seeking the five sciences (Inner / Reasoning / Sound / Medicine / Crafts), the Inner Science shows the aspect of right cause-and-fruit = the ten causes (speaking-in-accord / dependence-and-regard / drawing-in / taking-up / arising / drawing-forth / determining-differentiation / co-working / contrariety / non-contrariety 〔0501a10〕) · the three proceedings (crops-and-sowings / defilement / purity). The ten causes ↔ the four conditions the ancient masters collate by the Cheng Weishi Lun's explanation: the cause-condition = the producing cause · the dominant condition = the means cause · the middle two conditions (immediately-antecedent / object) = gathered by the cause of taking-up 〔Dunlun 0527b26〕; the cause of drawing-in (the basis of the latent-perfuming cause · not moistened) as against the cause of arising (the basis of the moistened-seed cause · moistened · Kuiji 0142c04). The five fruits (maturational / outflowing / freedom-from-bondage / a-person's-exertion / dominant 〔0502a29〕) · the substance of the maturational fruit = the ālaya + the maturational seeds + the name-language seeds 〔Dunlun 0528a26〕.
3. The ten-power-lineage frame (2 + 8 = 10 · the eye): the Inner Science's aspect of right cause-and-fruit → the lineage of the power of knowing the possible and the impossible 〔0502b17〕 · what-is-done-is-not-lost-what-is-not-done-is-not-gained → the lineage of the power of knowing one's own deeds 〔0502b23〕 · the eight kinds of instruction → the remaining eight powers (meditative-absorption-liberation-concentration-and-attainment / superior-and-inferior faculties / resolute conviction / the elements / the paths leading everywhere / former abodes / death-and-birth / the exhaustion of the outflows 〔0504c04〕). The ancient masters Jing, Woncheuk, and Kuiji hold the same: Kuiji, "why does it speak only of the eight powers? The foregoing had already accounted for the two powers of the possible-and-impossible and one's own deeds, and so here it only clarifies the eight kinds of power" 〔0143c16 · Dunlun 0530a07〕. The love-and-esteem of seeking to hear (treading the hot iron ground · the upaniṣad-part collation 〔0503a〕) · the twenty aspects of teaching the true Dharma (fifteen of conformity + five of purity 〔0503b23〕) · practice in accord with the Dharma (the eight aspects of right reflection · the four aspects of right cultivation, calm and insight 〔0503c02〕) · the five kinds of admonition 〔0504c08〕 · the four means of gathering 〔0504c17〕.

Appended pointers:

• Inherits from the Chapter on Lineage (the seed-by-nature ↔ the acquired lineage) · the Chapter on Powers / the Chapter on the True Meaning (the power and the true meaning among the eight bases of resolute conviction); the four means of gathering are the skillful means by which the Chapter on Maturation matures beings. What comes next is the Chapter on Giving (the first of the six perfections).
• The naming of the power-lineage · the mutual gathering of the ten causes and the four conditions · the maturational fruit = the ālaya · the power-lineage ↔ the ten powers 2 + 8 · Dharma-master Yuan's miscount of the eight bases · the opening-and-combining of the five sciences (the Science of Reasoning and Dignāga): see the Apparatus, Headings III and IV — recorded only, not judged.
• Alternate translations: Dharmakṣema's Chapter on the Power-Lineage, the eighth (the ten causes: speaking-in-accord / by-existence / planting … · the five fruits: recompense / basis / liberation / a-person's / dominant · the admonition: restraining / permitting / raising / subduing / gladdening) · Guṇavarman's Chapter on the Nature of the Powers of Awakening, the ninth (the ten causes: circulating / following / making … · the five fruits: recompense / remainder / liberation / present-doing / dominant · the admonition in Vinaya-procedural language · the four means of gathering: giving / soft speech / benefit / shared aim); the Section on Ascertainment's Chapter Ascertaining the Power-Lineage does not re-ascertain the seven sections, but separately ascertains the six aspects of the Tathāgata's merits, that the gods are not a refuge, the nominally-existent, and the gathering-in of right much-hearing (the Apparatus, Heading II).

Overall Heading: The uddāna and the Seven Sections

The learning-points a bodhisattva should learn have already been stated above; the dharmas that should thus be learned are now to be stated. The uddāna (the summary verse) says: the many resolute convictions, the seeking of the Dharma, the teaching of the Dharma, the cultivation of the practice of the Dharma, the right instruction, the admonition, and the three activities gathered by skillful means.

If the bodhisattvas wish to apply themselves diligently to learning upon the learning-points that a bodhisattva should learn, they must first of all be furnished with the many resolute convictions; they should seek the true Dharma, should teach the true Dharma, should rightly cultivate "practice in accord with the Dharma," should rightly instruct, should rightly admonish, should abide in an instruction and admonition free of error, and should (draw and mature beings) by the activities of body, speech, and mind gathered by skillful means.

One: Being Furnished with the Many Resolute Convictions (the Eight Bases of Resolute Conviction)

What is it for a bodhisattva to be furnished with the many resolute convictions? It is that the bodhisattvas, with respect to the eight bases of resolute conviction, are fully accomplished in a decisive gladness that has pure faith as its forerunner: first, the basis of resolute conviction in the merits of the Three Jewels (that is, having many resolute convictions in the true merits of the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha); second, the basis of resolute conviction in the power of the buddhas and bodhisattvas (that is, having many resolute convictions in the power stated earlier, in the Chapter on Powers); third, the basis of resolute conviction in the true meaning (that is, having many resolute convictions in the true meaning stated earlier, in the Chapter on the True Meaning); fourth, the basis of resolute conviction in cause (that is, having many resolute convictions in the various error-free causes gathered as fitting); fifth, the basis of resolute conviction in fruit (that is, having many resolute convictions in the various error-free fruits gathered as fitting); sixth, the basis of resolute conviction in the meaning of what is to be attained (that is, having many resolute convictions in the meaning of what is to be attained, unsurpassed perfect awakening — "I have the capacity, I shall certainly be able to attain it"); seventh, the basis of resolute conviction in the means of attaining (that is, having many resolute convictions in the means, throughout the whole path of bodhisattva learning, by which it can be attained — "with this means one attains the meaning of what is to be attained"); eighth, the basis of resolute conviction in good words, good speech, and good teaching (that is, having many resolute convictions in the dharmas of the discourses, the verse-restatements, the predictions, and the rest). With respect to these eight bases of resolute conviction, it should be known that the bodhisattva comes to have many resolute convictions by two causes-and-conditions: one is much cultivating resolute conviction, the other is amassing a fierce and keen forbearance.

Two: Seeking the True Dharma

When those bodhisattvas seek the true Dharma, what should they seek? How should they seek? For what should they seek?

What should they seek: The bodhisattvas, stated in brief, should seek all the dharmas of the bodhisattva canon, the dharmas of the śrāvaka canon, all the outer treatises, and all the treatises on the worldly crafts and occupations. It should be known that among those twelve divisions of the teaching, the one division "the far-reaching (vaipulya)" belongs to the bodhisattva canon alone, while the remaining divisions are common to and possessed by the śrāvaka canon. Of all outer treatises there are, in brief, three kinds: first, treatises on cause; second, treatises on sound; third, treatises on the arts of medicine. Of all treatises on the worldly crafts and occupations there are not one but many, of various classes — namely the craft-skill-knowledges of the goldsmith, the ironsmith, the jeweler, and the like. All these are gathered under the sciences, of which there are in all five: first, the Inner Science; second, the Science of Reasoning; third, the Science of Sound; fourth, the Science of Medicine; fifth, the Science of the Crafts. When the bodhisattva rightly and diligently seeks among these five kinds of science, this is called diligently seeking all the sciences.

By how many aspects does each treatise-science proceed: The speech of the buddhas is named "the treatise of the Inner Science" — by how many aspects does it proceed? And so on, down to: all the worldly crafts and occupations are named "the treatise of the Science of the Crafts" — by how many aspects does it proceed? Answer: The treatise of the Inner Science proceeds, in brief, by two aspects — first, showing the aspect of right cause-and-fruit; second, showing the aspect of "what is done is not lost, what is not done is not gained." The treatise of the Science of Reasoning likewise proceeds by two aspects — first, showing the aspect of the victory of crushing another's thesis; second, showing the aspect of the victory of being freed from another's thesis. The treatise of the Science of Sound likewise proceeds by two aspects — first, showing the aspect of establishing the bounds and the aspect of being able to establish; second, showing the aspect of the victory of the craft of language. The treatise of the Science of Medicine proceeds by four aspects — first, showing the aspect of skill in the nature of illness; second, showing the aspect of skill in the cause of illness; third, showing the aspect of skill in cutting off an illness already arisen; fourth, showing the aspect of skill in an illness already cut off not arising again. As for all the worldly treatises of the Science of the Crafts, they show the various distinct aspects of what is wrought and accomplished by each several craft and occupation.

The Inner Science (1) The Aspect of Right Cause-and-Fruit = the Ten Causes

What is the "aspect of right cause-and-fruit" that the treatise of the Inner Science shows? It is that there are ten kinds of cause; it should be known that these establish the error-free causes and gather up all causes together — proceeding whether for the defiled, or for the pure, or for the neutral dharmas of the world's various crops and sowings and the like. What are the ten causes? First, the cause of speaking-in-accord; second, the cause of dependence-and-regard; third, the cause of drawing-in; fourth, the cause of taking-up; fifth, the cause of arising; sixth, the cause of drawing-forth; seventh, the cause of determining-differentiation; eighth, the cause of co-working; ninth, the cause of contrariety; tenth, the cause of non-contrariety.

The cause of speaking-in-accord: In all dharmas there is first a "concept" (the grasping of a mark), and it is with the concept as forerunner that "speaking" (verbal expression) arises; this is named the cause of speaking-in-accord for the dharmas. The cause of dependence-and-regard: Regarding this, and taking this as cause, there is with respect to such-and-such matters a seeking and a taking; this is named the cause of dependence-and-regard — as, regarding the hand and taking the hand as cause, there is the activity of grasping; regarding the foot and taking the foot as cause, there is the activity of coming and going; regarding the joints and taking the joints as cause, there is the activity of bending and stretching; regarding hunger and thirst and taking hunger and thirst as cause, there is with respect to food and drink a seeking and a taking; following countless reasonings of this kind, one should understand the aspect of the cause of dependence-and-regard. The cause of drawing-in: All seeds, as looking toward their own fruit at a later time, are named the cause of drawing-in. The cause of taking-up: The remaining conditions apart from the seeds are named the cause of taking-up. The cause of arising: The seeds themselves, as looking toward their own first fruit, are named the cause of arising. The cause of drawing-forth: The fruit arisen from the first seed, as looking toward the fruit drawn in by the seed at a later time, is named the cause of drawing-forth. The cause of determining-differentiation: The various distinct causes-and-conditions of the several unlike kinds are named the cause of determining-differentiation. The cause of co-working: When the cause of dependence-and-regard, the cause of drawing-in, the cause of taking-up, the cause of arising, the cause of drawing-forth, and the cause of determining-differentiation are gathered together as one, this is named the cause of co-working. The cause of contrariety: A cause that is able to make an obstacle to the dharma to be produced is named the cause of contrariety. The cause of non-contrariety: When this obstacle-cause is wanting or is absent, this is named the cause of non-contrariety.

It should be known that contrariety is, in brief, of six kinds: first, contrariety of language (that is, there is a certain class of śramaṇas or brahmins whose composed treatises are contradictory front to back); second, contrariety of reasoning (that is, in setting up an inference in order to establish what is to be established and the objects to be known, it does not correspond with the reasoning that establishes proof); third, contrariety of arising (that is, for the dharma to be produced, the conditions producing it are wanting and the conditions obstructing its arising come together); fourth, contrariety of the same place (that is, dharmas such as light and darkness, greed and hatred, pain and pleasure); fifth, contrariety of enmity (that is, the poisonous snake, the weasel, the wildcat, the field-mouse being mutually enemies, the bad friend, and the like); sixth, contrariety of obstacle-and-remedy (that is, cultivating the impure to counteract greed, cultivating loving-kindness to counteract hatred, cultivating compassion to counteract harm, cultivating the seven awakening-factors and the eight noble path-factors to counteract all the afflictions bound to the three realms). In this meaning here, the right intent takes only the "contrariety of arising."

All these causes are again gathered by two causes: first, the producing cause; second, the means cause. It should be known that among these, the drawing-in seed and the arising seed are named the producing cause; the remaining causes are named the means cause. There are also four conditions: first, the cause-condition; second, the immediately-antecedent condition; third, the object-condition; fourth, the dominant condition. It should be known that among these, whatever is the producing cause is named the cause-condition, and whatever is the means cause is the dominant condition; the immediately-antecedent condition and the object-condition are spoken of only with regard to all minds and mental factors — because that entire set of minds and mental factors, being taken up by the prior-arisen opening-and-guiding and taken up by the object-realm, only then attains arising and attains proceeding; therefore it should be known that the immediately-antecedent condition and the object-condition are gathered by the cause of taking-up.

The ten causes in three proceedings (how do these ten causes make the world's various matters proceed, the defiled matters proceed, and the pure matters proceed?):

(First · the world's crops and sowings) With respect to the world's various crops and sowings, the life-sustaining substances of the world falling under the reckoning of grains, all the various names, concepts, and verbal expressions — namely barley, wheat, rice, sesame, the large and small beans, and the like — these, as looking toward those various crops and sowings, are the cause of speaking-in-accord (as when one says "barley" carried away and carried back, whether ground or set down, and the various speakings-in-accord; and so likewise for wheat and the rest). Regarding hunger and thirst and the abiding of an enfeebled body, and regarding the taste-relish of morsel-food, one seeks, grasps, and enjoys them; and so that dharma is called the cause of dependence-and-regard. Because of their several own seeds, the various distinct crops and sowings arise; and so those seeds are called the cause of drawing-in. The conditions of earth, rain, and the like, which are able to produce the sprout, are named the cause of taking-up. Those very seeds, as looking toward the sprout produced, are named the cause of arising. The sprout, stem, leaves, and the rest, in turn continuing one after another, as looking toward the crop's coming-to-be and ripening, are the cause of drawing-forth. From a barley seed there is produced a barley sprout, a barley shoot and crop, and no other kind is produced (and so likewise for the other kinds); and so that is called the cause of determining-differentiation. All those, from the cause of dependence-and-regard down to the cause of determining-differentiation, together attaining the ripening of one and the same crop, are named the cause of co-working (it is not that the crop, if any single cause be wanting, still attains ripening; therefore the whole coming-together is called the cause of co-working). Obstacle-dharmas such as frost, hail, disaster, and the like, as looking toward the flourishing of that crop, are the cause of contrariety. When those are wanting and there is no obstacle, this is the cause of non-contrariety of the flourishing crop. Thus for these ten causes, with respect to the world's other various matters, as is fitting, it should be known at length as stated in the Discourse on the Gathering of Grains.

(Second · the defiled dependent origination) Again, with respect to all the various names, concepts, and verbal expressions of the defiled dependent origination — namely ignorance (avidyā), formations, consciousness, name-and-form, and expounded at length down to aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, grief, suffering, and distress — these, as looking toward those defiled dharmas, are the cause of speaking-in-accord (as when one says "conditioned by ignorance there are formations," down to "conditioned by birth there is aging-and-death," and the various speakings-in-accord). Regarding the taste-relish of the object-realms, one turns and flows on in the continuity of the members of existence; and so those, as looking toward this, are the cause of dependence-and-regard. In the present dharma, the seeds of ignorance and the rest already arisen and already grown — now these seeds, as looking toward the birth, aging, death, and the rest of another life, are the cause of drawing-in. Drawing near to unwholesome persons, hearing untrue Dharma, unreasoned attention, and the force drawn on by former repeated practice — from these there arise ignorance and the rest, named the cause of taking-up. The several own seeds of ignorance and the rest are named the cause of arising. From the member of ignorance down to the member of existence, in turn drawing forth the ensuing continuity, as looking toward the birth, aging, death, and the rest of another life, is the cause of drawing-forth. The remaining member of ignorance and its own seed, down to the member of existence, being able to produce a hell-being; the remaining member of ignorance and its own seed, down to the member of existence, being able to produce an animal, a hungry ghost, a human, a god (and so likewise) — these, as looking toward those, are the cause of determining-differentiation. All those, from the cause of dependence-and-regard down to the cause of determining-differentiation, are named the cause of co-working. The cause of contrariety of these defiled dharmas is: being furnished with a transcendent lineage, meeting a Buddha's appearance in the world and his expounding of the true Dharma, drawing near to good persons, hearing the true Dharma, reasoned attention, practice in accord with the Dharma, and all the awakening-factor dharmas. When the various wholesome dharmas as stated are wanting or are absent, this is the cause of non-contrariety of the defiled dharmas. It should be known that these ten causes are able to give rise to all the defilement of all sentient beings.

(Third · the pure nirvāṇa) Again, with respect to all the various names, concepts, and verbal expressions of the pure-class dharmas and the cessation, nirvāṇa — these, as looking toward those pure dharmas, are the cause of speaking-in-accord (as when one says the applications of mindfulness, the right exertions, down to the eight noble path-factors, and "from the cessation of ignorance the cessation of formations," expounded at length down to "from the cessation of birth the cessation of aging-and-death," and the various speakings-in-accord). Because of regarding the many faults of the formations, one gladly seeks purity, takes up purity, accomplishes and completes purity; those, as looking toward this, are the cause of dependence-and-regard. The person abiding in the lineage, furnished with the lineage, able to be a foremost one, able to realize the two nirvāṇa-elements, with remaining basis and without remaining basis — that, as looking toward purity, is the cause of drawing-in. Drawing near to good persons, hearing the true Dharma, reasoned attention, and the faculties formerly wrought coming to ripeness, are named the cause of taking-up. All the seeds of the uncontaminated awakening-factor dharmas gathered by the lineage, as looking toward all those awakening-factor dharmas, are the cause of arising. All the awakening-factor dharmas produced from those own seeds, being able gradually to realize the two nirvāṇa-elements, with remaining basis and without remaining basis, are named the cause of drawing-forth. The śrāvaka lineage attaining parinirvāṇa by the śrāvaka vehicle, the pratyekabuddha lineage attaining parinirvāṇa by the pratyekabuddha vehicle, the great-vehicle lineage attaining parinirvāṇa by the unsurpassed vehicle — those, as looking toward purity, are the cause of determining-differentiation. The cause of dependence-and-regard down to the cause of determining-differentiation of the pure class, as looking toward purity, are the cause of co-working. Not being furnished with the lineage, not meeting a Buddha's appearance in the world, being born in the states of no-leisure, not drawing near to good persons, not hearing the true Dharma, unreasoned attention, and repeatedly practicing the wrong practices — those, as looking toward purity, are the cause of contrariety. When these causes of contrariety are wanting or are absent, this is the cause of non-contrariety of purity.

If they are the causes of contrariety of the defiled class, it should be known that they are just the causes of the pure dharmas; if they are the causes of contrariety of the pure class, it should be known that they are just the causes of the defiled dharmas. Thus, just as there are now present the ten causes of defilement and the ten causes of purity, so too the past and future — the once-defiled and the to-be-defiled, the once-pure and the to-be-pure — are all likewise. There are, in all, only these ten causes; apart from these there is nothing further, whether beyond them or in addition.

The Inner Science (1) The Aspect of Right Cause-and-Fruit = the Five Fruits

Within this (cause-and-fruit) aspect, what is "fruit"? There are, in brief, five kinds: first, the maturational fruit; second, the outflowing fruit; third, the fruit of freedom-from-bondage; fourth, the fruit of a person's exertion; fifth, the dominant fruit. The unwholesome dharmas receive the maturational fruit in the evil destinies, and the wholesome contaminated dharmas receive the maturational fruit in the good destinies (the base text reads "destiny"; the Taishō original print reads "surpass") — this is named the maturational fruit. Because of practicing the unwholesome one gladly abides in the unwholesome and the unwholesome dharmas increase; because of cultivating the wholesome one gladly abides in the wholesome dharmas and the wholesome dharmas grow and increase; or the fruit that follows on afterward resembles the prior deed — this is named the outflowing fruit. The eight-limbed noble path extinguishing the afflictions is named the fruit of freedom-from-bondage; but when the various ordinary beings extinguish the afflictions by the mundane path, because it is not final, it is not the fruit of freedom-from-bondage. There is a certain class who in the present dharma, in dependence on some one craft or occupation, give rise to the exertion of a person — namely such matters as farming, trading, serving a king, calligraphy and painting, calculation, and divination — and thereby accomplish such fruits as crops and the wealth-benefit and the like; this is named the fruit of a person's exertion. Eye-consciousness and the rest are the dominant fruit of the eye-faculty, down to: mental consciousness and the rest are the dominant fruit of the mind-faculty; a being's bodily parts not scattering and not decaying are the dominant fruit of the life-faculty; the twenty-two faculties, each severally able to give rise to its own dominant fruit — it should be known that all are named the dominant fruit (for the dominant activity of the twenty-two faculties, one should know its aspects as in the Section on the Gathering of Events).

When the bodhisattva, with respect to the aspect of right cause-and-fruit shown by this Inner Science, has known it as it truly is, and diligently cultivates it, he is able to make the lineage of the "power of knowing the possible and the impossible" gradually attain purity and gradually attain increase.

The Inner Science (2) The Aspect of "What Is Done Is Not Lost, What Is Not Done Is Not Gained"

What is the aspect of "what is done is not lost, what is not done is not gained" that the treatise of the Inner Science shows? It is that the deeds done by sentient beings themselves, though they were done many hundreds of aeons ago, their capacity to bring forth a fruit in the end suffers no loss; nor is there any (event of) a fruit maturing, or another fruit maturing, from what is not done or done otherwise. When the bodhisattva, with respect to this aspect of "what is done is not lost, what is not done is not gained" shown by the Inner Science, has known it as it truly is, and diligently cultivates it, he is able to make the lineage of the "power of knowing one's own deeds" gradually attain purity and gradually attain increase.

The Aspect of Seeking to Hear the True Dharma

How does the bodhisattva seek to hear the true Dharma? The bodhisattvas, with respect to the well-taught Dharma, should abide in a fierce and keen love-and-esteem and seek to hear the true Dharma. Stated in brief, this aspect of "abiding in a fierce and keen love-and-esteem toward the well-taught Dharma" is: in order to hear a single sentence of well-taught Dharma, the bodhisattvas, even if they must journey by a road across a great hot iron ground where fierce flames blaze, and apart from this there is no other means whereby this well-taught Dharma may be heard, would even so arouse a fierce and keen love-and-esteem, and enter it gladly — how much more so if they wish to hear the many good words and good meanings. Again, the bodhisattvas, taking all the love-and-esteem they have for their own body and for all life-sustaining requisites, food and drink and the like, and setting it against "the love-and-esteem they have for wishing to hear the various well-taught Dharmas" — setting the former against the latter, it does not amount to a hundredth part, nor to a thousandth part, nor to a numerical part, nor to a calculational part, and down to an upaniṣad part it does not amount to one. The bodhisattva thus gives rise to a deep reverence for the well-taught Dharma, ever delighting to hear it, without weariness and without satiety; his pure faith is thick and rich, his nature is gentle and mild, his mind straight and his view straight; because he loves and esteems the virtue, and loves and esteems the Dharma, he goes to the place of the Dharma-teacher with no mind to cavil, with a mind of reverence, with no mind of haughtiness, solely to seek the good and not to display his own virtue, in order to establish the wholesome roots of self and other and not for the sake of gain and honor. The bodhisattva, furnished with such virtues, goes to the place of the Dharma-teacher, and with a mind free of defilement and a mind free of distraction hears the true Dharma.

What is it for the bodhisattva to hear the true Dharma with a mind free of defilement? It is that when hearing the Dharma his mind is far from the "defilement of arrogance," far from the "defilement of contempt," far from the "defilement of timidity": by six aspects he is far from the defilement of arrogance — listening at the proper time, listening earnestly, listening reverently, not for the sake of harming, not for the sake of currying favor, and not seeking after faults; by four aspects he is far from the defilement of contempt — revering the true Dharma, revering the person who teaches the Dharma, not slighting the true Dharma, and not slighting the person who teaches the Dharma; by one aspect he is far from the defilement of timidity — not disparaging himself. What is it for the bodhisattva to hear the true Dharma with a mind free of distraction? It is by five aspects: first, hearing the true Dharma with a mind seeking to awaken and understand; second, hearing the true Dharma with a mind single and one-directed; third, hearing the true Dharma listening to the sound and lending an ear; fourth, hearing the true Dharma cleansing and washing his mind; fifth, hearing the true Dharma gathering the whole mind. The bodhisattva thus seeks to hear the true Dharma.

For what does one seek to hear the true Dharma: When the bodhisattvas seek the "Inner Science," it is in order rightly to cultivate practice in accord with the Dharma, and in order to open, reveal, benefit, and awaken others. When they seek the "Science of Reasoning," it is in order to know as it truly is that the treatises on cause composed by the outsiders are evil speech, in order to subdue the various heterodox theses of others, in order to make those not yet possessed of pure faith in this true noble teaching come to pure faith, and to make those already possessed of pure faith increase and grow the more. When they seek the "Science of Sound," it is in order to make beings who delight in and take pleasure in cultured language give rise to deep reverence and faith in the bodhisattva's person, and in order to awaken to and enter the distinctions of glosses, sounds, phrases, and clauses (within a single meaning, speaking-in-accord with various classes of distinct sounds). When they seek the "Science of Medicine," it is in order to quell beings' various sicknesses, in order to benefit all the great assembly. When they seek the various "worldly craft-knowledges," it is in order to gather much precious wealth with little labor, in order to benefit the beings, in order to give rise in beings to thoughts of the exceedingly rare and wondrous, and in order, by a skillful wisdom that distributes evenly, to benefit and gather in measureless beings. The bodhisattva's seeking all these five sciences is in order that the great-wisdom equipment for unsurpassed perfect awakening may swiftly attain fulfillment — for it is not the case that, without cultivating and learning in due order among all these sciences, one could attain the unobstructed all-knowing wisdom. Thus has it been stated what the bodhisattva rightly should seek, that he seeks in this way, and that he seeks for this meaning.

Three: Teaching the True Dharma

When the bodhisattva teaches the true Dharma for others, what should he teach? How should he teach? For what should he teach? Answer: What the bodhisattva rightly should seek is just what should be taught; that for whose meaning he seeks is just that for whose meaning he teaches for others. He teaches for others by two aspects: first, teaching by way of conformity; second, teaching by way of purity.

Teaching by way of conformity (fifteen aspects): The bodhisattvas should abide in a lawful deportment and teach for others, not failing to abide in a lawful deportment — they do not teach the true Dharma for one who, being without illness, sits on a high seat; they do not teach the true Dharma standing to one who is seated; they should not be behind and teach the true Dharma to one walking ahead; they do not teach the true Dharma to one whose head is covered (as should be known from the extended statement in the Prātimokṣa Sūtra. Why? Because the buddhas and bodhisattvas revere the Dharma; and again, when one gives rise to reverence toward the true Dharma, one is able to make others hold the Dharma exceedingly precious, hear it reverently, and not slight or disparage it). Again, they teach all the Dharma for all people, and teach without interruption. Again, toward the true Dharma they give rise to no stinginess, and make no teacher's-fist (they hold nothing back). Again, toward the true Dharma, they set it out in the order of its phrases and clauses, explain it in the order of its phrases and clauses, and analyze its meaning in that order. Again, if it is a Dharma-meaning that draws in benefit-and-advantage, they should set it out, should explain it, and should analyze it at length — not a Dharma-meaning that does not draw in benefit-and-advantage. Again, they should display what should be displayed; again, they should guide toward what should be guided; again, they should praise and encourage toward what should be praised and encouraged; again, they should gladden and console toward what should be gladdened and consoled. Again, they teach the true Dharma in accord with the reasoning of direct perception, inference, and the authoritative teaching, not failing to rely on the reasoning of those three means of valid cognition. Again, what is proclaimed conforms with and leads toward the good destinies. Again, what is proclaimed is free of confusion, easy to enter, and not concealed. Again, what is proclaimed accords with the four noble truths. Again, when teaching the true Dharma amid every assembly, they proclaim it as is fitting to the assembly. The bodhisattva, by these fifteen aspects, should thus teach the various teachings-by-way-of-conformity for the universal benefit of others.

Teaching by way of purity (five aspects): The bodhisattvas, toward the sentient beings who bear enmity against them, should abide in a mind of loving-kindness and teach the true Dharma; toward the sentient beings who do evil deeds, they should abide in a mind of benefit and teach the true Dharma; toward the beings who have pleasure, who have pain, who are heedless, and who are lowly, they should abide in a mind of benefit, ease, and pity, and teach the true Dharma. They do not, by the dominant force of the entanglement of envy, praise themselves and disparage others. With a mind free of defilement, not craving benefit, honor, and eulogy, they teach the Dharma for others. The bodhisattva, in dependence on these five aspects, should thus teach the various teachings-by-way-of-purity for the universal benefit of others.

Thus the bodhisattva's aspects of teaching the true Dharma are, in brief, twenty: first, at the proper time; second, esteeming the Dharma; third, in order; fourth, continuously; fifth, in conformity; sixth, with gladness; seventh, with delight; eighth, with joy; ninth, with eager courage; tenth, not casting out; eleventh, according with reason; twelfth, fitting and conformable; thirteenth, without confusion; fourteenth, lawful; fifteenth, conforming to the assembly; sixteenth, with a mind of loving-kindness; seventeenth, with a mind of benefit; eighteenth, with a mind of pity; nineteenth, not praising self and disparaging others; twentieth, not depending on benefit, honor, and eulogy. The bodhisattva should thus ever proclaim the true Dharma for others.

Four: Practice in Accord with the Dharma

What is the bodhisattva's practice in accord with the Dharma? It should be known that this practice is, in brief, of five kinds: namely, with respect to the dharmas as sought and as received, an error-free turning-in-accord of the activities of body, speech, and mind, together with right reflection and right cultivation. If the Buddha, the World-Honored One, with respect to certain dharmas, restrains one's body, speech, and mind so as not to do them; and with respect to certain dharmas, opens one's body, speech, and mind so as to do them — then within such two kinds of dharmas, the error-free keeping-away and the error-free cultivating-and-realizing of the activities of body, speech, and mind is named the bodhisattva's practice in accord with the Dharma, the error-free turning-in-accord of the activities of body, speech, and mind within all dharmas.

Right reflection (eight aspects): What is it for the bodhisattva rightly to reflect upon the Dharma? The bodhisattvas dwell alone in quiet stillness, and, with respect to the Dharma as heard, delight to reflect, delight to weigh, delight to contemplate; they first keep away from what is unthinkable and reflect upon those dharmas; they reflect constantly, applying themselves without interruption and applying themselves earnestly, without slackness. When these bodhisattvas, with valiant vigor, reflect upon the Dharma, with respect to a small part they contemplate by reasoning and thereby awaken and enter, and with respect to a small part they merely deeply believe and understand; whatever they reflect upon, they rely only on its meaning and not on its letter; they know as it truly is "the black teaching (what is not the Buddha's word), the great teaching (the Buddha's word)"; they are rightly able to awaken to and enter the first reflection, and having awakened to and entered it, they attend to it again and again so as to make it firm. These bodhisattvas: because they reflect by keeping away from what should not be thought upon, their minds do not fall into bewilderment, confusion, and error; because they reflect constantly and without interruption, applying themselves earnestly without slackness, the meaning not yet known before is rightly known and rightly resolved, and the meaning already known before is kept from loss and kept from being forgotten; because with respect to a small part they awaken and enter by contemplating with reasoning, in the dharmas contemplated in accord with right reasoning they do not depend on other conditions (being themselves able to discern); because with respect to a small part they merely believe and understand, in a dharma exceedingly profound that their own shallow and slight awareness cannot penetrate, they defer upward to the Tathāgata, saying, "such a dharma is what the Buddha practices, not my domain," and thus toward the Dharma they give rise to no slander, do not harm themselves, keep away from decline and disaster, and are without faults and offenses; because when they reflect upon the Dharma they rely only on its meaning and not on its letter, they are able to awaken to and enter all the words of hidden intent spoken by the Buddha, the World-Honored One; because they are skilled universally in all the black teaching and the great teaching, in the true meaning nothing and no dharma is able to overturn or move them; because they are rightly able to awaken to and enter the first reflection, they are able to attain a forbearance not attained from before; because, with respect to this forbearance already attained, they attend to it again and again so as to make it firm and solid, they are able to enter in accord toward the "cultivation." The bodhisattva, by these eight aspects, is able rightly to cultivate the practice in accord with the Dharma "gathered by right reflection."

Right cultivation (four aspects · calm and insight): What is it for the bodhisattva rightly to cultivate the Dharma? It should be known that this cultivation is, in brief, of four aspects: first, calm abiding (śamatha); second, insight (vipaśyanā); third, cultivating calm abiding and insight; fourth, delighting to cultivate calm abiding and insight. What is calm abiding? The bodhisattvas, because of the good support-and-holding of the eight kinds of reflection, bind the mind and make it abide within an object-realm free of verbal expression, of mere event and mere meaning; because of an attention free of proliferation and free of the notion of mental disturbance, they form a resolute conviction toward all objects, and toward all concentration-aspects make the mind rest within, abide, and abide evenly, expounded at length down to being one-directed and equipoised — this is named calm abiding. What is insight? The bodhisattvas, by an attention perfumed and cultivated by calm abiding, then, with respect to the Dharma as previously reflected upon, reflect upon its aspects, and discern in accord with reason, discern to the utmost, discern the Dharma to the extreme, expounded at length down to the courses of awareness, clarity, and wisdom — this is named insight. What is cultivating calm abiding and insight? The bodhisattvas, with respect to calm abiding and insight, apply themselves without interruption, apply themselves earnestly, and cultivate constantly — this is named cultivating. What is delighting to cultivate calm abiding and insight? The bodhisattvas, within such aspects of calm and insight, keep their minds unmoved, and where there is effortlessness, freedom from all application, and a spontaneous turning, they take up a freedom from confusion — this is named delighting to cultivate. It should be known that among these: as one cultivates calm and insight, so accordingly one delights to abide in calm and insight; as one delights to abide in calm and insight, so accordingly calm and insight become pure; as calm abiding becomes pure, so accordingly ease of body and ease of mind grow and become vast and great; as insight becomes pure, so accordingly one's knowledge and one's vision grow and become vast and great. Reaching this point, it is named "what cultivation should do" — namely, that within the basis one should clear away coarse heaviness, and toward all that is to be known one should cultivate a pure knowledge and vision. All such works of cultivation the bodhisattva is able to accomplish by the foregoing four aspects of cultivation.

Five: Instruction

What is instruction? It should be known that instruction is, in brief, of eight kinds. The bodhisattvas, whether because they take a concentration as their support, or because over a long time they have dwelt together with someone, give rise to loving-kindness and compassion toward that person (the disciple) and wish to give instruction; or by the other assemblies of bodhisattvas, or by the Tathāgata, instruction is given. At the time of instructing: first, one should carefully examine and reflect upon that person's mind and know it as it truly is; having reflected upon and truly known the mind, one reflects upon that person's faculties and knows them as they truly are; having reflected upon and truly known the faculties, one reflects upon the resolve and knows it as it truly is; having reflected upon and truly known the resolve, one reflects upon the latent proclivities and knows them as they truly are; having reflected upon and truly known the latent proclivities, then, as is fitting and as is suitable, one displays the various gateways of entry into which that person should be brought — namely, whether cultivating the impure, or again cultivating loving-kindness, or cultivating the various conditioned-natures of dependent origination, or cultivating the distinction of elements, or cultivating the mindfulness of breathing-in-and-out, one displays, as is fitting and as is suitable, the various gateways of entry to be entered. Having brought that person to enter, one teaches for him the middle-way practice that "is able to counteract the wrong grasping of the eternalist extreme," and teaches for him the middle-way practice that "is able to counteract the wrong grasping of the annihilationist extreme," and makes him relinquish the various forms of overweening pride — "supposing what is not done to be done, supposing what is not attained to be attained, supposing what is not touched to be touched, supposing what is not realized to be realized."

Thus these eight kinds of instruction of the bodhisattva, it should be known, are stated in brief as gathered under three headings. What are the three headings? First, in order to make the one whose mind has not yet come to rest attain rest, one makes him fix mindfulness upon the object without error; second, in order to make the one whose mind has already come to rest gain his own benefit-and-advantage, one proclaims for him the path of right means; third, in order to make the one who has not yet reached the end of what he does relinquish the hindrances lying in the middle. (That is: if, having known that person's mind, faculties, resolve, and latent proclivities, one displays as is fitting the various gateways of entry and makes him enter, it should be known that this is named "in order to make the one whose mind has not yet come to rest attain rest, making him fix mindfulness upon the object without error"; if one proclaims for him the middle-way practice able to counteract the wrong grasping of the two extremes of annihilation and eternity, it should be known that this is named "in order to make the one whose mind has already come to rest gain his own benefit-and-advantage, proclaiming for him the path of right means"; if one makes him relinquish the various forms of overweening pride, from supposing what is not done to be done down to supposing what is not realized to be realized, it should be known that this is named "in order to make the one who has not yet reached the end of what he does relinquish the hindrances lying in the middle.") Thus these three headings, it should be known, are able to gather the eight kinds of instruction.

Thus the bodhisattva, whether by receiving right instruction from another, or by bestowing error-free instruction upon another, is able to make the remaining "eight power-lineages" gradually attain purity and gradually attain increase — namely the lineage of the power of knowing meditative absorption, liberation, concentration, and attainment; the lineage of the power of knowing the superior and inferior faculties; the lineage of the power of knowing the various resolute convictions; the lineage of the power of knowing the various elements; the lineage of the power of knowing the paths leading everywhere; the lineage of the power of recollecting former abodes; the lineage of the power of knowing death and birth; and the lineage of the power of knowing the exhaustion of the outflows.

Six: Admonition

What is admonition? It should be known that admonition is, in brief, of five kinds: first, restraining the present activity of what is offensive; second, permitting the present activity of what is not offensive; third, if there is one who for a while transgresses among the dharmas of what is restrained and permitted, admonishing and instructing him according to the Dharma; fourth, if there is one who, among those dharmas, again and again slights and violates them, with a resolve free of defilement, free of alteration, and kindly, rebuking and expelling him according to the Dharma, and setting a reminder for him; fifth, if there is one who is able rightly to practice among the dharmas of what is restrained and permitted, lovingly praising his true virtues and making him glad. It should be known that these are named, in brief, the bodhisattva's five kinds of admonition — namely, restraining, permitting, admonishing-and-instructing, rebuking-and-expelling, and gladdening-and-consoling.

Seven: The Activities of Body, Speech, and Mind Gathered by Skillful Means (the Four Means of Gathering)

What are the bodhisattva's activities of body, speech, and mind gathered by skillful means? It should be known that, stated in brief, the four means of gathering that the bodhisattva has are just what is named skillful means. As the World-Honored One says: a bodhisattva accomplished in the skillful means gathered by the four means of gathering is only then named a bodhisattva. And why is it that only by the four means of gathering it is named skillful means? Because the bodhisattvas, in brief, by such four skillful means gathered by the means of gathering, are able universally to gather in, tame, and mature all sentient beings, and apart from these there is nothing further, whether beyond them or in addition. Which four skillful means? First, the skillful means of conformable gathering; second, the skillful means of being able to gather; third, the skillful means of making-enter; fourth, the skillful means of turning-in-accord.

If the bodhisattvas first practice giving, it should be known that this is named the skillful means of conformable gathering (why? because by first benefiting beings through gifts of various goods, it makes them listen to and receive what is taught, and practice in accord with the teaching). If the bodhisattvas next practice loving speech, so that toward the foolish in this or that place, in order to remove all the foolishness they have and leave none remaining, they make them take up and examine right reasoning — such loving speech, it should be known, is named the skillful means of being able to gather. If the bodhisattvas, knowing that those beings have already been gathered in and have already examined the right reasoning, next practice beneficial conduct, pulling those beings out of the unwholesome place, and toward the wholesome place guiding, taming, settling, and establishing them — such beneficial conduct, it should be known, is named the skillful means of making-enter. If the bodhisattvas, by such skillful means having made the various beings enter, at the last practice together with them in cultivating the right undertakings and make them turn-in-accord — by this cause-and-condition, they make the ones being converted not say, "you yourself lack perfect pure faith, perfect discipline, perfect generosity, perfect wisdom; on what ground do you presume, out of goodwill, to guide others, to admonish and instruct, to rebuke and expel, and to set a reminder for them" — therefore the fourth "shared undertaking" means of gathering practiced by the bodhisattva, it should be known, is named the skillful means of turning-in-accord. Thus the bodhisattva's four skillful means, the activities of body, speech, and mind gathered whether as a whole or severally, are named the three activities gathered by skillful means, and by them he is able rightly to gather in, tame, and mature all sentient beings.

Why, After the Chapter on Lineage, There Is Still a Chapter on "the Power-Lineage"

The Chapter on Lineage spoke of the "lineage that abides by intrinsic nature" — the uncontaminated seed you are born carrying, the seed naturally and originally there. But a seed, left untended, will not grow into a great tree of itself. How, then, is it to be cultivated? That is the Chapter on the Power-Lineage. The ancient masters point out the relation of the two chapters exceedingly clearly: "'Power' is the ten powers; the seed of the ten powers is named the power-lineage; the foregoing first Chapter on Lineage clarified in general the lineage-by-intrinsic-nature of every lineage, but did not yet clarify the acquired lineage of the ten powers; now, because it means to clarify the acquired lineage in particular, it says the Chapter on the Power-Lineage" 〔Dunlun〕, and Kuiji in a single stroke puts it more plainly still: "the former is the lineage-by-nature, the present is the acquired lineage". The Chapter on Lineage is the "seed-by-nature" (the inborn seed); the Chapter on the Power-Lineage is the "acquired lineage" (the seed cultivated by later effort); and the aim of the cultivation is to grow it into the "ten powers" — the seed of a buddha's ten kinds of knowledge-power. This chapter, then, is a bodhisattva's syllabus of cultivation.

The syllabus is opened by an uddāna into seven sections: being furnished with the many resolute convictions, seeking the true Dharma, teaching the true Dharma, cultivating the practice of the Dharma (practice in accord with the Dharma), right instruction, admonition, and the three activities gathered by skillful means 〔the treatise〕. From setting one's aspiration, to seeking learning, to teaching the Dharma, to actual cultivation, to teaching others, to gathering in the assembly — a complete road to becoming fully formed.

The First Step: Being Furnished with the Many Resolute Convictions — First, Set Faith Firmly

To cultivate the seed, one must first have concentrative power and confidence. The bodhisattva, with respect to the eight bases of resolute conviction, sets up "a decisive gladness that has pure faith as its forerunner": toward the merits of the Three Jewels, toward the power of the buddhas and bodhisattvas (clarified in the Chapter on Powers), toward the true meaning (clarified in the Chapter on the True Meaning), toward cause, toward fruit, toward "I shall certainly be able to attain unsurpassed awakening" (the meaning to be attained), toward "with this means one can attain it" (the means of attaining), and toward the good words and good teaching of the discourses and the verse-restatements 〔the treatise〕. All eight bases are faith — faith in the Dharma, faith in the Buddha's power, faith in the truth, faith in cause-and-fruit, faith that one can oneself accomplish it, faith that there is a road to walk, faith in the scriptural teaching. By the two causes-and-conditions of "much cultivating resolute conviction" and "amassing a fierce and keen forbearance," resolute conviction becomes many. (Over how these eight bases are to be counted the ancient masters once had a dispute: the Old Treatise did not mark the numbers, and so Dharma-master Yuan and others miscounted them; Xuanzang's new translation, however, marks the one, the two, plainly 〔Dunlun〕 — here only the dispute is recorded, not judged.)

The Second Step: Seeking the True Dharma — the Five Sciences, and the Ten Causes and Five Fruits of the Inner Science

Having set up faith, one goes to seek the Dharma. Seek what? The bodhisattva is to seek universally the whole bodhisattva canon, the śrāvaka canon, the outer treatises, and the treatises on the worldly crafts — gathered up, this is just the "five sciences": the Inner Science, the Science of Reasoning, the Science of Sound, the Science of Medicine, and the Science of the Crafts 〔the treatise〕. Only when all five are sought is it called diligently seeking all the sciences. (The ancient masters state the opening-and-combining of these five sciences: opening the Buddha's word into the two dharmas of the bodhisattva canon and the śrāvaka canon is the "Inner Science"; combining the Science of Reasoning, the Science of Sound, and the Science of Medicine as the "outer dharmas"; the Science of the Crafts standing alone as the fourth — of which the one gate of the Science of Reasoning "did not flourish until Dignāga, when all the outsiders came to hear and study it" 〔Dunlun〕.)

Among the five sciences, the deepest is the "Inner Science." The Inner Science shows two things: first, the "aspect of right cause-and-fruit"; second, the "aspect of what is done is not lost, what is not done is not gained." And the "aspect of right cause-and-fruit," unfolded, is just the doctrinal center of gravity of this chapter — the ten causes and the five fruits.

The Ten Causes: the Ten Strands of Cause That Explain Everything

What are the ten causes? The cause of speaking-in-accord, the cause of dependence-and-regard, the cause of drawing-in, the cause of taking-up, the cause of arising, the cause of drawing-forth, the cause of determining-differentiation, the cause of co-working, the cause of contrariety, and the cause of non-contrariety 〔the treatise〕. These ten causes are able to explain the arising of everything in the world, all defilement, and all purity. The treatise itself demonstrates it with the most homely "sowing of a crop": the name "barley" (the cause of speaking-in-accord), a person's going to seek and take it because of hunger and thirst (the cause of dependence-and-regard), the barley seed's being able to draw in the later barley (the cause of drawing-in), the aiding conditions of earth and rain (the cause of taking-up), the seed's giving rise to a sprout at the present moment (the cause of arising), the sprout, stem, and leaves in turn growing into the ripened crop (the cause of drawing-forth), a barley seed's producing barley and no other kind (the cause of determining-differentiation), all these causes coming together to form the one crop (the cause of co-working), frost and hail and disaster spoiling it (the cause of contrariety), the absence of disaster then favoring its growth (the cause of non-contrariety) 〔the treatise〕. The same set of ten causes the treatise then uses to explain the "defiled dependent origination" (conditioned by ignorance (avidyā), formations …) and the "pure nirvāṇa" (the applications of mindfulness, the right exertions … from the cessation of ignorance the cessation of formations) — one set of ten causes running through the three proceedings of world, defilement, and purity.

How do these ten causes match up with the "four conditions" we know? The ancient masters, collating the Cheng Weishi Lun's explanation against the Stage with Both Applied and Sustained Thought, gave a clean correspondence 〔Dunlun〕: "this cause-condition is gathered by the producing cause; the nature of the dominant condition is just the means cause; the middle two conditions (the immediately-antecedent condition and the object-condition) are gathered by the cause of taking-up." That is to say — the ten causes gather up into the two causes, the "producing cause" and the "means cause"; the producing cause is just the cause-condition among the four conditions, the means cause is just the dominant condition, and the remaining immediately-antecedent condition and object-condition belong to the cause of taking-up. The ancient masters further distinguish finely the difference between the cause of drawing-in and the cause of arising: the cause of drawing-in is common to both the cause-condition and the dominant condition and is the "basis of the latent-perfuming cause" (the phase of the seed not yet moistened), while the cause of arising is the cause-condition alone and is the "basis of the moistened-seed cause" (the phase of the seed already moistened) 〔Kuiji〕 — one a seed not yet moistened by craving-and-grasping, the other a seed already moistened and about to bring forth its fruit.

The Five Fruits, and the Ālaya Hidden within the Maturational Fruit

Where there is cause, there is fruit. The treatise sets up five fruits: the maturational fruit, the outflowing fruit, the fruit of freedom-from-bondage, the fruit of a person's exertion, and the dominant fruit 〔the treatise〕. The most worth probing is the first, the "maturational fruit" — the ancient masters lay bare its substance: "as for what is called maturational, it is the ālaya" 〔Dunlun〕. The substance of the maturational fruit is precisely the store consciousness (ālaya), together with the maturational seeds and the name-language seeds. The total recompense drawn on by all wholesome and unwholesome deeds is gathered into this ālaya, ever continuing, pervading all three realms. This whole doctrine of cause-and-fruit, the ten causes and five fruits, has consciousness-only for its underlying ground — the cause-and-fruit of the myriad phenomena is never apart from the drawing-in, arising, and drawing-forth of the ālaya's seeds.

When the bodhisattva has known this "aspect of right cause-and-fruit" (the ten causes and five fruits) as it truly is, and diligently cultivates it, he is able to make the seed of one kind of "knowledge-power" attain purity and increase — this is the first of a buddha's ten powers: the lineage of the power of knowing the possible and the impossible 〔the treatise〕. And when he has known the "aspect of what is done is not lost, what is not done is not gained" (that a deed once done is not lost though a hundred aeons pass, and what is not done is not gained) as it truly is, he makes the lineage of the second power — the power of knowing one's own deeds — attain purity and increase 〔the treatise〕.

The Sheer Force of Seeking to Hear the True Dharma

Seeking the Dharma is no cold, dispassionate scholarship. The treatise writes the bodhisattva's love-and-esteem in seeking the Dharma so as to move the reader: to hear a single sentence of well-taught Dharma, the bodhisattva, "even if he must journey by a road across a great hot iron ground where fierce flames blaze, and apart from this there is no other means whereby it may be heard," would even so tread the fire gladly and enter 〔the treatise〕; and taking all his love-and-esteem for his own life and for the requisites of food and drink and setting it against the love-and-esteem of seeking to hear the good Dharma, "it does not amount to a hundredth part … and down to an upaniṣad part (the utmost of the Western regions' numbers) it does not amount to one." His thirst for the Dharma is to exceed his cherishing of his own life. When hearing the Dharma he must further have a mind free of defilement (far from arrogance, contempt, and timidity) and a mind free of distraction (seeking to awaken and understand, single and one-directed, listening to the sound and lending an ear, cleansing and washing his mind, gathering the whole mind).

The Third through the Seventh Steps: Teaching, Cultivating, Teaching Others, Gathering the Assembly

Having gained the Dharma, one must teach it. The bodhisattva teaches the true Dharma by the fifteen aspects of "teaching by way of conformity" (abiding in a lawful deportment, setting out and explaining in the order of the letter, relying on the reasoning of the three means of valid cognition, according with the four noble truths …) and the five aspects of "teaching by way of purity" (abiding in a mind of loving-kindness toward the one who bears enmity, not praising self and disparaging others, teaching without craving benefit and honor), together the "twenty aspects of teaching the Dharma" 〔the treatise〕.

Having taught it, one must cultivate it oneself — this is "practice in accord with the Dharma": the error-free turning-in-accord of the activities of body, speech, and mind, together with the eight aspects of "right reflection" (relying on the meaning, not on the letter; knowing as it truly is the black teaching and the great teaching; at an exceedingly profound point deferring upward to the Tathāgata as "not my domain," and giving rise to no slander) and the four aspects of "right cultivation," namely calm abiding (calm), insight (insight), the joint cultivation of calm and insight, and delighting to cultivate calm and insight 〔the treatise〕. When calm increases one cultivates calm; when insight increases one cultivates insight; when they are even one cultivates both; when they are ripe and spontaneous it is named "delighting to cultivate" (in the words of the ancient master Jing).

A further step is teaching others — the "instruction," of eight kinds, gathered under three headings (making the one whose mind has not come to rest come to rest, making the one already at rest gain his own benefit, making the one not yet at the end relinquish the hindrances) 〔the treatise〕; and the "admonition," of five kinds: restraining what is offensive, permitting what is not offensive, admonishing-and-instructing the one who transgresses for a while, rebuking-and-expelling the one who repeatedly violates, and gladdening-and-consoling the one who is able to practice 〔the treatise〕. Last is "the three activities gathered by skillful means" — the four means of gathering: first gathering conformably by giving, being able to gather by loving speech, making-enter by beneficial conduct, and turning-in-accord by shared undertaking 〔the treatise〕; the Buddha says that "one accomplished in the four-means-of-gathering skillful means is only then named a bodhisattva," and only when one undertakes things together with beings, and has oneself perfectly done so, will the one being converted not turn and ask, "you yourself have not done it — on what ground do you exhort me?"

And these latter eight learning-points (from instruction to gathering the assembly), the treatise says, are precisely what makes the "remaining eight power-lineages" (the eight knowledge-power lineages of meditative-absorption-liberation-concentration-and-attainment, of the superior-and-inferior faculties, of resolute conviction, of the elements, of the paths leading everywhere, of the recollection of former abodes, of death-and-birth, and of the exhaustion of the outflows) attain purity and increase 〔the treatise〕.

The One Meaning This Chapter Illumines

Gather the whole chapter onto a single thread and it becomes clear: the Chapter on the Power-Lineage is a syllabus for "growing the seed-by-nature into the ten powers." The Inner Science's aspect of right cause-and-fruit (the ten causes and five fruits) cultivates into the lineage of the "power of knowing the possible and the impossible"; the aspect of what-is-done-is-not-lost-what-is-not-done-is-not-gained cultivates into the lineage of the "power of knowing one's own deeds"; the latter eight learning-points from instruction onward cultivate into the "remaining eight powers" — two plus eight, which is precisely a buddha's ten powers. The ancient masters lay this thread out plainly: Kuiji asks, "why does it here speak only of the eight powers, and not the two powers of knowing the possible-and-impossible and knowing one's own deeds?" and answers himself, "because, when the foregoing spoke of right cause-and-fruit and of what-is-done-is-not-lost, it had already accounted for these two powers, and so here it only supplies the latter eight", and Jing and Woncheuk hold the same 〔Dunlun〕.

So the Chapter on Lineage gives you an inborn seed (the seed-by-nature); the Chapter on the Power-Lineage teaches you how to water it (seeking the five sciences, understanding the ten causes and five fruits, cultivating calm and insight, teaching others and gathering the assembly), and grow it all the way into a buddha's ten kinds of knowledge-power (the acquired lineage). The lineage is the capital; the power-lineage is the work; without the work, the capital will not grow the ten powers.

Carrying Forward

The meaning of this chapter's power-lineage inherits from before and opens onto what follows: the power-lineage as "the acquired" answers to the Chapter on Lineage's (the frame of the seven abodes) "the lineage that abides by intrinsic nature," the seed-by-nature 〔Dunlun〕; the power and the true meaning among the eight bases of resolute conviction inherit from the Chapter on Powers (the fourth of the seven abodes) and the Chapter on the True Meaning (the third of the seven abodes); the four means of gathering are the skillful means by which the Chapter on Maturation (the fifth and sixth of the seven abodes) matures beings. The ālaya-maturation of the ten causes and five fruits, and the mutual gathering of the ten causes and four conditions, the ancient masters collate by the Cheng Weishi Lun's explanation and the Stage with Both Applied and Sustained Thought 〔Dunlun · Kuiji〕; the dominant activity of the twenty-two faculties of the five fruits is "to be known as in the Section on the Gathering of Events". The Section on Ascertainment separately sets up a Chapter Ascertaining the Power-Lineage, which does not re-ascertain the seven sections, but separately ascertains the six aspects of the Tathāgata's merits, that the gods are not a refuge, that events such as color and the like designated as concepts are but nominally existent, and the gathering-in of right much-hearing, inheriting the one vein of the Three Jewels' power and the true meaning among the eight bases of resolute conviction. What comes next is the Chapter on Giving (the ninth) — the power-lineage being now clarified, one enters upon the first of the six perfections, "giving."