瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 慧品

The chapter's closing passage is the concluding gathering-together of the six perfections — giving, discipline, patience, vigor, meditative absorption, and wisdom — and lies outside the nine aspects of the Chapter on Wisdom; it is included here together with them.

In one line: Wisdom is not the thinking-through of a single matter; it is the total change in the way one sees all things after non-conceptual knowledge has broken through the grasping at discrimination — wisdom as to intrinsic nature = non-conceptual knowledge (entering into the object of knowledge) + subsequently-attained knowledge (discerning and sorting out the various dharmas, with Dunlun's qualification: what is sorted out is the perfectly-accomplished nature, not the other-dependent nature); and the closing passage records Xuanzang's own examination of the case of the mistranslated "Thus have I heard" in the Bodhisattva-Śīla Sūtra, determining that the teaching of the six perfections issues from Maitreya's composition, not from any single scripture.

Three points of the eye:

1. Wisdom as to intrinsic nature = the twofold division of non-conceptual / subsequently-attained knowledge (the eye): "it is the wisdom that is able to enter into every object of knowledge and that, having already entered into every object of knowledge, discerns and sorts out the various dharmas, ranging over all five domains of learning" 〔0528b26-29〕; Kuiji and Dunlun explain in common: entering into every object of knowledge = non-conceptual knowledge; having already entered, discerning and sorting out the various dharmas = subsequently-attained knowledge 〔T43n1829 0149a20-22 · T42n1828 0544b15-22〕; Dunlun's own qualification: what is sorted out is the perfectly-accomplished nature, not the other-dependent nature.

2. The sequence of three layers of wisdom: the truly real → skillful means → benefiting others (the eye): the whole of wisdom is of three kinds — the wisdom able to realize-and-penetrate what is truly real among objects of knowledge (realizing truth) → the wisdom decisively skilled in the five domains and the three sets (worldly knowledge and judgment) → the wisdom able to accomplish the welfare and benefit of all sentient beings (the eleven kinds that benefit sentient beings) — the perfection of wisdom must travel the whole way down to the third layer to be complete, and does not halt at realization.

3. The closing passage: Xuanzang's examination of the Bodhisattva-Śīla Sūtra (the eye): "I examined the Bodhisattva-Śīla Sūtra, and at its opening there was about three leaves of scripture with 'Thus have I heard' … I suspect the first three leaves were, by a translator who did not understand the local turns of speech, rendered as a scripture; in reality it is simply Maitreya's composition" 〔T42n1828 0545c26-0546a01, Xuanzang's own editorial note, preserved by Dunlun〕 — the teaching of the six perfections = Maitreya's composition of a treatise, gathering into it what was scattered here and there through the scriptures, not something issuing directly from any single scripture spoken by the Buddha; the three Chinese translations in common use the closing similes "the vast deep of pure dharmas / the great sea of pure dharmas / the great jewel-spring-pool," showing that this passage belongs to the common base text.

Appended pointers:

• The nine aspects of wisdom correspond to the nine aspects of the five chapters — giving, discipline, patience, vigor, and meditative absorption — and with this the common nine-aspect formula completes its run through all six perfections; the wisdom that benefits sentient beings and the wisdom decisively skilled in the five domains and three sets follow the framework of the Chapter on the Lineage of Power, and the four kinds of sentient beings to be tamed in the wisdom that brings ease in this world and the next follow the framework of the Chapter on Discipline — the Chapter on Wisdom is the chapter of densest cross-chapter reference in the Basic Section.
• The tenth heading of the Section on Ascertainment, in ascertaining the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening, concludes with the five purities of the perfection of wisdom (penetrating the characteristics / penetrating dependent origination / penetrating instruction / penetrating the exercise of capacity / penetrating realization); with this, the re-ascertainment of the five perfections in the Section on Ascertainment is entirely finished — see the Apparatus, Heading II.
• Alternate translations: Dharmakṣema's Chapter on Wisdom, the fourteenth (its nine-aspect format close to Xuanzang's) · Guṇavarman's Chapter on Wisdom, the fifteenth (setting up no opening nine aspects, reckoning "ten wisdoms" of its own, the same format-feature as the "ten patiences" of his Chapter on Patience) — see the Apparatus, Heading II.
• Next comes the Chapter on the Means of Gathering (the fifteenth) — the six perfections now complete, the text passes on to the four means of gathering.

Overall Heading: The Nine Aspects of Wisdom

What is the bodhisattva's perfection of wisdom (prajñā-pāramitā)? A summary verse (uddāna) says: intrinsic nature, the whole, the difficult, every gateway, the good person, every kind, fulfilling requests, ease in this world and the next, and purity — these nine aspects are, stated briefly, "wisdom." That is to say, wisdom under these nine aspects, taken together, is the bodhisattva's perfection of wisdom: (1) wisdom as to intrinsic nature; (2) the whole of wisdom; (3) the wisdom that is hard to practice; (4) wisdom in every gateway; (5) the wisdom of the good person; (6) wisdom in every kind; (7) the wisdom that fulfills requests; (8) the wisdom that brings ease in this world and the next; and (9) pure wisdom.

One · Wisdom as to Intrinsic Nature

What is the bodhisattva's wisdom as to intrinsic nature? It is the wisdom that is able to enter into every object of knowledge, and that, having already entered into every object of knowledge, discerns and sorts out the various dharmas, ranging over all five domains of learning — (1) the domain of inner learning, (2) the domain of the science of reasoning, (3) the domain of medicine, (4) the domain of grammar, and (5) the domain of the crafts. This, one should know, is the intrinsic nature of the whole of the bodhisattva's wisdom.

Two · The Whole of Wisdom

What is the bodhisattva's whole of wisdom? It should be known that this wisdom is, in brief, of two kinds: (1) worldly wisdom and (2) world-transcending wisdom. These two, stated briefly, are again of three kinds: (1) the wisdom able to realize-and-penetrate what is truly real among objects of knowledge; (2) the wisdom that is decisively skilled in the five domains of learning as stated and in the three sets; and (3) the wisdom able to accomplish the welfare and benefit of all sentient beings.

If a bodhisattva, with regard to the selfless nature of the dharma that is beyond words, at the time of being about to awaken to the truth, or in the very moment of awakening to the truth, or after having awakened to the truth, possesses that excellent wisdom — most surpassing and most still, clear and manifest before him, without discrimination, far removed from every kind of idle proliferation; entering into the sameness-nature of all dharmas, realizing the great encompassing mark; penetrating to the very limit of every object of knowledge, far removed from the two extremes of over-affirmation and under-denial, and conforming to the middle way — this, one should know, is the bodhisattva's wisdom able to realize-and-penetrate what is truly real among objects of knowledge.

If a bodhisattva is decisively skilled in the five domains of learning — as set out in full in the earlier Chapter on the Lineage of Power, whose marks should be known accordingly — and is likewise, with regard to the three sets (the set of dharmas able to draw forth welfare and benefit; the set of dharmas able to draw forth what is not welfare and benefit; and the set of dharmas able to draw forth what is neither welfare-and-benefit nor not-welfare-and-benefit), decisively skilled, able to know them all as they really are: through the excellent wisdom possessed with regard to these eight matters, skillfully upheld, he is able swiftly to fulfill the vast, unsurpassed provision of marvelous knowledge, and swiftly to realize unsurpassed perfect awakening.

The wisdom able to accomplish the welfare and benefit of all sentient beings is of eleven kinds, as stated before; the excellent wisdom possessed at that very station should be known to be the wisdom that benefits sentient beings.

Three · The Wisdom That Is Hard to Practice

What is the bodhisattva's wisdom that is hard to practice? It should be known that this wisdom is, in brief, of three kinds. If a bodhisattva is able to know the knowledge of the profound selflessness of dharmas — this is the first wisdom hard to practice. If a bodhisattva is able to know the knowledge of the means for taming sentient beings — this is the second wisdom hard to practice. If a bodhisattva knows the knowledge that is unobstructed with regard to every object of knowledge — this is the third, and the most hard to practice, wisdom.

Four · Wisdom in Every Gateway

What is the bodhisattva's wisdom in every gateway? It should be known that this wisdom is, in brief, of four kinds. It is: with regard to the Śrāvaka Basket and the Bodhisattva Basket, the excellent wisdom that arises from hearing and the wisdom that arises from reflection possessed therein; the wisdom subsumed under the power of discernment, exercised amid what the bodhisattva ought to do and ought to set turning, and amid what the bodhisattva ought not to do and ought to cease from; and the immeasurable wisdom subsumed under the power of cultivation, belonging to the Stage of Meditative Equipoise.

Five · The Wisdom of the Good Person

What is the bodhisattva's wisdom of the good person? It should be known that this wisdom is, in brief, of five kinds: (1) the wisdom gathered together from hearing the true Dharma; (2) the wisdom conjoined with inward, correct attention; (3) the wisdom conjoined with the means of conduct that benefits self and others; (4) the wisdom well decided, without error, as to the abiding of the dharmas in the dharma and their unerring establishment; and (5) the wisdom that relinquishes the afflictions.

There is also another way of putting it (an alternate account): (1) subtle wisdom, able to enter into the "just-as-it-is nature" of the object of knowledge; (2) all-round wisdom, able to enter into the "as-far-as-it-extends nature" of the object of knowledge; (3) innate wisdom, gathered together from the provision of wisdom of former lives; (4) the wisdom furnished with teaching, able fully to receive and uphold the dharma-meanings heard from the buddhas and from the host of bodhisattvas already entered upon the great grounds; and (5) the wisdom furnished with realization, subsumed from the Stage of Pure Resolve up to the Ultimate Stage.

Six · Wisdom in Every Kind

What is the bodhisattva's wisdom in every kind? It should be known that this wisdom is of six kinds and of seven kinds, thirteen kinds in all.

The six kinds of wisdom: they are, with regard to the truths, the knowledge of suffering, the knowledge of its origin, the knowledge of its cessation, and the knowledge of the path, together with the knowledge of exhaustion and the knowledge of non-arising that belong to the ultimate station — these are the six wisdoms.

The seven kinds of wisdom: they are the knowledge of the dharma, inferential knowledge, conventional knowledge, the knowledge of supernormal power, the knowledge of characteristics, the knowledge preliminary to the ten powers, and the knowledge of right principle among the four principles.

Seven · The Wisdom That Fulfills Requests

What is the bodhisattva's wisdom that fulfills requests? It should be known that this wisdom is, in brief, of eight kinds: (1) the knowledge that relies on the divisions of the dharma — that is, the bodhisattva's unobstructed wisdom as to dharma; (2) the knowledge that relies on the marks of the dharma — that is, the bodhisattva's unobstructed wisdom as to meaning; (3) the knowledge that relies on the etymological explanation of the dharma — that is, the bodhisattva's unobstructed wisdom as to etymological explanation; (4) the knowledge that relies on the distinctions among the classes and phrasings of the dharma — that is, the bodhisattva's unobstructed wisdom of eloquence; (5) the bodhisattva's wisdom that overwhelms all rival theories; (6) the bodhisattva's wisdom that establishes all his own theses; (7) the bodhisattva's wisdom that rightly instructs and manages, in every way, household and possessions; and (8) the bodhisattva's wisdom that well understands, in every way, the various rightful affairs of the world under a king.

Eight · The Wisdom That Brings Ease in This World and the Next

What is the bodhisattva's wisdom that brings ease in this world and the next? It should be known that this wisdom is, in brief, of nine kinds. It is: the wisdom whereby bodhisattvas, with regard to the domain of inner learning, are skillfully lucid and skillfully settled; and the wisdom whereby, with regard to the domain of medicine, the domain of the science of reasoning, the domain of grammar, and the domain of the worldly crafts, they are skillfully lucid but not settled therein. All bodhisattvas, taking as their support this wisdom that is skillfully lucid in the five domains of learning, teach in accord with the capacity of the several kinds of sentient beings to be tamed — the deluded, the negligent, the timid, and those diligently cultivating right conduct — in due sequence, by the wisdom of displaying, instructing, spurring, and gladdening.

Nine · Pure Wisdom

What is the bodhisattva's pure wisdom? It should be known that this wisdom is, in brief, of ten kinds.

With regard to the meaning of what is truly real there are two kinds of wisdom — that is, because one obtains what is truly real by way of the "as-far-as-it-extends nature" and the "just-as-it-is nature." With regard to the meaning of the flow of birth-and-death there are two kinds of wisdom — that is, because one obtains right cause and effect. With regard to the meaning of appropriation there are two kinds of wisdom — that is, because one knows, as they really are, the mistaken and the unmistaken. With regard to the meaning of skillful means there are two kinds of wisdom — that is, because one knows, as they really are, all that ought and ought not to be done. With regard to the meaning of the ultimate there are two kinds of wisdom — that is, because as to defilement one knows defilement as it really is, and as to purity one knows purity as it really is.

Thus, the bodhisattva, possessing with regard to these five meanings the pure wisdom in its two distinct kinds each, should be known to have therein the most surpassing pure wisdom.

Thus the bodhisattva's utterly well-decided, immeasurable, excellent wisdom is able to realize the great fruit of awakening of the bodhisattva. Relying on this, the bodhisattva is able to fulfill the perfection of wisdom, and swiftly to realize unsurpassed perfect awakening.

Conclusion: The Six Perfections Gathered Together

Furthermore, these six perfections the World-Honored One has, in the various scriptures, expounded distinctly here and there; now, gathered here into one place and stated in brief, they should be known. That is to say: in the various scriptures the Buddha has spoken, whatever is the perfection of giving, on up to the perfection of wisdom — whether stated in outline or explained in full — can all be assigned to this place: assigned either to giving as to intrinsic nature, on up to giving as to purity, entering and being subsumed in accord with what is fitting, all of which should be known; and the rest — the entering-and-being-subsumed of discipline on up to wisdom, as expounded — should likewise be known, each in accord with what is fitting.

Furthermore, when the tathāgatas, at the causal stage, practiced the bodhisattva path, then, among all the bodhisattva practices they carried out, all the difficult and painful practices corresponding to the immeasurable birth-stories (jātaka) should be known, one and all, to correspond to giving and to rest upon giving; and as with giving, so discipline, patience, vigor, meditative absorption, and wisdom each correspond to and rest upon discipline, patience, vigor, meditative absorption, and wisdom — this too should be known: whether resting upon giving alone, on up to resting upon wisdom alone, or resting jointly upon two, or upon three, or upon four, or upon five, or jointly upon all six perfections — all of this should be known.

These six perfections the bodhisattva, in order to realize the fruit of unsurpassed perfect awakening, diligently cultivates and gathers. This is the vast deep of pure dharmas, named the great sea of pure dharmas; it is the cause whereby all sentient beings, of every kind, may be fulfilled, named the great jewel-spring-pool that wells forth giving. Furthermore, the immeasurable provision of merit and knowledge thus gathered has no other fruit that can match it; unsurpassed perfect awakening alone can match it.

The Last Step of the Six Perfections — and the Step That Turns to See the First Five

Giving, keeping the precepts, patience, vigor, meditative absorption — the whole road down to here, and of the six perfections only the last remains: wisdom. But what is special about the Chapter on Wisdom lies not only in what it says of itself; it lies still more in that long passage of retrospective summation at its close — which gathers the first five perfections back together and makes plain just what these six perfections are, and where they came from. So this chapter is to be read in two layers: first, the nine aspects of wisdom itself; then that concluding passage that draws all six perfections to a close.

Wisdom as to Intrinsic Nature: Non-Conceptual Knowledge and Subsequently-Attained Knowledge — One Body, Two Faces of Seeing

The treatise defines wisdom as to intrinsic nature: "it is the wisdom that is able to enter into every object of knowledge and that, having already entered into every object of knowledge, discerns and sorts out the various dharmas, ranging over all five domains of learning" 〔this treatise〕. Kuiji and Dunlun both read this line by taking it apart into two halves: "entering into every object of knowledge" is non-conceptual knowledge — the knowledge that, at the first realization of suchness, directly beholds without any discrimination of grasper and grasped; "having already entered into every object of knowledge, discerning and sorting out the various dharmas" is subsequently-attained knowledge — the knowledge that comes into use after realization and is able to distinguish the differing marks of the myriad dharmas. Taking these two knowledges together is precisely the innermost structure of the perfection of wisdom: first there is one thorough beholding that carries no discriminating mind whatsoever (non-conceptual knowledge), and only after this beholding is there born the ability to distinguish finely the differences among all things (subsequently-attained knowledge). It is not the "thinking-through of a single matter"; it is that "the way one sees all matters is totally changed" — only when the grasping at discrimination has been broken through can one truly see the marks of discrimination clearly.

Dunlun leaves here one further, extremely precise, qualification that Kuiji did not see: what subsequently-attained knowledge sorts out points specifically to the perfectly-accomplished nature, not the other-dependent nature. The weight of this line lies in its locking the matter of "discerning and sorting out the various dharmas" into a very precise range — it is not the loose distinguishing of the surface marks of the conditioned, provisional confluence of things (the other-dependent nature); it is the seeing-clearly of that truly-real essential nature, perfectly accomplished beneath the conditioned, provisional confluence (the perfectly-accomplished nature). Wisdom looks not at the tangled differences of phenomena themselves, but at the true and unfailing nature behind the differences.

The Whole of Wisdom: From the Truly Real, to Skillful Means, to Benefiting Others — the Sequence of Three Layers of Wisdom

The whole of wisdom is of three kinds. The first: the wisdom able to realize-and-penetrate what is truly real among objects of knowledge — with regard to the selfless nature of the dharma beyond words, most utterly still and far from idle proliferation, "entering into the sameness-nature, realizing the great encompassing mark … far removed from the two extremes of over-affirmation and under-denial, conforming to the middle way." This is the most fundamental wisdom, the direct realization of truth itself. The second: the wisdom decisively skilled in the five domains of learning and the three sets — bringing this fundamental realization down into skill amid the five concrete fields of knowledge, inner learning, the science of reasoning, medicine, grammar, and the crafts; and adding to it the true-to-reality judgment as to the three classes of things ("able to draw forth welfare and benefit," "able to draw forth what is not welfare and benefit," "neither drawing forth welfare-and-benefit nor not"). The third: the wisdom able to accomplish the welfare and benefit of all sentient beings — that is, the eleven kinds of wisdom that benefit sentient beings (as stated before) — bringing the power of skillful judgment, at the last, down into concrete action that benefits living beings.

Taking the three layers of wisdom together, they are a clear descending path: from the most abstract "seeing the truth," to the middle level of "understanding the world's various concrete knowledges and their judgment," to the final "putting all of this to use in helping sentient beings." If the perfection of wisdom halts only at the realization of the first layer, it is not yet complete — it must travel the whole way down to the third layer before it truly becomes a "perfection."

The Wisdom Hard to Practice, Wisdom in Every Gateway, the Wisdom of the Good Person: the Breadth and the Detail of Wisdom

The wisdom hard to practice is of three kinds — the knowledge of the profound selflessness of dharmas; the knowledge of the means for taming sentient beings; the knowledge unobstructed with regard to every object of knowledge — the three running from shallow to deep: first understanding the most fundamental truth of selflessness, then understanding how to respond to differing sentient beings with differing means, and at last being unobstructed with regard to every object whatsoever. Wisdom in every gateway is of four kinds, dividing the sources of wisdom into the wisdom born of hearing, the wisdom born of reflection, and the wisdom subsumed under the power of discernment and the power of cultivation — knowledge may come from hearing, from reflecting, from careful discernment, and it may also arise directly out of the meditative power of actual practice.

The wisdom of the good person is of five kinds — the wisdom gathered from hearing the true Dharma; conjoined with inward correct attention; conjoined with the means of conduct benefiting self and others; well decided without error as to the dharmas; and the wisdom that relinquishes the afflictions — and the treatise adds a further "alternate account" of five: subtle wisdom (entering the just-as-it-is nature), all-round wisdom (entering the as-far-as-it-extends nature), innate wisdom (gathered from the provision of wisdom of former lives), the wisdom furnished with teaching (receiving-and-upholding the dharma-meanings heard from the buddhas and bodhisattvas), and the wisdom furnished with realization (subsumed from the Stage of Pure Resolve to the Ultimate Stage). To give two parallel classifications of one and the same matter is itself a way of writing that lets out a message: the fostering of wisdom needs both the depth of "realizing" (the just-as-it-is nature, the as-far-as-it-extends nature) and the thickness of "accumulating" (hearing the Dharma, the provision of former lives, the ground-by-ground realization) — the two classifications are two facets of one matter, not competitors that replace each other.

Wisdom in Every Kind, the Wisdom That Fulfills Requests, the Wisdom That Brings Ease in This World and the Next: the Range of Wisdom's Operation

Wisdom in every kind has thirteen aspects (six kinds plus seven kinds): the six kinds focus on the knowledges of the four truths and the ultimate station (the four knowledges of suffering, origin, cessation, and path, plus the knowledge of exhaustion and the knowledge of non-arising), while the seven kinds reach to a broader set of knowledge-classes (the knowledge of the dharma, inferential knowledge, conventional knowledge, the knowledge of supernormal power, the knowledge of characteristics, the knowledge preliminary to the ten powers, and the knowledge of right principle among the four principles) — this list gathers the various classifications of "knowledge" in the Buddhist tradition into the framework of the perfection of wisdom. The wisdom that fulfills requests is of eight kinds — unobstructed wisdom as to dharma, as to meaning, as to etymological explanation, the unobstructed wisdom of eloquence, plus overwhelming rival theories, establishing one's own theses, being versed in household affairs and worldly business, and well understanding a king's affairs — and reading it, one finds that the perfection of wisdom extends even to abilities that look "worldly," such as managing a household or being versed in governmental affairs. This reminds the reader: the bodhisattva's wisdom does not merely realize truth deep in the mountains; it must also have the ability to come into play amid the world's various concrete affairs, if it is truly to "fulfill" the "requests" of sentient beings.

The wisdom that brings ease in this world and the next is of nine kinds, telling how the bodhisattva employs the skill of the five domains of learning to respond to sentient beings of differing capacity — displaying to the deluded, instructing the negligent, spurring the timid, gladdening those diligently cultivating right conduct. Dunlun points out that these four kinds of sentient beings to be tamed are exactly the teaching framework already set up in the Chapter on Discipline (the good person without virtue / the good person with virtue / the faulty who are soft / the faulty who are hard) — the Chapter on Wisdom here is not fashioning a new classification out of nothing; it is taking the framework already set up in the Chapter on Discipline and re-lodging it within the vein of "wisdom." This echoes the consistent way of writing whereby the Chapter on Patience cross-refers with the Chapter on the Lineage of Power over the patience of resolute conviction in the dharma, and the Chapter on Wisdom cross-refers here with the Chapter on Discipline: the common nine-aspect formula of the six perfections is not a merely formal resemblance — the treatise itself keeps re-using, across chapters, the frameworks it has already set up.

Pure Wisdom: Five Meanings Each in Two, Gathered under "Knowing as It Really Is"

Pure wisdom has ten aspects, paired two by two into five meanings: the meaning of the truly real (the as-far-as-it-extends nature + the just-as-it-is nature), the meaning of the flow of birth-and-death (right cause + right effect), the meaning of appropriation (the mistaken + the unmistaken, known as they really are), the meaning of skillful means (what ought and ought not to be done, known as it really is), and the meaning of the ultimate (defilement + purity, each known as it really is). Reading down the five meanings and ten aspects, one finds the single key phrase running through them all: "knowing as it really is." The purity of pure wisdom lies not in knowing much, but in knowing "as it really is" — neither adding nor subtracting, not mistaken, not self-deceiving.

The Six Perfections Gathered Together: All of This Was, Originally, Maitreya's Teaching Scattered Everywhere

Having finished expounding its own nine aspects, the Chapter on Wisdom turns to an extremely special close — turning back to sum up all six perfections, giving, discipline, patience, vigor, meditative absorption, and wisdom. The treatise says: these six perfections the World-Honored One originally expounded distinctly here and there in the various scriptures; only now are they gathered into one place and stated in brief. It says, too, that all the immeasurable difficult and painful practices of the birth-stories, carried out when the Tathāgata practiced the bodhisattva path at the causal stage, correspond severally to the six perfections — resting upon one perfection alone, or jointly upon two, on up to all six, all of which should be known. It closes at last with three similes: the wholesome dharmas gathered by the six perfections "are the vast deep of pure dharmas, named the great sea of pure dharmas"; the six perfections, as the cause whereby all sentient beings are fulfilled, are "named the great jewel-spring-pool that wells forth giving."

This closing passage looks like a mere summary, yet hidden within it is a piece of first-hand documentary evidence exceedingly rare in the Basic Section — an editorial note left by the Tripiṭaka-master Xuanzang in his own hand, preserved in Dunlun's Notes:

「勘善戒經，初有如是我聞三紙許經……疑初三紙翻譯之人不解方音翻為經也，其實但是彌勒所造。」

Xuanzang himself examined the Bodhisattva-Śīla Sūtra (菩薩善戒經) translated by Guṇavarman, and found that this version, at the opening of the corresponding passage, carried some three leaves' worth of the typical scriptural opening format, "Thus have I heard." Xuanzang's judgment was: this is very likely a case in which the translator, unfamiliar with the local turns of speech, mistakenly rendered the words of a treatise into the opening format of a scripture — this teaching of the six perfections is in fact Maitreya's composition (a treatise), not something issuing directly from any single scripture spoken by the Buddha. That line at the head of the treatise passage, "in the various scriptures the World-Honored One expounded them distinctly here and there; now they are gathered here into one place," is speaking precisely of this: the content of the six perfections is indeed found scattered through the various scriptures the Buddha spoke, but the one who systematically gathered them into this whole framework of giving-discipline-patience-vigor-meditative-absorption-wisdom, and unfolded them one by one into the common nine-aspect formula, was Maitreya, by his work of arranging and composing the treatise.

The value of this note lies not in adjudicating which translation renders better; it lies in letting the reader see that the whole First Section of the Yoga of the Bodhisattva Stage — the nine chapters and six perfections running from the Chapter on the Lineage all the way down to here — has for the content of its teaching the source of the scriptures spoken by the Buddha, but that the organizing of it into the precise system now before us, one that can be studied chapter by chapter and aspect by aspect, is the achievement of Maitreya's composition. This is precisely why this "nine-aspect" framework can run so evenly through the six perfections and be preserved in common by three Chinese translations — it was, from the start, a carefully designed treatise-framework, not a random patchwork of scattered scriptural passages.

The One Meaning This Chapter Illumines

The nine aspects of the Chapter on Wisdom look as though they expound "the various facets of wisdom," but from first to last they teach one thing only: wisdom is not the thinking-through of some single matter; it is the total change in the way one sees all things after non-conceptual knowledge has broken through grasping — a change that must fall both upon the deepest realization of truth and upon the concrete skill and other-benefiting action of the world. And that documentary note of Xuanzang's at the chapter's close makes plain the nature of the whole teaching of the six perfections: this is not the classroom notes of some single discourse of the Buddha's; it is Maitreya's achievement in composing a treatise, gathering the various scattered sayings the Buddha spoke into one complete system. The common nine-aspect formula of giving-discipline-patience-vigor-meditative-absorption-wisdom that the reader meets today is precisely the precise structure this arranging left behind, one that can be read chapter against chapter.

Carrying Forward

Wisdom comes on from the Chapter on Meditative Absorption; the nine aspects are still the common formula of the six perfections, and here the nine-aspect formula completes its run through all six. The eleven kinds of wisdom that benefit sentient beings and the wisdom decisively skilled in the five domains and the three sets follow the framework of the Chapter on the Lineage of Power; the four kinds of sentient beings to be tamed in the wisdom that brings ease in this world and the next follow the framework of the Chapter on Discipline — the Chapter on Wisdom is the chapter of densest cross-chapter reference in the whole Basic Section, and it bears out that the common nine-aspect formula is no surface form, but a system the treatise itself repeatedly confirms and that mutually supports itself. The tenth heading of the Section on Ascertainment, in ascertaining the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening, concludes with the five purities of the perfection of wisdom; with this, the re-ascertainment of the five perfections of discipline, patience, vigor, meditative absorption, and wisdom in the Section on Ascertainment is entirely finished. The concluding passage of the Chapter on Wisdom — the gathering-together of the six perfections plus Xuanzang's examination of the Bodhisattva-Śīla Sūtra — is, in the whole nine-chapter set of giving-discipline-patience-vigor-meditative-absorption-wisdom, the single place that directly touches the documentary provenance of "where this teaching came from"; one who has read the nine chapters must not pass it over. Next comes the Chapter on the Means of Gathering (the fifteenth) — the six perfections of the First Section's Yoga now complete, the text passes on to the teaching of benefiting sentient beings by the four means of gathering.