瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 供養親近無量品

In one line: Following the uddāna "offer to the three jewels, attend upon good friends, cultivate the immeasurables," the chapter opens into three sub-chapters — of the ten kinds of offering, offering by right conduct is the highest (the nine offerings of goods do not reach the labor of a single milking of a cow spent in cultivation according to principle); attending upon good friends turns on the listening-mind of "rely on the meaning, not on the words" and "never see a fault in the master who expounds the Dharma"; and of the four immeasurables, the without-object (whose substance is non-conceptual knowledge) is the deepest, the hundred-and-ten sufferings nourish great compassion, and it all comes to rest in "bodhisattva-awakening is established by compassion."

Three points of the eye:

1. The ten kinds of offering · offering by right conduct is first (eye): relics / caitya / in-presence / not-in-presence / self-done / done-by-another / goods-and-reverence / the seven vast kinds / the six undefiled kinds / by right conduct 〔0533b10–0534c05〕; offering to the relics "intends the offering to the true Buddha's dharma-body" (Kuiji: "kāya is the body, śarīra is the substance" 〔T43n1829 0150c18–c20〕); offering not-in-presence rests on "if the dharma-nature of one Tathāgata, then it is the dharma-nature of all Tathāgatas of the past, future, and present" 〔0533b21〕 (Dunlun: "the principle of suchness is the same, the dharma-body one in substance" 〔T42n1828 0549b03–b05〕); one without wealth rejoices in all the offerings of the ten directions, "using very little effort of merit, yet arousing a boundless, vast offering" 〔0534b22〕; offering by right conduct (loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity + the three notions + recollection + "believing-and-understanding the suchness of the dharma-nature apart from words, giving rise to a non-conceptual, markless mental abiding" + discipline together with tranquillity and insight) surpasses the offering of goods and reverence a hundred-thousandfold, on up to an upaniṣad of times 〔0534b25–c08〕; Woncheuk matches it to the four paths — provisions / means / seeing / cultivation, "from 'the dharma-nature apart from words' onward, it clarifies the path of seeing" 〔T42n1828 0550a22–a24〕.
2. The good friend's eight limbs · the five notions and five non-divergent-intents in listening (eye): the eight limbs (abiding in the precepts / learned / possessed of realization / pitying / fearless / forbearing / untiring / good in diction 〔0534c28〕); in listening one forms the notion of a jewel / of an eye / of light / of a great fruit and surpassing merit / of a blameless great delight 〔0535b12〕; toward five bases one forms no divergent intent (breach of precepts / of birth / of countenance / of diction / of speech 〔0535b21〕) — "he relies only on the meaning; he should not rely on the words" 〔0535b28〕, "toward the master who expounds the Dharma he never sees a fault" 〔0535c04〕, and disdain for the Dharma-master "loses the surpassing wisdom" 〔0535c06〕; instructing-and-admonishing-warning refers back to the Chapter on the Lineage of Power 〔0535b03〕, the full elaboration refers back to the Śrāvaka Stage 〔0535b02〕.
3. The four immeasurables' three depths · the hundred-and-ten sufferings · great compassion (eye · Consciousness-Only meaning): with sentient beings as object (shared with the followers of other paths) / with dharmas as object ("rightly contemplating that there are only dharmas, with 'sentient being' fictively designated" 〔0535c14〕 · shared with the two vehicles) / without object (not shared with any) 〔0535c25–c27〕; the immeasurable without object takes suchness as object by non-conceptual knowledge (Kuiji 〔T43n1829 0151b04–b10〕 · Dunlun's record of Kuiji "it takes its name from the fruit" 〔T42n1828 0551a02〕 · Master Jing cites the Nirvāṇa "taking as object the Tathāgata's objectless dharma-body" 〔0550c11–c13〕); the hundred-and-ten sufferings = fifty-five by the ascending-enumeration gate + fifty-five by the nine-suffering gate 〔0536a03–c21〕, Dunlun "the former fifty-five contemplate the suffering of sentient beings, the later fifty-five contemplate one's own suffering" 〔T42n1828 0551b23–b24〕; nineteen sufferings arouse great compassion 〔0536c24〕, great compassion by four conditions (exceedingly deep / long time / fierce and keen / utterly pure 〔0537a07〕, Kuiji "only in the buddha-ground and the tenth stage" 〔T43n1829 0152a05〕); "bodhisattva-awakening is established by compassion" 〔0537a29〕; the four kinds of meritorious excellence 〔0537b04〕.

Appended pointers:

• Inheriting from the Chapter on the Means-of-Gathering (0533a21→0533b06, the chapters adjoin in sequence); Dunlun judges the last two chapters of the First Section — "the first, the chapter on offering, clarifies overall the practice of building-and-cultivating that benefits self and others according to conditions; the later chapter on the factors of awakening clarifies the practice of inner realization" 〔T42n1828 0548c25–c27〕 — opening onto the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening (from 0537b09).
• "the suchness of the dharma-nature apart from words" 〔0534c01〕 inherits the "intrinsic nature apart from words" vein of the Chapter on the True Meaning (15-01-04).
• The Section on Ascertainment does not ascertain this chapter; Dunlun states plainly, "it ascertains only sixteen chapters, and does not ascertain the four means-of-gathering chapter [and] the chapter on offerings, attending good friends, and the immeasurables, because their text and meaning are self-evident" 〔T42n1828 0739c13–15〕 (see Heading II of the Apparatus).
• Alternate translations: Dharmakṣema's Chapter on Offering, Attending, and the Immeasurables, the sixteenth (all three sub-chapters present, order the same · "superior resolve" rendered "pure mind" · the count of compassion-sufferings marked eighteen but listed nineteen) · Guṇavarman's Chapter on Offering to the Three Jewels, the seventeenth (the good-friend sub-chapter rewritten as observing the preceptor for receiving the precepts · the without-object great compassion judged as possessed by the Tathāgata alone of the three); see Heading II of the Apparatus.
• Two doubtful points left for judgment: Kuiji's substance of the four immeasurables — "the wholesome root of non-obstruction" (T43, his own writing) ↔ "the wholesome root of non-delusion" (T42, Dunlun's record of Kuiji); and "the three-dharma fictive-designation" (T43) ↔ "the three-dharma seal" (T42, in the record of Kuiji) — recorded alongside without judgment (see Heading IV of the Apparatus).

Overall Heading

What is a bodhisattva's making of offerings, attending upon good friends, and cultivation of the immeasurables? A summary verse (uddāna) says: making offerings to the three jewels, attending upon good friends, and cultivating the immeasurables comes last.

One · Making Offerings to the Three Jewels

Overall Heading of the Ten Kinds of Offering

What is a bodhisattva's offering to the Tathāgata? One should know that offering is, in brief, of ten kinds: first, offering to the relics; second, offering to the caitya; third, offering in the presence; fourth, offering not in the presence; fifth, offering done by oneself; sixth, offering that instructs others [to make it]; seventh, offering of goods and reverence; eighth, vast offering; ninth, undefiled offering; tenth, offering by right conduct.

Offering to the Relics · Offering to the Caitya · Offering in the Presence

If a bodhisattva makes offering while personally facing the physical body of the Tathāgata, this is named offering to the relics. If a bodhisattva sets up all manner of offering to everything made for the sake of the Tathāgata — the stūpa, the shrine-niche, the platform, an old caitya, a new caitya — this is named offering to the caitya. If a bodhisattva, at the site of the Tathāgata's body or of a caitya, personally facing it, present and beholding, sets up offering, this is named offering in the presence.

Offering Not in the Presence

If a bodhisattva, at the place of the Tathāgata or the place of a caitya, while setting up his offering-implements in the presence, arouses a mind arisen together with the superior resolve and a mind arisen together with pure faith, reflecting thus: the dharma-nature of one Tathāgata is precisely the dharma-nature of all Tathāgatas of the three times — past, future, and present; the dharma-nature of one Tathāgata's caitya is precisely the dharma-nature of the caityas of all the Tathāgatas in all the worlds of the ten directions, boundless and without limit. Therefore, in making offering today to this Tathāgata before my eyes, I am making offering to all the other Tathāgatas of the three times; in making offering to this caitya before my eyes, I am making offering to the other stūpas, shrine-niches, platforms, old caityas, and new caityas in all the boundless, limitless worlds of the ten directions. One should know that this is named a bodhisattva's making offering, all at one time, to all Tathāgatas and caityas, both in the presence and not in the presence.

If a bodhisattva forms the thought "Tathāgata" toward all the Tathāgatas and caityas not in the presence, and sets up offering universally to all Tathāgatas of the three times and to the caityas of all Tathāgatas in the ten directions, one should know that this is named a bodhisattva's offering solely to the Buddhas and caityas not in the presence.

If a bodhisattva, after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, for the sake of the Tathāgata builds up figured images — stūpas, shrine-niches, platforms — according to his own strength and ability, whether building one, or two, or many, up to the number of a hundred thousand koṭis: such a bodhisattva has set up, toward the Tathāgata, an offering not in the presence that is broad and vast, and shall obtain an immeasurable, great fruit of merit, taking hold of immeasurable, vast Brahma-merit. By this, the bodhisattva is able, through immeasurable eons and great eons, not to fall into the evil destinies; and by this cause and condition, of the provisions for unsurpassed perfect awakening there is none that is not fulfilled.

Herein: if a bodhisattva makes offering only to the Buddhas and caityas in the presence, one should know that he obtains a broad and vast fruit of merit; if he makes offering only to the Buddhas and caityas not in the presence, one should know that he obtains a great, great fruit of merit; if he makes offering, at one time, to the Buddhas and caityas both in the presence and not in the presence, one should know that he obtains the greatest fruit of merit, than which there is none higher.

Offering Done by Oneself · Offering That Instructs Others

If a bodhisattva, thinking to set up offering at the place of the Tathāgata or the place of a caitya, uses only his own hands to do it, not commanding a slave, a servant, a friend, a subordinate, or a kinsman, and does not set up offering in reliance on any state of indolence or of the several kinds of heedlessness, this is named a bodhisattva's offering done by oneself.

If a bodhisattva, thinking to set up offering at the place of the Tathāgata or the place of a caitya, not only does it himself but also urges his father and mother, wife and children, slaves, servants, friends, subordinates, and kinsmen, as well as other kings, princes, great ministers, elders, householders, brahmins, and the wealthy merchant-chiefs of countries, towns, and villages, down to all men and women great and small, the destitute and afflicted, the caṇḍālas, and the rest, as well as his preceptor, his instructor and the several teachers, all his disciples living with him and living near him, his fellow practitioners of the pure life, those gone forth, the followers of other paths, and the rest — causing them, at the place of the Tathāgata or of a caitya, to make offerings according to their strength and ability, one should know that this is named a bodhisattva's offering made in common by himself and others.

If a bodhisattva who has at present some small portion of goods that could be offered arouses a mind of pity and compassion and purposely gives them to sentient beings who are poor and suffering, of little merit and no strength, causing them to hold and use these at the place of the Tathāgata or of a caitya as offering, wishing that they may in the future receive much ease and joy — those beings, obtaining these goods, make offering to the Tathāgata and caityas, while the bodhisattva himself has therein nothing that he offers: one should know that this is named a bodhisattva's setting up offering solely by instructing others.

Herein: if a bodhisattva makes offering to the Buddhas and caityas only by himself, one should know that he obtains a broad and vast fruit of merit; if he makes offering only by instructing others, one should know that he obtains a great, great fruit of merit; if he is able to make offering both by himself and together with others, one should know that he obtains the greatest fruit of merit, than which there is none higher.

Offering of Goods and Reverence

If a bodhisattva, at the place of the Tathāgata or of a caitya, makes offering with the several kinds of clothing, food and drink, bedding, medicine for the condition of illness, and the utensils that sustain the body; with reverent inquiry, bowing, going out to welcome, and joining the palms; with the several kinds of incense to burn, powdered incense, and paste-incense, garlands, music, banners and canopies, streamers and lamps; with songs of praise and acclaim, the five-wheeled going-for-refuge (the prostration of the five limbs to the ground), hastening around in circumambulation turning to the right — thus making offering. Or he further presents inexhaustible offerings of goods; or he further presents maṇi, pearl, lapis lazuli, conch, jade-disk, coral, agate, cornelian, amber, gold and silver, red pearl, right-spiraling [shells] — this class of precious things; or he further presents maṇi, bracelets, jeweled ornaments, seals, and the other adorning-implements, down to presenting the several kinds of jeweled bells, or scattering rare and marvelous things, or winding on jeweled threads, thus making offering. This is named a bodhisattva's offering of goods and reverence at the place of the Tathāgata or of a caitya.

Vast Offering

If a bodhisattva, at the place of the Tathāgata or of a caitya, sets up over a long time the offering of goods and reverence as laid out above; and adds to it: offering-implements that are many, offering-implements that are fine and marvelous, offering in the presence, offering not in the presence, done by himself, instructing others to do it, offering in the presence with a pure mind and fierce, keen resolution; and, with the roots of goodness thus planted, dedicates them toward unsurpassed perfect awakening — these seven kinds are named a bodhisattva's vast offering.

Undefiled Offering

If a bodhisattva, at the place of the Tathāgata or of a caitya: makes offering with his own hands, harboring no contempt; causes others to make offering; makes offering while not abiding in heedlessness, indolence, or disrespect; makes offering while not casting things down carelessly, not with a scattered and negligent mind, not with a defiled mind; does not, before kings, great ministers, or the several noble and eminent who have faith in the Buddha, in order to seek goods and reverence, fraudulently set up all manner of false offering; makes offering not by smearing with orpiment, not by pouring butter over and washing, not with the several kinds of gulgulu incense, arka flowers, and the rest of impure things — these six kinds are named a bodhisattva's undefiled offering.

The Sources of Wealth for Offering · Offering by Conjured Bodies · Offering by Rejoicing-in-Concert

Again, when a bodhisattva thus makes offering to the Tathāgata and caityas with the offering of goods and reverence, the vast offering, and the undefiled offering, the wealth he uses is either wealth amassed by the strength of his own arm, or wealth sought and obtained from others, or the wealth of one who has already gained mastery over provisions (the spiritual power of mastery over goods) — with these he is able to make such various offerings.

A bodhisattva who has gained mastery over provisions conjures forth a conjured body, whether one or two, or many, up to the number of a hundred thousand koṭis; and all these conjured bodies reverently bow at the place of the Tathāgata and caityas. Further, from each single conjured body he conjures forth many hands, whether a hundred or a thousand, or exceeding this number; and all these hands hold immeasurable, sublime flowers and incense surpassing those of the several heavens, and the several kinds of rare and lovely, surpassing jewels, and scatter them in offering at the place of the Tathāgata and caityas. Further, from all these conjured bodies he conjures forth immeasurable, sublime sounds, singing praise of the Tathāgata's vast and profound true qualities. Further, from all these conjured bodies he conjures forth immeasurable bracelets, jeweled seals, and jeweled adorning-implements of the utmost and most sublime kind, banners and canopies, streamers and lamps, and the several kinds of offering-implements, making offering to the Tathāgata and caityas. Offerings of this class and kind, set up by a bodhisattva who has gained mastery over provisions, all belong to his own mind (are all conjured by his own mind). Such a bodhisattva no longer longs for a Tathāgata to appear in the world. Why? Because this bodhisattva has already realized and entered the stage of non-retrogression, and in coming and going throughout all buddha-lands to make offering he meets no obstruction at all.

Again, if a bodhisattva has no wealth amassed by his own strength, nor wealth sought and obtained from others, nor the wealth of a bodhisattva's gained mastery over provisions with which to set up offering; yet toward all the offering-implements — whether in Jambudvīpa, or the four great continents, or a thousand worlds, two thousand worlds, or the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, on up to the boundless, limitless worlds of the ten directions — with which the low, the middling, and the high make offering to the Tathāgata, the bodhisattva, with a mind arisen together with pure faith and arisen together with resolution, reflects upon them all-pervadingly and rejoices in them all together. Such a bodhisattva, using very little effort of merit, arouses a boundless, vast offering, and takes hold of the vast provisions for awakening. Toward this the bodhisattva should, constantly and without interruption, arouse a truly good mind and arouse a mind of gladness, and should diligently cultivate and train.

Offering by Right Conduct

If a bodhisattva, moment by moment, instant by instant (a short span at a time, a short span at a time), even down to as brief a time as the milking of a cow once, universally cultivates toward all creeping, moving sentient beings the mind arisen together with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; toward all conditioned things cultivates the notion of impermanence, the notion of the suffering of impermanence, and the notion of the not-self of suffering; toward nirvāṇa cultivates the notion of its excellent benefit; toward the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, and the perfections cultivates recollection; moment by moment, instant by instant, gives rise toward all dharmas to a small portion of humble acceptance-and-knowledge, believes-and-understands the suchness of the dharma-nature that is apart from words, and gives rise to a mental abiding that is non-conceptual and without marks — how much more so where there is yet more and yet greater of this. And thus he guards the śīla-restraints the bodhisattva has received, diligently cultivates and trains in tranquillity, insight, and the factors of awakening, and likewise rightly and diligently cultivates and trains in all the perfections and in the several means-of-gathering. This is named a bodhisattva's offering by right conduct at the place of the Tathāgata.

This offering is the very first, the highest, the most excellent, the most sublime, the unsurpassed. This offering surpasses the offering of goods and reverence complete in all its kinds spoken of above by a hundredfold, a thousandfold, on up to an upaniṣad of times (a multiple that reckoning and simile cannot reach).

Concluded by the Ten Aspects · Extending to Dharma and Saṅgha

By these ten aspects, one should know [what] is named making offering to the Tathāgata complete in all its kinds. As with making offering to the Buddha, so too with making offering to the Dharma and making offering to the Saṅgha; according to what is fitting, one should know that it is likewise.

The Six Kinds of Superior Resolve

Thus, when a bodhisattva, at the place of the three jewels, arouses offering through the ten kinds of aspect, he should, taking the Tathāgata as his object, arouse six kinds of superior resolve: first, the superior resolve of "the unsurpassed great field of merit"; second, the superior resolve of "possessed of unsurpassed great gracious virtue"; third, the superior resolve of "the honored one among all sentient beings, be they without feet, two-footed, or many-footed"; fourth, the superior resolve of "like the sublime uḍumbara flower, exceedingly hard to meet with"; fifth, the superior resolve of "appearing solitary and alone in the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world"; sixth, the superior resolve of "complete in all worldly and world-transcending qualities, the support of all meanings." By these six kinds of superior resolve, even if he does but a small portion of reflection at the place of the Tathāgata, or at the place of the Tathāgata's Dharma, or at the place of the Saṅgha, and thereby arouses offering, he still obtains an immeasurable, great fruit of merit — how much more so when it is much.

Two · Attending Upon Good Friends

The Seven Questions Posed Overall

Next: with how many aspects does a bodhisattva succeed in being able to act as a good friend? By how many aspects is what a good friend does not made in vain? With how many aspects does he succeed, so that the character of a good friend becomes a support that can be relied upon? Again, with how many aspects does a good-friend bodhisattva perform the deeds of a good friend toward the sentient beings to be transformed? With how many aspects does a bodhisattva attend upon a good friend? With how many notions does he listen to the true Dharma at the place of a good friend? By how many bases, when listening to the Dharma at the place of a good friend, does he form no divergent intent toward the master who expounds the Dharma?

The Eight Limbs That Enable One to Be a Good Friend

One should know that a bodhisattva who succeeds in eight limbs is able to be a good friend, complete in all his aspects: first, abiding in the precepts — abiding sublimely well within the several bodhisattva discipline-precepts, without lack and without breach. Second, being learned — accomplished in awakened wisdom. Third, being possessed of realization — having gained one or another surpassing goodness attained through cultivation, having reached tranquillity and insight. Fourth, being pitying — inwardly possessed of loving-kindness and compassion, able to relinquish his own present-dharma pleasant abiding and, diligently and without slackening, to benefit others. Fifth, being fearless — when expounding the teaching of the true Dharma for others, not, out of terror, losing his mindfulness and his eloquence. Sixth, being forbearing — able to endure others' light mockery, teasing, contemptuous words, resistance, and the like, the pathways of unlovely speech and the several kinds of evil conduct. Seventh, being untiring — his strength full and strong, able to reflect and discern much, so that when expounding the true Dharma amid the four assemblies his speech is not halting and his mind is not fatigued or averse. Eighth, being good in diction — his language complete, not damaging the dharma-nature, his words eloquent and clear.

The Five Aspects by Which What He Does Is Not in Vain

If a bodhisattva is possessed of five aspects and endowed with the several virtues, he is able to be a good friend and what he does is not in vain: first, toward others he first arouses a mind that wishes and seeks to work their benefit and ease; second, he knows their benefit and ease as they really are, awake and without error; third, in the skillful means, the expounding of the Dharma according to the fitting manner, and the disciplining-deeds that accord with what sentient beings can bear, he has capacity and strength; fourth, his mind of benefiting has no weariness; fifth, he is fully possessed of even-minded great compassion, and toward sentient beings of low, middling, or surpassing grade his mind has no partiality.

The Five Aspects That Make Him a Support to Be Relied Upon

If a bodhisattva succeeds in five aspects, so that the character of a good friend becomes a support that can be relied upon, causing others, hearing of him even from afar, to give rise to an exceedingly deep pure faith — how much more so those who get to see him with their own eyes: first, being excellent and sublime — his deportment complete, his deportment tranquil, his deportment fully possessed, all his limbs without agitation. Second, being earnest and grave — the three actions manifesting in conduct without restlessness and without disturbance. Third, being without artifice — not, in order to deceive others, deliberately displaying a dignified and orderly deportment. Fourth, being without envy — never, toward the gains and reverence others obtain from expounding the Dharma, giving rise to what cannot be borne, but ever exhorting himself to invite them to expound the Dharma; and ever urging others to bestow gains and reverence upon them widely, without a flattering or false mind; and ever, toward others, being pure of mind, so that on seeing them expound the Dharma and obtain goods and reverence he gives rise to a deep rejoicing-in-concert; and just as, when he himself obtains gains and reverence, his mind gives rise to gladness, so, on seeing the gains and reverence others obtain, his mind's gladness exceeds even this. Fifth, being frugal — storing few implements, letting go as he gets.

The Five Kinds of Good-Friend Deed

A good-friend bodhisattva, by five aspects, performs the deeds of a good friend toward the sentient beings to be transformed: first, being able to admonish-and-cite (to admonish, correct, and cite their faults); second, being able to cause them to recollect (to cause remembrance); third, being able to instruct; fourth, being able to admonish-and-warn; fifth, being able to expound the Dharma. The full elaboration of these phrases should be known as in the Śrāvaka Stage; instructing and admonishing-warning are expounded at length as in the earlier Chapter on the Lineage of Power.

Attending in Fullness by the Four Aspects

One should know that a bodhisattva, by four aspects, then gains a full attending upon a good friend: first, toward a good friend, in sickness or in health, at all times he makes offering and waits upon him in service, ever arousing love, reverence, and pure faith. Second, toward a good friend, at all times he makes reverent inquiry, bows, goes out to welcome, joins the palms, is diligent and earnest, and cultivates the deeds of harmony and reverence as offering. Third, toward a good friend, at all times he makes offering with clothing, food and drink, bedding, medicine for the condition of illness, and body-sustaining utensils that accord with the Dharma. Fourth, toward a good friend, if he is rightly relying upon him, in a matter that accords with the Dharma, whether joining or parting [with the friend's view], he turns as is fitting without swaying or wavering, disclosing [the truth] as it really is, forming a mind that reveres the teaching, and at all times goes to him, reverently serves him, inquires of him, and listens and receives.

The Five Notions in Listening to the Dharma

If a bodhisattva wishes to listen to the Dharma, he should form five kinds of notion and listen to the true Dharma from a good friend: first, forming the notion of a jewel — because of its being hard to obtain. Second, forming the notion of an eye — because it is the meaning that is the causal nature able to gain the vast, innate, sublime wisdom. Third, forming the notion of light — because, having gained the vast innate wisdom-eye, it is the meaning of illuminating with even discernment, in all its kinds, all that is really to be known. Fourth, forming the notion of a great fruit and surpassing merit — because it is the meaning that is the causal nature able to gain the unsurpassed sublime track of nirvāṇa and the three [kinds of] awakening. Fifth, forming the notion of a blameless great delight — because, though in the present dharma one has not yet gained nirvāṇa and the three [kinds of] awakening, yet the discerning of the Dharma as it really is, through tranquillity and insight, is the meaning that is the causal nature of a blameless great joy.

The Five Bases on Which He Forms No Divergent Intent

If a bodhisattva wishes to listen to the Dharma from a good friend, then, toward the master who expounds the Dharma, by five kinds of basis he forms no divergent intent, and with a purely pure mind lends his ear and listens to the Dharma: first, toward a breach of the precepts he forms no divergent intent — that is, he does not form this thought: "This person breaks the precepts and does not abide in the discipline; I now should not listen to the Dharma from him." Second, toward a breach of lineage he forms no divergent intent — that is, he does not form this thought: "This person is of humble birth and low surname; I now should not listen to the Dharma from him." Third, toward a breach of appearance he forms no divergent intent — that is, he does not form this thought: "This person is ugly of countenance; I now should not listen to the Dharma from him." Fourth, toward a breach of diction he forms no divergent intent — that is, he does not form this thought: "This person's words are not well adorned; I now should not listen to the Dharma from him." — But he relies on the meaning; he should not rely on the words. Fifth, toward a breach of comeliness he forms no divergent intent — that is, he does not form this thought: "This person's language is coarse and harsh, and he harbors much anger and ill-will, not expounding the several Dharmas with comely words; I now should not listen to the Dharma from him."

Thus, when a bodhisattva wishes to listen to the Dharma, toward these five bases he should form no [divergent] intent, but should reverently take hold of the true Dharma, and toward the master who expounds the Dharma he never sees a fault (does not see his faults). If there is a bodhisattva whose wisdom is faint and weak, who gives rise in his mind to disdain and contempt toward the master who expounds the Dharma and does not wish to listen to the true Dharma from him, one should know that this conduct does not seek self-benefit, and it loses the surpassing wisdom.

Three · Cultivating the Immeasurables

The Three Kinds of Cultivating the Four Immeasurables

What is a bodhisattva's cultivation of the four immeasurables — loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity? It is said that a bodhisattva has, in brief, three kinds of cultivating the four immeasurables: first, the immeasurable with sentient beings as object; second, the immeasurable with dharmas as object; third, the immeasurable without object.

If a bodhisattva, toward all the sentient beings of the three groups (the three classes), sets them up as of three kinds — those without suffering and without pleasure, those with suffering, and those with pleasure; and toward the first of these, those who wish and seek pleasure, arouses the superior resolve of giving pleasure, and, taking the ten directions universally as his object, abiding in an unerring resolution toward sentient beings, cultivates the mind arisen together with loving-kindness, one should know that this is named the loving-kindness that has sentient beings as its object. If a bodhisattva, abiding in the superior resolve of the notion "dharmas only," rightly contemplates that there are only dharmas, with "sentient being" designated fictively, and cultivates the mind arisen together with loving-kindness, one should know that this very [cultivation] is named the loving-kindness that has dharmas as its object. If a bodhisattva, further, toward the several dharmas is apart from discrimination and cultivates the mind arisen together with loving-kindness, one should know that this very [cultivation] is named the loving-kindness without object. As with the differences of the three kinds of loving-kindness — with sentient beings as object, with dharmas as object, and without object — so too with the three of compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; one should know that it is likewise.

If a bodhisattva, toward those with suffering, arouses the superior resolve of removing suffering, and, taking the ten directions universally as his object, cultivates the mind arisen together with compassion, this is named compassion. If a bodhisattva, toward those with pleasure, arouses the superior resolve of rejoicing-along, and, taking the ten directions universally as his object, cultivates the mind arisen together with sympathetic joy, this is named sympathetic joy. If a bodhisattva, toward these very three kinds of sentient being — those without suffering and without pleasure, those with suffering, and those with pleasure — each according to its order, arouses the superior resolve of being apart from the three confusions of delusion, anger, and greed, and, taking the ten directions universally as his object, cultivates the mind arisen together with equanimity, this is named equanimity.

Shared and Not Shared

Herein, as for a bodhisattva's immeasurables of loving-kindness and the rest that have sentient beings as object, one should know that their character is shared in common with the followers of other paths. If they have dharmas as object, one should know that their character is shared in common with the several śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and not shared with the followers of other paths. If they are without object, one should know that their character is not shared with any śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, or followers of other paths.

The Resolve of Ease-and-Joy and the Resolve of Benefit · Pity

Again, among a bodhisattva's immeasurables, one should know that three are subsumed under the resolve of ease-and-joy, namely loving-kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy; and one should know that one is subsumed under the resolve of benefit, namely equanimity. Thus all of a bodhisattva's immeasurables are named pity; because it is by succeeding in this that bodhisattvas are named the pitying.

The Hundred-and-Ten Sufferings

Herein, a bodhisattva, in the realm of sentient beings, observes and sees a hundred and ten kinds of suffering, and toward the several sentient beings cultivates the immeasurable of compassion. Which are named the hundred and ten sufferings?

It is said that there is one suffering: the suffering of undifferentiated flowing-round — because all sentient beings, without exception, all fall into the suffering of flowing-round.

Further there are two sufferings: first, the suffering that has craving for its root, namely the suffering produced when a lovable thing alters or is destroyed; second, the suffering born of the maturation of delusion, namely that when one is touched by a fierce and keen bodily feeling, one at once grasps at "I" and "mine" toward one's own body, is deluded and confounded, and gives rise to extreme lamentation, and by this cause and condition receives the feeling of two arrows — the feeling of the bodily arrow and the feeling of the mental arrow.

Further there are three sufferings: first, the suffering of suffering; second, the suffering of the conditioned; third, the suffering of destruction.

Further there are four sufferings: first, the suffering of separation, namely the suffering produced by parting from what one loves; second, the suffering of severing-and-destruction, namely the suffering produced by dying through relinquishing one's share of the common lot; third, the suffering of continuance, namely the suffering produced by dying and being born again and again thereafter, revolving in succession; fourth, the ultimate suffering, namely the suffering of the five appropriating aggregates in those classes of sentient beings that definitely have no capacity for parinirvāṇa.

Further there are five sufferings: first, the suffering conditioned by the enwrapment of covetous desire; second, the suffering conditioned by the enwrapment of anger; third, the suffering conditioned by the enwrapment of dullness-and-drowsiness; fourth, the suffering conditioned by the enwrapment of restlessness-and-regret; fifth, the suffering conditioned by the enwrapment of doubt.

Further there are six sufferings: first, the suffering of cause, because of practicing the cause of the evil destinies; second, the suffering of fruit, because of being born in the several evil destinies; third, the suffering of seeking wealth and position; fourth, the suffering of diligently guarding [them]; fifth, the suffering of no satisfaction; sixth, the suffering of alteration and destruction. These six kinds are spoken of overall as suffering.

Further there are seven sufferings: first, the suffering of birth; second, the suffering of aging; third, the suffering of illness; fourth, the suffering of death; fifth, the suffering of meeting with the hated; sixth, the suffering of parting from the loved; seventh, the suffering of seeking yet not obtaining.

Further there are eight sufferings: first, the suffering of cold; second, the suffering of heat; third, the suffering of hunger; fourth, the suffering of thirst; fifth, the suffering of being not one's own master; sixth, the suffering of tormenting oneself (namely the class of the unbound and other such followers of other paths); seventh, the suffering of being tormented by others (namely encountering the touch of others' hands, clods of earth, and the like, and the touch of mosquitoes, gadflies, and the like); eighth, the suffering of abiding a long time in a single kind of deportment (the suffering of maintaining one and the same deportment for a long time).

Further there are nine sufferings: first, the suffering of one's own decline; second, the suffering of others' decline; third, the suffering of kinsmen's decline; fourth, the suffering of the decline of wealth and position; fifth, the suffering of the decline of health (losing one's health); sixth, the suffering of the decline of the precepts; seventh, the suffering of the decline of view; eighth, present-dharma suffering; ninth, later-dharma suffering.

Further there are ten sufferings: first, the suffering of lacking the several provisions of food; second, the suffering of lacking the several provisions of drink; third, the suffering of lacking the provisions for riding and conveyance; fourth, the suffering of lacking the provisions of clothing; fifth, the suffering of lacking the provisions of adornment; sixth, the suffering of lacking the provisions of implements and utensils; seventh, the suffering of lacking the provisions of incense, garlands, and paste-adornments; eighth, the suffering of lacking the provisions of song, dance, and music; ninth, the suffering of lacking the provisions of illumination; tenth, the suffering of lacking the provisions of men and women to serve and attend.

One should know that there are, further, another nine kinds of suffering: first, all-suffering; second, vast suffering; third, all-gates suffering; fourth, the suffering of wrong conduct; fifth, the suffering of flowing-round; sixth, the suffering of not according with one's wishes; seventh, the suffering of violation-and-harm; eighth, the suffering that follows-and-pursues; ninth, all-kinds suffering.

Within all-suffering there are further two sufferings: first, the suffering produced by past causes; second, the suffering produced by present conditions.

Within vast suffering there are further four sufferings: first, long-time suffering; second, fierce-and-keen suffering; third, mixed-class suffering; fourth, uninterrupted suffering.

Within all-gates suffering there are likewise four sufferings: first, the suffering of the narakas (hells); second, the suffering of the animals; third, the suffering of the world of ghosts; fourth, the suffering subsumed under the good destinies.

Within the suffering of wrong conduct there are further five sufferings: first, the suffering aroused in the present dharma by offending against others, others not benefiting [one]; second, the suffering aroused by using the several kinds of unequal food and drink, the elements [of the body] being unequal; third, the suffering aroused by acting spontaneously while pressed and urged by present-dharma suffering; fourth, the several sufferings that arise from being much bound by the enwrapment of the afflictions and secondary afflictions received through abiding much in unprincipled attention; fifth, the several evil-destiny sufferings to come that are received through much arousing the several kinds of evil conduct of body, speech, and mind.

Within the suffering of flowing-round there are further six kinds of suffering — the suffering of turning-round in birth-and-death with no fixity of birth: first, no fixity of one's own body; second, no fixity of father and mother; third, no fixity of wife and children; fourth, no fixity of slaves and servants; fifth, no fixity of friends, officials, and kinsmen; sixth, no fixity of wealth and position. "No fixity of one's own body" means that one was formerly a king and later a servant. "No fixity of father and mother and the rest" means that those who were formerly father, mother, and even kinsmen, later, through turning-round, become on the contrary enemies-and-harmers and evil companions. "No fixity of wealth and position" means that one was formerly greatly rich and noble, and later utterly poor and lowly.

Within the suffering of not according with one's wishes there are further seven sufferings: first, wishing and seeking long life, but not according with what one wishes, the suffering of a short life is produced; second, wishing and seeking a fair form, but not according with what one wishes, the suffering of ugliness is produced; third, wishing to be born into a high lineage, but not according with what one wishes, the suffering of a low lineage is produced; fourth, wishing and seeking great wealth, but not according with what one wishes, the suffering of poverty is produced; fifth, wishing and seeking great strength, but not according with what one wishes, the suffering of feebleness is produced; sixth, wishing and seeking to know clearly the object-realm to be known, but not according with what one wishes, delusion and unwisdom operate and suffering is produced; seventh, wishing and seeking to surpass others, but not according with what one wishes, being on the contrary surpassed by others, great suffering is produced.

Within the suffering of violation-and-harm there are further eight sufferings: first, for the several householders, the suffering produced by the loss and reduction of such things as wife and children; second, for the several who have gone forth, the suffering produced by the increase of the afflictions of greed and the rest; third, the suffering produced by the pressing torment of famine and dearth; fourth, the suffering produced by the pressing torment of enemies; fifth, the suffering produced by the pressing torment of the perils and constrictions of the wilderness; sixth, the suffering produced by being bound in subjection to another; seventh, the suffering produced by the harm of limbs and joints not being complete; eighth, the suffering produced by the pressing torment of killing and binding, hewing and cutting, beating and flogging, and driving-out and banishment.

Within the suffering that follows-and-pursues there are further nine sufferings — by the eight worldly dharmas there are eight kinds of suffering: first, the suffering of a destructible thing at the time of its destruction; second, the suffering of an exhaustible thing at the time of its exhaustion; third, the suffering of an aging thing at the time of its aging; fourth, the suffering of a diseased thing at the time of its disease; fifth, the suffering of a mortal thing at the time of its death; sixth, the suffering of no gain; seventh, the suffering of no renown; eighth, the suffering of being reproached — these are named the eight sufferings; ninth, the suffering of wishing-and-seeking. These are spoken of overall as the suffering that follows-and-pursues.

Within all-kinds suffering there are further ten sufferings. That is, as spoken of above, there are five kinds of suffering counteracted by the five pleasures: first, the suffering of cause; second, the suffering of feeling; third, the suffering of merely lacking pleasure; fourth, the suffering of feeling not ceasing; fifth, the suffering — counteracted by the four pleasures of "departure, seclusion, tranquillity, and awakening" — of "the household, the fetters of the desire realm, applied thought, and the ordinary being"; these are named the five sufferings. Further there are five sufferings: first, the suffering of pressing torment; second, the suffering of lacking the several provisions; third, the suffering of the elements being unequal; fourth, the suffering of what one loves altering and being destroyed; fifth, the suffering of the coarse-and-heavy of the affliction-class of the three realms; these are named the five sufferings. The former five and these five make ten kinds of suffering in all; one should know that these are named all-kinds suffering.

The former fifty-five (from the one suffering to the ten sufferings), added to the present fifty-five (unfolded from the other nine kinds of suffering), make a hundred and ten kinds of suffering in all — these are the object-realm that a bodhisattva's compassion takes as its object. Because of taking this realm as object, the several bodhisattvas' compassion arises, increases, and reaches fullness in cultivation.

The Nineteen Sufferings and the Great Compassion

Again, a bodhisattva, toward the great heap of suffering, taking nineteen kinds of suffering as object, arouses great compassion. Which are named the nineteen kinds of suffering? First, the suffering of the maturation of delusion; second, the suffering subsumed under the suffering of the conditioned; third, the ultimate suffering; fourth, the suffering of cause; fifth, the suffering of birth; sixth, the suffering of self-inflicted torment; seventh, the suffering of the decline of the precepts; eighth, the suffering of the decline of view; ninth, the suffering of past causes; tenth, vast suffering; eleventh, the suffering of the narakas; twelfth, the suffering subsumed under the good destinies; thirteenth, the suffering produced by all wrong conduct; fourteenth, the suffering of all flowing-round; fifteenth, the suffering of unwisdom; sixteenth, the suffering of increase; seventeenth, the suffering that follows-and-pursues; eighteenth, the suffering of feeling; nineteenth, the suffering of the coarse-and-heavy.

The Four Conditions of Great Compassion

By reason of four kinds of condition, compassion is named "great compassion": first, because it arises taking as object the sufferings of sentient beings, which are exceedingly deep, subtle, and hard to understand. Second, because it is formed by accumulated practice over a long time — that is, the several bodhisattvas accumulate and practice it over immeasurable hundreds of thousands of great eons. Third, because it is aroused with fierce and keen attention toward its object — that is, the several bodhisattvas, held fast by compassion through this attention, for the sake of the cause and condition of stilling the sufferings of sentient beings, can relinquish even a hundred thousand bodies and lives, how much more a single body and single life; and can bear, for the several sentient beings, all the kinds of great suffering of punishment. Fourth, because it is utterly pure — that is, the several bodhisattvas have reached the ultimate bodhisattva purity, and the several Tathāgatas have reached the Tathāgata purity of the buddha-ground.

Cultivating Compassion to Perfume the Mind · Awakening Is Established by Compassion

Again, when a bodhisattva, by the hundred and ten sufferings spoken of above, cultivates the mind of compassion toward the several sentient beings, this is the cultivating of all the compassion that a bodhisattva has; and he is further able swiftly to realize the purity of the resolve of compassion, to realize and enter the bodhisattva's stage of the pure resolve, and toward the several sentient beings to gain the bodhisattva's mind of utmost intimacy and warmth, mind of utmost cherishing and remembrance, mind of wishing to do them kindness, mind that never wearies, mind that would receive suffering in their stead, and mind that is gentle, masterful, and capable. The several noble śrāvakas, though they have already realized and entered the present-observation of the truth of suffering and reached the ultimate, and though a mind conjoined with a deep and far-reaching aversion toward suffering turns on in them in succession, are still not the equal of the bodhisattva, who, with a mind that goes before in compassion toward the several sentient beings, rightly observes them as having fallen into the great heap of a hundred and ten kinds of suffering.

Because a bodhisattva thus perfumes and cultivates his mind with the compassion he has cultivated: of inner and outer things, there is no small portion that he cannot relinquish; there is no discipline-restraint that he cannot train in; there is no harm from others that he cannot bear; there is no vigor that he cannot arouse; there is no meditative absorption that he cannot realize; there is no sublime wisdom that he cannot enter. Therefore, if someone asks the Tathāgata, "By whom is bodhisattva-awakening established?", he always rightly answers, saying: bodhisattva-awakening is established by compassion.

The Four Meritorious Excellences

As with each single immeasurable spoken of above, so with all: each has immeasurable bodhisattva wish-fulfilling perfect virtues turning along with it; each is able to take hold of an immeasurable, lovable fruit; each turns along in immeasurable kinds, wholly sublime, good, and blameless. One should know that a bodhisattva who diligently cultivates such immeasurables is able to gain four kinds of meritorious excellence: that is, by cultivating these immeasurables, he first gains the most excellent present-dharma pleasant abiding; he takes hold of and increases immeasurable, most excellent provisions of merit; he is able to be firm in his resolve toward unsurpassed perfect awakening; and, for the sake of benefiting the several sentient beings, he is able to bear within birth-and-death all the great sufferings.

Why, When the Six Perfections and the Four Means-of-Gathering Have Been Expounded, Another Chapter on Offering Is Still Needed

The earlier chapters, nine through fifteen — the six perfections plus the four means-of-gathering — seem already to have completed the bodhisattva's practice-gates of benefiting self and benefiting others; why should this chapter be set up in addition? Kuiji points to the gap first: "Up to here, the self-portion, though it benefits self and others, has not yet clarified the offering to the three jewels; this is discriminated next. Namely, the practice of building-and-cultivating: making offerings to the three jewels, attending upon good friends, cultivating the immeasurables". Dunlun, for his part, gathers the last two chapters of the First Section together and places them: "Up to here, the seven chapters clarifying the self-portion practice of benefiting self and others are finished; from here the two chapters clarify their surpassing advance. Of these, the first, the chapter on offering, clarifies overall the practice of building-and-cultivating that benefits self and others according to conditions; the later chapter on the factors of awakening clarifies the practice of inner realization" — the earlier chapters expound the "items" of the practice-gates; these two expound their "daily discipline": this chapter is the practice of building-and-cultivating that can be done day by day as conditions allow, and only the next chapter turns to inner realization.

The treatise, at its opening, unfolds three chapters in a single verse: "making offerings to the three jewels, attending upon good friends, cultivating the immeasurables comes last" — making offerings to the three jewels, attending upon good friends, cultivating the four immeasurables. Three matters, each one turning further inward than the last.

Offering: What It Is That Is Offered

Among the ten kinds of offering, the very first already carries a fine point. "Offering to the relics" — is this not just offering to the Buddha's physical-body relics? Kuiji, contrariwise, says: "The old rendering 'offering to the body' is wrong. Kāya is the body; śarīra is the substance — that is, it is the Buddha's substance, the dharma-body" — kāya alone is "body"; śarīra is "substance"; and although the treatise's text below does say "personally making offering in the presence to the Tathāgata's physical body," the intent is "to offer to the true Buddha's dharma-body, and so it says 'substance'". The first kind of offering — its named object is the physical body, but what it points to is already the dharma-body.

This eye opens fully in "offering not in the presence." The treatise teaches one, when setting up offering, to reflect thus: "the dharma-nature of one Tathāgata is precisely the dharma-nature of all Tathāgatas of the past, future, and present; the dharma-nature of one Tathāgata's caitya is precisely the dharma-nature of the caityas of all the Tathāgatas in all the boundless, limitless worlds of the ten directions" — therefore, in offering to this one Buddha before my eyes, I am offering to all the Buddhas of the three times; in offering to this one stūpa before my eyes, I am offering to all the stūpas of the ten directions. Dunlun states the ground in a single stroke: "the principle of suchness is the same, the dharma-body one in substance". That offering can extend from one Buddha to all Buddhas rests not on imagination but on the dharma-nature's being, from the first, without-a-second.

And the order of the fruits of merit the treatise gives is also worth pondering: offering only in the presence, a broad and vast fruit of merit; offering only not in the presence, a great, great fruit of merit; offering both in and not in the presence, the greatest fruit of merit. To look only at the Buddha-image before one's eyes is one layer; to see the "not in the presence," all the Buddhas, is a deeper layer — because that deeper layer rests precisely on the reflection upon the evenness of the dharma-nature, not on the eyes.

How Does One Who Has No Wealth Arouse a "Boundless, Vast Offering"?

Hidden within the ten kinds of offering is a passage of teaching of the utmost commonness. If a bodhisattva himself has no savings, cannot beg them from others, and has no spiritual power to conjure wealth — what is to be done? The treatise says: toward all the low, middling, and high offerings being made throughout the boundless worlds of the ten directions, "with a mind arisen together with pure faith and arisen together with resolution, he reflects all-pervadingly and rejoices in them all together. Such a bodhisattva, using very little effort of merit, arouses a boundless, vast offering, and takes hold of the vast provisions for awakening" — spending not a single coin, he rejoices in all the offerings of the ten directions, and this is a boundless, vast offering. The threshold of offering has never lain in wealth.

Conversely, one who has great wealth and great spiritual power — "the bodhisattva who has gained mastery over provisions," conjuring a hundred thousand koṭis of bodies, a hundred thousand hands, conjuring immeasurable sublime sounds and sublime jewels to offer everywhere to the Tathāgata — the treatise adds a note on the inner truth of it: "Such a bodhisattva no longer longs for a Tathāgata to appear in the world. Why? Because this bodhisattva has already realized and entered the stage of non-retrogression, and in coming and going throughout all buddha-lands to make offering he meets no obstruction at all". Woncheuk gives two readings: from the eighth stage up he abides constantly in the pure lands and ever sees the saṃbhogakāya of the several Buddhas; or, from the first stage up, he has realized and seen suchness — the scale of offering grows of itself according to the level of one's realization; there is no need to vie in comparison.

Offering by Right Conduct: The Most Precious Offering Costs Not a Single Coin

The peak of the ten kinds of offering is the tenth, "offering by right conduct." Not one item of its content is material goods: moment by moment, instant by instant, brief even as "the milking of a cow once" — the time it takes to milk a cow once — one universally cultivates toward all creeping, moving sentient beings the mind arisen together with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity; toward all conditioned things one cultivates the notion of impermanence, the notion of the suffering of impermanence, the notion of the not-self of suffering; toward nirvāṇa one cultivates the notion of its excellent benefit; toward the Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha, and the perfections one cultivates recollection; on up to "giving rise toward all dharmas to a small portion of humble acceptance-and-knowledge, believing-and-understanding the suchness of the dharma-nature apart from words, and giving rise to a mental abiding non-conceptual and without marks"; and one guards the śīla-restraints and diligently cultivates and trains in tranquillity, insight, and the factors of awakening.

The treatise places it without the least ambiguity: "This offering is the very first, the highest, the most excellent, the most sublime, the unsurpassed," surpassing the earlier offering of goods and reverence complete in all its kinds by "a hundredfold, a thousandfold, on up to an upaniṣad of times" — an upaniṣad of times, a multiple that reckoning and simile cannot reach. Incense, flowers, banners, and streamers offered to the utmost do not equal the time it takes to milk a cow once, cultivated according to principle.

Woncheuk reads a flight of steps out of this passage: "first, it clarifies the path of provisions; second, from 'moment by moment' onward, it clarifies the path of means; third, from 'the dharma-nature apart from words' onward, it clarifies the path of seeing; fourth, from 'how much more' onward, it clarifies the path of cultivation." — Out of the passage on offering by right conduct the ancient masters read the whole sequence of the path: provisions, means (intensified practice), seeing, and cultivation; and the line "believing-and-understanding the suchness of the dharma-nature apart from words, giving rise to a non-conceptual, markless mental abiding" corresponds precisely to the path of seeing. The two words "apart from words" are the very vein of the Chapter on the True Meaning's "intrinsic nature apart from words" (15-01-04) — the chapter on offering, reaching its peak, links back to the deepest chapter of the Basic Section.

Once offering is expounded, the treatise teaches the arousing of six kinds of superior resolve in recollecting the Tathāgata: the unsurpassed great field of merit; possessed of unsurpassed great gracious virtue; the honored one among all sentient beings; "like the sublime uḍumbara flower, exceedingly hard to meet with"; appearing solitary and alone in the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world; complete in all qualities, the support of all meanings. The sublime uḍumbara flower is the uḍumbara; Kuiji says: "In the western land there is a tree that never puts forth a flower, but only between the forks of its branches; only when a wheel-turning king appears in the world does it then begin to bloom" — the tree is ever there, the flower exceedingly rarely seen; the Buddha-dharma is ever taught, the Buddha's appearing in the world exceedingly rarely met. Making offering while bearing these six recollections, "even doing but a small portion of reflection and thereby arousing offering, he still obtains an immeasurable, great fruit of merit — how much more so when it is much".

The Good Friend: The Eight Limbs for Choosing a Person, the Measure for Listening to the Dharma

The second chapter first asks: who is fit to be a good friend? The eight limbs: abiding in the precepts, being learned, being possessed of realization (truly gaining tranquillity and insight, not empty talk), being pitying, being fearless, being forbearing, being untiring, being good in diction. It then asks how a good friend benefits others (the five aspects of what he does not being in vain, the five aspects of being a support to be relied upon, the five kinds of good-friend deed) and how a learner attends upon him (the four aspects) — among which, of the five kinds of good-friend deed, "admonishing-and-citing, causing to recollect, instructing, admonishing-and-warning, expounding the Dharma," the treatise notes of itself, "their full elaboration should be known as in the Śrāvaka Stage," and "instructing and admonishing-warning are expounded at length as in the earlier Chapter on the Lineage of Power", two explicit back-references, so as not to repeat. Of the fourth of the four aspects of attending, "in a matter that accords with the Dharma, whether joining or parting, he turns as is fitting," Kuiji gives three glosses (the master's teaching, being the same as the old, is called "joining"; being different from the old, "parting"; on up to citing the "joining" and "parting" of Buddhist logic as its training), and reads "he turns as is fitting" as "he follows the master's freedom yet does not sway" — three glosses set side by side, recorded in the apparatus.

Most powerful for teaching is the side of listening to the Dharma. When wishing to listen to the Dharma, one forms five notions: the notion of a jewel (hard to obtain), the notion of an eye (a cause of producing sublime wisdom), the notion of light (the wisdom-eye once gained, illuminating with even discernment as things really are), the notion of a great fruit and surpassing merit, the notion of a blameless great delight. And then the treatise turns its point around and expounds the "five bases on which he forms no divergent intent": one does not, on account of the Dharma-master's breaking the precepts, being of humble birth, being ugly of countenance, being clumsy of diction, or being coarse and harsh of speech, refuse to listen to the Dharma from him — and under the fourth basis, "breach of diction," the treatise itself states the ground of a phrase famed for all time: "he relies on the meaning; he should not rely on the words". The closing line is weightier still: "he should reverently take hold of the true Dharma, and toward the master who expounds the Dharma he never sees a fault"; and conversely, "if there is a bodhisattva whose wisdom is faint and weak, who gives rise in his mind to disdain and contempt toward the master who expounds the Dharma and does not wish to listen to the true Dharma from him, one should know that this conduct does not seek self-benefit, and it loses the surpassing wisdom" — the one who disdains his teacher loses his own wisdom-life.

The Four Immeasurables: The Three Depths of Loving-Kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, and Equanimity

The third chapter asks: how does a bodhisattva cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity? The treatise gives three depths: with sentient beings as object — cultivating really and truly with sentient beings as object (giving pleasure and cultivating loving-kindness toward those without suffering-or-pleasure, drawing out suffering and cultivating compassion toward those with suffering, rejoicing-along and cultivating sympathetic joy toward those with pleasure, being apart from delusion, anger, and greed and cultivating equanimity toward the three classes of being); with dharmas as object — "abiding in the superior resolve of the notion 'dharmas only,' rightly contemplating that there are only dharmas, with 'sentient being' fictively designated," so that what is seen is no longer "individual persons" but sentient beings fictively established upon the several dharmas — Woncheuk: "he merely fictively establishes 'sentient being' upon the aggregates, without a true self, and so it is named the unerring sentient being"; without object — "further being apart from discrimination toward the several dharmas," not grasping even the marks of dharmas.

The three depths the treatise judges cleanly: the object of sentient beings is shared with the followers of other paths (they too can cultivate loving-kindness); the object of dharmas is shared with the two vehicles and not shared with the followers of other paths (Dunlun: "because the followers of other paths all have self-grasping, they have no object-of-dharmas [immeasurable]; the without-object is possessed by the Great Vehicle alone"); the without-object is not shared with any śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, or follower of other paths — possessed by the Great Vehicle alone.

What is it that operates in the immeasurable without object? The ancient masters say it plainly. Kuiji: "the former two take the subsequently-attained knowledge as their substance, the immeasurable without object takes the right knowledge as its substance … the 'immeasurable without object' takes non-conceptual knowledge as its taking-suchness-as-object"; Dunlun's record of Kuiji: "the immeasurable with dharmas as object is the knowledge of the person's emptiness, the immeasurable without object is its realizing knowledge; when the two knowledges arise, there is really no difference of the four modes of pity, grief, and the like — but by this knowledge one is able to arouse the discerning-and-understanding of the particular modes of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity within the object of sentient beings, and it takes its name from the fruit" — when the realizing knowledge is present there is no mental mark such as "pity" or "grief," yet the deeds of deliverance that come out of this knowledge are what is called the loving-kindness-and-compassion without object. Master Jing cites the Nirvāṇa: "the without-object takes as object the Tathāgata's objectless dharma-body; because the Tathāgata is apart from discrimination, it is named the objectless". Cultivated to its deepest, loving-kindness-and-compassion has non-conceptual knowledge for its substance — and this is precisely the eye of this chapter's doctrine.

The Hundred-and-Ten Sufferings: An Anatomical Chart of Compassion

To cultivate compassion one must have an object. The treatise therefore lays open a whole chart of suffering: the hundred and ten sufferings. First, the "ascending-enumeration gate" — one suffering, two sufferings, three sufferings … up to ten, counting all the way up, fifty-five in all; then the "nine-suffering gate" — all-suffering, vast suffering, all-gates suffering, wrong-conduct suffering, flowing-round suffering, not-according-with-one's-wishes suffering, violation-and-harm suffering, following-and-pursuing suffering, all-kinds suffering, each unfolded again, another fifty-five. "The former fifty-five, the present fifty-five, make a hundred and ten kinds of suffering in all; these are the object-realm that a bodhisattva's compassion takes as its object".

Dunlun reads a direction out of these two rounds of fifty-five: "the former fifty-five contemplate the suffering of sentient beings, the later fifty-five contemplate one's own suffering" — compassion is not watching a fire from across the river; first one sees the suffering of sentient beings, then turns back and sees one's own suffering; only when both sides are seen level does compassion arise and grow great.

Upon this, the treatise takes nineteen sufferings from the great heap of suffering to arouse "great compassion". Why these nineteen? Kuiji: "because they are taken, the greatest and heaviest, as the object of great compassion; it is said with regard to the ascendancy of the suffering" — the heaviest are picked out. When is compassion at last fit to be called "great compassion"? By four conditions: its object is exceedingly deep (taking as object suffering exceedingly deep, subtle, and hard to understand); long time (formed by accumulated practice over immeasurable hundreds of thousands of great eons); fierce and keen (for the sake of stilling the suffering of sentient beings, one can relinquish even a hundred thousand bodies and lives); utterly pure (the ultimate bodhisattva purity, the Tathāgata purity). Kuiji judges the level: "if compassion is among the four immeasurables, it is named compassion, not great compassion, and is still shared with the śrāvakas; from the first stage on, bodhisattvas too have it … [great compassion] is only in the buddha-ground and the tenth stage. … Before the ninth stage, though the bodhisattva has the two conditions of taking as object exceedingly deep conditioned-suffering and of fierce-and-keen attention, he lacks the conditions of long-time practice and of utter purity" — great compassion is the affair of the tenth stage and the buddha-ground; before the ninth stage, of the four conditions only two are present, and one is still on the way.

Bodhisattva-Awakening Is Established by Compassion

The efficacy of cultivating compassion the treatise writes so that it lands with a ring: because the bodhisattva perfumes and cultivates his mind with the compassion he has cultivated, "of inner and outer things, there is no small portion that he cannot relinquish; there is no discipline-restraint that he cannot train in; there is no harm from others that he cannot bear; there is no vigor that he cannot arouse; there is no meditative absorption that he cannot realize; there is no sublime wisdom that he cannot enter" — giving, discipline, patience, vigor, meditative absorption, wisdom: of the six perfections there is not one that is not driven along by the mind of compassion. Therefore, if the Tathāgata is asked "By whom is bodhisattva-awakening established?", "he always rightly answers, saying: bodhisattva-awakening is established by compassion". Dunlun records the variant reading of the old treatise here: "it is wholly different from the old treatise, which says: if someone asks, what is named a bodhisattva? one should rightly answer, saying: it is the one who abides in great compassion" — the new and old translations, one asking about awakening, one about the bodhisattva, both point their answer to a single word: compassion.

There is a further stroke worth recording: the noble śrāvakas have already realized the present-observation of the truth of suffering and reached the ultimate, and deeply give rise to aversion toward suffering, "yet are not the equal of the bodhisattva, who, with a mind that goes before in compassion toward the several sentient beings, rightly observes them as having fallen into the great heap of a hundred and ten kinds of suffering" — the śrāvaka looks at suffering in order to depart from it, the bodhisattva looks at suffering for the sake of sentient beings; one and the same truth of suffering, two ways of looking.

At the last, the four kinds of meritorious excellence are concluded: gaining the most excellent present-dharma pleasant abiding; taking hold of and increasing immeasurable provisions of merit; being firm in resolve toward unsurpassed perfect awakening; and, for the sake of benefiting sentient beings, being able to bear within birth-and-death all the great sufferings. Kuiji counts them cleanly: "gaining present-dharma pleasant abiding, one; gaining the provisions of merit, two; being firm in resolve toward awakening, three; bearing suffering for the sake of beings, four".

The One Meaning This Chapter Casts into Light

The three chapters narrow all the way down and deepen all the way through: offering sets out from incense, flowers, and material goods, and its peak is the offering by right conduct that "costs not a single coin" — the time it takes to milk a cow once, believing-and-understanding the dharma-nature apart from words; attending upon good friends sets out from the eight limbs of choosing a teacher, and lands on the listening-mind of "relying on the meaning, not on the words" and "never seeing a fault in the master who expounds the Dharma"; cultivating the immeasurables sets out from taking sentient beings as object, and in its depths is the objectless loving-kindness-and-compassion whose substance is non-conceptual knowledge, and thereafter it grows great compassion out of the hundred-and-ten sufferings and establishes awakening upon great compassion. A single stick of incense is offering; a single thought of compassion is also offering — the treatise ranges the two ends within one and the same chapter, and writes the judgment of high and low without the least ambiguity: conduct surpasses goods, mind runs deeper than things; and the whole root of all the practice-gates is compassion.

Carrying Forward

This chapter both inherits from before and opens onto what follows: the offering by right conduct's "believing-and-understanding the suchness of the dharma-nature apart from words" inherits the vein of "intrinsic nature apart from words" of the Chapter on the True Meaning (15-01-04), and Woncheuk matches it to the path of seeing; the five kinds of good-friend deed explicitly refer back to the Śrāvaka Stage ("their full elaboration should be known as in the Śrāvaka Stage", the good friend's five capacities, 13-01-06) and to the Chapter on the Lineage of Power ("instructing and admonishing-warning are expounded at length as in the earlier Chapter on the Lineage of Power", 15-01-08); in the sequence of chapters it inherits from the Chapter on the Means of Gathering and opens onto the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening — Dunlun judging this chapter to be "the practice of building-and-cultivating according to conditions" and the next chapter "the practice of inner realization". The Section on Ascertainment does not ascertain this chapter; Dunlun states the reason plainly: "it ascertains only sixteen chapters, and does not ascertain the four means-of-gathering chapter [and] the chapter on offerings, attending good friends, and the immeasurables, because their text and meaning are self-evident and so it does not further ascertain them" — text and meaning being self-evident, there is no re-ascertaining.