瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 菩提分品（子二 · 門10–15）

In one line: Gates 10–15 are threaded through by the single line of the "ineffable intrinsic nature" — tranquillity settles upon the ineffable bare thing and insight keeps far from the two extremes of over-affirmation and under-denial; the skill in means reconciles the emptiness scriptures by "it says only that the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken of phenomena is altogether nothing at all"; the acceptance-dhāraṇī takes, from a spell of no meaning, straight hold of "there is only the ineffable intrinsic nature of phenomena, and this is the meaning of intrinsic nature"; the samādhi of emptiness is set up in dependence on the ineffable; and the no-self of phenomena is just that the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken of phenomena is altogether nothing at all — the meaning of the Chapter on the True Reality here grows into six gateways of practice, and it closes with two similes, the prince's four carts and the sick one's good medicine, teaching one not to cling to one's own understanding and not to refuse the later dharma.

Three points of the eye:

1. The four practices of tranquillity-and-insight · uncommon to the Great Vehicle (eye · of weight · Consciousness-Only meaning): tranquillity = discerning nothing at all within all phenomena · insight = the two knowledges, true and conventional 〔0539c24 onward · Dunlun "meditative absorption on a single object, apart from the several discernments" 〔T42n1828 0555c09〕〕; the fourth of the four practices of tranquillity, "the ineffable bare thing … tending toward the equal nature, the single-flavored real nature of all phenomena" 〔0539c29–0540a02〕 (Tai "the ineffable bare thing that is the other-dependent nature" 〔0556a01〕 · Kuiji "enters the meaning of the single-flavored suchness" 〔T43n1829 0154a16–a17〕 · matched to grades of the path: before the grounds / the first to the seventh ground / the eighth and ninth / the tenth ground entering the buddha-ground 〔0154a20–a22〕); the four practices of insight = keeping far from over-affirmation · keeping far from under-denial 〔0540a05〕; the three samādhis "he contemplates all things, keeping far from all intrinsic nature as spoken, [seeing] that there is only the ineffable intrinsic nature of phenomena, and his mind is rightly settled" 〔0543c07〕 — Jing "the Great Vehicle's uncommon three samādhis, spoken in the sense that the non-conceptual knowledge and the associated absorption are of one substance" 〔T42n1828 0557c02–c04〕 · Kuiji "distinguished by function-in-meaning within the true contemplation" 〔T43n1829 0155b15〕 · the broad-and-narrow of the three names, cross-collated with the Section on Ascertainment 〔0698c06–c14〕.
2. Reconciling the emptiness scriptures · the acceptance-dhāraṇī (eye · of weight · Consciousness-Only meaning): hearing the emptiness scriptures, [they take] fright and defame them as not the Buddha's word 〔0541a13–a18〕 → "this scripture does not say that all phenomena whatsoever are altogether nothing at all, but says that the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken of phenomena is altogether nothing at all" 〔0541a21〕 (Kuiji's threefold-nature matching: the wholly-imagined absent like a rabbit's horn · the other-dependent not non-existent · suchness like open space · the other-dependent like an illusion · the truly-accomplished present in the ultimate sense 〔T43n1829 0154b25–c19〕) → "grasps no small part and forsakes no small part" 〔0541b19〕 (Kuiji "does not grasp the wholly-imagined, does not forsake the two natures" 〔0154c20〕); the acceptance-dhāraṇī spell "iṭṭhi miṭṭhi … svāhā" 〔0543a07–a08〕 → "altogether without meaning, the perfectly-accomplished real" 〔0543a11〕 → "there is only the ineffable intrinsic nature of phenomena, and this is the meaning of intrinsic nature" 〔0543a17〕 (the Tripiṭaka-master "in the applied-effort path, by upholding-and-reflecting on this spell one swiftly gains the true knowledge and realizes suchness, and so the text below places it at the Ground of Practice-through-Resolute-Conviction" 〔T42n1828 0557a08–a10〕 · Bei "the spell-phrases rightly convey that the other-dependent and the perfectly-accomplished are ineffable and unarisen" 〔0557b04〕); the four readings of the essence of the vow set out together (the old masters, acceptance / Bei, knowledge / the Tripiṭaka-master, "a vow provisionally set up upon the willing-desire-and-faith of thought" / Jing, resolute-conviction-willing-thought-and-faith 〔0557b08–b12〕).
3. The four dharma-uddānas · the two similes (eye): impermanence in two layers (the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken ever nothing at all / the ineffable thing arising and ceasing 〔0544a19–a21〕 · Jing "when grasping thus, it perfumes seeds and becomes a cause, giving birth to those other-dependent [dharmas]" · Woncheuk records the two Western glosses "by the reasoning of consciousness-only the three times are established — upon the substance of the seeing-part in the present the characters of the three times appear" 〔T42n1828 0558b14 onward〕); the four characters of the instant (Kuiji: by the Great Vehicle, arising and the three characters in the present, ceasing in the past · the simile of the two ends of a balance 〔T43n1829 0155c15 · 0156a11〕 · breaking the arising of arising / breaking the character of ceasing 〔0544b27 · 0544c03〕); the no-self of phenomena = "the phenomena that are the intrinsic nature of all speech are altogether nothing at all" 〔0544c21–c22〕; the threefold matching of nirvāṇa (the uninterrupted path / the path of liberation · subduing the present activity / cutting off the seeds 〔T43n1829 0156c13–c17〕); the simile of the prince and the four carts (resolute conviction in the image → shame at present realization 〔0545a01 onward〕 · Kuiji matches it to the four nirvāṇas, "the elephant figures the non-abiding" 〔T42n1828 0559c12–c14〕) · the simile of the sick one and the good medicine (clinging to the former medicine, unwilling to cast it away 〔0545b03 onward〕) · gathered up in the wondrously adorned cart 〔0545b19–b21〕.

Appended pointers:

• Carries forward from the first sub-part's Gate Nine, the contemplation of the body along the body ("keeping far from the intrinsic nature as spoken" 〔0539c10〕 → Gate Ten's "ineffable bare thing"); the reconciling passage, the samādhi of emptiness, and the no-self of phenomena all carry forward the Chapter on the True Reality (15-01-04).
• The Section on Ascertainment's ascertainment of the substance of this chapter = 0712c07–0713b01 (the contemplation of the body along the suchness-body · the sequence of the path-factors "the faculties are lower-grade, the powers are higher-grade" · the fourteen kinds of coarse-and-heavy bond of character · the cultivation of the foundations of mindfulness in dependence on emptiness · the eleven successive conception-bonds — where even "the conception of a characterless-of-intrinsic-nature" is a bond); the two judgments of the chapter-boundary, Jing's and Dunlun's (the latter following the Tripiṭaka-master), are set out together 〔T42n1828 0770b07–b10〕; the bond-of-character and coarse-and-heavy-bond run through to the terminology-system of the Saṃdhinirmocana 〔0716b16〕. See the Apparatus, Heading II (ii).
• Alternate translations: Dharmakṣema (the tranquillity-and-insight appended at the end of the path-factors passage · the six names according-establishing-a-covenant-a-differing-character-pressure-requiting-kindness-purity · the ten great vows complete at ten · the four udāna, "nirvāṇa-quiescent-cessation") · Guṇavarman (Gates 12–15 fall in the Chapter on the Dharmas Aiding Awakening, the nineteenth · the "eloquence-dhāraṇī" being in truth a divine spell, with the five practices of spell-upholding unique to it · no ten in the great vow · the nirvāṇa passage expanded, "the Tathāgata is in truth constant" 〔0998a10 onward〕); see the Apparatus, Heading II.
• Collation: this sub-part's span carries a full enumeration of the 26 Taishō collation notes — the fourth practice of tranquillity "by having no character / conception 【Song Yuan Ming Palace】" 〔0539009 · a variant reading at the doctrinal eye-line〕 and the tenth great vow "the second right vow / great vow 【Yuan Ming】" 〔0543004〕 are both recorded alongside; the base text follows the CBETA character-readings, with no critical-edition emendation raised. See the Apparatus, Heading II (iii).

Ten · Tranquillity and Insight

Herein, the bodhisattva, right within all phenomena, discerns nothing at all — this should be known as tranquillity. If, with respect to all phenomena, there is the true knowledge in accord with the real that ranges over the ultimate mode of principle, and the wondrous conventional knowledge that ranges over the immeasurable mode of principle established by convention — this should be known as insight.

Herein, the bodhisattva has, in brief, four practices that should be known as tranquillity: first, that which goes before the ultimate and conventional knowledge; second, the fruit of the ultimate and conventional knowledge; third, that which, throughout all conceptions of idle proliferation, turns without effort; fourth, that which, right within such an ineffable bare thing, by having no character and discerning nothing at all, is stilled in mind and tends toward the equal nature, the single-flavored real nature of all phenomena. By these four practices, the bodhisattvas' path of tranquillity turns onward, until, step by step, they are able to realize the fullness of the knowing and seeing of unsurpassed perfect awakening.

Herein, the bodhisattva has, in brief, four practices that should be known as insight: namely, that which goes before those four practices of the path of tranquillity, together with the wondrous insight that, with respect to all phenomena, keeps far from the wrong-grasping extreme of "over-affirmation" and keeps far from the wrong-grasping extreme of "under-denial," and that accords with the immeasurable mode of principle by which the distinctions among all phenomena are established. By these four practices, the bodhisattvas' path of insight turns onward, until, step by step, they are able to realize the fullness of the knowing and seeing of unsurpassed perfect awakening. This is called the brief account of the bodhisattva's tranquillity and insight.

Eleven · Skill in Means

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means (upāya-kauśalya)? It should be known that, stated in brief, there are twelve kinds: those directed inward, toward cultivating and realizing all the buddha-dharmas, are six in kind; those directed outward, toward ripening all sentient beings, are also six in kind.

The Six Directed Inward

What are the six kinds of skill in means directed inward, toward cultivating and realizing all the buddha-dharmas? First, the bodhisattva, toward all sentient beings, moves along in company with a heart of compassion, longing for them and not forsaking them. Second, the bodhisattva knows all conditioned activities thoroughly, in accord with the real. Third, the bodhisattva forever, toward all the wondrous knowledge of unsurpassed perfect awakening, with a deep heart takes delight. Fourth, the bodhisattva, because he takes as his ground his longing for sentient beings, does not forsake birth-and-death. Fifth, the bodhisattva, because he takes as his ground his knowing all conditioned activities thoroughly in accord with the real, revolves in birth-and-death yet his heart is undefiled. Sixth, the bodhisattva, because he takes as his ground his delight in the buddha-knowledge, is blazingly diligent. It should be known that these are called the bodhisattva's six kinds of skill in means directed inward, toward cultivating and realizing all the buddha-dharmas.

The Six Directed Outward · General Statement

What are the six kinds of skill in means directed outward, toward ripening all sentient beings? First, the bodhisattva's skill in means is able to make sentient beings, by a slight root of goodness, draw down an immeasurable fruit. Second, it is able to make sentient beings, by employing but slight effort, draw in vast and immeasurable roots of goodness. Third, toward sentient beings who spurn and turn their backs on the Buddha's holy teaching, it removes their anger and vexation. Fourth, toward sentient beings who stand midway before the Buddha's holy teaching, it makes them enter in. Fifth, toward those who have already entered into the Buddha's holy teaching, it makes them ripen. Sixth, toward those who have already ripened in the Buddha's holy teaching, it makes them attain liberation.

A Slight Root of Goodness Draws Down an Immeasurable Fruit

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means that makes sentient beings, by a slight root of goodness, draw down an immeasurable fruit? Namely, the bodhisattvas, by skill in means, exhort sentient beings to give away a poor and meager thing — down even to the very lowest, a single ball of roasted-grain meal — bestowing it upon a lowly and filthy field, down even to the class of squirming, creeping beasts; and, having made this gift, they turn it over toward the seeking of unsurpassed perfect awakening. Such a root of goodness, though the thing given and the field to which it is given are both lowly, by the force of the turning-over draws down an immeasurable fruit.

Slight Effort Draws In Vast Roots of Goodness

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means that makes sentient beings, by slight effort, draw in vast and immeasurable roots of goodness? Namely, the bodhisattvas' skill in means: if there are sentient beings who, out of resolute conviction, take up a wrong fasting-abstinence — down even to not taking food for a whole month, and the like — the bodhisattva proclaims for them the eightfold holy fasting-abstinence law, making them cast away the wrong fasting-abstinence that is utterly toilsome and draws down an unloved fruit, and exhorting them to train in the right fasting-abstinence that is not utterly toilsome and draws down a greatly loved fruit. If there are sentient beings who practice self-mortifying austerities, striving without slackening, who raise a wrong-means notion and seek liberation, he preaches for them the Middle Way, making them keep apart from the two extremes and causing them to enter in. If there are sentient beings who seek, in their notion, to be born in heaven, and who raise wrong means — hurling themselves off cliffs, rushing into fire, cutting off food and drink, and the like — he proclaims for them the meditative absorption free of error, making them win the abiding in ease within the present dharma, and reach the surpassing fruit of birth in heaven to come, which is without the several toils and hardships and arises together with joy and ease. If there are sentient beings who put faith in the brahmins' Vaidika spells, falsely reckoning that by diligently upholding, reciting, and reading them one attains ultimate purity, he by means exhorts them to uphold, recite, and reflect on the meaning within the Buddha's holy teaching.

Again, rightly for others, thus and thus proclaiming and disclosing the wondrous dharma, associated with the very deep emptiness that the Tathāgata has spoken, so as to make them give rise to a bold and decisive world-weariness and a fierce and keen pure faith — merely by such a single instant of a good mind moving along in company with world-weariness and pure faith, one can yet draw in vast roots of goodness beyond all reckoning, how much more when it is continuous and unbroken.

Again, the bodhisattvas, with all the sundry surpassing and wondrous rare treasures, fragrant garlands, and articles of offering that the world holds, raising a superior resolve that moves along with pure faith, make an offering of resolute conviction to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, and also lead others to perform such an offering of resolute conviction. Again, at every place in all the worlds of the ten directions where offering is made to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, they, with just such a superior resolve moving along with pure faith, take them all round about as their object, deeply giving rise to sympathetic rejoicing, and also lead others to make this sympathetic rejoicing. Again, the bodhisattvas forever cultivate the recollection of the Buddha, the recollection of the Dharma, and so on down to the recollection of the gods, and also lead others to cultivate the six recollections. Again, the bodhisattvas, by mind-and-word discernment, pay reverent homage to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha, down even to the end of their lives, letting no time pass in vain, and also lead others to perform this deed of homage. Again, the bodhisattvas, toward all the meritorious deeds of all sentient beings in the ten directions, rejoice sympathetically in every one, and also lead others to make this sympathetic rejoicing. Again, the bodhisattvas, toward all sentient beings in the ten directions, enter into the superior resolve of vast compassion, vowing with their own bodies to bear in every one's stead all their grief and suffering, and also lead others to raise up this vow of compassion. Again, the bodhisattvas, toward all lapses and all transgressions past and present, with a heart pure and pliant, loving and gladly following the precepts they have trained in, contemplate themselves as facing the place of the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones of the ten directions, and with utmost sincerity lay them bare, repenting the past and cultivating the future, and also lead others to perform this deed — thus, again and again laying bare what has been transgressed, by employing slight effort, all the karmic obstacles attain release. Again, the bodhisattvas, having already possessed the supernormal powers and gained mastery of mind, everywhere in the ten directions, at the places of the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha and in the midst of sentient beings, conjure up many and sundry conjured deeds, drawing in an immeasurable, great store of merit. Again, the bodhisattvas forever cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, and also lead others to make this cultivation. In such ways the bodhisattva, by slight effort, draws in the several surpassing and wondrous fruits of vast and immeasurable roots of goodness.

The Six Kinds of Skill in Means · General Statement

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means that, toward sentient beings who spurn and turn their backs on the Buddha's holy teaching, removes their anger and vexation; that, toward those who dwell midway, makes them enter in; that, toward those who have already entered in, makes them ripen; and that, toward those who have already ripened, makes them attain liberation? Namely, the bodhisattvas, in order to accomplish these four kinds of benefit-and-welfare for sentient beings, have — it should be known, stated in brief — a further six kinds of skill in means: first, the skill in means of according-and-reconciling; second, the skill in means of jointly setting up a covenant; third, the skill in means of a resolve of a differing part; fourth, the skill in means arising from pressure; fifth, the skill in means of bestowing kindness and requiting kindness; sixth, the skill in means of ultimate purity.

According-and-Reconciling

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means of according-and-reconciling? Namely, the bodhisattvas, before preaching the dharma for those sentient beings, should first, by means, accord with them: they display and set in motion a soft and lovely bearing of body and speech, and also display and set in motion a drawing-near, a giving, and a going-along, removing the anger and vexation that has arisen in the being toward himself; the anger and vexation removed, love and respect are born; love and respect born, delight arises in the dharma; and thereupon he proclaims for him the right dharma. The right dharma proclaimed, as befits him, is easy to enter and easy to understand, timely and step by step, without inversion, able to draw down benefit-and-welfare, and able to withstand challenge. In the matter of taming that being, [the bodhisattva] perfects the most surpassing heart that wishes to do him good and to be compassionate: he displays supernormal powers, mind-reading (knowing the being's mental intentions), and the disclosing preaching of the right dharma in accord with principle; or he requests others [to do so], or for his sake conjures up many and sundry extraordinary conjured deeds, so that that being is entirely tamed. If treatises that draw down benefit-and-welfare are exceedingly brief, he is able to elaborate them; if treatises that draw down benefit-and-welfare are exceedingly broad, he is able to state them briefly, causing him to take them up and hold them. He makes for him a bringing-to-mind, and grants him the raising of challenges. Once the being is able to receive and hold the dharma, [the bodhisattva] further, a step onward, opens the right meaning broadly for him. Again, in the matter of the samādhi-gateways of entering-in and of universally taking all as object, he is able to give a teaching and admonition that accords, benefiting sentient beings by making them cultivate the practice of benefit.

If there are sentient beings who, toward the scriptures associated with the very deep emptiness that the Buddha has spoken, do not understand the hidden intent and meaning of the Tathāgata — these scriptures saying that all phenomena are without intrinsic nature, are without any thing, are without arising and without ceasing, saying that all phenomena are all equal to open space, all like an illusion or a dream — they, having heard them, are unable to understand them according to their meaning, and their hearts give rise to fright and dread, and they defame all such scriptures, saying they are not what the Buddha spoke. The bodhisattva, for such sentient beings, by skill in means reconciles them in accord with principle, taking the very deep meaning of the Tathāgata's hidden intent within these scriptures and harmonizing it just as it is, and drawing in that being.

The bodhisattva, when he rightly reconciles in this way, says for them: this scripture does not say that all phenomena whatsoever are altogether nothing at all, but says that the "intrinsic nature as it is spoken" of phenomena is altogether nothing at all — and so it says "all phenomena are without intrinsic nature." Although there is all that is spoken of and expressed, and in dependence on it the expressings-in-speech come to turn, yet the "speakable intrinsic nature" that is expressed of it, in the sense of the highest meaning, is not its intrinsic nature — and so it says "all phenomena are without any thing." Since the reasoning of the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken of all phenomena is thus, and it has from the very origin been nothing at all, then what is there that could arise, what is there that could cease? — and so it says "all phenomena are without arising and without ceasing."

For example, in open space there are many forms and form-activities to be found, and open space contains and receives all the several forms and form-activities — within open space there presently appear the sundry deeds of going, or coming, or standing, of rising, falling, bending, and stretching; if at that time one removes and dispels all the forms and form-activities, then at that very time only the pure open space of the nature-without-form appears in its character. In just the same way, right upon this ineffable thing that resembles open space, there are the several wrong conceivings-and-discernments made by speech, and the graspings that follow along with idle proliferation, turning like form-activities; and all these wrong conceivings-and-discernments and graspings-following-idle-proliferation by speech, resembling the several form-activities, are contained and received by the ineffable thing that resembles open space. If at some time the bodhisattva, by wondrous holy knowledge, removes and dispels all the wrong conceivings-and-discernments and graspings-following-idle-proliferation that arise from speech, then at that time the bodhisattva, the most surpassing holy one, by wondrous holy knowledge realizes the ineffable thing of phenomena — shown forth as only "the intrinsic-nature of all speech is a non-nature" — for example, as the pure character of open space appears; and neither is there any further remaining intrinsic nature, beyond this, that ought to be sought out. And so it proclaims "all phenomena are all equal to open space."

Again, just as an illusion and a dream are not, as they appear, really existent in accord with the real, and yet the shape and stuff of all illusions and dreams are not altogether nothing at all — in just the same way, phenomena are not, as they appear by the force of the habituation of fools' speech, really existent in accord with the real, and yet the ineffable intrinsic nature, in the sense of the ultimate, of all phenomena is not altogether nothing at all. By the reasoning entered into through this means, all phenomena are neither existent nor non-existent, being like an illusion or a dream, their nature not-two — and so it proclaims "all phenomena are all like an illusion or a dream."

In this way the bodhisattva, everywhere throughout the dharma-realm of all phenomena, grasps no small part and forsakes no small part, makes no under-denial and makes no over-affirmation, and there is nothing he lets go to ruin: if a phenomenon is really existent, he knows it as really existent; if a phenomenon is really non-existent, he knows it as really non-existent; and as he knows it, thus does he disclose it. It should be known that this is called the bodhisattva's skill in means of according-and-reconciling.

Jointly Setting Up a Covenant

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means of jointly setting up a covenant? Namely, the bodhisattvas, if they see sentient beings who come seeking food and drink and the other ten kinds of things for sustaining the body, then set up a covenant (an agreement) jointly with them, saying: if you can know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them, and to the several śramaṇas and brahmins and the rest (as broadly stated before), down even to being able to uphold the pure precepts — then I, according to your wish, will give you food and drink and the several things for sustaining the body; but if you cannot, then I will not give them to you. In this way the bodhisattva, if he sees sentient beings who come seeking the several matters of fields, matters of dwellings, the several matters of markets, matters of the king, matters of walled cities, matters of wealth, matters of grain, or who come seeking the several crafts-industries and the several sciences, or who come seeking to be friends together, or who come seeking to make a marriage together, or who come seeking to hold a town-gathering together, or who come seeking help in managing an enterprise — the bodhisattva sets up a covenant with him, saying: if you can know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them (as broadly stated before) — then I will give you fields and dwellings, and, broadly stated, down to helping you manage your enterprise.

Again, the bodhisattvas, if they see sentient beings who have the several faults and transgressions, or who are accused and prosecuted, or who, for having done the several unbeneficial deeds, are seized by others and are about to be punished with bonds, severing, beating, humiliation, coercion, banishment, and exile; or who are seized by others and are about to be flogged, bound, and sold — the bodhisattva then, as far as he is able and with all his strength, sets up a covenant, saying: if you can know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them (as broadly stated before) — then I will by means rescue you, making you escape from this peril. Again, the bodhisattvas, if they see sentient beings who meet with the several dreads — of kings, robbers, water, fire, humans and non-humans, of not being able to live, of ill repute, and the like — the bodhisattva then sets up a covenant, saying: if you can know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them (as broadly stated before) — then I will by means rescue you, making you avoid this dread. Again, the bodhisattvas, if they see sentient beings who wish to meet with one they love, or seek to be parted from one they do not love, the bodhisattva then sets up a covenant, saying: if you can know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them (as broadly stated before) — then I will fulfill your wish, making the loved one meet and the unloved one part. Again, the bodhisattvas, if they see sentient beings afflicted by the suffering of illness, set up a covenant, saying: if you can know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them (as broadly stated before) — then I will save you from your illness-suffering, making you attain ease.

Those sentient beings, having thus had a covenant set up for them by the bodhisattva, swiftly receive-and-train in the several classes of the good, and swiftly remove-and-cut off the several classes of evil; and the bodhisattva is able in every case to fulfill their wish. It should be known that this is called the bodhisattva's skill in means of jointly setting up a covenant.

A Resolve of a Differing Part

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means of a resolve of a differing part? Namely, the bodhisattvas, having set up a covenant with sentient beings, if those sentient beings, in the several matters spoken of above, do not, according to their wish, swiftly practice — the bodhisattva then, toward the several matters spoken of above that he had sought, in no case gives them — solely for the sake of benefiting that being, and not out of some other resolve does he not give them to him. In just the same way, toward the several kinds of sentient beings who are amid the several places of peril, the several places of dread, who wish to meet with one they love, seek to part from one they do not love, or are troubled by illness-suffering, he provisionally, for the time, sets them aside — solely for the sake of benefiting that being, and not out of some differing mind does he set them aside, not out of some differing mind does he fail to rescue them. In this way the bodhisattva, when toward sentient beings he by means displays and sets in motion a deed that is hard and fierce, does so solely to benefit, not out of any remaining resolve; step by step making him, at another time, according to his wish, cut off the several evils and train in the several goods — and so by means he provisionally, for the time, sets him aside.

If there are sentient beings who, though they seek nothing of the bodhisattva, and have no manifold perils (broadly stated, down to having no illness-suffering), yet have with the bodhisattva a prior intimate and warm acquaintance, the bodhisattva, toward him, as is fitting, exhorts and guides him to cut off the several evil dharmas and cultivate the several good dharmas — namely, making him know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them, broadly stated down to receiving-and-training in accord with pure moral discipline. If that being, though favored with such exhortation and guidance from the bodhisattva, still deliberately, out of levity and license, does not carry it out, the bodhisattva then outwardly displays a bearing of wrath and reproach — solely wishing to benefit, not out of a resolve of wrath; in all that he does he displays perverseness and turning-away — solely to benefit, not out of a resolve of forsaking; or toward a certain class of person he displays and sets in motion the deed of an unbeneficial worldly one — solely to benefit, not out of a resolve of harm. In this way the bodhisattva, in the deeds he outwardly displays toward sentient beings, is of a "differing part" from the character of his inner resolve (the outer character and the inner mind not agreeing); by this cause-and-condition he by means settles that being in place, making him step by step cut off the several evils and step by step cultivate the several goods. And so this means of the bodhisattva's for taming sentient beings is called the bodhisattva's skill in means of a resolve of a differing part.

Arising from Pressure

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means arising from pressure? Namely, the bodhisattvas, whether being a householder-master or acting as a king, gain a dominant power, and toward their own kinsfolk and their own subjects are able rightly to instruct and admonish. As is fitting they say: "My several kinsfolk, my several subjects — if any of them, toward father and mother, does not know to requite kindness, broadly stated down to breaking the precepts, then I shall cut off the clothing and food and drink that I regularly grant him, or shall flog and punish him; or my kinsfolk shall become estranged from him, or my subjects shall be forever banished." And [the bodhisattva] moreover installs a man skillful, alert, and quick, ever making him observe and watch those matters. By this cause, those sentient beings, in dread of chastisement, diligently cut off the several evils and diligently cultivate the several goods. Though they have no wish or desire toward cultivating the good, by this means they are forcibly pressed to cultivate it. Therefore it is called the skill in means arising from pressure.

Bestowing Kindness and Requiting Kindness

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means of bestowing kindness and requiting kindness? Namely, the bodhisattvas first, toward sentient beings, according to their strength, in greater or lesser measure perform an act of kindness: either giving what they need, or relieving their peril, or removing their terror, or making them meet with the loved, or making them part from the unloved, or curing their illness-suffering, so that they attain ease. When those sentient beings, deeply aware of the kindness, wish to requite the virtue, the bodhisattva then exhorts them to cultivate the good, and by this receives the requital of kindness. He says: "You need not repay me with some other worldly wealth or goods to count as a great requital of kindness; if you can know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them, broadly stated down to upholding the pure precepts — this alone is called requiting kindness greatly, most greatly." The bodhisattva thus first, toward sentient beings, bestows kindness, and then exhorts and praises "cultivating the good is itself a great requital of kindness"; and by this means he makes them, toward the good, diligently train. Therefore it is called the skill in means of bestowing kindness and requiting kindness.

Ultimate Purity

What is the bodhisattva's skill in means of ultimate purity? Namely, the bodhisattvas, abiding at the ultimate ground of the bodhisattva, having well purified the bodhisattva-path, first display taking birth within the like-part [company] of the Tuṣita heaven. Immeasurable sentient beings think thus, saying: "That bodhisattva, so-and-so, has now been born within the like-part company of the Tuṣita heaven, and before long shall descend to be born in Jambudvīpa and shall realize unsurpassed perfect awakening. May we be able to meet with him and not miss him; and wherever this bodhisattva is born, may we too be able to be born there." Thus, in order to make immeasurable sentient beings raise up a right wish and delight, and in order to have them cultivate this wish and delight much.

Again, this bodhisattva, passing away from the company of the Tuṣita heaven, descends to the human realm, and is born into a house of high nobility or of eminent lineage — namely a royal house, or the house of a state-preceptor — and casts away the sundry surpassing and wondrous desirable pleasures of the world, with no longing left, and in purity leaves the household life: in order to make sentient beings give rise to reverence. Again, he displays vowing to undertake hard-to-practice austerities: in order to make sentient beings who are resolutely convinced of austerities cast away what they delight in. Again, he realizes unsurpassed perfect awakening: in order to make the remaining sentient beings, toward the awakening-and-liberation of the same course, give rise to a surpassing delight. Again, having realized unsurpassed perfect awakening, he does not at once preach the right dharma for sentient beings, but waits for the god-king Brahmā to come in person and request it: in order to make sentient beings give rise to reverence toward the right dharma — they will think thus: "The dharma about to be preached must be surpassing and wondrous, and that is why now Brahmā, longing for the World-Honored One to preach this dharma, has come in person to request it." Again, he contemplates the world with the buddha-eye — so as not to let sentient beings make such a defamation: "It was only because Brahmā came in person to request it, and out of respect for Brahmā, that he preached the right dharma; it was not out of his own compassion for sentient beings; he was spurred on by another, and was not himself able to know whether the occasion was suitable or not." In order to break through such a wrong grasping of that class of sentient beings, he first contemplates the world with the buddha-eye, and then turns the unsurpassed wheel of the dharma — such as no one in all the world had ever turned. In this way he again proclaims the right dharma and lays down the training-precepts. This is called the bodhisattva's skill in means of ultimate purity. By the skill in means spoken of here, there is no further skill in means that yet surpasses or is more wondrous than this — and so it is called ultimate purity.

In this way the six kinds — whether brief or broad — of skill in means that the bodhisattva has spoken of are able to remove all the anger and vexation of sentient beings who spurn and turn their backs on the holy teaching; those who dwell midway, they make enter in; those who have already entered in, they make ripen; those who have already ripened, they make attain liberation. Beyond this there is nothing further or fuller. This is called the bodhisattva's skill in means.

Twelve · The Wondrous Dhāraṇīs

What are the bodhisattva's wondrous dhāraṇīs? It should be known that such wondrous dhāraṇīs are, in brief, of four kinds: first, the dharma-dhāraṇī; second, the meaning-dhāraṇī; third, the spell-dhāraṇī; fourth, the dhāraṇī for attaining the bodhisattva's acceptance.

What is the bodhisattva's dharma-dhāraṇī? Namely, the bodhisattvas gain such a sustaining force of mindfulness and wisdom, and by this sustaining force, toward the immeasurable scriptures that they have heard but never before heard, whose wording they have not rehearsed, that they have not thoroughly mastered, that are gathered up under name-body, phrase-body, and syllable-body, whose sequence is intricately interwoven, whose sequence is compiled — across immeasurable time they are able to hold them without forgetting. This is called the bodhisattva's dharma-dhāraṇī.

What is the bodhisattva's meaning-dhāraṇī? Namely, as said before; the difference being: right upon the immeasurable meaning of that dharma, which their mind has not rehearsed and has not thoroughly mastered, across immeasurable time they are able to hold it without forgetting. This is called the bodhisattva's meaning-dhāraṇī.

What is the bodhisattva's spell-dhāraṇī? Namely, the bodhisattvas gain such mastery in meditative equipoise, and by this mastery empower those spell-phrases that are able to remove sentient beings' calamities and afflictions, making those phrases all become potent, potent in the highest degree, nothing wasted, able to remove not one kind only but the several kinds of calamities and afflictions. This is called the bodhisattva's spell-dhāraṇī.

What is the bodhisattva's dhāraṇī for attaining the bodhisattva's acceptance? Namely, the bodhisattvas accomplish the naturally-firm cause-conduct and are fully furnished with wondrous wisdom; dwelling alone in an empty and idle place, stilled and without speech, never with a single thing, they walk seeing the path; they eat knowing the measure, do not eat mixed with filth, and eat one class only; ever in deepest meditative absorption, in the night-watch they sleep little and are awake much; and toward the spell-phrases that the Buddha has spoken for attaining the bodhisattva's acceptance, they are able to reflect on them in truth and reality. Their spell-words say: iṭṭhi miṭṭhi kiṭṭhi bhikṣānti padāni svāhā. Right upon the meaning of such spell-phrases they examine, reflect, weigh, and contemplate. When he thus rightly practices toward the meaning of such spell-phrases, not hearing it from another, he naturally penetrates through: he knows that such spell-phrases are altogether without meaning, are the perfectly-accomplished real, and are only meaning-less; he knows in accord with the real that the meaning of these phrases is just "meaning-less." Therefore, beyond this, he seeks no further meaning — reaching this, it is called the wondrous-and-good penetration of the meaning of the spell-phrases.

After he has rightly penetrated the meaning of such spell-phrases, then following this meaning, not hearing it from another, he himself rightly penetrates the meaning of all phenomena. Namely, toward this meaning he penetrates in this way: the meaning of the intrinsic nature of all phenomena that is spoken and expressed in all speech is one and all not accomplished as real; there is only the ineffable intrinsic nature of phenomena, and this is the meaning of intrinsic nature. After he has rightly penetrated this meaning of the intrinsic nature of phenomena, beyond this there is no further meaning to be sought. Because of well penetrating this meaning, he gains the most surpassing, vast gladness. Thereby the bodhisattva attains dhāraṇī, and it should be said that he has attained the bodhisattva's surpassing acceptance established by these dhāraṇī-phrases. Because he attains this acceptance, these bodhisattvas shall before long attain the pure surpassing resolve, having turned by the surpassing acceptance of the higher-grade Ground of Practice-through-Resolute-Conviction. It should be known that this is called the bodhisattva's dhāraṇī for attaining the bodhisattva's acceptance.

Herein, the bodhisattva's dharma-dhāraṇī and meaning-dhāraṇī, if [attained] after passing the first incalculable great eon, after already entering the Ground of Pure Surpassing Resolve, are then settled, firmly established, and vast; below this, whether by the force of a vow or in dependence on meditative absorption, though there is some attaining, it is not settled, not firmly established, not vast. As said for the two dhāraṇīs of dharma and meaning, so should the spell-dhāraṇī be known to be. The dhāraṇī for attaining the bodhisattva's acceptance is, as explained above, attained just so.

If the bodhisattvas are furnished with four kinds of quality, they then gain such dhāraṇīs, and lacking any one it cannot be. Which four kinds of quality? First, toward the several desires they have no craving-attachment; second, toward another's surpassing affairs they raise no jealous grudge, and are not envious of another's glory; third, toward all that is sought they give equally, without regret; fourth, toward the right dharma they deeply give rise to gladness — one who gladdens in the dharma, toward the bodhisattva-canon and the mātṛkā (the matrix) of the bodhisattva-canon deeply and heartily loves and delights.

Thirteen · The Right Vow

What is the right vow that the bodhisattva cultivates? It should be known that this vow is, in brief, of five kinds: first, the vow of arousing the mind; second, the vow of taking birth; third, the vow of what is to be practiced; fourth, the right vow; fifth, the great vow.

If the bodhisattvas, toward unsurpassed perfect awakening, arouse the mind for the very first time, this is called the vow of arousing the mind. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, to take birth among the several good destinies that are able to accord with and benefit sentient beings, this is called the vow of taking birth. If the bodhisattvas vow to be able, without inversion, to consider-and-discern all phenomena, and to vow, with respect to the [meditative] object, to cultivate the immeasurable and equal surpassing good dharmas, this is called the vow of what is to be practiced. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, to draw in all the bodhisattva good dharmas, and to draw in all merits there are — all the right vows, whether general or particular — this is called the right vow. The bodhisattva's great vow, it should be known, issues from the right vow, and this again is of ten kinds:

If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, with every kind of surpassing and wondrous article of offering to make offering to the immeasurable and boundless Tathāgatas, it should be known that this is called the first great vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, to draw in and guard the right dharma that all the Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, have, transmitting and upholding the dharma-eye so that it is not cut off and ruined, it should be known that this is called the second right vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, to descend from the palace of the Tuṣita heaven, as spoken of before, down even to entering great parinirvāṇa, it should be known that this is called the third great vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, to practice every kind of the bodhisattva's right practice, it should be known that this is called the fourth great vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, to be able everywhere to ripen all sentient beings, it should be known that this is called the fifth great vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, to be able to display themselves in all the worlds, it should be known that this is called the sixth great vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, to be able everywhere to purify-and-cultivate all buddha-lands, it should be known that this is called the seventh great vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, that all bodhisattvas may, of one and the same kind of resolve and applied practice, enter into the Great Vehicle, it should be known that this is called the eighth great vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, that all their uninverted applied practices there are may none of them be in vain, it should be known that this is called the ninth great vow. If the bodhisattvas vow, in the time to come, swiftly to realize unsurpassed perfect awakening, it should be known that this is called the tenth great vow.

Fourteen · The Three Samādhis

What is the bodhisattva's samādhi of emptiness? Namely, the bodhisattvas contemplate all things, keeping far from all intrinsic nature as spoken, [seeing] that there is only the ineffable intrinsic nature of phenomena, and their mind is rightly settled. This is called the bodhisattva's samādhi of emptiness.

What is the bodhisattva's samādhi of wishlessness? Namely, the bodhisattvas, right upon all the things of the ineffable intrinsic nature that they contemplate with even regard, [seeing] that, being drawn in by the afflictions raised through wrong discernment and by the several sufferings, they are all defiled by immeasurable faults; toward the world to come, with non-wishing going before, their mind is rightly settled. This is called the bodhisattva's samādhi of wishlessness.

What is the bodhisattva's samādhi of no-character? Namely, the bodhisattvas, right upon all the things of the ineffable intrinsic nature that they rightly reflect on, [seeing] that all the characters of discernment and idle proliferation are forever extinguished and stilled, know this in accord with the real, and their mind is rightly settled. This is called the bodhisattva's samādhi of no-character.

Question: Why are only three samādhis set up, with none too few and none too many? Answer: Phenomena are of two kinds, namely the existent and the non-existent. The conditioned and the unconditioned are named "the existent"; self and what belongs to self are named "the non-existent." Within the conditioned, because there is nothing to wish for and because it is to be found loathsome, it should be known that on this basis the samādhi of wishlessness is established. Within the unconditioned, because one wishes for nirvāṇa and because it is drawn in by right delight, it should be known that on this basis the samādhi of no-character is established. Toward the thing that is non-existent, the bodhisattva neither wishes nor even not-wishes; yet toward the non-existent, the bodhisattva sees it in accord with the real as non-existent — on the basis of this seeing, it should be known, the samādhi of emptiness is established.

In this way the bodhisattva, within these three kinds of samādhi, diligently trains, and upon this basis knows [them] in accord with the real; toward the three samādhis of the remaining modes-of-apprehension he penetrates in accord with the real, toward the mode of principle established by convention he penetrates in accord with the real, and toward the mode of principle of cultivation he knows in accord with the real — namely, [that mode] in which the several śrāvakas diligently train and fully realize.

Fifteen · The Four Dharma-Uddānas

(The root text here crosses a fascicle boundary: the Bodhisattva Stage, the fifteenth, of the Basic Section · the Preliminary Yoga-Station · the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening, the seventeenth, third part.)

There are, further, four dharma-uddānas, which the buddhas and bodhisattvas speak in order to make sentient beings pure. Which four? All conditioned activities are impermanent — this is called the first dharma-uddāna; all conditioned activities are, one and all, suffering — this is called the second dharma-uddāna; all phenomena are without a self — this is called the third dharma-uddāna; nirvāṇa is quiescent — this is called the fourth dharma-uddāna.

The buddhas and bodhisattvas, mostly for sentient beings, proclaim such meaning that is associated with the dharma, and therefore it is called a dharma-uddāna. Again, from of old, the several honored sages of silence, whose minds are stilled, at all times pass it on and proclaim it in turn, and therefore this is called an uddāna. Again, this track of conduct is able to lead onward to the great birth, and is also able to lead onward out of the summit of existence, and therefore this is called an uddāna.

All Conditioned Activities Are Impermanent

What is it for the bodhisattva to contemplate with even regard that all conditioned activities are impermanent? Namely, the bodhisattvas contemplate that the intrinsic nature as spoken of all conditioned activities is at all times ever nothing at all — such conditioned activities being ever unattainable, they are therefore named impermanent. Again, they contemplate that in that ineffable thing, because it is not thoroughly known in its true reality, with not-knowing (ajñāna) as the cause, arising and ceasing are to be found — such conditioned activities' ineffable intrinsic nature having arising and having ceasing, they are therefore named impermanent.

Again, the bodhisattvas contemplate past activities as already arisen and already ceased: because for those activities no cause is to be found, and there is no intrinsic nature either, they therefore contemplate that both their causal nature and their intrinsic nature are nothing at all. They contemplate present activities as already arisen but not yet ceased: because for those activities the cause is not to be found (having already given the fruit) and the intrinsic nature is to be found (not yet having ceased), they therefore contemplate that their intrinsic nature is present but there is no cause. They contemplate future activities as not yet arisen and not yet ceased: because for those activities a cause is to be found (not yet having given the fruit) and there is no intrinsic nature (not yet having arisen), they therefore contemplate that there is only causal nature and no intrinsic nature.

The bodhisattva, having thus seen the segmented conditioned activities of the three times turning on in continuity, contemplates with even regard that the conditioned activities of each single instant all have the three characters of the conditioned, and after the instant there is further a fourth character of the conditioned. Right herein: the intrinsic nature of the prior-instant activity perishing, and without interval, the instant-intrinsic-nature of activities not prior arising — this is rightly contemplated as "arising"; the activities having arisen, being for the moment not yet perished — this is rightly contemplated as "abiding"; this already-arisen activity, being somewhat different from the instant-intrinsic-nature of the prior already-ceased activities — this is rightly contemplated as "aging"; from the instant after these activities arise, this same already-arisen activities' instant-intrinsic-nature perishing — this is rightly contemplated as "ceasing."

The bodhisattva contemplates that this already-arisen instant activities' intrinsic nature is just the intrinsic nature of arising, abiding, and aging, and does not see that arising and the rest have any separate intrinsic nature; he contemplates in accord with the real that, in the instant after arising, this same arising-and-the-rest activities' instant-intrinsic-nature perishes, and has no separate nature. In this way the four characters of the conditioned gather up all activities, and, to state it essentially, are shown forth by two divisions: first, that shown by the "existent" division; second, that shown by the "non-existent" division. Herein the World-Honored One, in dependence on the "existent" division, establishes one character of the conditioned, and in dependence on the "non-existent" division establishes the second character of the conditioned; abiding and altering, the two kinds, being both shown by the "existent" division of activities, establish the third character of the conditioned.

Herein the bodhisattva contemplates that at all times there is only activities, and beyond this there is no "arising, abiding, aging, ceasing" ever really a thing, accomplished as an intrinsic nature. Why? When activities arise, there is only such activities to be found, and there is no other separate arising, abiding, aging, ceasing; when such activities abide, age, and cease, there is only such activities to be found, and there is no other separate arising, abiding, aging, ceasing.

Again, the bodhisattvas, seeking by reasoning, [find that] arising and the rest as real things are also not to be found. This seeking-and-not-finding means: if apart from those forms and the other activities there were a separate "arising" dharma, then, just as forms and the other activities have arising in their own substance, so this "arising" too ought to have arising; and thus there ought to be two kinds of arising — first, the arising of activity; second, the arising of arising. Then, are the arising of activity and that arising of arising one, or different? If they are said to be one, then to reckon "arising" as really existent becomes empty talk; and to say that there is a separate "arising" that is really a thing existent does not fit the reasoning. If they are said to be different, then it ought to become "the arising of arising that is not [the arising] of activity"; whereas "it is the arising of arising that is [the arising] of activity" does not fit the reasoning. As is said of the character of arising, so, broadly stated, of the characters of abiding, aging, and ceasing, it should be known to be likewise — if the "ceasing" dharma had a separate intrinsic nature and were accomplished as a real thing, then this ceasing ought to have arising and have ceasing; if at the time ceasing arises, all activities ought to cease together, and thus, by employing slight effort, as though entering the attainment of cessation, the several minds and mental factors would one and all cease; if at the time "ceasing" ceases, all activities, though already one and all ceased, ought again to arise — because "ceasing" is already gone. Therefore to say that "ceasing" has arising and has ceasing does not fit the reasoning.

Again, if for a good man or a good woman there were at all times something ever really a thing, accomplished as an intrinsic nature, and yet they could contemplate it as provisionally existent, and could thereby cultivate world-weariness, dispassion, and liberation — this does not fit the reasoning; the reverse of this is what fits the reasoning. By this mode-of-apprehension, the bodhisattvas know in accord with the real that all conditioned activities are impermanent.

All Conditioned Activities Are Suffering

Again, the bodhisattvas, contemplating impermanent activities as they turn on in continuity, [find that] they are able to serve as the ground for the three kinds of suffering: first, the suffering of conditionedness; second, the suffering of change; third, the suffering of suffering. In this way the bodhisattva knows in accord with the real that all conditioned activities are, one and all, suffering.

All Phenomena Are Without a Self

Again, the bodhisattvas know in accord with the real the two kinds of no-self-nature of all phenomena, conditioned and unconditioned: first, the no-self-nature of the person; second, the no-self-nature of phenomena. The no-self-nature of the person within phenomena: namely, it is not that "the dharmas-that-are" are the real person, nor is it that apart from "the dharmas-that-are" there is a separate real person. The no-self-nature of phenomena within phenomena: namely, that within all that is spoken and expressed, the phenomena that are the intrinsic nature of all speech are altogether nothing at all. In this way the bodhisattva knows in accord with the real that all phenomena are without a self.

Nirvāṇa Is Quiescent

Again, the bodhisattvas contemplate that all activities, their prior cause forever cut off, thereafter ceasing without remainder, and the rest utterly not rising and not arising, is named nirvāṇa. It should be known that nirvāṇa is in its substance quiescent — because all the several sufferings are utterly stilled, and because all the afflictions are ultimately quenched.

Thus the bodhisattvas who have not attained the pure surpassing resolve, and the several śrāvaka-vehicle persons who have not seen the holy truths, though toward nirvāṇa they raise a resolute conviction and likewise say "nirvāṇa is quiescent," yet toward nirvāṇa they do not yet understand in accord with the real, and are not yet able to turn by the true knowing-and-seeing in accord with the real — but they too have attention in accord with principle.

For example, a prince or the son of an elder, from his birth and rearing has never yet walked out of the palace of the king or the inner chambers of the elder; the king and the elder each, for the young child, make up the several playthings — a deer-cart, an ox-cart, a horse-cart, an elephant-cart — and bestow them on them. At that time the prince and the son of the elder use them to play, delighting and disporting themselves, and thereupon, toward these made-up deer, oxen, horses, and elephants, give rise to a real deer-notion, ox-notion, horse-notion, elephant-notion. Later, one day, the king and the elder each know that their son has gradually grown up and his faculties have ripened, and praise for them the real deer, oxen, horses, and elephants. At that time the prince and the son of the elder, hearing the father's praise, think: "Could it be that our royal father and our elder father are praising the four kinds of cart — the deer, oxen, horses, and elephants — that we have?" Again, later on, the king and the elder, knowing that the son has grown larger, lead him out from the inner chambers to roam abroad, and point out to them the real deer, oxen, horses, and elephants. They, having seen them, naturally give rise within to an understanding-of-wisdom in accord with the real: "These are the deer-cart, ox-cart, horse-cart, and elephant-cart of real meaning! Father has, over a long time, praised this matter for us; it is only that we, without wisdom, toward those things that were not in accord with the real, that were merely resemblances, merely images, gave rise to a resolute conviction of real deer and the rest." By this cause-and-condition, toward their former resolute conviction they follow up with shame.

Herein: the palace-chamber figures birth-and-death; the several young children born and reared figure the bodhisattvas who have not realized the pure surpassing resolve and the several śrāvaka-vehicle persons who have not seen the truths; the father figures the buddhas and the bodhisattvas who have already realized-and-entered the great grounds; the making-up for them, at first, of the deer, oxen, and the other carts figures the proclaiming for them of the deer-character of nirvāṇa; the later praising of the real deer and the rest figures the buddhas and bodhisattvas themselves presently realizing and personally seeing the real nirvāṇa, and, as they have seen it, praising before those bodhisattvas and śrāvakas the real qualities of nirvāṇa; the remaining part figures their, after hearing, using only an understanding-of-wisdom that goes along with the sound, and, toward the virtue of nirvāṇa, holding a resolute conviction through the long night. If at that time the store of provisions ripens and step by step increases, and they become bodhisattvas of the pure surpassing resolve and śrāvakas who have seen the truths, giving rise, toward the true nirvāṇa, to the knowledge of present realization; then at that time there arises within them an understanding-of-wisdom in accord with the real: "Such a nirvāṇa is what all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas realize, and what the buddhas and bodhisattvas praised before; we formerly, with the understanding-of-wisdom of fools, toward those things that were not in accord with the real, that were merely resemblances, merely images, gave rise to a resolute conviction of a real nirvāṇa." By this cause-and-condition, toward their former resolute conviction they follow up with shame, and take as their ground the later resolute conviction in accord with the real.

Again, it is like a sick person who goes to a great physician, and in order to remove his illness seeks the medicine that accords, and, having got it, regularly takes it. Toward this medicine he deeply gives rise to resolute conviction, deeply gives rise to fond delight, and sees it as real alone. By this cause-and-condition, the former illness is cured, and again a different illness arises, and he ought to take a different medicine. At that time the great physician knows that the former illness is already cured, that a later illness has arisen again, and that a different medicine is further needed, and exhorts him to cast away the former medicine and have him take the other medicine. At that time the sick person, foolish and without discernment, toward the medicine he formerly took deeply gives rise to resolute conviction, raises the notion "this alone suits me," and is unwilling to cast it away. At that time the great good physician proclaims for him the nature of the former and later medicines: for the illness he now suffers, the former medicine is unsuitable, the later medicine is superior. At that time the sick person, though he hears this word, gives rise to no resolute conviction, and still does not deeply trust what the good physician says.

Herein: the sick one figures the several ordinary beings, bodhisattvas, and śrāvakas, held fast by the illness of the afflictions; the great good physician figures the several Tathāgatas; those good medicines figure the dharma-teachings, right teachings, and teachings-and-admonitions that are proclaimed — whether high, higher-and-surpassing, on up to the utmost; or deep, deeper-and-surpassing, on up to the deepest; or inferior, or surpassing, on up to the utmost-surpassing. They, though they have heard them, are unable to enter in and give rise to no resolute conviction, and are unable to practice the practice-in-accord-with-the-dharma. But the several bodhisattvas and śrāvakas who have pure faith, toward what the Buddha has spoken give rise to no doubt, and mounting the unsurpassed dharma-vehicle — spoken by the Buddha, like a wondrously adorned cart complete in all its parts and fittings — like a good driver, according to the ground they travel and according to the place they should reach, swiftly and swiftly press onward, with nothing detaining them.

Tranquillity and Insight: A Tranquillity of Eight Words, an Insight of Two Kinds of Knowledge

At the close of the first sub-part, the bodhisattva's four foundations of mindfulness contemplate "keeping far from the intrinsic nature as spoken"; at the head of this sub-part, the treatise at once asks: that mind which can contemplate — how is it to be set up? The answer is exceedingly brief: "Herein the bodhisattva, right within all phenomena, discerns nothing at all — this should be known as tranquillity. If, with respect to all phenomena, there is the true knowledge in accord with the real that ranges over the ultimate mode of principle, and the wondrous conventional knowledge that ranges over the immeasurable mode of principle established by convention — this should be known as insight" — tranquillity is discerning nothing at all; insight is the two knowledges, the true and the conventional. Dunlun sums it up: "meditative absorption on a single object, apart from the several discernments, should be known as tranquillity; next, showing the two knowledges, true and conventional, is named insight".

Tranquillity has four practices: that which goes before the ultimate and conventional knowledge; the fruit of the ultimate and conventional knowledge; that which throughout all conceptions of idle proliferation turns without effort; and "right within such an ineffable bare thing, by having no character and discerning nothing at all, stilled in mind, tending toward the equal nature, the single-flavored real nature of all phenomena". The ancient masters take the four practices apart line by line (Jing, Tai, and Kuiji — the three masters — set out together by Dunlun): the first practice is the expedient absorption prior to the two knowledges (Kuiji: "the absorption simultaneous with the applied-effort knowledge"); of the fourth practice, Tai judges, "in the ineffable bare thing that is the other-dependent nature, stilled in mind — this is the true knowledge", and Kuiji, "it says that the right knowledge contemplates the other-dependent, and does not discern that it has any nature, and so enters the meaning of the single-flavored suchness". Kuiji further matches the four practices to grades of the path: "the first, in the applied-effort path before the grounds; the second, from entering the grounds up to before the seventh ground; the third, above the eighth ground up to the ninth; the fourth is done by the tenth ground, entering the buddha-ground" — the four practices of tranquillity are just such a ladder of the absorption-discipline, from before the grounds straight through to the buddha-ground.

Insight's four practices take the path of tranquillity as their forerunner: "with respect to all phenomena, keeping far from the wrong-grasping extreme of over-affirmation, keeping far from the wrong-grasping extreme of under-denial," together with the wondrous insight that accords with the mode of principle established by convention — once again the non-dual Middle Way of the Chapter on the True Reality, reappearing in the gateway of insight.

Skill in Means: Six Inward, Six Outward

The twelve kinds of skill in means: six directed inward, toward cultivating and realizing the buddha-dharmas (a heart of compassion and longing, thorough knowing in accord with the real, delight in the buddha-knowledge, and, on the ground of these three, not forsaking birth-and-death, revolving undefiled, being blazingly diligent); and six directed outward, toward ripening sentient beings (a slight root of goodness draws down an immeasurable fruit; slight effort draws in vast roots of goodness; and the four accomplishments toward the four classes of being — those who spurn, those midway, those already entered in, those already ripened).

The teaching of "a slight root of goodness draws down an immeasurable fruit" is exceedingly plain: exhort a person to give away "down even to the very lowest, a single ball of roasted-grain meal" to a beast, and turn it over toward unsurpassed awakening — "though the thing and the field are lowly, by the force of the turning-over, it draws down an immeasurable fruit". "Slight effort draws in vast roots of goodness" is then a whole string of ways for turning the wrong into the right: replacing the self-starving wrong fast with the eightfold holy fast, replacing austerities with the Middle Way, replacing hurling-oneself-off-cliffs-and-rushing-into-fire with meditative absorption, replacing the Vaidika spell with the Buddha's holy teaching (Kuiji: "this means the illumining spell"); on down to the offering of resolute conviction, sympathetic rejoicing, the six recollections, homage by mind-and-word, the vow of compassion to bear suffering in another's stead, and the laying-bare and repenting of the past — "again and again laying bare what has been transgressed, by employing slight effort, all the karmic obstacles attain release."

According-and-Reconciling: Unknotting the Death-Knot for One Frightened by the Emptiness Scriptures

Within the first of the six kinds of outward means lies the weightiest passage of doctrine in this sub-part. Sentient beings hear the very deep emptiness-associated scriptures the Buddha has spoken — "saying that all phenomena are without intrinsic nature, without any thing, without arising and without ceasing, saying that all phenomena are all equal to open space, all like an illusion or a dream" — and, "unable to understand them according to their meaning, their hearts give rise to fright and dread, defaming all such scriptures, saying they are not what the Buddha spoke". What is the bodhisattva to do? He does not evade, does not change his word, but "reconciles in accord with principle" the Tathāgata's hidden intent:

"This scripture does not say that all phenomena whatsoever are altogether nothing at all, but says that the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken of phenomena is altogether nothing at all" — when the scripture says "without intrinsic nature," what is without is the intrinsic nature that speech sets up, not that all phenomena are spoken of as void-and-nothing. Kuiji reads it by the threefold nature: "it does not say that the two natures, the other-dependent and the rest, are altogether without nature; it says that the wholly-imagined intrinsic-nature-as-spoken is what is absent"; and the absence of the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken is "like a rabbit's horn". "Without any thing" means without the wholly-imagined thing, not without the other-dependent; "without arising and without ceasing" means that the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken, being from the origin nothing at all, has nothing that can arise or cease.

"All equal to open space" — the treatise sets up a simile of its own: within open space forms come and forms go, and if one dispels the forms and form-activities altogether, "only the pure open space of the nature-without-form appears in its character" — so, after the wondrous holy knowledge dispels the idle proliferation of speech, "there is shown forth only the intrinsic-nature of all speech as a non-nature," as the pure character of open space appears. Kuiji: "this figures suchness as being like open space, and the wholly-imagined as being like forms and the rest". "All like an illusion or a dream": an illusion and a dream are "not, as they appear, really existent in accord with the real, and yet the shape and stuff of all illusions and dreams are not altogether nothing at all" — phenomena are "neither existent nor non-existent, their nature not-two." Kuiji: "this figures the other-dependent as being like an illusion and the rest"; each of the three natures is itself neither existent nor non-existent, and the truly-accomplished "is not non-existent — it is present in the ultimate sense".

The closing eight words are precisely the practice-form of the well-grasped emptiness: "he grasps no small part and forsakes no small part, makes no under-denial and makes no over-affirmation" — "if a phenomenon is really existent, he knows it as really existent; if a phenomenon is really non-existent, he knows it as really non-existent; as he knows it, thus does he disclose it". Kuiji: "he does not grasp the wholly-imagined, and does not forsake the two natures … this is named not letting it go to ruin".

The four means that follow (jointly setting up a covenant — "if you can know the kindness of father and mother and reverently make offering to them … then I will give you"; a resolve of a differing part — outwardly displaying hardness and fierceness, "solely to benefit, not out of any remaining resolve"; arising from pressure — a householder-master or a king who by reward and chastisement "forcibly presses him to cultivate"; bestowing kindness and requiting kindness — "if you can … uphold the pure precepts, this alone is called requiting kindness greatly") take the skill in means down to the coarse-grained places of human affairs and worldly dealings. The sixth, the skill in means of ultimate purity, is then the display of the Buddha's own person: birth in Tuṣita, descent to the human realm, leaving home, austerities, realizing awakening, waiting for Brahmā's request, contemplating the world with the buddha-eye, turning the wheel of the dharma — Dunlun notes of its arrangement that "it is short four matters and adds one, the austerities"; Tai supplies, "at Brahmā's first request he does not straightway preach … only later, on reaching the Deer Park, does he preach the dharma".

The Wondrous Dhāraṇīs: How a Spell of No Meaning Opens the Ineffable Acceptance

The four dhāraṇīs: dharma (holding what is heard without forgetting), meaning (holding the meaning without forgetting), spell (the mastery of equipoise empowering the spell-phrases so that they "all become potent"), and the one for attaining the bodhisattva's acceptance. The first three are sustaining forces; the fourth is a strange method of cultivation: a bodhisattva furnished with wondrous wisdom, dwelling alone in an empty place, eating sparingly and sleeping little, "examines and reflects in truth and reality" on the spell-phrases of acceptance the Buddha has spoken — the spell-words being: iṭṭhi miṭṭhi kiṭṭhi bhikṣānti padāni svāhā.

Do you want to rack your brains to seek out the meaning of this spell? The treatise's answer overturns everything: he, "not hearing it from another, naturally penetrates through; he knows that such spell-phrases are altogether without meaning, are the perfectly-accomplished real, and are only meaning-less; he knows in accord with the real that the meaning of these phrases is just what is called meaning-less" — the meaning of the spell is "meaning-less" itself. And by this he turns up one level: "the meaning of the intrinsic nature of all phenomena that is spoken and expressed in all speech is one and all not accomplished as real; there is only the ineffable intrinsic nature of phenomena, and this is the meaning of intrinsic nature" — from a spell that expresses nothing he penetrates the ineffable intrinsic nature of all phenomena, attains the bodhisattva's surpassing acceptance established by the dhāraṇī, and before long shall attain the pure surpassing resolve. Here the ancient masters each lay down a hand: the Tripiṭaka-master (Xuanzang) says, "this takes non-conceptual knowledge as its essence. If so, why is it said to be for 'attaining acceptance'? In the applied-effort path, by upholding-and-reflecting on this spell one swiftly gains the true knowledge and realizes suchness, and so the text below places it at the Ground of Practice-through-Resolute-Conviction"; Kuiji, "a bodhisattva before the grounds recites this spell of no meaning, wishing to remove the grasping-and-reckoning … and by this reflection he is then able to enter true contemplation and realize the bodhisattva's acceptance"; Bei, "the spell-phrases rightly convey that the other-dependent and the perfectly-accomplished are ineffable and unarisen, and so the bodhisattva, reflecting truly, naturally comes to understand the acceptance of the unarisen dharmas. The treatise saying 'without meaning' intends just this". The spell's potency is not in the sound; it is in driving "the mind that seeks a meaning" to the place where the road of language is cut off.

Attaining this dhāraṇī has four qualities for its threshold: having no craving toward desires, not being envious of another's glory, giving equally without regret, and deeply delighting in the bodhisattva-canon — lacking any one, it cannot be.

The Right Vow: From a Single Arousing of the Mind to the Ten Great Vows

The five vows: the vow of arousing the mind (the first arousing), the vow of taking birth (vowing to be born in good destinies that benefit beings), the vow of what is to be practiced, the right vow, and the great vow; the great vow opens out from the right vow into ten kinds — to make offering to immeasurable buddhas; to draw in and guard the right dharma, "transmitting and upholding the dharma-eye so that it is not cut off"; to descend from Tuṣita on down to nirvāṇa; to practice every bodhisattva right practice; to ripen all sentient beings; to display oneself in all worlds; to purify-and-cultivate all buddha-lands; that all bodhisattvas of one resolve enter the Great Vehicle; that no uninverted applied practice be in vain; and swiftly to realize unsurpassed perfect awakening. What is the essence of the vow? The ancient masters set out four readings together (Dunlun): the old masters, following the Satyasiddhi, take acceptance as its essence; Bei takes knowledge as its nature; the Tripiṭaka-master says, "it is a vow provisionally set up upon the willing-desire-and-faith of thought"; Jing takes resolute-conviction, willing, thought, and faith as its essence — Xuanzang's reading too is among them, only recorded, not adjudicated.

The Three Samādhis: Emptiness, Settled upon the Ineffable Intrinsic Nature

The bodhisattva's samādhi of emptiness has but one line for its definition: "he contemplates all things, keeping far from all intrinsic nature as spoken, [seeing] that there is only the ineffable intrinsic nature of phenomena, and his mind is rightly settled" — emptiness is not contemplating "there is nothing whatever," but the mind settled upon the ineffable intrinsic nature. The samādhi of wishlessness: toward the things of the ineffable intrinsic nature, seeing them as defiled by the afflictions and the several sufferings, "toward the world to come, with non-wishing going before, his mind is rightly settled". The samādhi of no-character: toward the things of the ineffable intrinsic nature, "all the characters of discernment and idle proliferation forever extinguished and stilled, knowing in accord with the real, his mind is rightly settled".

Why exactly three? The treatise answers itself: phenomena are of two kinds — the existent (the conditioned and the unconditioned) and the non-existent (self and what belongs to self). Toward the conditioned, because it is loathsome, wishlessness is set up; toward the unconditioned, because one wishes for nirvāṇa, no-character is set up; toward the non-existent, "the bodhisattva neither wishes nor even not-wishes; yet toward the non-existent, the bodhisattva sees it in accord with the real as non-existent — on the basis of this seeing, it should be known, the samādhi of emptiness is established" — the essence of the samādhi of emptiness is a "seeing the non-existent in accord with the real."

Jing sets a placement for this passage: "this shows the Great Vehicle's uncommon three samādhis, spoken in the sense that the non-conceptual knowledge and the associated absorption are of one substance. Below, in terms of the sixteen aspects, it distinguishes the three samādhis that are held in common with the two vehicles" — the three samādhis set up upon the ineffable intrinsic nature are the uncommon gateway of the Great Vehicle; those set up upon the four truths and sixteen aspects are what is held in common with the two vehicles. Kuiji makes a matching of the aspects (emptiness only the latter two aspects under "suffering," and the rest, citing the Xianyang fascicle two), and judges of himself, "the intent of this treatise's text is that, within the true contemplation, these three gates of liberation are distinguished by function-in-meaning".

The Four Dharma-Uddānas: Four Old Sayings That Speak Out the Depth of the Threefold Nature

"There are, further, four dharma-uddānas, which the buddhas and bodhisattvas speak in order to make sentient beings pure": all conditioned activities are impermanent, all conditioned activities are suffering, all phenomena are without a self, nirvāṇa is quiescent. Dunlun leaves a note of correction upon the name: "if it is written with the character wà, it must all be corrected; the old wording is not correct — it is named the four udāna, translated as 'seal' … as it is said, impermanence is the seal-character of the conditioned, suffering the seal-character of the contaminated dharmas, no-self the seal-character of all dharmas, and nirvāṇa-quiescence the seal-character of the unconditioned dharmas"; Kuiji, "this means 'to speak' — namely what the World-Honored One constantly recites and speaks" — "translated as 'seal,'" the ancients say plainly on this point.

Impermanence the treatise gives in two layers: the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken is at all times ever nothing at all, "such conditioned activities being ever unattainable, they are named impermanent" — the impermanence of the wholly-imagined layer is that there is simply no such thing there; the ineffable thing, with not-knowing (ajñāna) as cause, has arising and ceasing to be found — the impermanence of the other-dependent layer is what has arising and ceasing. Jing strings the two layers into one: "grasping speech as having a settled nature is the wholly-imagined; when grasping thus, it perfumes seeds and becomes a cause, giving birth to those other-dependent forms, minds, and the rest, which have arising and forthwith ceasing, and so are named impermanent" — the one thought that grasps speech as real perfumes a seed and gives birth to the other-dependent activities that arise and cease. Beneath the contemplation of the three times (the past without cause and without intrinsic nature; the present with intrinsic nature and without cause; the future with cause and without intrinsic nature ), Woncheuk records two Western glosses: "one says, by the reasoning of the dharma-characters, the three times are established upon a single present dharma … a second says, by the reasoning of consciousness-only the three times are established — namely, upon the substance of the seeing-part in the present there appear the characters of the three times, and so the three times are spoken of, though in truth they are subsumed under the present"; and the Tripiṭaka-master too has two glosses on "the past and the future being alike absent, how are they impermanent" — all set out together.

The passage on the four characters of the instant is a work of subtle dharma-character skill: the prior instant perishes and the new instant arises, and there are arising (the true arising), abiding (arisen but not yet perished), aging (differing from the prior), and ceasing (perishing after arising), while "he does not see that arising and the rest have any separate intrinsic nature" — arising, abiding, aging, ceasing are only the phase-positions of the activities themselves, not four real things existing apart from the activities. Kuiji settles the school-position: "if by the Lesser Vehicle, arising is in the future and the three characters in the present; now by the Great Vehicle, arising and the three characters are in the present, and ceasing in the past," and he answers the doubt of arising and ceasing being simultaneous with the balance simile: "like the two ends of a balance, level and even, and so in a single instant there is arising and there is ceasing". The treatise goes further and breaks the real existence of "arising" by reasoning: if apart from arising there were an arising, there ought to be an "arising of arising," and the arising of activity and the arising of arising, if one, makes the reckoning of arising vain, if different, makes it "not the arising of activity"; and breaks the real existence of "ceasing": if ceasing had arising and ceasing, "if at the time ceasing arises, all activities ought to cease together, and thus by employing slight effort, as though entering the attainment of cessation, the several minds and mental factors would one and all cease; if at the time ceasing ceases, all activities, though already ceased, ought again to arise" — pushing "impermanence" from common sense up to the ultimate sense.

Suffering: the impermanent activities are the ground of the three sufferings — the suffering of conditionedness, the suffering of change, the suffering of suffering. No-self: the twofold no-self — the no-self of the person (it is not that "the dharmas-that-are" are the real self, nor that apart from "the dharmas-that-are" there is a real self; Kuiji: "this means breaking the reckoning of a self as identical-with or different-from the aggregates") and the no-self of phenomena ("that within all that is spoken and expressed, the phenomena that are the intrinsic nature of all speech are altogether nothing at all") — the definition of the no-self of phenomena is still that single "ineffable."

Nirvāṇa-quiescence: the prior cause forever cut off, thereafter ceasing without remainder, utterly not rising. Kuiji's threefold matching: "these are the nirvāṇa-with-remainder and the nirvāṇa-without-remainder. Again, the prior cause forever cut off is in the uninterrupted path; the later cutting-off-without-remainder is in the path of liberation. Again, the prior cause forever cut off is subduing the higher mind in the applied-effort; the later cutting-off-without-remainder is cutting off the seeds".

And thereupon the treatise speaks two long similes. The simile of the prince and the four carts: a prince born in the deep palace has played only with the deer-, ox-, horse-, and elephant-carts his father made up, and so gives rise to a real deer- or horse-notion toward the made-up carts; grown up and out of the palace, seeing real deer and real horses, he then "toward his former resolute conviction follows up with shame" — the palace figures birth-and-death, the young child figures the bodhisattva who has not attained the pure surpassing resolve and the śrāvaka who has not seen the truths, the father figures the buddhas and the great-ground bodhisattvas, the made-up cart figures nirvāṇa as it is proclaimed, and the going-out-and-seeing-in-person figures present realization. The one who has not seen the truths, saying "nirvāṇa is quiescent," is in truth speaking of an image; only after seeing the truths, looking back, does he feel shame that he formerly took the image for the real — yet the treatise does not on this account bid a person shut his mouth, for "he too has attention in accord with principle": the resolute conviction in the image is the road that must be traveled toward present realization. Kuiji further matches the four carts to the four nirvāṇas: "the elephant figures the non-abiding nirvāṇa … the deer, from first to last ever dwelling in the mountain-stillness, figures the originally-pure; the ox, having horns, figures [the nirvāṇa] with remaining basis; the horse, being hornless, figures [the nirvāṇa] without remaining basis" (there is also a matching to the three vehicles, set out alongside).

The simile of the sick one and the good medicine: the former medicine has cured the former illness, a later illness is born and the medicine should be changed, but the sick person, "deeply giving rise to resolute conviction toward the former medicine … is unwilling to cast it away" — the Buddha's dharma-teachings are shallower and deeper, prior and later, and the one who clings to the former medicine cannot take in the later. It is gathered up upon a single cart: the bodhisattvas and śrāvakas of pure faith, "mounting the unsurpassed dharma-vehicle spoken by the Buddha, like a wondrously adorned cart complete in all its parts, like a good driver … swiftly and swiftly press onward, with nothing detaining them".

The One Meaning This Sub-Part Lights Up

From Gate Ten to Gate Fifteen, the treatise in truth teaches the skill of but a single word — the ineffable: the fourth practice of tranquillity settles upon "the ineffable bare thing"; the reconciling of the emptiness scriptures unknots the fright by the one line "the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken is altogether nothing at all"; the acceptance-dhāraṇī takes, from a spell of no meaning, straight hold of "there is only the ineffable intrinsic nature of phenomena, and this is the meaning of intrinsic nature"; the samādhi of emptiness sets the mind upon the ineffable intrinsic nature; the definition of the no-self of phenomena is that the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken is altogether nothing at all; and even "impermanence" is spoken of first from the intrinsic-nature-as-spoken being ever nothing at all. The ineffable intrinsic nature set up in the Chapter on the True Reality has here grown into six gateways of practice. And two similes gather it to a close: the made-up cart and the real deer warn the traveler — your present understanding of "nirvāṇa" and "the ineffable" is still an image, do not cling to it; the former medicine and the later medicine warn the traveler — do not hug the dharma you already understand and refuse to let it go. The last lesson of the practice of inner realization is to keep a sense of shame toward one's own understanding, while the feet beneath do not stop.

Carrying Forward

This sub-part carries forward from the first sub-part (Gate Nine's contemplation of the body along the body, "keeping far from the intrinsic nature as spoken", opens directly into Gate Ten's "ineffable bare thing"); the reconciling passage, the samādhi of emptiness, and the no-self of phenomena all carry forward the vein of the ineffable intrinsic nature and the well-grasped emptiness of the Chapter on the True Reality (15-01-04); "displaying supernormal powers, mind-reading, and disclosing preaching," which Kuiji glosses as "the three spheres", runs through to the Chapter on Might (15-01-05). The Section on Ascertainment treats the substance of this chapter through the contemplation of the body along the suchness-body, the fourteen kinds of coarse-and-heavy bond of character, the cultivation of the foundations of mindfulness in dependence on emptiness, and the eleven successive conception-bonds — where even "the conception of a characterless-of-intrinsic-nature" is a bond (detailed in Apparatus Heading II); the two judgments of the chapter-boundary, Jing's and Dunlun's, are set out together. The chapter then gives way to the Chapter on Qualities, the eighteenth — with this, seventeen of the eighteen chapters of the Preliminary Sustaining are complete.