瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 菩薩相品

In one line: The true bodhisattva's five characteristics (compassion · kind speech · valor · the open hand of giving · the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle), whoever accomplishes them is counted among the number of bodhisattvas; each characteristic possesses five turns (intrinsic nature · ground · fruitful benefit · sequence · mutual subsuming), closing with a question-and-answer that subsumes them under the six perfections — the head of the Second Sustainer Yoga Sphere in Accord with the Dharma, clarifying the characteristics accomplished by the person who cultivates in accord with the dharma.

Three points of the eye:

1. Five characteristics, five turns; counted among the number of bodhisattvas (eye): the five characteristics 〔0549b21〕, the five turns 〔0549b23〕; the intrinsic nature of compassion is of two kinds, lying in the aspiration · lying in right conduct 〔0549b25〕; the five grounds of compassion (sentient beings who have suffering / of evil conduct / of negligence / of wrong conduct / latent with affliction) gather in the whole of all sentient beings 〔0549c08〕; the excellent gains of cultivating loving-kindness — poison, blade, and staff do no harm 〔0550a24 · the ancient masters collate eleven merits, T42n1828 0562c14–22〕.

2. The web of cross-reference; the sense of "in accord with the dharma" (eye): kind speech carries forward the Chapter on the Means of Gathering 〔0549c01·0549c28〕 · the grounds of valor carry forward the "nature of firm and enduring strength" of the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening 〔0550a03〕 · the grounds of giving carry forward the Chapter on Giving 〔0550a08〕 · the fruitful benefits carry forward the Chapter on Powers 〔0550b08〕 — the Chapter on Characteristics sets up no new dharma of its own, but gathers the dharmas already fully clarified in the First Sustainer into the characteristics upon a person; the five characteristics "all, by relying upon and practicing the six perfections, are accomplished … and one enters into the characteristics of a bodhisattva" 〔Dunlun T42n1828 0562b10–11〕; the mutual-subsuming question-and-answer (compassion → meditation · kind speech → discipline and wisdom · valor → vigor, patience, and wisdom · giving → giving · the profound sense → meditation and wisdom) 〔0550b24〕.

3. The ancient masters' three-natures reading of the first ground of the profound intent (eye · central): "accords with the profound, is displayed by way of the profound, corresponds with emptiness, and with conditionality and dependent origination" 〔0550a12〕 — Master Jing: "conditionality and dependent origination are in substance apart from the wholly-imagined nature grasped as of fixed nature" 〔T42n1828 0562c04〕 / Woncheuk: "'emptiness' is the perfectly accomplished, while 'conditionality and dependent origination' is the other-dependent, the conventional truth" 〔0562c06〕, the two readings set forth side by side; the intrinsic nature of valor — Jing (vigor, patience, wisdom as its three-fold substance) versus Ji (singly clarifying vigor, matched to the three vigors) — the divergent construals set forth side by side 〔0562b19–21〕; the substance of compassion — the Notes "loving-kindness and compassion" 〔0562a23〕 / the Concise Compendium "concentration" 〔T43n1829 0157b29〕, the two transmissions set forth side by side.

Appended guidance:

• Chapter order: the First Sustainer clarifies the dharmas to be learned → the Yoga Sphere in Accord with the Dharma clarifies the person able to learn (Dunlun 0562a06–08 · Kuiji 0157b18–20); next follows the Chapter on Division (the support of the five characteristics is not apart from the two divisions of householder and one gone forth, Dunlun 0562c27).
• The Section on Ascertainment: verify the ascertainment passage of the Yoga Sphere in Accord with the Dharma 〔from 0736c20〕; no separate ascertainment of the Chapter on Characteristics is set up (see the Apparatus, Heading II).
• Alternate translations: Dharmakṣema's Chapter on the Characteristics of the Bodhisattva in the Sphere of the Method in Accord with the Dharma (five characteristics: compassion / kind speech / valor / giving / expounding the sense of the profound Dharma; five turns as intrinsic nature / object-realm / karmic fruit / gathering-in) · Guṇavarman's Chapter on the Characteristics of the Bodhisattva Who Dwells in Accord with the Dharma (five characteristics: the mind of pity / gentle speech / valorous vigor / non-craving / explaining the profound sense; five turns termed the five kinds of knowledge); see the Apparatus, Heading II.
• Consciousness-only doctrinal eye: this text carries no core consciousness-only terminology; the ancient masters read the first ground of the profound intent by matching it to the three natures, eye · central (see the Apparatus, Heading III).
• Collation eye: 0550a17 「相」【Taishō 大】 / 「想」【Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Sheng, Zhi · CBETA follows these】 ("the sense of the notions of dharmas" · Kuiji's citation reads 「法相義」 yet glosses it as "notion"); all nine collation notes of the Taishō for this chapter's span are enumerated in full (see the Apparatus, Heading II).

General Statement: The Five Characteristics and the Five Turns

What are the characteristics of the true bodhisattvas? The uddāna (summary verse) says: the true bodhisattvas should be known to have five kinds of characteristic; and each characteristic is again stated by way of five turns — by intrinsic nature, by ground, by fruit, by sequence, and by mutual subsuming. That is to say, the bodhisattvas have five true characteristics of a bodhisattva; whoever accomplishes these five characteristics is counted among the number of bodhisattvas. Which five? First, compassion; second, kind speech; third, valor; fourth, the open hand of giving; and fifth, the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle. These five factors, it should be known, each have five turns: first, intrinsic nature; second, ground; third, fruitful benefit; fourth, sequence; and fifth, mutual subsuming.

One · The Intrinsic Nature of the Five Characteristics

It should be known that, herein, the intrinsic nature of compassion is in brief of two kinds: one lies in the aspiration, the other in right conduct. As lying in the aspiration: it means that the bodhisattvas, toward all sentient beings, bear the aspiration to benefit them and the aspiration to bring them ease — this is named compassion. As lying in right conduct: it means that the bodhisattvas, toward all sentient beings, in accord with the aspiration they bear, benefit them by body and speech as far as their strength and ability reach — this is named compassion.

The intrinsic nature of kind speech is just the words of consolation, the words of gladdening, and the words of surpassing benefit spoken of earlier — it should be known as stated earlier in the Chapter on the Means of Gathering.

The intrinsic nature of valor is that the bodhisattvas are firm and resolute in decision, without any timidity or weakness, and possessed of great force.

If the bodhisattvas are furnished with a nature of vast giving and a nature of undefiled giving, this is named the intrinsic nature of the open hand of giving.

If the bodhisattvas are furnished with the four unobstructed understandings, together with the right preparatory knowledge that can draw these four unobstructed understandings forth without error, this is named the intrinsic nature of the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle.

Two · The Grounds of the Five Characteristics

The Five Grounds of Compassion

It should be known that the grounds of the bodhisattva's compassion are in brief of five kinds. Which five? First, sentient beings who have suffering; second, sentient beings of evil conduct; third, sentient beings of negligence; fourth, sentient beings of wrong conduct; and fifth, sentient beings latent with affliction.

All those sentient beings in the hells and the like are driven and turned about, pressed by feelings of suffering that continue on unbroken — such are named sentient beings who have suffering. Or there is a class of sentient beings who, though not fixedly undergoing suffering, yet much enact the various evil conducts of body, evil conducts of speech, and evil conducts of mind, and take joy in dwelling amid these evils — namely butchers, and those undisciplined ones who raise sheep, pigs, chickens, and the like — such are named sentient beings of evil conduct. Or there is a class of sentient beings who, though neither fixedly undergoing suffering nor practicing evil conduct, are yet infatuated with the enjoyment of the desires, ever delighting to dwell amid all manner of entertainers, singing and dancing, and laughing glances, disporting themselves for their own pleasure — namely a class who enjoy the dust of the desires — such are named sentient beings of negligence. Or there is a class of sentient beings who, though neither fixedly undergoing suffering, nor practicing evil, nor negligent, yet in reliance on deluded views practice all manner of conduct that seeks release from suffering — namely those who forsake the desires and yet go forth to homelessness within an ill-spoken teaching and discipline — such are named sentient beings of wrong conduct. Or there is a class of sentient beings who, though not fixedly undergoing suffering — stated in full, down to not practicing wrong conduct either — are yet, whether furnished with bonds or not furnished with bonds, latent with the afflictions — namely the worthy and good ordinary beings who are cultivating rightly, and those still in training — this is named sentient beings latent with affliction.

The above are named the five grounds of the bodhisattva's compassion; by these grounds, by these objects, compassion is set turning. Beyond these there is nothing exceeding and nothing further.

The Five Grounds of Kind Speech

It should be known that the grounds of the bodhisattva's kind speech are likewise of five kinds. Which five? First, words of right discourse; second, words of right gladdening; third, words of right consolation; fourth, words of rightful liberality; and fifth, words spoken in accord with principle. This full elaboration should be known as stated earlier in the Chapter on the Means of Gathering. The above are named the five grounds of the bodhisattva's kind speech; by these grounds, by these objects, kind speech is set turning. Beyond these there is nothing exceeding and nothing further.

The Five Grounds of Valor

It should be known that the grounds of the bodhisattva's valor are likewise of five kinds. Which five? They are the five grounds of the bodhisattva's "nature of firm and enduring strength" stated earlier in the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening — it should be known that these are the five grounds of the bodhisattva's valor. By these grounds, by these objects, valor is set turning. Beyond these there is nothing exceeding and nothing further.

The Five Grounds of the Open Hand of Giving

It should be known that the bodhisattva's open hand of giving likewise has five grounds. Which five? First, giving again and again; second, giving with joy; third, giving with earnest reverence; fourth, giving without defilement; and fifth, giving without dependence. These five should be known as elaborated in full earlier in the Chapter on Giving. By these grounds, by these objects, the bodhisattva's open hand of giving is set turning. Beyond these there is nothing exceeding and nothing further.

The Five Grounds of the Ability to Understand the Hidden Intent of the Profound Principle

It should be known that the bodhisattva's ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle likewise has five grounds. Which five? Toward the discourses (sūtra) spoken by the Tathāgata, whatever teaching accords with the profound, is displayed by way of the profound, and corresponds with emptiness and corresponds with conditionality and dependent origination — it should be known that this is named the first ground. Toward the discipline (vinaya), skill in transgression and skill in restoration to purity — it should be known that this is named the second ground. Toward the mātṛkā (the matrix), the ability to set forth and establish the characteristics of the dharmas without error — it should be known that this is named the third ground. Toward the sense of the notions of the dharmas that are hard to understand in their intent (the character 「想」, "notion," is printed as 「相」, "characteristic," in the Taishō base text, while the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Sheng, and Zhi editions read 「想」, "notion"), the ability to display them rightly and to dissolve away their points hard to understand — it should be known that this is named the fourth ground. Toward the dharma, the meaning, the explanatory diction, and the categorial distinctions of all dharmas — it should be known that this is named the fifth ground. By these grounds, by these objects, the bodhisattva's ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle is set turning. Beyond these there is nothing exceeding and nothing further.

Three · The Fruitful Benefit of the Five Characteristics

The bodhisattva's compassion, toward all sentient beings, is able at the very outset to cut off enmity, injury, dislike, and resentment. The bodhisattva's compassion is universally able to work at every task of benefiting sentient beings, the mind without timidity or weakness. In this preparatory effort it is never wearied; abiding much in compassion, it is able to gather in a blameless dwelling in the ease of the present dharma, together with the benefiting of others. Again, as the World-Honored One has spoken of the excellent gains attained through cultivating loving-kindness — that in the present body poison and blade and staff cannot do harm, and the like — all of this the bodhisattva's compassion should be known to accomplish in the same way. The above are named the fruitful benefit of the bodhisattva's compassion.

The bodhisattva's kind speech, in the present dharma, cuts off the four faults of speech — namely false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech, and frivolous speech. By this kind speech, in the present dharma, it is able to gather in oneself and to gather in others, turning on in ease and security. The bodhisattva's kind speech, in the world to come, makes one's words weighty and dignified, and whatever one says is surely trusted and relied upon. The above are named the fruitful benefit of the bodhisattva's kind speech.

The bodhisattva's valor, in the present dharma, is able to part from all sloth and indolence, the mind ever joyful; it is able to receive the pure precepts and the disciplinary observances of the bodhisattva, and having received them, in the end never transgresses them and never falls back or shrinks away; it is able rightly to bear, gathering in oneself and others. In the world to come, in every undertaking that a bodhisattva sets afoot, one's nature is firm and enduring, and of whatever one fashions and cultivates, so long as it is not yet accomplished, in the end one never slackens or retreats. The above are named the fruitful benefit of the bodhisattva's valor.

It should be known that the fruitful benefit attained by the bodhisattva's open hand of giving and by the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle should be known as the distinction between the power of giving and the power of wisdom stated in the Chapter on Powers. The above are named the two fruitful benefits of the bodhisattva's open hand of giving and the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle. The above are named the fruitful benefit of the bodhisattva's five characteristics.

Four · The Sequence of the Five Characteristics

Why are the five characteristics in this very sequence? The bodhisattvas first cultivate compassion, gathering in sentient beings, holding them in mind, wishing to work their benefit. Next they cultivate kind speech: for those sentient beings, so as to make them come forth from the unwholesome and be settled in the wholesome, they proclaim right principle and gather them in with instruction. Next they cultivate valor: toward the classes of sentient beings who have already entered in — should those sentient beings raise up all manner of wrong conduct and all manner of transformations wrought by affliction — they are able to bear it all, so as not to forsake those beings who abide in all manner of right conduct, and those who practice all manner of wrong conduct. Once the bodhisattvas have cultivated valor: one class of sentient beings is gathered in by wealth and thereby brought to maturity; one class is gathered in by the Dharma and thereby brought to maturity; and one class is gathered in by the two, by wealth and by the Dharma, and thereby brought to maturity. Therefore the bodhisattva thereafter cultivates the open hand of giving and the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle. It should be known that the above are named the sequence, before and after, of the bodhisattva's five characteristics.

Five · The Mutual Subsuming of the Five Characteristics: Matched with the Six Perfections

Question: As for the bodhisattva's five characteristics and the six perfections (six "goings to the far shore"), which perfection subsumes which characteristic? Answer: The bodhisattva's compassion, it should be known, is subsumed by the perfection of meditation; the bodhisattva's kind speech is subsumed by the perfections of discipline and wisdom; the bodhisattva's valor is subsumed by the perfections of vigor, patience, and wisdom; whatever open hand of giving the bodhisattva has, it should be known, is just what is subsumed by the perfection of giving; and whatever ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle the bodhisattva has is subsumed by the perfections of meditation and wisdom.

Thus the true bodhisattva's five characteristics, it should be known, each have five turns — namely intrinsic nature, ground, fruitful benefit, sequence, and mutual subsuming. These have already been elaborated in full above and should be known as they truly are.

Why, Once the First "Sustainer" Is Expounded, Must "Characteristics" Come Next

The Bodhisattva Stage opens with ten dharmas — the sustainer, characteristics, division, superior resolve, dwelling, birth, gathering-in, the marks of the ground, conduct, and establishment. The eighteen chapters of the First Sustainer Yoga Sphere have finished expounding the first dharma, "the sustainer": lineage, the arousing of the mind, the factors of awakening — the dharmas that a bodhisattva learns have all been laid out in full. The question that then naturally arises is this: the person who has learned these dharmas — what does he grow to look like?

The ancient masters state this turning point very clearly. Dunlun says: "The First Sustainer Yoga Sphere properly clarifies the dharmas to be learned; this place clarifies that the person able to learn, having completed his learning of what is to be learned, has become one of the bodhisattva's characteristics, and, in accord with the dharmas learned before, sets out to cultivate — hence it is named the Yoga Sphere in Accord with the Dharma". Kuiji agrees: "As for 'characteristics': it means that, having matured these dharmas, one enters into the characteristics of a bodhisattva, and hence it is named 'characteristics'". The four chapters of the Second Sustainer, the "Yoga Sphere in Accord with the Dharma" — characteristics, division, superior resolve, dwelling — expound no longer the roster of dharmas, but the person who cultivates in accord with the dharma: his appearance (the Chapter on Characteristics), his standing (the Chapter on Division), his intent (the Chapter on Superior Resolve), his rank (the Chapter on Dwelling). The Chapter on Characteristics stands at the head, and first answers the most intimate question of all: how does one recognize a true bodhisattva?

The treatise makes its purport plain from the outset: if the five characteristics are accomplished, one is "counted among the number of bodhisattvas" — entered into the number of bodhisattvas. To put it the other way: one who calls himself a bodhisattva but lacks these five characteristics is not yet one. Which five characteristics? Compassion, kind speech, valor, the open hand of giving, and the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle. Each characteristic is again viewed from five angles: intrinsic nature (what it is), ground (where it is applied), fruitful benefit (what fruit it bears), sequence (why it comes in this order), and mutual subsuming (which of the six perfections it belongs to).

Compassion: Present in the Heart, and Present in the Hand as Well

First of the five characteristics is compassion. The treatise first splits it in two: "first, lying in the aspiration; second, lying in right conduct" — to bear toward sentient beings, in the heart, the aspiration to benefit and the aspiration to bring ease is compassion; and, following that heart, truly to benefit them by body and by speech as far as one's strength and ability reach is also compassion. Heart without conduct, or conduct without heart, neither amounts to a bodhisattva's compassion.

Upon whom, then, should compassion fall? The treatise lists five grounds, precisely the five kinds of people who most need compassion and most test it: sentient beings who have suffering (those in the hells and the like, driven and turned about, pressed by feelings of suffering continuing on unbroken); sentient beings of evil conduct (who do not fixedly undergo suffering, yet are "butchers and undisciplined ones who raise sheep, pigs, chickens, and the like," taking joy in dwelling amid all evils); sentient beings of negligence (neither suffering nor evil, yet infatuated with the five desires, "ever delighting to dwell amid all manner of entertainers, singing and dancing, and laughing glances, disporting themselves for their own pleasure"); sentient beings of wrong conduct (who in reliance on deluded views practice all manner of conduct seeking release from suffering, going forth to homelessness within an ill-spoken teaching and discipline); sentient beings latent with affliction ("the worthy and good ordinary beings who are cultivating rightly, and those still in training" — even good people who are cultivating rightly, whose seeds of affliction still lie latent and uncut, are within the range of the bodhisattva's compassion). Counting from the beings of the hells all the way to the worthy and good practitioner, the five grounds gather in the whole of "all sentient beings" — "beyond these there is nothing exceeding and nothing further."

For the fruitful benefit of compassion, the treatise cites the World-Honored One's words as witness: "Again, as the World-Honored One has spoken of the excellent gains attained through cultivating loving-kindness, namely that in the present body poison and blade and staff cannot do harm, and the like". Woncheuk cites the scripture and numbers the benefits at eleven: lying at ease and waking at ease, guarded by the gods and beloved of non-humans, unharmed by poison and unharmed by weapons, unlost to water and fire, sleeping without evil dreams, and being reborn in the Brahmā heaven at death. The Notes goes on to collate the Avataṃsaka-sūtra and the Path of Freedom (Vimuttimagga), setting out eleven merits: first, sleeping at ease without fright and dread; second, waking at ease without evil marks; third, no evil dreams; fourth, being loved and cherished by others; fifth, being beloved of non-humans; sixth, being guarded by the gods; seventh, fire, poison, blade, and staff not touching one's body; eighth, the mind swiftly attaining concentration; ninth, a face of light and luster; tenth, dying with the mind unconfused; eleventh, if one has not attained the surpassing dharma, being reborn in the Brahmā heaven. For one who cultivates loving-kindness, the first to receive the benefit are his own body and mind.

Kind Speech, Valor, Giving: One Web of Cross-Reference

The Chapter on Characteristics has one striking way of writing: within the five characteristics, several places do not unfold anew but explicitly point back to earlier chapters — the intrinsic nature of kind speech "should be known as stated earlier in the Chapter on the Means of Gathering", and the five grounds of kind speech "should be known as stated earlier in the Chapter on the Means of Gathering"; the five grounds of valor "are the five grounds of the bodhisattva's 'nature of firm and enduring strength' stated earlier in the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening"; the five grounds of giving (giving again and again, with joy, with earnest reverence, without defilement, without dependence) "should be known as elaborated in full earlier in the Chapter on Giving"; the two fruitful benefits of giving and the profound principle "should be known as the distinction between the power of giving and the power of wisdom in the Chapter on Powers". This is exactly the making-good of the two words "in accord with the dharma": the Chapter on Characteristics sets up no new dharma; it gathers the dharmas already fully clarified in the First Sustainer into a visible appearance upon a single person.

The intrinsic nature of valor the treatise gives in but twelve characters: "firm and resolute in decision, without any timidity or weakness, and possessed of great force". From this single line the ancient masters read out two construals, and Dunlun records both. Jing takes it as: "'firm and resolute in decision' is wisdom; 'firm and enduring' is patience; 'without any weakness of nature, possessed of great force,' and so on, is vigor" (「性劣」, "weakness of nature," is thus in the Taishō base text — presumably a graphic corruption of 「怯」, "timidity") — the three dharmas of vigor, patience, and wisdom taken for its substance. Ji, for his part, says: "Here the sense of the text but singly clarifies vigor; then the three, armor-vigor and the rest, are matched to it in sequence" — vigor as a single dharma, with firm resolve, firmness, and great force matched precisely to the three vigors: the armor, the gathering-in of the wholesome, and the benefiting. The two construals are set forth side by side, each with its own reading.

The Ability to Understand the Hidden Intent of the Profound Principle: The Fifth Characteristic Is the Deepest

The fifth characteristic has the longest name: the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle. Its intrinsic nature is "the four unobstructed understandings, together with the right preparatory knowledge that draws them forth without error" — the four unobstructed understandings of dharma, meaning, diction, and eloquence, plus the fore-going skillful knowledge that draws the four forth. Its five grounds are five kinds of "profound": among the discourses, the teaching that "accords with the profound, is displayed by way of the profound, and corresponds with emptiness and with conditionality and dependent origination"; among the discipline, skill in transgression and in restoration to purity; among the mātṛkā (the matrix), the establishing of the characteristics of dharmas without error; the ability rightly to display and dissolve away the sense of the notions of dharmas that are hard to understand in intent; and the dharma, the meaning, the explanatory diction, and the categorial distinctions of all dharmas. (As for the 「想」, "notion," in "notions" of the dharmas: the Taishō printed edition reads 「相」, "characteristic," while the Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Sheng, and Zhi editions read 「想」, "notion"; Kuiji's citation reads 「法相義」, "the sense of the characteristics of dharmas," yet glosses it as 「想謂能詮之名」, "'notion' means the name that expresses" — the two readings coexist; see the collation, Heading II of the Apparatus.)

The first ground, the line "corresponds with emptiness and with conditionality and dependent origination," has left two readings from the ancient masters, and Dunlun records both. Jing says: "The scripture says that the twofold emptiness accords with suchness, hence it says 'accords with the profound' … thus, conditionality and dependent origination are in substance apart from the wholly-imagined nature that is grasped as of fixed nature, and so they lead into correspondence with emptiness"; Woncheuk says: "'Emptiness' is the perfectly-accomplished nature (the perfectly accomplished), while 'conditionality and dependent origination' is the other-dependent, the conventional truth" — the one construing by way of the twofold emptiness dispelling the wholly-imagined, the other matching the perfectly accomplished and the other-dependent to emptiness and to dependent origination. The two readings are set forth side by side. The principle at the profoundest place of the discourses is, in the eyes of the ancient masters, precisely the teaching of the three natures; and this characteristic, "the ability to understand," is just the capacity to read out this layer and to expound it.

Sequence: First the Heart, and Only Last the Hand and the Mouth

Why are the five characteristics in this order? The sequence passage of the treatise gives a clear thread: first cultivate compassion, setting sentient beings upon the heart, "holding them in mind, wishing to work their benefit"; having the heart, only then cultivate kind speech, "making them come forth from the unwholesome and be settled in the wholesome, proclaiming right principle, gathering them in with instruction"; having spoken, people may not heed, may not change, and so one must have valor — toward the sentient beings who raise up wrong conduct and raise up affliction, "able to bear it all, so as not to forsake them"; having borne it, only then can one speak of maturing them: one class gathered in by wealth, one class by the Dharma, one class by wealth and Dharma both — and so at the last one cultivates the open hand of giving and the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle, the one to give wealth, the other to give the Dharma. The sequence of the five characteristics is just the natural order, in the matter of delivering others, from bearing the aspiration to reaching out the hand.

A final question-and-answer draws it to a close: which perfection subsumes each of the five characteristics? "Compassion is subsumed by the perfection of meditation; kind speech, by the perfections of discipline and wisdom; valor, by the perfections of vigor, patience, and wisdom; the open hand of giving is just what is subsumed by the perfection of giving; and the ability to understand the hidden intent of the profound principle, by the perfections of meditation and wisdom" 〔question-and-answer〕. Jing points out why kind speech is matched to two perfections: "The kind speech that is issued is discipline, and the mind that can issue the speech is wisdom" — the words spoken accord with the disciplinary observances, and the mind that arouses these words is wisdom. The five characteristics are not outside the six perfections; they are precisely the look that the six perfections take on upon a single person once they have been cultivated to ripeness — "these five kinds all, by relying upon and practicing the six perfections, accomplish these five kinds, and enter into the characteristics of a bodhisattva".

The One Meaning This Chapter Casts into Light

The Chapter on Characteristics asks "how to recognize a bodhisattva," yet what it answers, from first to last, is "how to act." Not one of the five characteristics is a posture: compassion must come down to right conduct, kind speech must be able to open the mouth even toward an enemy and an evil friend, valor must withstand the test of transgression and of shrinking back, giving must reach out the hand, and understanding the profound must be able to expound it clearly. A true bodhisattva's "characteristics" lie not in countenance and bearing, but in being able to carry out these five matters, and in not retreating before the five grounds. This is why this chapter is placed at the head of the Yoga Sphere in Accord with the Dharma — the dharmas have been learned; the characteristics are the look that the dharma grows into upon a person.

Carrying Forward

This chapter's web of cross-reference is the densest of all: kind speech carries forward the Chapter on the Means of Gathering (15-01-15); the grounds of valor carry forward the "nature of firm and enduring strength" of the Chapter on the Factors of Awakening (15-01-17); the grounds of giving carry forward the Chapter on Giving (15-01-09); the two fruitful benefits carry forward the Chapter on Powers (15-01-05). Verifying the ascertainment passage of the Yoga Sphere in Accord with the Dharma in the Section on Ascertainment, no separate ascertainment of the Chapter on Characteristics is set up — the sense of the five characteristics is self-sufficient within the Basic Section. Alternate translations: Dharmakṣema's Bodhisattvabhūmi (Sūtra of the Bodhisattva-Ground), the Chapter on the Characteristics of the Bodhisattva, First, in the Sphere of the Method in Accord with the Dharma (the five characteristics given as compassion / kind speech / valor / giving / expounding the sense of the profound Dharma); Guṇavarman's Sūtra of the Bodhisattva's Good Discipline, the Chapter on the Characteristics of the Bodhisattva Who Dwells in Accord with the Dharma, First (the five characteristics given as the mind of pity / gentle speech / valorous vigor / non-craving / explaining the profound sense) — see Heading II of the Apparatus. Next follows the Chapter on Division, Second: the support of the five characteristics is not apart from the two divisions of householder and one gone forth (Dunlun).