瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 住品之二（增上戒住以下九住 · 類聲聞住）

In one line: From the Dwelling of Higher Discipline through to the Dwelling of the Utmost, Consummate Bodhisattva, nine dwellings run through the same set of questions dwelling by dwelling (each matched to one ground of the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds, the gold-refining simile threading through their turning-to-purity); the final summations give the timeframe of three incalculable great eons, the stations for cutting the two obstructions (the afflictive cut at three dwellings · the cognitive at the three layers of bark, rind, flesh 〔heartwood〕), the eleven purities of the thirteen dwellings, the subsuming of the eight dharmas of the Chapter on Qualities, and the cross-table of the twelve dwellings in the category of the śrāvaka — the pivot of the whole bodhisattva-stage doctrine of the path.

Three points of the eye:

1. The stations for cutting the two obstructions · latent tendencies = seeds = latent proclivities (eye · weighty): the afflictive obstruction is cut at three dwellings (Utmost Joy cuts the coarse heaviness of the evil-destinies afflictions / the eighth dwelling cuts the coarse heaviness obstructing the forbearance of the non-arising / the Utmost, Consummate cuts the latent tendencies and latent proclivities and enters the Tathāgata's dwelling) 〔the 0562a28 passage〕; the cognitive obstruction has the three layers of bark / rind / flesh 〔0562b09〕 — flesh 肉【Taishō】 / heartwood 實【five editions】 · Jing: "the tree's core, firm and solid, is called heartwood; the old rendering is bark, rind, bone" 〔T42n1828 0579a28–b01〕; Tai: "the seeds of the afflictions are also called latent tendencies, also called latent proclivities" 〔0579a26〕.

2. The forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas = the four kinds of knowledge-that-accords-with-the-true made utterly pure (eye · weighty): the eighth dwelling's "first, foremost, utterly pure forbearance" 〔0560c25〕 · the four investigations and four kinds of knowledge-that-accords-with-the-true "expounded at length as before in the Chapter on Reality" 〔0561a03〕 · Kuiji: "the investigations are only with-outflows and are not the forbearance of the non-arising; the knowledge-that-accords-with-the-true extends to the outflowless — this is the substance of the eighth ground's forbearance of the non-arising" 〔0575b14–16〕; the seventh ground mixed / the eighth ground pure = "still interrupted by mind-with-outflows" (Kuiji 0575a14) · "because it is a continuity of much outflowless contemplation it is said to be uninterrupted — not truly uninterrupted" (Concise Compendium 0158c01–03); the station of the attainment of cessation, two Western explanations (entered only from the eighth ground / entered from the first ground on, citing the Laṅkāvatāra), both transmitted by the Tripiṭaka-master 〔0573b22–28〕.

3. Three incalculable great eons · the timeframe as it truly is (eye): "all together take two 〔read three in the five editions〕 incalculable great eons" 〔0562a08–09〕 · below, the treatise itself counts three legs · Dunlun's citation reads "three" 〔0579a03〕; higher-degree vigor can convert the middling and great eons, "decidedly there is nothing that can convert the incalculable great eons"; the dispute over the three incalculables (Jing cites the Sūtra of the Necklace / Tai harmonizes by "the sūtra states it directly" / Bei: "the Sūtra of the Necklace is not in the catalogue and cannot serve as proof") set down 〔0578c26–0579a09〕; knowledge and compassion following upon each other 〔0559b16 · the 悲/慧 collation-note〕 · abiding in the true limit yet not realizing cessation 〔0560b11〕 · "'faith' is a mistranslation; it should be 'resolute conviction'" (the Tripiṭaka-master's collation 0576c03) · equal-awakening and marvelous-awakening, the three minds (Kuiji 0578b18).

Appended pointers:

• The gold-refining simile series = the narrative backbone of the nine dwellings: refining in the kāṣāya solution (discipline) → holding level with the assay-weight (mind) → made into an ornament · maṇi-radiance (the factors) → musāragalva gems · turning together with the winds (the truths) → beryl beads · moonlight (dependent origination) → maṇi-luster · sunlight drying the damp (the seventh) → the similes of gold and light "as in the sūtra" (the eighth and above) → the great Dharma-cloud and the great Dharma-rain (the tenth) (see the Apparatus, item six).
• The cross-table of the twelve dwellings in the category of the śrāvaka 〔0562c05〕: read against the Śrāvaka Stage (Stage 13); Jing / Tai / the Commentary on the Compendium of the Great Vehicle / the exegetes / Kuiji, matched one by one, all set down (see the Apparatus, item four (twelve)).
• Three strokes of collation on the eye, plus one variant in an ancient master's cited text: 0562a09 two / three incalculable great eons · 0562b10 flesh / heartwood · 0559b16 compassion / wisdom · 0562c09 flavor / discipline (the Concise Compendium's cited text + the Dharmakṣema edition reads "discipline" 戒) — all set down as double readings (see the Apparatus, item two (three)).
• The nine-item re-ascertainment of the Section on Ascertainment (four dwellings accomplishing four matters · the marks of the various grounds · cultivated-attainment and outflow-alike, and the rest) in mutual reference with this piece (see Part One's Apparatus, item two).
• The Consciousness-Only doctrinal eye: the coarse heaviness of the two obstructions · seeds, latent tendencies, latent proclivities · the substance of the forbearance of the non-arising · the continuity of with-outflows and outflowless, eye · weighty (see the Apparatus, item three).

1. The Dwelling of the Higher Discipline (the Ground of Freedom from Defilement)

Question: When a bodhisattva of the Dwelling of the Higher Discipline is in the course of it, what practice, what condition, what characteristic should be known?

Answer: The bodhisattvas, having first been in the Dwelling of Supreme Joy, have already attained purity of aspiration through ten kinds of mental aspiration. Which ten? First, the aspiration of not acting deceitfully toward any teacher, elder, venerable one, or field of merit; second, the aspiration, toward fellow bodhisattvas who share the same Dharma, of forbearance and gentleness, such that one is easy to live together with; third, the aspiration whereby, subduing all afflictions and secondary afflictions and the works of the hosts of Māra, the mind operates in mastery; fourth, the aspiration of seeing deeply the faults in all conditioned things; fifth, the aspiration of seeing deeply the excellent benefit in the great nirvāṇa; sixth, the aspiration of constantly and diligently cultivating the various fine and wholesome factors of awakening; seventh, the aspiration of delighting in a place of seclusion, so as to accord with that cultivation; eighth, the aspiration of having no hankering attachment toward the defiled venerable positions, gains, and honors of the world; ninth, the aspiration of leaving far behind the lower vehicle and heading toward the realization of the great vehicle; tenth, the aspiration of wishing to accomplish every kind of benefit and welfare for all sentient beings. These ten kinds of undistorted aspiration operate in dependence on the mind, and therefore they are called purity of aspiration. Precisely because these ten aspirations become of the highest quality and utterly complete, these bodhisattvas enter and realize the second Dwelling of the Higher Discipline.

Within this dwelling, the discipline of one's very nature is complete: even the slightest evil transgression of discipline subsumed under an evil course of action does not manifest, how much less those of middling or superior degree. Moreover, in the ten complete courses of action, the intrinsic nature manifests. The bodhisattva, whose discipline of nature is complete in this way, is able, by means of subtle wisdom, to know as it really is, with regard to what is defiled and what is undefiled, the evil destinies and the good destinies, and the karma within the various vehicles — its present operation, whether cause or fruit, and the establishing of its cultivation and realization; and to know as it really is such karma as regards the fruit of maturation and the outflowing fruit. One is oneself able to cut off, then and there, the unwholesome deeds, and oneself able to take up, then and there, all wholesome deeds; and precisely therein one delights in exhorting and guiding others, and is able to exhort them rightly. As for the realms of sentient beings defiled by the faults arising from the present operation of every kind of unequal karma — whether they flourish or decline, without distinction, all of them fall into the suffering that is ultimate truth, and they abide in hardship, pressed and afflicted by every kind of hardship, most pitiable — toward them one obtains vast pity and beholds them as they really are.

These bodhisattvas, dwelling thus in the Dwelling of the Higher Discipline, behold the Buddhas far and wide and have wholesome roots that are pure, just as should be known (as stated for the Dwelling of Supreme Joy). The point of difference is this: just as a skilled craftsman of the world places already-refined gold into a crucible and, setting it in the fire, smelts and refines it again and again, so that it turns still brighter and purer — just so should the purity of the bodhisattva's wholesome roots be known to be. Within this dwelling, the purity of aspiration is fulfilled and entered into. In whatever place one is born, one mostly becomes a wheel-turning king, ruling over the four great continents, and by the power of mastery causes many sentient beings to cease from the unwholesome courses of action that transgress discipline, and exhorts them to take up and practice the wholesome courses of action. Its might, be it known, surpasses that of the previous dwelling tenfold.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Discipline — namely: because aspiration is pure; because the discipline of nature is complete; because one is free from every kind of defilement of transgressing discipline; because one knows and has penetrated all courses of action, all causes and fruits; because one is able oneself to take up and practice the pure deeds and also delights in exhorting others to take them up and practice them; because, toward the manifold suffering and hardship born of the karma of the realms of sentient beings, one has attained great pity and beholds them as they really are; because of the purity of the wholesome roots; because of the rebirth; because of the might. If it were to be set forth at length, it is as stated for the Ground of Freedom from Defilement in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: because one leaves far behind every defilement of transgressing discipline, it is named the Ground of Freedom from Defilement; and because one is free from every defilement of transgressing discipline, this itself is named the Dwelling of the Higher Discipline. That Ground of Freedom from Defilement, be it known, is precisely this Dwelling of the Higher Discipline.

2. The Dwelling of the Higher Mind (the Ground of Radiance)

Question: When a bodhisattva of the Dwelling of the Higher Mind is in the course of it, what practice, what condition, what characteristic should be known?

Answer: The bodhisattvas, having first been in the Dwelling of the Higher Discipline, have already attained the ten kinds of pure aspiration, applying attention, reflecting, comprehending, and penetrating; and further, because the applied attention and reflection upon the remaining ten kinds of pure mental aspiration become of the highest quality and utterly complete, they pass beyond the Dwelling of the Higher Discipline and enter the Dwelling of the Higher Mind. Which ten? First, applying attention and reflecting: "As to the ten kinds of pure mental aspiration, I have already attained purity." Second, applying attention and reflecting: "Because I have already been purified in the ten kinds of pure mental aspiration, I am able not to fall away from them." Third, applying attention and reflecting: "As to all outflows and things with outflows, my mind does not enter in; in what is opposed to them I am able to abide rightly." Fourth, applying attention and reflecting: "In the antidote cultivated against those, I am able rightly to abide in awareness." Fifth, applying attention and reflecting: "In that antidote which I have cultivated, I am able no longer to fall away." Sixth, applying attention and reflecting: "In an antidote thus firm, I am not overcome by any outflow, any thing-with-outflows, or any army of Māra." Seventh, applying attention and reflecting: "I am now able, as to all the Buddha's teachings, to have my mind operate without timidity or weakness." Eighth, applying attention and reflecting: "I am now able, as to all austerities, to be without cowardice or feebleness." Ninth, applying attention and reflecting: "My mind, wholly toward the great vehicle, gives rise to deep faith and understanding, and in the end takes no delight in any other lower and inferior vehicle." Tenth, applying attention and reflecting: "As to every matter of benefiting sentient beings, I deeply and heartily delight." By these ten kinds of applied attention and reflection upon pure mental aspiration, one is able to enter the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Mind.

The bodhisattva, dwelling in the Dwelling of the Higher Mind, is able, by every kind of aspect-of-faultiness, to break down all conditioned things, and toward those conditioned things gives rise to deep-hearted revulsion; toward the Buddha's subtle wisdom, one is able, by every kind of aspect-of-excellent-benefit, to see the great excellent benefit, and moreover therein one is able, with a pure, single-flavored joy, to give rise deeply to yearning admiration. Toward the realms of sentient beings, one is able, by every kind of aspect-of-suffering-and-affliction, to regard them as having suffering, and toward the various sentient beings one arouses a mind of compassionate longing and gives rise to a mind that relies on the meaning. In all conditioned things one is without heedlessness; for the sake of great awakening one blazes with vigor; and toward the various sentient beings one is able to arouse the aspiration of vast pity. One observes: the ultimate means for sentient beings to be liberated from the manifold sufferings is solely the unobstructed knowledge with regard to all afflictions and enwrappings; one observes that what is able to realize that liberation completely is solely the non-conceptual wisdom that, within the dharma-realm, is able to act as antidote to the arising of the defilement present in every operation of discrimination; one observes that what is able to accomplish the light of that knowledge is solely the undistorted, excellent concentration; one observes that all the meditative absorptions, concentrations, and meditative attainments that are drawn forth take the hearing of the bodhisattva canon as their prerequisite and take the hearing of the true Dharma as their condition of arising. Having observed and seen this, one arouses great vigor and goes seeking wide learning.

For the sake of hearing the true Dharma, one does not begrudge body or life: there is no wealth, no cherished thing inner or outer, that one cannot give up; no teacher or elder whom one does not vow to serve; no venerable instruction that one does not vow to carry out reverently; no bodily suffering that one does not vow to undergo. If one hears a single four-line verse of the Buddha's teaching, one rejoices and leaps up, more than if one had gained a great heap of precious jewels filling the three-thousand great-thousandfold world-system. To hear a single sentence of the Dharma that is spoken by the Buddha, that is able to lead to perfect awakening and able to purify the bodhisattva's practice — one rejoices and leaps up, more than if one had gained every position of utmost venerability, such as Śakra, Brahmā, the World-Protectors, and the wheel-turning kings. Suppose someone were to announce: "Listen, good son! I have one sentence of the Dharma spoken by the Buddha, able to lead to perfect awakening and able to purify the bodhisattva's practice — do you wish to hear it? If today you are able to cast yourself into a great pit of fire and undergo great suffering, then for your sake I will speak it." The bodhisattva, having heard, rejoices and leaps up, and answers: "I can! If I might hear the one sentence of Dharma-meaning as stated above, then even were the fire-pit equal in measure to the three-thousand great-thousandfold world-system and filled with blazing fire, I would cast my body in from the very Brahmā heaven — how much more into a small fire-pit! For the sake of seeking the Buddha's teaching, one should still dwell long in the great hell, Naraka, and undergo great suffering — how much more, then, should any other lesser suffering not be undergone!"

Having aroused such vigor and sought the true Dharma, the bodhisattva is then able to reflect, as it really is and in accord with principle: one must rightly cultivate the practice of the Dharma and what accords with the Dharma; only so does one merit the name of according with the Buddha's teaching, and it is not through merely hearing letters and sounds that purity is attained. Knowing this, then, one relies on the rightly-conditioned marks of the Dharma one has heard, leaves far behind desires and evil, unwholesome states, and — to state it at length — is able to attain the mundane four meditative absorptions and four formless attainments, and the four immeasurables and the five superknowledges, and abides in them fully. Having already dwelt much in them, one is then able again to relinquish the various meditative absorptions, concentrations, and meditative attainments, and by the power of mastery over vows to come back to the desire-realm — observing which places, if one is able there to accomplish benefit and welfare for sentient beings and able there to bring the factors of awakening to completion, one then goes there to be reborn; it is not merely following the power of mastery that one is born in those places. Thus the bodhisattva: because he is free of the craving of desire, is said to have cut off the bond of desire; because he relinquishes the meditative absorptions, concentrations, and meditative attainments, is said to have cut off the bond of existence; and because the bodhisattva, earlier from the Ground of the Practice of Resolute Conviction, cultivated resolute conviction toward the suchness of dharmas, he has already cut off the bond of views — so that wrong craving, hatred, and delusion in the end do not operate.

He beholds the Buddhas far and wide and has wholesome roots that are pure, as should be known from before. The point of difference is this: just as a skilled craftsman of the world takes the true gold in his hand that he has previously smelted and refined, whose dross and impurity are already exhausted, and it holds true to weight, settling evenly (its color and weight now full) — just so should the purity of the bodhisattva's wholesome roots be known to be. In rebirth one mostly becomes Śakra, lord of the gods, well transforming sentient beings so as to make them free of the craving of desire. As for all the might, in the previous dwelling a thousandfold count was already stated; here, be it known, there is a hundred-thousandfold count.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Mind — namely: because the applied attention and reflection upon mental aspiration are fulfilled and entered into; because one is able rightly to penetrate all conditioned things, the realms of sentient beings, and great awakening; because one is able rightly to seek out the means of liberating sentient beings from suffering; because one arouses great reverence toward the true Dharma and seeks it out tirelessly; because one is able rightly to cultivate the practice of the Dharma and what accords with the Dharma, and is able to draw forth and to abide in one's mundane meditative absorptions and the rest, concentrations, meditative attainments, and the immeasurable superknowledges; because, relinquishing those, by the power of mastery over vows one takes rebirth as one wishes; because of the purity of the wholesome roots; because of the rebirth; because of the divine might. If it were to be set forth at length, it is as stated for the Ground of Radiance in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: because it is displayed by the light of arousing the practice of hearing the true Dharma and the light of concentration, this ground is named the Ground of Radiance; and because, the inner mind being pure, one is able to emit radiance, it is therefore named the Dwelling of the Higher Mind. By this meaning it is named the Ground of Radiance; and precisely by this meaning, be it known, it is further named the Dwelling of the Higher Mind.

3. The Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Factors of Awakening (the Ground of Blazing Wisdom)

What is the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Factors of Awakening? The bodhisattvas, having first been in the Dwelling of the Higher Mind, by the augmenting power of seeking wide learning, have already attained the ten entries into the illumination of the Dharma; and because these ten entries into the illumination of the Dharma become of the highest quality and utterly complete, they pass beyond the Dwelling of the Higher Mind and enter the first Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom. As for the wording of these ten entries into the illumination of the Dharma, as stated in the discourses, their characteristics should be known — namely: what is designated; wherein it is designated; whereby it is designated; the ultimate meaning that is equal; because of defilement and affliction, because of purification, its becoming defiled and becoming purified; what is defiled by the afflictions of binding fetters, and what is purified by the unsurpassed purity. This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the meaning of the ten entries into the illumination of the Dharma.

These bodhisattvas, dwelling in this dwelling, as the discourses state: taking unbreakable aspiration as their chief, all the ten kinds of knowledge that can ripen and the dharmas that ripen knowledge are wholly accomplished; they grow up within the family of the Tathāgata and attain the substance-dharma of that family. By the augmenting power of observing bodhisattvas of every kind, they cultivate the thirty-seven factors of awakening headed by the four foundations of mindfulness. As the discourses state: because, drawing in and diligently cultivating this Dharma through skillful means, the most utterly subtle view of a self within the aggregates — the clinging to all aggregates, elements, sense-fields, and the like, all their agitation — is finally cut off so as not to manifest. Because of that cutting-off, all the karma censured by the Tathāgatas does not manifest, and all the karma praised by the Tathāgatas operates in accord as it really is. This being so, one's mind turns still more moist and gentle, having capacity; one's mind turns still more, in its every kind of aspect, wholly pure and clean. Moreover, gratitude, the knowledge of requiting kindness, and other accordant aspirations — every kind of pure and bright dharma — are wholly accomplished. Seeking the karma that can refine the higher ground, one arouses great vigor and attains and abides in it. By this cause and condition, all one's aspiration, one's higher aspiration, and the nature of one's resolute conviction and its elements become complete. By this cause and condition, none of the outsiders, none of the many armies of Māra, none of the enemies of the sacred teaching are able to overshadow or dislodge one.

He beholds the Buddhas far and wide and has wholesome roots that are pure, whose characteristics should be known at length as before. The point of difference is this: just as a skilled craftsman of the world fashions ornaments out of refined gold — ornaments that cannot be overshadowed by the remaining gold not yet made into ornaments — just so, here, the bodhisattva's wholesome roots cannot be overshadowed by the wholesome roots possessed by the bodhisattvas dwelling in the lower positions. And just as the radiance emitted by a maṇi-jewel cannot be overshadowed by the remaining gems, and none of the world's winds, waters, rains, and the like can extinguish the radiance it emits — just so, here, the bodhisattva's radiance of wisdom cannot be overshadowed by any śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and the like, and no enemy of Māra can extinguish it. In rebirth one mostly becomes Suyāma, lord of the gods, well transforming sentient beings so as to make them eradicate the view of a self within the aggregates. As for all the might, in the previous dwelling a hundred-thousandfold count was stated; here, be it known, a koṭi-count is stated.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Factors of Awakening — namely: because the entry into the illumination of the Dharma is fulfilled and gained entry; because knowledge is accomplished; because one cultivates the factors of awakening; because the view of a self within the aggregates and every clinging and agitation are cut off; because one restrains karma, releases karma, and stays far from close resort to it; because by this cause and condition the mind is tamed and gentle; because the accordant virtues all flourish; because, relying on the ground-refining karma one has sought, one arouses great vigor; because by this cause and condition all one's aspiration, higher aspiration, and the nature of one's resolute conviction and its elements are purified and refined; because by this cause and condition none of the enemies of the sacred teaching are able to overshadow or dislodge one; because of the purity of the wholesome roots; because of the rebirth; because of the might. If it were to be set forth at length, it is as stated for the Ground of Blazing Wisdom in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: because in this ground the blaze of the knowledge-as-it-really-is of the factors of awakening is able to accomplish the illumination of the wisdom that is the teaching of the true Dharma, this ground is named the Ground of Blazing Wisdom; and that very ground is here named the Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Factors of Awakening.

4. The Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Truths (the Ground Most Difficult to Conquer)

What is the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Truths? The bodhisattvas, having first been in the Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Factors of Awakening, have already attained the ten kinds of equal, pure aspiration; and because that equal, pure aspiration becomes of the highest quality and utterly complete, they pass beyond the first Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom and realize and enter the second Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom. As for the wording of the ten kinds of equal, pure aspiration, as stated in the discourses, their characteristics should be known — namely, the unequalled Awakening is equal with the various awakenings, surpassing the remaining realms of sentient beings and all dharmas, according to its equality. This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the meaning of the ten kinds of equal, pure aspiration.

Thus the bodhisattva, dwelling in this dwelling, for the most part seeks the excellence of knowledge, and knows the four noble truths as they really are by ten aspects. As for all the wording, as stated in the discourses, its characteristics should be known — namely: in dependence on awakening another, in dependence on one's own inner knowledge, in dependence on the shared locus, it is named "as spoken for this"; in dependence on the discourses, the discipline, and the matrix, it is named "as spoken by this"; in dependence on the intrinsic nature of the present manifold sufferings, in dependence on the productive nature of the future cause of suffering, in dependence on the non-arising nature whereby, the cause being exhausted, that too is exhausted, in dependence on the nature of the means of cultivating the cutting-off of that — it is named "as spoken thus." This, be it known, is what is called the brief meaning of the knowledge of the four noble truths in ten aspects.

Thus the bodhisattva who is skilled in the truths, toward all conditioned things, rightly disparages them with wisdom (censuring them as they really are); toward the realms of sentient beings he increases his aspiration of compassion; toward the wrong conduct of the deluded sentient beings of the earlier and later times he is able rightly to penetrate. So as to bring them to liberation, he takes in the vast accumulations of merit and wisdom, and his mind arouses right vows; and precisely upon that aspiration he draws in and takes up the many excellent virtues headed by right mindfulness and the practice of wisdom, all of them growing abundant; all the other (irrelevant) applications of attention are wholly left far behind; and by every kind of ripening means he ripens sentient beings. As the discourses state: all the various mundane arts and sciences that can benefit sentient beings — books, treatises, seals, arithmetic, calculation, and the like, all the crafts-sciences — in all this he is able to draw them forth; for, harboring deep pity toward the various sentient beings, gradually and by skillful means he even establishes them in the sublime awakening. (Its ten matters:) because he accords with the affairs of worldly speech; because, by skillful means, he wishes to break down poverty; because he wishes to extinguish the calamities that arise from the disordering of the various realms of the world and from humans, non-humans, and the like; because he wishes to bestow the various instruments of blameless play and amusement, and to remove those unlawful instruments of play and amusement; because, for those who seek the various dwelling-places and the requisites of life, he wishes that with little exertion he may bestow upon them the various dwelling-places and requisites of life; because he wishes to rescue them from the oppressions of kings, thieves, and the like; because he wishes to grant and to restrain, as regards the applications of practice concerning the fitting place and the unfitting place; because he wishes to establish auspicious and inauspicious matters, so that they may adopt or reject them; and because he rightly exhorts and encourages, so that in the present world they do not scheme against one another in turn, and in order to proclaim the undistorted path of excellent rebirth to come. This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the meaning of the crafts-sciences that can benefit sentient beings.

As for all the rest, it should be known as before. The point of difference is this: just as a skilled craftsman of the world fashions an ornament out of refined gold, polishing and inlaying it with the musāra-gem, so that none of the remaining gold is its equal and none can overshadow it — just so, here, the bodhisattva's wholesome roots cannot be overshadowed by any śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, or bodhisattvas of the remaining grounds. And just as the radiance of the sun, the moon, and the constellations cannot be overshadowed by any wind-disk, yet its revolving turns together with that wind (its course moving together with the wind) — just so, here, the bodhisattva's subtle wisdom cannot be overshadowed by any śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and the like, yet what it does is shared in common with the world. In rebirth one mostly becomes Saṃtuṣita, lord of the gods, well transforming sentient beings so as to make them relinquish all the wrong dharmas of the outsiders. As for all the might, be it known, here a thousand-koṭi count is stated.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Truths — namely: because the ten equal, pure aspirations are fulfilled and gained entry; because, observing the truths by skillful means, they gradually increase; because the disparaging of conditioned things and the pity toward sentient beings gradually increase; because, precisely for that purpose, he nurtures the vast accumulations of merit and wisdom, and his mind, arousing right vows, applies diligent effort; because the virtues of mindfulness, wisdom, practice, and the rest increase; because, with no remaining application of attention, he applies diligent effort to ripen sentient beings by every kind of means; because he draws forth the mundane crafts-karma; because of the purity of the wholesome roots; because of the rebirth; because of the might. If it were to be set forth at length, it is the Ground Most Difficult to Conquer of the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: now in this ground it is displayed that the bodhisattva's decisive, subtle knowledge with regard to the noble truths is most difficult to conquer, and therefore this ground is named Most Difficult to Conquer; and precisely by this meaning, be it known, it is here named the Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Truths.

5. The Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with Dependent Origination (the Ground of Manifestation)

What is the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with Dependent Origination? The bodhisattvas, having first been in the Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with the Truths, have already attained the ten kinds of equality of dharmas (the wording is as set forth at length in the sūtra); and because these ten kinds of equality of dharmas become of the highest quality and utterly complete, they pass beyond the previous dwelling and gain entry into this dwelling. (The ten kinds of equality of dharmas:) namely, with regard to all dharmas — because of the equality of their being marklessness in the ultimate-meaning intrinsic nature; because of the equality of the marklessness of the images of verbal fashioning; because of the equality whereby, by this very mark, they do not arise of themselves; because of the equality whereby the cause too does not arise; because, self and cause both not arising, of the equality of being finally and originally quiescent; because of the equality whereby the right knowledge that grasps the presently existing substantial events is free of all conceptual proliferation; because of the equality of being far removed from all grasping, rejecting, and fashioning; because of the equality of these very afflictions, manifold sufferings, and defilements being unfettered and liberated; because of the equality whereby the intrinsic nature of the discriminated, grasped objects is like an illusion, a magical creation, and the like; because of the equality whereby the intrinsic nature ranged over by non-conceptual wisdom is non-dual as to being and non-being. This, be it known, is what is called the brief distinguishing of the meaning of the ten kinds of equality of dharmas herein.

Thus the bodhisattva, dwelling in this dwelling, increases his pity toward the various sentient beings; toward great awakening he gives rise to a fierce and keen joyous longing and seeking; and toward the joining and dispersing, arising and ceasing of the various worlds, he observes and knows by the right contemplation of dependent origination in its every kind. In dependence on the knowledge of dependent origination, he is able to draw forth the three gates of liberation — emptiness, marklessness, and wishlessness. By this cause and condition, all notions of self and other, agent and experiencer, being and non-being, and the like no longer operate. The bodhisattva, being thus skilled in the ultimate meaning and mindful of sentient beings, penetrates in accord with principle: because they are bound by the afflictions and because of the coming-together of the manifold conditions, the intrinsic nature of conditioned dharmas is feeble — (sentient beings) operate bearing the defilement of measureless faults that is apart from self and what belongs to self, and it is not apart from all afflictive bondage and the coming-together of the manifold conditions (that there is some separate agent). Therefore (the bodhisattva reflects): "Now, for my own guarding, I should cause all afflictive bondage and the coming-together of the manifold conditions to be wholly cut off and destroyed; but for the benefit of sentient beings, I should not forever extinguish all that is conditioned."

Thus the bodhisattva, dwelling in this dwelling, with knowledge and compassion following in train, is said to have the knowledge of non-attachment present before him and the dwelling of the perfection of wisdom present before him. Because of this dwelling, he acts within all the conduct of the world without defilement. Moreover, this dwelling has a fierce and keen forbearance — with regard to the seventh ground's "forbearance of the bodhisattva at the limit of the practice with intensified effort," this, be it known, is subsumed under the forbearance that accords with that. Furthermore, this knowledge of non-attachment present before him, this dwelling of the perfection of wisdom present before him, is able to draw forth the conditions that can lead to awakening: with regard to the conditioned activities of all the worlds, he abides yet does not abide (he is amid them yet not bound to them); and though within quiescence he sees the virtue of tranquil extinction, yet he too does not abide there (he does not enter and realize cessation). Thus the bodhisattva, followed in train by the wisdom of skillful means and prajñā, is able to enter the samādhi of emptiness, causing ten hundred thousand (a million) principal samādhi-gates all to become present before him; as with the samādhi of emptiness, so with the samādhi of wishlessness and the samādhi of marklessness, be it known. Because these principal samādhi-gates are present before him, his aspiration is unbreakable; with regard to every kind of Buddha's sacred teaching, none of the outsiders, none of the armies of Māra, none of the enemies of the sacred teaching are able to draw it away.

The rest is as stated before. The point of difference is this: just as a skilled craftsman of the world fashions an ornament out of refined gold, polishing and inlaying it with beryl gems, so that none of the remaining gold can overshadow it — just so, here, the bodhisattva's wholesome roots, pure and excellent, cannot be overshadowed by (the kinds) stated earlier. And just as moonlight is able to gladden the bodies of sentient beings and cannot be destroyed by the four wind-disks — just so, here, the bodhisattva's radiance of wisdom is able to extinguish the sweltering afflictions of all sentient beings, and none of the outsiders, the armies of Māra, or the enemies can destroy it. In rebirth one mostly becomes Sunirmita, lord of the gods, well transforming sentient beings so as to make them eradicate all overweening conceit and the like. As for all the might, be it known, here a hundred-thousand-koṭi count is stated.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with Dependent Origination — namely: because the ten kinds of equality of dharmas are fulfilled and gained entry; because, awakening to dependent origination, he gives rise to the gates of liberation; because none of the wrong notions operate; because, by skillful means, he takes in birth-and-death; because the knowledge of non-attachment is present before him and the dwelling of the perfection of wisdom is present before him; because he realizes measureless samādhis; because he realizes an unbreakable aspiration; because his hold on the Buddha's sacred teaching cannot be drawn away; because he beholds the Buddhas far and wide and his wholesome roots are pure; because of the rebirth; because of the might. If it were to be set forth at length, it is as stated for the Ground of Manifestation in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: because in this ground the knowledge of non-attachment is present before one and the dwelling of the perfection of wisdom is present before one, it is named the Ground of Manifestation; and precisely by this meaning, be it known, it is also named the Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with Dependent Origination.

6. The Dwelling of the Markless with Intensified Effort and with Applied Function (the Ground of Far Reaching)

What is the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Markless with Intensified Effort and with Applied Function? The bodhisattvas, in the preceding sixth Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom Associated with Dependent Origination, have already attained the ten kinds of superior practices in advancing along the path — practices drawn forth by the subtle wisdom of skillful means, uncommon to all sentient beings yet shared in common with all worlds; and because these very uncommon superior path-advancing practices drawn forth by the subtle wisdom of skillful means become of the highest quality and utterly complete, they pass beyond the sixth dwelling and gain entry into the seventh dwelling. As for such wording, it is as set forth at length in the sūtra, and its characteristics should be known — namely: in dependence on giving rise to worldly flourishing and taking in merit; in dependence on the higher aspiration for the benefit and ease of sentient beings; in dependence on, for the sake of awakening, the ever-later advancement of the accumulation of merit and the factors of awakening; in dependence on what is uncommon to the śrāvakas; in dependence on what is uncommon to the pratyekabuddhas; in dependence on the realms of sentient beings; in dependence on the dharma-realms; in dependence on the various world-systems; in dependence on the body, speech, mind, and knowledge of the Tathāgatas. This, be it known, is what is called the brief meaning of the locus of the uncommon superior path-advancing practices drawn forth by the subtle wisdom of skillful means.

Because the bodhisattva is associated with that, he is then able to penetrate the measureless, countless realms of the Tathāgatas, and, with regard to them, to arouse an effortless, markless, non-conceptual, non-differentiating contemplation of the measureless Buddha-realms, and to arouse an uninterrupted, unflagging diligent training and cultivation: in all deportments — walking, standing, and applied attention — in every phase he is not far from the path. In each and every mind-instant, taking the ten perfections as his chief, all the factors of awakening are complete and excellent — the remaining lower dwellings are not so: in the first Dwelling of Supreme Joy, one rightly takes the great vow as the excellent object; in the second dwelling, one is rightly able to dispel the defilement of transgressing discipline; in the third dwelling, one's vows rightly increase and one attains the light of the Dharma; in the fourth dwelling, one rightly enters upon the path; in the fifth dwelling, one rightly enters all the affairs of the world; in the sixth dwelling, one rightly enters the profound principle of dependent origination; now, precisely in this seventh dwelling, one fully arouses all the Buddha's teachings, and the limbs of awakening are complete. Because the bodhisattva of this dwelling is subsumed under the completeness of the practice with intensified effort, his subtle-knowledge and superknowledge-practice are pure, and he is able to enter the eighth dwelling — and so, from this dwelling without interval, the bodhisattva is able to enter the eighth utterly-pure dwelling.

That eighth dwelling is wholly pure; this seventh dwelling is still named mixed: because it acts as the forerunner of the pure dwelling, this dwelling should be said to be named undefiled; because (purity) has not yet been attained, this dwelling should be said to fall into the mixed and defiled. Now in this dwelling all the afflictions headed by craving and the rest are wholly cut off; this dwelling, be it known, is neither possessed of afflictions nor free of afflictions — because all afflictions do not manifest (hence not possessed), and because the seeking of Buddha-knowledge has not yet been attained (hence not free). The practitioner thus, his higher aspiration already purified, has measureless bodily, verbal, and mental karma operating in accord, and toward the karma praised and censured by the Tathāgatas, as set forth at length before. The mundane crafts-karma-knowledge drawn forth in the fifth dwelling here turns and becomes complete: throughout the three-thousandfold world he is commonly acknowledged as teacher, save only for the bodhisattvas dwelling in the higher dwellings and the Tathāgatas — none is his equal in aspiration and intensified practice. As for all the meditative absorptions and the rest of the factors of awakening, he is able to make them present — because it is by the aspect of cultivation being present that they arise, and not by abiding in the phase of maturation (as the eighth dwelling does, spontaneously). These bodhisattvas, because they thus, by skillful means, well investigate, are able, as regards the various samādhis, to draw forth ten hundred thousand kinds of samādhi-gate headed by the bodhisattva samādhi; and because they attain such samādhis, they pass beyond all the samādhi-domains of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas.

The bodhisattva thus has all afflictions wholly left far behind; the bodily, verbal, and mental karma difficult to know, followed in train by every operation of discrimination, is wholly settled; yet he does not relinquish the fierce and brave intensified effort of seeking excellent advancement, being mindful of sentient beings. So as to bring great awakening swiftly to completion, measureless bodily, verbal, and mental karma free of all marks operates in accord, made manifest by the well-refined forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas. Within this dwelling, by the domain of his own awakened wisdom, he passes beyond the domain of all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas (in the remaining six dwellings, it is only by the object augmented by the Buddha's teaching that he passes beyond the domain of all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas). Moreover, the attainment of cessation that the bodhisattvas entered in the sixth dwelling, here in this dwelling he is able to enter in instant after instant. And this bodhisattva has a work most rare and marvelous, inconceivable: he constantly abides in the dwelling of the true limit, yet with regard to tranquil extinction he is able not to realize it. He, by the augmenting power drawn forth by such subtle-means-knowledge, is able to practice the bodhisattva's subtle practices uncommon to all sentient beings: though they appear similar to the world, they are not of that nature (not of worldly nature). As set forth at length in the sūtra, the summary meaning here is this: namely, in dependence on the affairs of meritorious karma, taking in every kind of kin and following; the distinctions in seeking rebirth; arousing the dwelling of the three liberations that is excellent advancement; taming, by skillful means, those with faith and understanding of the lower vehicle; enjoying the objects of desire; the distinctions in seeking desire; converting the outsiders; operating in accord with others' minds; operating in accord with the great assembly.

The rest is as stated before. The point of difference is this: just as a skilled craftsman of the world fashions an ornament out of refined gold, polishing and inlaying it with the various maṇi-jewels, so that it is most brilliant and lovely, and none of the gold-treasures of the remaining Jambudvīpa can overshadow it — just so, here, the bodhisattva's wholesome roots, turned still purer, cannot be overshadowed by the wholesome roots of any śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, nor by the wholesome roots of the bodhisattvas of the remaining lower dwellings. And just as sunlight is able to dry up, for the most part, all the foul dampness in Jambudvīpa, and no other light can overshadow it — just so, here, the bodhisattva's radiance of wisdom is able to dry up, for the most part, the poisons of the afflictions of all sentient beings, and the radiance of knowledge of the śrāvakas and the rest, as stated earlier, cannot overshadow it. In rebirth one mostly becomes Paranirmitavaśavartin, lord of the gods, skillful in the means that can grant the direct realization to all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. As for all the might, be it known, here a koṭi-hundred-thousand count is stated.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Markless with Intensified Effort and with Applied Function — namely: because the mundane superior path-advancing practices drawn forth by the subtle wisdom of skillful means are fulfilled and gained entry; because, penetrating the Tathāgatas' Buddha-realms, he arouses uninterrupted, unflagging diligent effort; because in each and every instant he fully realizes all the factors of awakening; because he establishes the defiled and the undefiled; because he is subsumed under the completeness of the practice with intensified effort; because, in dependence on the pure aspiration, karma operating, all the mundane crafts-karma and the rest are complete; because he attains measureless samādhis uncommon to all śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas; because in instant after instant he enters the attainment of cessation; because he manifests the worldly practices uncommon to all sentient beings; because of the purity of the wholesome roots; because of the rebirth; because of the might. If it were to be set forth at length, it is as stated for the Ground of Far Reaching in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: because the bodhisattva of this ground is subsumed under the completeness of the practice with intensified effort, it is named the Ground of Far Reaching; and precisely by this meaning, be it known, it is also named the Dwelling of the Markless with Intensified Effort and with Applied Function.

7. The Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function (the Immovable Ground)

What is the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function? The bodhisattvas, in the first markless dwelling, have already attained the ten kinds of knowledge of entering the ultimate meaning of all dharmas (as set forth at length in the sūtra) — namely: in dependence on the three times, as is fitting, being originally non-arising, non-originating, markless; in dependence on the nature of the remaining causes, being without formation, without destruction; in dependence on the ultimate-meaning substantial events that finally transcend words — as to the intrinsic nature of the images of verbal fashioning, by reason of substance-and-mark and by reason of causal nature, there is nothing whatsoever; that is, by such defiled substance-nature, there is no nature of coursing-in-transmigration and no nature of coming-to-rest; in dependence on "taking this knowledgeless wrong grasping as cause," with regard to those wordless substantial events, in the initial, middle, and later phases, at all times, the equality of defilement; in dependence on the undistorted realizing-and-entering into suchness, because of the equality free of discrimination, one is able to remove defilement. This is what is called the brief meaning herein. Because these ten kinds of knowledge of entering the ultimate meaning of all dharmas become of the highest quality and utterly complete, they pass beyond the seventh mixed-pure dwelling and gain entry into the eighth wholly-pure dwelling.

Dwelling in this dwelling, with regard to the non-arising of dharmas one realizes the bodhisattva's first, most supreme, utterly pure forbearance. What is this? Namely, the bodhisattvas, by the four investigations, having rightly investigated all dharmas, when they attain the four kinds of knowledge-as-it-really-is, know all dharmas as they really are; then all wrong discrimination and grasping are wholly left far behind: they observe that all dharmas, in the present, in accord with all defilement, are non-arising; they observe that all those dharmas produced earlier from the cause of wrong discrimination and grasping, in the future are wholly, without remainder, never to arise again. These four investigations and four kinds of knowledge-as-it-really-is are set forth at length as before, in the Chapter on Reality. This knowledge-as-it-really-is, from the Dwelling of the Practice of Resolute Conviction down to the Dwelling of the Markless with Intensified Effort and with Applied Function, has not been utterly pure; now in this dwelling it is already utterly pure — and therefore it is said: with regard to the non-arising of dharmas, one realizes the bodhisattva's first, most supreme, utterly pure forbearance.

These bodhisattvas, because they attain this forbearance, attain the profound dwelling. The four kinds of calamity that were in the first markless dwelling are now all cut off: first, the cutting-off of the matter of intensified effort and applied function within the markless; second, the cutting-off of the diligent yearning toward the higher pure dwelling; third, the cutting-off of the diligent yearning to have great capacity for every kind of matter benefiting sentient beings; fourth, the cutting-off of having a subtle notion operating present before one. Therefore this dwelling is named utterly pure. And this bodhisattva takes utmost delight in the profound dwelling. Within this very flowing-stream of the Dharma-gate, being awakened and exhorted by the Tathāgatas, he is granted measureless drawing-forth-gate knowledge and superknowledge-work; being thus awakened and exhorted by the Buddhas, he draws forth measureless subtle knowledge of dividing his body.

He attains the ten masteries (as set forth at length in the sūtra, whose characteristics should be known; the names of the items below follow Dunlun's assignment). Because he attains mastery: he dwells wherever he wishes, and can dwell at will (mastery over life); he can abide at will in whatever mental dwellings he delights in — meditative absorptions, liberations, and the like (mastery over mind); if he but reflects for a moment, all the requisites of life such as food and drink are fully accomplished, and all the mundane arts and crafts-sciences he is able to manifest as he wishes (mastery over wealth); universally, with regard to all the karma that can bring about rebirth (mastery over karma) and all the places of rebirth, he goes freely to be reborn as he wishes (mastery over rebirth); in accord with what he delights in, all the works accomplished by superknowledge he is able to set going (mastery over the miraculous); all his subtle vows are fulfilled as he wishes (mastery over vows); wherever he arouses resolute conviction toward things, whatever he wishes to do is accomplished without discrepancy (mastery over resolute conviction); whatever knowable object he wishes to know, he knows as it really is (mastery over knowledge); universally, with regard to all names, phrases, and syllable-bodies, he attains as he wishes, and in the right establishing of all dharmas he attains skill (mastery over the Dharma). The bodhisattva thus attaining mastery — the excellent benefits of the mastery he attains from this point onward are set forth at length in the sūtra, whose characteristics should be known. Moreover, he is able to relinquish the coarse-mark of beholding the Buddhas, and constantly, without interval, is not apart from beholding the Buddhas. The rest — the gold-simile and light-simile of the purity of his wholesome roots — should be known from the sūtra. As for the excellent matters of this dwelling's bodhisattva — his rebirth, his might, and the rest — they are all as stated in the sūtra, whose characteristics should be known.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the bodhisattva's Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function — namely: because the knowledge of entering the ultimate meaning of all dharmas is fulfilled and gained entry; because he attains the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas; because he cuts off all calamity; because he attains the bodhisattva's profound dwelling; because, in the flowing-stream of the Dharma-gate, he is granted by the Buddhas measureless drawing-forth-gate knowledge and superknowledge-work; because he realizes and enters the measureless knowledge of dividing his body; because he attains mastery; because he receives the excellent benefits of the mastery he attains; because of the purity of the wholesome roots; because of the rebirth; because of the might. If it were to be set forth at length, it is as stated for the Immovable Ground in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: because in this ground he relinquishes the path with intensified effort and with applied function that he possessed earlier, and his mind rises up to the immovable, excellent path that is without intensified effort, without applied function, and operates spontaneously, this ground is named the Immovable Ground; and precisely by this meaning, be it known, it is named the Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function.

8. The Dwelling of Unobstructed Understanding (the Ground of Excellent Wisdom)

What is the bodhisattva's Dwelling of Unobstructed Understanding? The bodhisattvas, not giving rise to contentment with the profound dwelling, further delight in and follow into the excellence of higher knowledge. These bodhisattvas, within the various dharmas, arouse the intensified practice of knowledge: they should proclaim to others every kind of Dharma, and universally, as to all that is done in expounding the Dharma, they know it as it really is. Herein "what is done in expounding the Dharma," be it known, means that with regard to all the workings within the near thicket (the hidden, hard-to-fathom workings of mind), that this is defilement, that this is purity, that by this there is defilement, that by this there is purity, what is defiled, what is purified, what is not one-sided, what is one-sided, what is common to both — all such they know as it really is. Thus the bodhisattva is, in the expounding of the Dharma, skilled in means, and in what is done in expounding, skilled in means; in every kind he becomes a great Dharma-master, attaining measureless dhāraṇī-gates, and in every kind he is skilled in analyzing the constituents of vocal speech and diction (all the components of vocal sound and word), and his eloquence is inexhaustible. The bodhisattva who accomplishes such capacity to receive and hold the Dharma-dhāraṇī, by this excellent unobstructed understanding, draws forth speech, and is able to sit upon such a subtle Dharma-seat: whatever, and wherever, are the exhaustive gates for proclaiming the true Dharma; and if by this means, then, toward the various sentient beings, the works of exhorting, consoling, and settling them — all such capacities are wholly accomplished. All this is set forth at length in the sūtra, whose characteristics should be known. The excellent matters of the purity of the wholesome roots, the rebirth, and the might are also set forth at length in the sūtra, whose characteristics should be known.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the bodhisattva's Dwelling of Unobstructed Understanding — namely: because, not giving rise to contentment with the profound, tranquil liberation, he enters excellent advancement; because, within the various dharmas, he arouses the intensified practice of knowledge and proclaims the Dharma; because he knows as it really is this work that is done; because he attains inconceivable great Dharma-mastership; because of the purity of the wholesome roots; because of the rebirth; because of the might. If it were to be set forth at length, it is as stated for the Ground of Excellent Wisdom in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: because in this ground the aspiration for the benefit and ease of all sentient beings is pure, and he attains the bodhisattva's unobstructed understanding-wisdom, whereby he is well able to proclaim the true Dharma, this ground is named the Ground of Excellent Wisdom; and precisely by this meaning, be it known, it is further named the Dwelling of Unobstructed Understanding.

9. The Supreme, Consummate Bodhisattva Dwelling (the Ground of the Dharma-Cloud)

What is the bodhisattva's Supreme, Consummate Bodhisattva Dwelling? The bodhisattvas, having in the Dwelling of Unobstructed Understanding made every aspect pervasively pure, are fit to be Dharma-kings and to receive the Dharma-consecration: they attain measureless, countless excellent samādhis such as freedom-from-defilement and the rest; and because, after the samādhi of the excellent consecration of the omniscience-knowledge that "does what is there to be done," there is present before them, they attain a subtle seat befitting all the Buddhas, together with a body and retinue; they attain great radiance, coming and going, universally illumining every aspect, and the omniscience-knowledge sprinkles upon and anoints the crown of their head. Having been consecrated, they are universally able to guide the sentient beings to be transformed, and, with regard to the Buddha-works that are the means of that liberation, they attain knowledge-as-it-really-is; they attain measureless, boundless liberations, dhāraṇī-gates, and great superknowledge-powers, and the establishing of the instructive words drawn forth by this augmented great mindfulness and great knowledge, and what is drawn forth by augmented great superknowledge. The excellent matters of the purity of the wholesome roots, the rebirth, and the might are all as in the sūtra, whose characteristics should be known.

This, be it known, is what is called the brief statement of the Supreme, Consummate Bodhisattva Dwelling. If it were to be set forth at length, it is as stated for the Ground of the Dharma-Cloud in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: these bodhisattvas, dwelling in this ground, have all the bodhisattva paths complete, and the accumulation for awakening is most excellently and thoroughly furnished; from the great Dharma-cloud of all the Tathāgatas they are fit to receive the most utterly vast, subtle Dharma-rain that the remaining classes of all sentient beings can scarcely receive; and moreover, this bodhisattva is himself like a great cloud — he has not yet made manifest the perfect awakening of unsurpassed enlightenment; if he were to make manifest the perfect awakening of unsurpassed enlightenment, he would be able, for measureless, boundless sentient beings and the rest, to rain down the incomparable, subtle Dharma-rain, quelling all the dust of the afflictions, and able to make the crops of every kind of wholesome root grow and ripen — therefore this ground is named the Ground of the Dharma-Cloud; and precisely by this meaning, be it known, it is further named the Supreme, Consummate Bodhisattva Dwelling.

10. Summary: The Three Incalculable Great Kalpas · The Positions of Cutting Off the Two Obstructions · The Eleven Purities · The Dwellings Resembling the Śrāvaka's

The branch-virtues within the ever-later dwellings, as thus stated, are not entirely absent from all the ever-earlier dwellings; it is only that (in the earlier dwellings) their quality and position are lowly, and so they are not entered into their count; be it known, it is precisely these which, by successive cultivation, become of middling and superior quality, and, being realized and consummated in the grounds thereafter, are only then established (in name).

Moreover, in each and every one of these dwellings, one must pass many koṭis of hundreds of thousands of great kalpas, or exceed even this number, before one attains realization and consummation. And all the dwellings altogether are passed through in two incalculable great kalpas before complete realization is attained (for the word "two," the five editions — Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Sheng — read "three"): namely, passing through the first incalculable great kalpa, one only then passes beyond the Dwelling of the Practice of Resolute Conviction and, in sequence, realizes the Dwelling of Supreme Joy — and this is said of one who is ever fierce and diligent in vigor, not of one who is not fierce and diligent in vigor; passing again through the second incalculable great kalpa, one only then passes beyond the Dwelling of Supreme Joy down to the Dwelling of the Markless with Intensified Effort and with Applied Function and, in sequence, realizes the Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function — and this is fixed, because the bodhisattva at this position has attained the pure aspiration and is fixedly fierce and diligent in vigor; passing again through the third incalculable great kalpa, one only then passes beyond the Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function and the Dwelling of Unobstructed Understanding, and realizes the Supreme, Consummate Bodhisattva Dwelling. Herein, be it known, there are, in brief, two kinds of incalculable great kalpa: first, by the reckoning-device of day and night, month, half-month, and the like, because the time is measureless, it too is named an incalculable great kalpa; second, by the reckoning-device of the great kalpa, exceeding all measure of reckoning, it too is named an incalculable great kalpa. If one speaks of the incalculable great kalpa in the former sense, then it is by measureless incalculable great kalpas that one realizes unsurpassed perfect enlightenment; if one speaks of the incalculable great kalpa in the latter sense, then it is only by passing through three incalculable great kalpas that one realizes unsurpassed perfect enlightenment, not exceeding this measure. If one rightly cultivates the most superior-superior-quality fierce and diligent vigor, some may be able to convert (shorten) many middling kalpas, or some may even be able to convert many great kalpas; but be it known, there is fixedly no one able to convert (shorten) an incalculable great kalpa.

Moreover, by these twelve bodhisattva dwellings as thus stated, through the time-measure of three incalculable great kalpas, one is able to cut off all the coarse-heaviness in the class of the afflictive obstruction, and to cut off all the coarse-heaviness in the class of the cognitive obstruction. In three dwellings, be it known, one is able to cut off the coarse-heaviness in the class of the afflictive obstruction: in the Dwelling of Supreme Joy, all the coarse-heaviness in the class of the afflictions of all the evil destinies is wholly and forever cut off, and all the afflictions of superior and middling quality do not manifest; in the Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function, all the coarse-heaviness in the class of the afflictions that can obstruct the wholly-pure forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas is wholly and forever cut off, and all afflictions do not appear before one; in the Supreme, Consummate Bodhisattva Dwelling, be it known, all the latent tendencies and latent proclivities and hindrances of the afflictions are wholly and forever cut off, and one enters the Dwelling of the Tathāgata. Be it known, all the coarse-heaviness in the class of the cognitive obstruction is likewise of three kinds: first, the coarse-heaviness in the skin; second, the coarse-heaviness in the outer flesh; third, the coarse-heaviness in the inner flesh (for the word "flesh," the five editions — Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Sheng — read "substance"). Herein, be it known: the coarse-heaviness in the skin, the Dwelling of Supreme Joy has wholly cut off; the coarse-heaviness in the outer flesh, the Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function has wholly cut off; the coarse-heaviness in the inner flesh, the Dwelling of the Tathāgata has wholly cut off, attaining the utterly-pure knowledge free of all obstruction. In three dwellings, the two obstructions — afflictive and cognitive — are forever cut off; in the remaining dwellings, in their proper sequence, one cultivates the accumulation for cutting off the two obstructions.

Precisely within these thirteen dwellings, be it known, there are, in brief, eleven kinds of purity: in the first, the Dwelling of Lineage, purity of lineage; in the second, the Dwelling of the Practice of Resolute Conviction, purity of the faith of resolute conviction; in the third, the Dwelling of Supreme Joy, purity of excellent aspiration; in the fourth, the Dwelling of the Higher Discipline, purity of the higher discipline; in the fifth, the Dwelling of the Higher Mind, purity of the higher mind; in the sixth, seventh, and eighth, the Dwellings of the Higher Wisdom, purity of the arousing of undistorted knowledge; in the ninth, the Dwelling of the Markless with Intensified Effort and with Applied Function, purity of the completeness of the practice with intensified effort; in the tenth, the Dwelling of the Markless without Intensified Effort and without Applied Function, purity of the drawing-forth of true knowledge and superknowledge; in the eleventh, the Dwelling of Unobstructed Understanding, purity of the unobstructed understanding whereby one is rightly able to proclaim the meaning of the Dharma to others; in the twelfth, the Supreme, Consummate Bodhisattva Dwelling, purity of the subtle knowledge that enters every kind of all that is knowable; in the thirteenth, the Dwelling of the Tathāgata, the ultimate purity of all afflictions, the cognitive obstruction, and all latent tendencies.

The eight dharmas that can subsume the great vehicle, as stated earlier in the Chapter on the Virtues of the Bodhisattva, be it known, are subsumed precisely within these thirteen dwellings: in the first and second dwellings, one gives rise, toward the bodhisattva canon, to faith, resolute conviction, hearing-and-receiving, and reflection; in the third dwelling, one attains excellent aspiration and the aspect of excellent cultivation of pressing forward and advancing; in all the remaining dwellings down to the Dwelling of the Markless with Intensified Effort and with Applied Function, one attains vast cultivation; in the bodhisattva dwellings subsumed under the three kinds of higher pure practice, one's cultivation-fruit is consummated; in the Dwelling of the Tathāgata, be it known, one attains the ultimate deliverance.

Be it known, the twelve kinds of bodhisattva dwelling, in their proper sequence, resemble the various śrāvaka dwellings: as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling of Their Own Lineage, so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's first dwelling; as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling of Intensified Practice in entering the certainty of rightness, so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's second dwelling; as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling of Having Entered the Certainty of Rightness, so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's third dwelling; as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling of the Higher Discipline-Training — having attained the assured-purity relished by the noble ones, so as to exhaust the higher outflows — so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's fourth dwelling; as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling of the Higher Mind-Training drawn forth in dependence on the higher discipline-training, so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's fifth dwelling; as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling of the Higher Wisdom-Training that is the knowledge of the noble truths as they have attained it, so, be it known, are the bodhisattva's sixth, seventh, and eighth dwellings; as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling of Intensified Practice in the markless samādhi that well observes the knowable, so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's ninth dwelling; as with the śrāvakas' consummated markless Dwelling, so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's tenth dwelling; as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling, having emerged from this, of Entering the Place of Liberation, so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's eleventh dwelling; as with the śrāvakas' Dwelling of the Arhat complete in every mark, so, be it known, is the bodhisattva's twelfth dwelling.

The Knack for Reading This Half: Follow the Gold

The latter half of the Chapter on the Dwellings — running from the Dwelling of Higher Discipline through to the Dwelling of the Utmost, Consummate Bodhisattva — fires off nine stations in a row. Every station carries the same set of questions (what practice, what state, what marks), and every station is matched to one ground of the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds. The bulk is vast; but the treatise has buried within it a single thread to follow: the gold-refining simile. In Part One, at the Dwelling of Utmost Joy, the gold first came out of the ore, first entered the fire. From here on, at each station, this same lump of gold has one more process worked upon it — follow the gold, and the sequence of the nine stations is plain at a glance.

The Dwelling of Higher Discipline (the Stainless Ground): Discipline Has Become Constitution

When the ten kinds of mental inclination have grown to the highest degree and reached utter fullness, one enters the second dwelling. In this dwelling one has "the precepts intact by nature: even the least of the evils and precept-breaches subsumed under the courses of evil action does not so much as come into operation — how much less those of middling or higher degree" 〔the passage〕 — discipline is no longer something kept by effort; it has grown into one's very constitution. And one is able, with subtle wisdom, to know as they truly are the fruits of action, and, seeing that the realm of sentient beings "all falls, one and all, under the suffering of the ultimate meaning," to arouse a vast pity. The gold, at this station: "the refined gold is set in a kāṣāya solution and, placed in the fire, is fired and refined again and again, becoming yet clearer and purer" — it is put into a reagent and refined once more. Dunlun, reading this dwelling, matches it section by section against the Treatise on the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds: "The ten inclinations expounded at the outset are just what the Treatise on the Grounds names the pure portion that is set in motion" — the nine dwellings of this chapter and the ten grounds of the Treatise on the Grounds, the ancient masters read against each other.

The Dwelling of Higher Mind (the Radiant Ground): Casting Oneself into a Fire-Pit for a Single Line of Dharma

When one attends to and reflects upon the ten kinds of pure mental inclination, one enters the third dwelling. The theme of this dwelling is concentration and the quest for Dharma: contemplating that "the ultimate means for liberation from the mass of suffering is solely … unobstructed knowledge," and that this knowledge depends on concentration and concentration depends on hearing — one therefore "arouses great vigor to seek out much learning," and the keenness of it reaches this pitch: "If I could hear a single line of Dharma-meaning such as was spoken above, then even were there a fire-pit filled with blazing fire the size of a three-thousandfold great-thousandfold world-system, I would cast my body in from the Brahmā-heaven above — how much more into a small fire-pit" 〔the passage〕; and to hear a single four-line verse "surpasses the gaining of a heap of great jewels filling a three-thousandfold great-thousandfold world-system." Having sought and gained the Dharma, one practices it as principle requires, and gains the four meditative absorptions, the four formless attainments, the four immeasurables, and the five superknowledges — and then comes a beautiful turn: "he once more relinquishes the meditative absorptions and the rest … and by the power of mastery over his vows returns again to the desire realm" 〔the passage〕 — wherever he can benefit sentient beings and can bring the factors of awakening to fullness, there he is born. The treatise adjudicates this by the three bonds: severing craving for the desire realm is called cutting the bond of desire; relinquishing the attainments of equipoise is called cutting the bond of existence; and having cultivated the resolute conviction in suchness earlier, at the stage of practice through resolute conviction, one has cut the bond of views (Master Jing and Master Tai differ slightly on the station at which the bond of views is cut — both are set down). The gold, at this station: "its filth and dross are exhausted; it holds level with the assay-weight" 〔the passage〕 — full in color and full to the scale.

The Three Dwellings of Higher Wisdom (the Blazing · the Hard-to-Conquer · the Manifest): Three Gates of Wisdom

The Dwelling of Higher Wisdom Associated with the Factors [of Awakening]: one enters by the ten Dharma-illuminations and cultivates the thirty-seven factors of awakening, so that "the most utterly subtle view of the transitory collection … all comes to be finally cut off from operation". The gold begins to become a vessel: "the refined gold is made into an ornament," which, like a maṇi-jewel's radiance, is not outshone by other gems 〔the passage〕.

The Dwelling of Higher Wisdom Associated with the Truths: with respect to the four noble truths one knows them as they truly are through ten modes; and one draws forth the crafts — writing, treatise, seal-carving, calculation, and the rest — using the world's own techniques to benefit the world's own people: breaking poverty, quelling calamity and disease, providing sport and pleasure, delivering those hard-pressed by kings and by thieves 〔the passage〕. Upon the golden vessel are set musāragalva gems; "like the light of the sun, the moon, and the constellations, which no wind-wheel can outshine, yet whose turning goes together with those winds" 〔the passage〕 — not outshone by the world, yet walking together with the world.

The Dwelling of Higher Wisdom Associated with Dependent Origination: by the ten kinds of equality of dharmas, one contemplates the coming-together and coming-apart, the arising and ceasing, of the world through the right contemplation of dependent origination in all its modes, and draws forth the three gates of liberation — emptiness, the markless, and the wishless. This dwelling raises up the most crucial pair of designations in the whole chapter: "with knowledge and compassion following upon each other, it is called the manifesting of the unattached knowledge and the manifesting of the Dwelling of the Perfection of Wisdom" (for the word "compassion" 悲, the three editions of Yuan, Ming, and Palace read "wisdom" 慧; both readings are set down — the Taishō "compassion" 悲 corresponds to the two senses in the passage above, "skilled in the ultimate meaning, and heedful of sentient beings"): toward the conditioned, "abiding yet not abiding"; toward cessation, "seeing its quiescent virtue and yet not abiding either" — sitting fixed at neither end, this is the look of the Perfection of Wisdom made manifest. Upon the golden vessel are set beryl gem-beads; like moonlight gladdening the bodies of sentient beings, which the four wind-wheels cannot sever or break.

The Dwelling with Applied Effort and Function, Markless (the Far-Reaching Ground): The Last Exertion

The seventh dwelling: "within each single mind-moment, the ten perfections being foremost, all the factors of awakening are full and surpassing" — here the treatise looks back and sees that the prior six dwellings each had their own specialty (the first, the great vow; the second, removing the taint of precept-breaking; the third, the illumination of Dharma; the fourth, entering the path; the fifth, worldly occupations; the sixth, dependent origination), whereas this seventh dwelling "fully sets in motion all the qualities of a buddha" 〔the passage〕. Its position is subtle: "that eighth dwelling is thoroughly pure; this seventh dwelling is still called mixed … one should say this dwelling is named undefiled — since not yet attained, one should say this dwelling belongs to the mixed-and-defiled" — "not that it has afflictions, nor that it is free of afflictions: because none of the afflictions comes into operation, yet because the buddha-knowledge it aspires to is not yet attained". Master Kuiji names the criterion of mixed-versus-pure in a single stroke: "because it is still interrupted by mind-with-outflows, it is called mixed; the wholly outflowless is called purely pure"; and the Concise Compendium adds a further cut: at the seventh ground, "it is discussed in terms of a continuity of much outflowless contemplation, and so it is said to be uninterrupted — it is not truly uninterrupted".

At this dwelling, "the attainment of cessation entered at the sixth dwelling can, at this dwelling, be entered mind-moment after mind-moment," and moreover one "constantly abides within the abiding of the true limit, yet is able not to realize cessation" — standing every day at the cliff's edge, and simply not leaping. From which ground onward can cessation be entered? The Tripiṭaka-master transmits two explanations from the West: one says that only from the eighth ground and above can it be entered (what is entered at the sixth and seventh grounds is the concentration associated with fundamental knowledge, not the attainment of cessation that lies among the disjoined formations); the other says that from the first ground and above all can enter it, citing the Laṅkāvatāra's "from the first ground up to the sixth ground one enters the attainment of cessation" as proof — both set down, without adjudication. The golden vessel is inlaid with maṇi-jewels and is "exceedingly luminous and beautiful"; like sunlight drying up the foul dampness of Jambudvīpa.

The Dwelling without Applied Effort and without Function, Markless (the Immovable Ground): A Purity That Needs No Exertion

The eighth dwelling: the ten kinds of knowledge of the ultimate meaning of all dharmas being consummated, "with respect to the non-arising of dharmas, one realizes the bodhisattva's first, foremost, utterly pure forbearance". Whence comes this forbearance? "By the four investigations … one obtains the four kinds of knowledge that accord with the true … expounded at length as before in the Chapter on Reality" — the four investigations and four kinds of knowledge-that-accords-with-the-true laid down in the Chapter on Reality (15-01-04) reach their utter purity at the eighth dwelling. Master Kuiji apportions their substance: "the investigations are its cause 因, not the forbearance of the non-arising [of dharmas], since they are only with-outflows; the knowledge-that-accords-with-the-true extends to the outflowless — this is the substance of the eighth ground's forbearance of the non-arising". By gaining this forbearance one cuts the four calamities (the matter of applied effort and function; the yearning after the higher station; the yearning after the great capacity to benefit beings; and the operation of subtle notions), and gains the ten masteries (Dunlun, following the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds, matches the names: over life, over mind, over property, over action, over birth, over the will, over vows, over resolute conviction, over knowledge, and over Dharma), "constantly, without interruption, never apart from seeing the buddhas" 〔the passage〕. From here on, the similes of gold and of light are "to be understood as in the sūtra" — the treatise itself lets go: this lump of gold no longer needs describing station by station.

The Dwelling of Unhindered Discernment (the Ground of Excellent Wisdom) and the Dwelling of the Utmost, Consummate Bodhisattva (the Dharma-Cloud Ground): The Preacher and the Recipient of Consecration

The ninth dwelling: "in the profound dwelling one does not give rise to satisfaction," but turns to seek the knowledge for preaching the Dharma — knowing as it truly is "all the coursings within the near thicket" (the hidden movements of mind), one "becomes, in every mode, a great Dharma-master, gaining measureless gates of dhāraṇī … eloquence inexhaustible." Incidentally, here is a documentary trace of Xuanzang's collation of the translation: among the names of the "thickets" cited from the commentary-treatise that Dunlun records in this passage, the old translation had the word "faith" 信, and "the Tripiṭaka-master says: 'faith' is a mistranslation; it should be 'resolute conviction' 勝解, which is why the Avataṃsaka-sūtra says 'resolute liberation'" — a collation of a single word, showing the rigor of the translation bureau.

The tenth dwelling: "fit to be a Dharma-king, receiving the Dharma-consecration", the knowledge of all-modes-of-knowledge being sprinkled upon his crown, as a crown-prince receives investiture. Master Kuiji here sets up the distinction of equal-awakening and marvelous-awakening: "the tenth ground has three minds — first, entering; second, abiding; third, fulfilling; within this fulfilling mind one is named an equal-awakening bodhisattva, and the Tathāgata is named marvelous-awakening". As for the name Dharma-Cloud Ground, the treatise closes with cloud and rain: "from the great Dharma-cloud of all the Tathāgatas, he is able to receive … the most utterly vast and subtle rain of Dharma; and this bodhisattva, himself like a great cloud … is able to rain down upon measureless, boundless sentient beings an incomparable, subtle rain of Dharma, extinguishing all the dust of the afflictions, able to make the crops of the various roots of goodness grow and ripen" 〔the passage〕 — the cloud that receives the rain will, in the end, rain down itself.

Summation One: Three Incalculable Great Eons — How Long This Road Takes to Walk

The treatise gives the timeframe: "all the dwellings together take two incalculable great eons" — here the word "two" 二 is read as "three" 三 by the five editions of Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, and Sheng; and below, the treatise itself counts three legs (in the first incalculable great eon one surpasses the stage of practice through resolute conviction and enters Utmost Joy; in the second incalculable great eon one reaches the eighth dwelling; in the third incalculable great eon one realizes the Dwelling of the Utmost, Consummate 〔the passage〕), and then summarizes, "only after passing three incalculable great eons does one realize unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening — no more than this measure," while Dunlun's citation of the text likewise reads "only after passing three incalculable great eons, no more than this measure" — both readings set down (see the Apparatus, item two, on collation). "Incalculable" 無數 has two glosses: reckoning by days and months up to the measureless is called incalculable; or reckoning by great eons past all counting is called incalculable — taking the latter, "only after passing three incalculable great eons … no more than this measure." Higher-degree vigor can shorten the middling and the great eons, but "one should know that decidedly there is nothing that can convert the incalculable great eons" — one may hurry the small stations, but cannot hurry the whole course.

Here the ancient masters have left a real, hard-fought discussion: Master Jing cites the Sūtra of the Necklace to say that after fulfilling the ten grounds one passes yet more eons learning the elephant-king's gait; Master Tai harmonizes this with "the sūtra states it directly, the treatise-author gathers the small under the many"; Master Bei says flatly, "the Sūtra of the Necklace is not in the catalogue and cannot serve as proof", and Dunlun further records that "the Sūtra of the Necklace was translated by Zhu Fonian in the Former Qin, yet the present Tripiṭaka-master does not trust it" — the discipline of the catalogue steps up to adjudicate a scripture's qualification as proof: a living instance of Tang-dynasty doctrinal learning, set down without adjudication.

Summation Two: The Stations for Cutting the Two Obstructions — Bark, Rind, and Heartwood

Across the three incalculable great eons, what is cut? "One is able to cut off all the coarse heaviness belonging to the afflictive obstruction, and to cut off all the coarse heaviness belonging to the cognitive obstruction". The afflictive obstruction is cut at three dwellings: the Dwelling of Utmost Joy cuts the coarse heaviness of the afflictions of the evil destinies; the eighth dwelling cuts the coarse heaviness of the afflictions that obstruct the forbearance of the non-arising; and the Dwelling of the Utmost, Consummate — "all the latent tendencies and latent proclivities of the afflictions, their every obstruction, are forever cut off, and one enters the Tathāgata's dwelling." What are "latent tendencies" 習氣? Master Tai gives the Consciousness-Only definition: "the older masters called the residual energies latent tendencies; now it is not so — the seeds of the afflictions are also called latent tendencies, and also called latent proclivities" — latent tendencies just are the seeds, just are the latent proclivities; to cut the latent tendencies is precisely to cut the seeds.

The cognitive obstruction, then, is divided into three layers: "the coarse heaviness in the bark, the coarse heaviness in the rind, the coarse heaviness in the flesh", cut in order by the Dwelling of Utmost Joy, the eighth dwelling, and the Tathāgata's dwelling. For "flesh" 肉 the five editions read "heartwood" 實, and the edition Master Jing saw does read "heartwood" 實; he explains the simile: "what is here called 'in the bark, the rind, the heartwood' is mostly taken from trees — the tree's core, firm and solid, is called heartwood 實; the old rendering 'bark, rind, bone' is also called 'bark, flesh, core'" — bark of the tree, rind of the tree, heartwood of the tree: the depth or shallowness of the obstruction is like the three layers of a tree, the deeper in the harder to strip away, and to strip through to the heartwood is precisely the Tathāgata's dwelling (both readings set down; see the Apparatus). The thirteen dwellings are matched to the eleven kinds of purity, and the eight dharmas of the Chapter on Qualities are wholly subsumed among them — the whole chapter draws in here to a table.

Summation Three: Dwellings in the Category of the Śrāvaka — a Cross-Table of the Two Vehicles, Great and Small

The final passage: "the bodhisattva's twelve kinds of dwelling, following their sequence, are in the category of the śrāvaka dwellings": from the śrāvaka's dwelling of its own lineage, dwelling of applied practice, and dwelling of entering the certainty of the right, on through the three higher trainings, the markless samādhi, the dwelling of the place of liberation, and the arhat dwelling — twelve matched against twelve. This is not to demote the bodhisattva to a śrāvaka, but to give the reader familiar with the śrāvaka path a conversion-table: the stations set out in detail in this treatise's own Śrāvaka Stage (Stage 13) each have their corresponding station-post on the bodhisattva path. Master Jing matches them one by one in fine detail (the ninth to the four fundamental absorptions, the tenth to the three formless [attainments] …); the Commentary on the Compendium of the Great Vehicle likewise judges "the thirteenth, the Tathāgata dwelling, is not taken"; the exegetes give a separate reading; and Master Kuiji distinguishes that "the śrāvaka's fourth dwelling takes the mind advancing toward the first fruit, not the dwelling at the time of the first fruit" — on this conversion-table the ancient masters have collated to the finest degree, all set down as above.

The One Meaning This Chapter Casts into Relief

Having read the nine dwellings through, the deepest impression is not the step-by-step ascent of the realms of superknowledge, but the treatise's honesty at both ends: the seventh dwelling is "not that it has afflictions, nor that it is free of afflictions," abiding in the true limit yet not realizing cessation — high as the seventh ground, still it says truthfully that this dwelling "is still called mixed"; the three incalculable great eons "decidedly there is nothing that can convert" — the practice takes no discount, no shortcut exists. And that lump of gold — from coming out of the ore, entering the fire, entering the reagent, having its dross removed, becoming a vessel, being set with gems, up to its dazzling luster — says one and the same thing: purity is not the exchanging of one lump of gold for another; it is the same lump of gold refined process by process. What separates a sentient being from a buddha is not the material, but the sequence of processes.

Carrying Forward

This piece inherits from Part One (the establishing of the twelve dwellings · the first three dwellings), matching each dwelling in order to a ground of the nine grounds of the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds; the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas points back to the Chapter on Reality; the eight dharmas point back to the Chapter on Qualities; the dwellings in the category of the śrāvaka are read in full against the Śrāvaka Stage (Stage 13); and the Tathāgata's dwelling points to the later Chapter on the Establishing [of the Bodhisattva]. The nine-item re-ascertainment of the Section on Ascertainment is in mutual reference with this piece's "four dwellings accomplishing four matters," "the marks of the various grounds," and "cultivated-attainment and outflow-alike" (see the Apparatus, item two). The variant-translation, dwelling by dwelling (practice by practice) matched to the grounds, and the collation of the śrāvaka-category passage, are given in the Apparatus, item two. With this, the Chapter on the Dwellings is wholly complete, and the four chapters of the Yoga-Practice Locus of Following the Dharma are fulfilled; next follows the Chapter on Birth in the third, the Yoga-Practice Locus of the Ultimate.