瑜伽師地論 菩薩地 · 究竟瑜伽處 · 建立品之二

In one line: The buddha-fruit is a complete, operating system for benefiting beings — the general discussion of the ten powers sets up its substance-and-function in seven gates, its beholding reaches down to the seed within the sentient being's mind (the four seeds of the elements), its cutting reaches the summit where "because all the coarse-and-heavy of the category of the cognitive obstruction is cut off without remainder, he attains the excellent transformation of the basis" 〔0574b15-16〕, and all its merits are cashed out into ten works that never rest day or night; and that course in "the merely-adventitious concept" within the gate of activity sets the first rung of the ladder back beneath the reader's own foot.

Three eyes:

1. Instructing the bodhisattva beginning his work = the merely-adventitious concept · no awareness apart from the name · the two emptinesses contemplated together (the eye · weighty · the summit of consciousness-only meaning): reflect upon your own name → "it is merely upon an adventitious thing that an adventitious concept turns" 〔0571c09-10〕 → reflect upon the eye — the name is not the eye, and apart from the name no eye-awareness can turn → universally within the concept of all phenomena, only the guest-concept → "with a mind free of discrimination and free of marks, taking hold only of the meaning as it turns" 〔0572a06-07〕 → the unmistaken one-pointedness of mind = "the universal-approaching right practice of all bodhisattvas" 〔0572a16〕; Dunlun outlines it as the contemplation of the emptiness of the person → the contemplation of the emptiness of phenomena, and judges it by the three natures: "there is only the other-dependent eye-faculty, the event apart from speech … if, chasing the eye-name, one clings to there being an eye-substance, this is the wholly-imagined, ultimately without substance" 〔T42n1828 0585a19-22〕, and "if one turns the mind about and contemplates the two emptinesses together, one can then attain the direct realization of the first ground" 〔0585b18-20〕.
2. The four seeds of the elements = the framework of the Chapter on Lineage reappearing within the buddha-knowledge (the eye): the innate-abiding / arisen-from-prior-habituation / amenable-to-cultivation (those who have the nature of final nirvāṇa) / not-amenable-to-cultivation (those who do not have the nature of final nirvāṇa) seeds 〔0573b01-03〕; Jing: "if one knows that resolute conviction perfumes and forms a seed of its own resembling kind, this is by the power of resolute conviction; if one rightly illumines and grasps the differences of the seed, this is by the power of elements" 〔T42n1828 0586a14-16〕 — the Buddha, beholding sentient beings, beholds down to the layer of the seed.
3. The adamantine-like concentration → the excellent transformation of the basis + the eight similes (the eye · weighty): the bodhisattva of the final existence, without a teacher, cultivates the thirty-seven factors of awakening → in a single instant, the concentration of unhindered knowledge (the adamantine-like concentration) → in the second instant, all at once attaining the exclusive buddha-dharmas → "because all the coarse-and-heavy of the category of the cognitive obstruction that is wholly within the flesh is cut off without remainder, he attains the excellent transformation of the basis. Such a transformation of the basis is the most unsurpassed" 〔0574b15-17〕 (★ 「肉」 is the isolated Taishō reading · the six editions read 「實」 · the base reading is kept and the variant set alongside (already adjudicated)); Dunlun: "this is said with reference to the place of consummate fulfillment, saying the Buddha attains it all at once; in true principle, the several merits are attained gradually from the first ground onward" 〔T42n1828 0587a19-21〕; the eight similes (thin gauze / painting's pigments / faint gloom / far-and-near / an eye with a film / a body in the womb / dream-and-waking / dim-and-bright lamp) show that equal-awakening and marvelous-awakening are but a single veil's remove — the axis of the transformation of the basis: the first ground of the Chapter on the Grounds (the coarse-and-heavy of the category of the evil destinies) → Part One's purity of the support (the category of affliction with its residual perfumings) → here (the category of the cognitive obstruction), the roof-beam.

Appended pointers:

• The general discussion of the seven gates: intrinsic nature (the five faculties as substance overall · called "knowing" because wisdom is the most excellent) · discrimination measureless by three kinds · the uncommon · equality (the buddhas equal, yet each mostly abiding differently) · activity (each power subduing the various disputatious theories; the transfer of the merit of giving, the two glosses of Dunlun and Jing) · sequence in three gates (the second gate: "he observes that the various worlds are without protection … out of great compassion, with the buddha-eye he truly beholds all the worlds") · difference (adjacent pairs of powers set one against another · Ji and Jing side by side) — see the Textual Study, Headings III and IV.
• The two obstructions matched to the four fearlessnesses (the cutting of the cognitive obstruction = the fearlessness of omniscience, not in common with the two vehicles · the cutting of the afflictive obstruction = the fearlessness of the extinction of the outflows, in common with the two vehicles 〔T42n1828 0586b03-06〕) + the compilers' divergence footnote 〔0573c16-18〕; the knowledge marvelous in every kind, Kuiji's judgment (the non-conceptual knowledge is solely the marvelous knowledge · the subsequently-attained knowledge is the knowledge marvelous in every kind 〔T43n1829 0167c25-0168a01〕), Jing's judgment set alongside.
• The joining of the eighteen exclusive buddha-dharmas (Section on Ascertainment 0738b17-c28: the first four gathered under never losing mindfulness + the uprooting of the residual perfumings · the next one gathered under great compassion · the rest gathered under the knowledge marvelous in every kind) — the eighteen of the other sūtras do not exceed the one hundred and forty.
• The ten deeds each with its accomplisher (the marks and excellences → pure faith · the four purities → instruction · the ten powers → benefiting beings and cutting off doubt · the four fearlessnesses → subduing others' theories · the three foundations of mindfulness → mind without defilement · the three guardlessnesses → one in word and deed · great compassion → the buddha-eye's universal beholding · never losing mindfulness → without withdrawing or forsaking · the forever harming of the residual perfumings → deportment without overstepping · the marvelous knowledge → selecting and expounding); the two old translations both give nine buddha-deeds, recorded only.
• The alternate names of the Bodhisattva Stage: the Bodhisattva-Basket Mātṛkā · the Embracing of the Great Vehicle · the Revealing of the Ruined and the Unruined Road · the Root of the Purity of Unhindered Knowledge 〔from 0575b10〕 + the warning of the semblance right Dharma 〔0575b22〕.
• Next follows the Fourth Section, on the Sequential Yoga, the Chapter on Giving Rise to the Mind of Right and Perfect Awakening (15-04-01) — the last chapter of the Bodhisattva Stage.

The phrase "the category of the cognitive obstruction that is wholly within the flesh" keeps the character 肉 ("flesh") of the Taishō base text in the main body, with the variant reading 實 ("real") of the six editions in a parenthetical note (see the Textual Study, Heading II).

I. The General Discussion of the Ten Powers: The Seven Gates of the Uddāna

Above, the ten powers of the Buddha have already been expounded one by one, each apart; now the general discussion is to be made. The uddāna (the gathering-verse) says: intrinsic nature, and discrimination, the uncommon, and likewise equality, activity, and sequence, difference coming last of all. As for the ten powers of the Tathāgata expounded above, one should understand their intrinsic nature, their discrimination, their uncommonness, their equality, their activity, their sequence, and their difference — by these seven aspects, one should understand the brief meaning of the ten powers of the Tathāgata.

(1) Intrinsic Nature

What is the intrinsic nature of the ten powers of the Tathāgata? Stated overall, the five faculties are their intrinsic nature; because wisdom is the most excellent, one may for the moment say that the ten powers have wisdom for their intrinsic nature — and so only "the power of knowing what is the case and what is not the case" is spoken of, and not the power of faith, nor the remaining powers. As with the power of knowing what is the case and what is not the case, so it should be understood of the other nine powers as well. This is called the intrinsic nature of the ten powers of the Tathāgata.

(2) Discrimination

What is the discrimination of the ten powers of the Tathāgata? Stated briefly, by three kinds of discrimination one should understand that the ten powers are measureless: first, by the discrimination of time-divisions — because they can enter into and awaken to all that is knowable falling in the past, future, and present ages; second, by the discrimination of kinds — because they can enter into and awaken to all the modes of apprehension, the particular marks and common marks of every single conditioned thing; third, by the discrimination of continua — because they can enter into and awaken to all the continua and all the matters and meanings, each severally different, of all the realms of sentient beings in the ten directions. It is by these three kinds of discrimination that one should understand the ten powers of the Tathāgata to be measureless. This is called the discrimination of the ten powers of the Tathāgata.

(3) The Uncommon, (4) Equality

What is the uncommonness of the ten powers? Only the Tathāgata possesses these ten powers; they are not shared in common with any śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha. This is called the uncommonness of the ten powers of the Tathāgata. What is the equality of the ten powers? These ten powers all the Tathāgatas alike possess in full and accomplish equally, and so it is said that they are equal, without difference; but if one speaks in terms of that in which a Tathāgata mostly abides, then the ten powers differ one from another in turn — one Tathāgata mostly abides in one power, another Tathāgata again mostly abides in another power. This is called the equality of the ten powers of the Tathāgata.

(5) Activity

What is the activity of the ten powers of the Tathāgata? The Tathāgata's power of knowing what is the case and what is not the case knows, as it truly is, cause among the causes and fruit among the fruits, and is able to subdue all the śramaṇas, brahmins, and the like who hold the various disputatious theories of no-cause and evil-cause. The power of knowing one's own karma knows, as it truly is, the karma of what one has oneself done and of the fruit one oneself enjoys, and is able to subdue all the śramaṇas, brahmins, and the like who hold the various disputatious theories that "the merit of giving can be transferred." The power of knowing the meditative absorptions, liberations, concentrations, and attainments is able to display the three kinds of miraculous transformation and, without arriving (the three Palace and Sheng editions read "without error"), to instruct the sentient beings to be trained, and is able to subdue all the śramaṇas, brahmins, and the like who abide in the various contrary and divergent classes and in hostile, disputatious theories. The power of knowing the superior and inferior faculties knows, as it truly is, the several differences among the soft, middling, and sharp faculties of sentient beings, and is able to expound the right Dharma to them as befits them and as is fitting for them. The power of knowing the various resolute convictions knows, as it truly is, the differences of resolute conviction among the soft, middling, and superior classes of sentient beings, the pure and the impure, and causes the pure resolute convictions gradually to grow and the impure resolute convictions gradually to be relinquished. The power of knowing the various elements knows, as it truly is, the several differences among the inferior, middling, and excellent elements of sentient beings, and is able, according to their faculties, according to their inclinations, and according to their latent proclivities, to instruct them without error and to establish them as is fitting, in dependence on their several gates of entry.

Below the Activity of the Power of Elements: How the Tathāgata Instructs the Bodhisattvas Who Are Beginning Their Work

Herein, the Tathāgata gives right instruction to the śrāvakas in dependence on their several gates of entry, as in the Śrāvaka Stage he has already, without interval, expounded, disclosed, discerned, set forth, and revealed it in every kind. Then, how does the Tathāgata instruct the host of bodhisattvas who are beginning all their work, at the beginning of their work, who have already taken hold of the provisions of concentration and who, abiding, wish to settle their minds — so as to make the mind come to rest?

It is said that the Tathāgatas, for the host of bodhisattvas beginning their work, at the beginning of their work — free of flattery and crookedness, reverent and cherishing, already furnished with the provisions of concentration — first of all set forth the unmistaken instruction, telling him thus: "Good son, come! You should settle yourself in a secluded lodging, alone and without a second, and within the stillness of the inner mind reflect in accord with principle: the name that your father and mother have set up for you, or the name that your preceptor, your teacher of conduct, and the rest have set up for you. Reflect thus: Is there truly, here and now, some substance of true intrinsic nature apart from the six sense-fields — whether within, or without, or in between the two — within which 'existence' such a name, such a concept, such a designation, such a fictive setting-up, and such a verbal expression are turning? When you have reflected rightly in this way, you will find nothing at all of such a thing. You should only understand it truly thus: it is merely upon an adventitious thing that an adventitious concept is turning.

"Good son! If at that time, with regard to your own name, the concept 'this is merely an adventitious concept' has already arisen and been attained; then you should reflect inwardly, in accord with principle, upon your eye — the eye-name, the eye-concept, and the fictive designation of the eye that are set up upon the eye. Reflect thus: Within this eye of mine only two things are to be found: first, this set-up eye-name, eye-concept, and fictive designation of the eye; second, this 'bare event,' upon which the name, concept, and designation are fictively established — and beyond these there is nothing exceeding or added. This eye-name, eye-concept, and fictive designation of the eye that are set up upon the eye are not themselves the eye; and this bare thing, upon which the eye-name, eye-concept, and the like are fictively established — one should understand that its intrinsic nature too is not the eye. Why? Because it is not the case that here, apart from the set-up eye-name, eye-concept, and fictive designation of the eye, there could still be even a trace of eye-cognition turning. If this thing were real and matched what the name says, it should not still have to wait upon the name 'eye' for such an eye-awareness to arise — it should by its own intrinsic nature be able to draw forth eye-awareness, and, without hearing and without discriminating the set-up name, an eye-awareness should turn directly upon this thing. Yet such a thing — an awareness arising without waiting upon name and speech — is not to be found. Therefore, herein, it is only upon an adventitious thing that there is that adventitious eye-name, eye-concept, and fictive designation of the eye acting as guest. Since you have thus reflected in accord with principle upon the inner eye, next, with regard to the 'eye-concept' itself, the concept 'this is merely an adventitious concept' will also arise and be attained.

"As with the eye, so with the ear, nose, tongue, body, and the rest, and, expounded at length, down to what is seen, heard, sensed, and cognized, already attained and already sought, down even to what one has attended to and pursued in applied and sustained thought — so too is it. Stated in brief: universally, within the concept of all phenomena, the concept 'this is merely an adventitious concept' shall arise and be attained. Thus, with regard to all the fictive concepts within your own body, you should rightly take hold of the path of diligent application that can utterly remove and dispel them; and, expounded at length, with regard to all the fictive concepts within all phenomena, you should rightly take hold of the path of diligent application that can utterly remove and dispel them. Because you thus well observe and awaken to all that is knowable, and universally, within the concept of all phenomena, give rise to the concept of the merely-adventitious, and again and again dispel the concept of all the idle proliferation of all phenomena, with a mind free of discrimination and free of marks, taking hold only of the meaning as it turns, and within this thing cultivate much and abide — you, if you do thus, in dependence on the lineage of the pure concentration of the Tathāgata's marvelous wisdom, will attain the unmistaken one-pointedness of mind.

"Thus, if you attend to and reflect upon the impure (contemplation), do not by any means relinquish this attention; if upon loving-kindness and compassion, if upon dependent origination by way of its conditions, if upon the difference of elements, if upon mindfulness of in-and-out breathing, if upon the first meditative absorption, and, expounded at length, down to if upon the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, upon the measureless bodhisattva meditative absorptions, spiritual powers, concentrations, and attainments — do not by any means relinquish this attention. If you thus cultivate this unmistaken attention of the bodhisattva, then step by step, down even to attaining the unsurpassed, right, and perfect awakening, you will win ultimate deliverance."

This should be understood to be called the universal-approaching right practice of all bodhisattvas. The Tathāgatas of the past also set forth rightly such instruction for the host of bodhisattvas beginning their work; the Tathāgatas of the future shall set it forth rightly; the Tathāgatas of the present now set it forth rightly. When the śrāvakas and the rest diligently cultivate this attention, they too can swiftly attain the excellent supernormal wisdom. If one is able to penetrate this unmistaken attention as it truly is, one can attain the direct realization of phenomena.

Activity (continued)

The Tathāgata's power of knowing the universal-approaching practice knows, as it truly is, with regard to all suffering, the practices that can bring deliverance and the practices that cannot bring deliverance, and causes the relinquishing of the practices that do not deliver and rightly bestows the practices that can deliver. The power of recollecting former abodes, after again and again recalling the past matters and the birth-stories of the past limit, expounds them rightly so as to make the sentient beings to be trained give rise to disenchantment of mind and to pure faith of mind, and is able to subdue all the śramaṇas, brahmins, and the like who cling to the theory of eternalism. The power of knowing death and birth can rightly foretell, for the disciples, the passing away and departing of the past life and the coming to birth of the future, and is able to subdue all the śramaṇas, brahmins, and the like who cling to the theory of annihilation. The power of the extinction of the outflows is, with regard to one's own liberation, without confusion and without doubt, and is able to subdue all the śramaṇas, brahmins, and the like who give rise to overweening pride toward the arhat. This is the activity of the ten powers of the Tathāgata.

(6) Sequence: Three Gates

What is the sequence of the ten powers of the Tathāgata? When the Tathāgatas first attain the unsurpassed, right, and perfect awakening, they at once, all at one time, attain the whole of the ten powers; and only after that sudden attainment do the powers thereafter come to the fore in sequence.

The first gate: when the Tathāgata first attains buddhahood, he first gives rise to the power of knowing what is the case and what is not the case, observing all phenomena and establishing all the unmistaken causes and fruits. After observing, he next gives rise to the power of knowing one's own karma — if there are those who seek the lovely and excellent maturational fruit within the shared portion of the desire realm, he expounds it to them by skillful means, causing them to depart from unwholesome karma and to bring wholesome karma into action. Next he gives rise to the power of knowing the meditative absorptions, liberations, concentrations, and attainments — if there are sentient beings who seek the worldly Dharma of freedom from desire, he gives them instruction, causing them to tend toward worldly freedom from desire and to attain the path that is as it truly is. Then next he gives rise to the remaining seven powers — if there are sentient beings who seek the world-transcending Dharma of freedom from desire, he expounds to them as is fitting the path tending toward world-transcending freedom from desire: first he gives rise to the power of knowing the superior and inferior faculties, observing as it truly is the faculties of those who seek world-transcending freedom from desire; next he gives rise to the power of knowing the various resolute convictions, observing as it truly is the inclinations that take the faculties as their antecedent; next he gives rise to the power of knowing the various elements, observing as it truly is the latent proclivities that take the inclinations as their antecedent. Having thus understood their faculties, inclinations, and latent proclivities, he next gives rise to the power of knowing the universal-approaching practice, causing them, as befits them, to be able to enter within the gate of entry to the object. Next he gives rise to the power of recollecting former abodes and the power of knowing death and birth — after they, by the gate of entry to the object that befits them, have taken hold of their minds and purely cultivated their practice, he expounds to them the middle path, causing them to depart from the two-extreme clinging of eternalism and annihilation that has the view of the transitory collection for its root. So as to make them forever cut off all the afflictions, he thereafter gives rise to the power of the extinction of the outflows — if there is one who, upheld by the force of tranquil abiding through the right cultivation of skillful means, though he has not forever cut off all the afflictions, yet because he has attained the non-arising (of the afflictions) gives rise to the overweening pride of "what is not done, taking it as done," he causes him to relinquish this overweening pride. This is the sequence of the first gate of the ten powers.

The second gate: when the Tathāgatas first attain awakening, they first of all give rise to the power of knowing what is the case and what is not the case, coming to the fore, and universally, within all the phenomena arisen from conditions, observe the most excellent knowledge of the abiding of the marvelous Dharma; and in dependence on this knowledge of the abiding of the marvelous Dharma, they next give rise to the power of knowing one's own karma, observing the householder portion — by way of the various differences of the various kinds of karma, in dependence on the differences of cultivation-and-realization of the householder portion in past, future, and present times. After observing the householder portion, they next give rise to the power of knowing the meditative absorptions, liberations, concentrations, and attainments, observing the renunciant portion — within this renunciant portion, is there or is there not one who can expound the right path of suffering and freedom from suffering? Having thus observed, they know rightly that there is none at all. Observing that the various worlds are without protection and without refuge, out of great compassion, with the buddha-eye they truly behold all the worlds. After beholding, they next give rise to the power of knowing the superior and inferior faculties, understanding to the fore the various sentient beings of the world — born in the world, grown in the world, whether of dull faculties, or of middling faculties, or of sharp faculties. Having understood to the fore, their mind then enters into the expounding of the Dharma. Thereafter, as before, all the remaining matters — the power of knowing the various resolute convictions and the rest — should be understood in sequence. This is the sequence of the second gate.

The third gate: when the Tathāgatas first attain awakening, they first of all give rise to the power of knowing what is the case and what is not the case, coming to the fore, and observe the whole realm of phenomena arisen from conditions. Next they give rise to the power of knowing one's own karma, and within these phenomena arisen from conditions observe the realms of sentient beings upon which the name and concept "sentient being" are fictively established — how such a sentient being himself makes karma of such a form-class, and himself in turn receives fruit of such a form-class. Having observed, as it truly is, the realm of phenomena and the realm of sentient beings, they next give rise to the power of knowing the meditative absorptions, liberations, concentrations, and attainments, and, in order to let these sentient beings be delivered from the host of sufferings, display the three kinds of unmistaken miraculous transformation and thereby instruct them. After instructing, they next give rise to the remaining powers, and, as in the foregoing sequence, having understood the faculties and the rest, cause them to enter the right path, and then by skillful means let the sentient beings be delivered from the host of sufferings. This is the sequence of the third gate.

(7) Difference

What is the difference of the ten powers of the Tathāgata? These ten powers, regarded one against another in turn, both have difference and are without difference: if one rightly understands that wholesome and unwholesome karma can bring on lovely and unlovely fruit, this is the power of knowing what is the case and what is not the case; if one rightly understands that "the very one who makes the wholesome and unwholesome karma is the very one who receives the lovely and unlovely fruit, and not another," this is the power of knowing one's own karma. If one rightly understands that "the very one who can cultivate the meditative absorptions, liberations, concentrations, and attainments is the very one who can enter the concentrations of the meditative absorptions and the rest, and not another," this is the power of knowing one's own karma; if one rightly understands that, in dependence on these very concentrations of the meditative absorptions and the rest, one displays the three miraculous transformations and instructs without error the sentient beings to be trained, this is the power of knowing the meditative absorptions, liberations, concentrations, and attainments. If one rightly illumines and grasps the mind that co-arises and is associated with faith and the rest, this is the power of knowing the meditative absorptions, liberations, concentrations, and attainments; if one rightly discriminates the various differences of the soft, middling, and superior classes of those faculties, this is the power of knowing the superior and inferior faculties. If one rightly illumines and grasps the various inclinations, taking the faculties as their antecedent, within each and every phenomenon, this is the power of knowing the superior and inferior faculties; if one rightly discriminates the various differences of those inclinations, this is the power of knowing the various resolute convictions.

The discrimination of those inclinations should be understood, in brief, to have six kinds: first, the non-emerging inclination — the inclination of those who severally give rise to conviction toward Maheśvara, Nārāyaṇa, the Brahmā-world, and the rest; second, the emerging inclination — the inclination of those who give rise to conviction toward the three vehicles; third, the far-purified inclination — the inclination of those who abide in the maturity of the inferior and middling classes; fourth, the near-purified inclination — the inclination of those who abide in the maturity of the superior class; fifth, the inclination toward attaining nirvāṇa within the present life itself — the inclination of those who give rise to conviction toward the nirvāṇa attained by the śrāvaka vehicle; sixth, the inclination toward attaining nirvāṇa in the world to come — the inclination of those who give rise to conviction toward the nirvāṇa attained by the great vehicle.

If one rightly illumines and grasps the resembling seed to which resolute conviction gives rise, this is the power of knowing the various resolute convictions; if one rightly illumines and grasps the differentiating discrimination of that seed, its measureless kinds, this is the power of knowing the various elements. And the discrimination of that "element" should be understood, in brief, to have four kinds: first, the innate-abiding seed; second, the seed arisen from prior habituation; third, the amenable-to-cultivation seed — the seed of those who have the nature of final nirvāṇa; fourth, the not-amenable-to-cultivation seed — the seed of those who do not have the nature of final nirvāṇa. If one rightly understands the entering upon the course of practice according to the kind of the element, this is the power of knowing the various elements; if one rightly discriminates all the kinds of that course of practice — that such a course of practice can bring freedom from defilement, that such a course of practice can bring ultimate purity, that such a course of practice brings a purity that is not ultimate — this is the power of knowing the universal-approaching practice. If one truly knows all the causes of the destinations and the co-coursing of the past limit that are recollected of the past limit, this is the power of knowing the universal-approaching practice; if one rightly understands the various concordant eight statement-phrases and the six brief practices discriminated as above, this is the power of recollecting former abodes. If one rightly understands the death and birth of sentient beings in dependence on the past limit, this is the power of recollecting former abodes; if one rightly beholds the various death and birth of sentient beings of the future limit, this is the power of knowing death and birth. If one rightly understands that, one's own matter and meaning not yet reaching the ultimate, the sentient being's continuum of receiving birth in the future limit goes on, this is the power of knowing death and birth; if one rightly understands that, one's own matter and meaning having reached the ultimate, the mind is well liberated and one realizes nirvāṇa within the present life, this is the power of the extinction of the outflows. This should be understood to be called the ten powers of the Tathāgata regarded one against another in turn, both having difference and being without difference.

II. The Four Fearlessnesses

The text of the Tathāgata's four fearlessnesses — one should understand its character as expounded in the sūtras. It is said that the Tathāgatas, in four respects, praise themselves before the great assembly: because the cognitive obstruction is forever released, they perfectly and rightly awaken within every kind of all phenomena, not in common with the śrāvakas — this is the first respect; because the afflictive obstructions are forever released, they realize the extinction of the outflows, in common with the śrāvakas — this is the second respect; for the sentient beings who seek liberation, so as to pass beyond the host of sufferings, they expound the path of emergence — this is the third respect; concerning the hindrances to that path of emergence, they expound the phenomena of hindrance that are to be departed from — this is the fourth respect.

Since the Tathāgata praises himself in these four respects according to their true meaning, if thereafter someone should, with regard to the praise in the first two respects, raise slanderous objection by bodily, verbal, and mental karma contrary to it; and should, with regard to the praise in the latter two respects, raise slanderous objection by a character before-and-after at cross-purposes, fallen into what is contrary to principle — whether in the world there be those with eyes who see or those without eyes who see, those with knowledge of others' minds or those without knowledge of others' minds — the Tathāgata, among all these slanderous objections that could be raised as counter-measures against the respects in which he praises himself, sees no true reason-mark of any. By this cause and condition, in these four respects he can understand of himself: at ease and without fear, his mind without timidity, without misgiving, altogether without alarm.

Moreover, the Buddha, the great teacher, has only these matters rightly to be praised — the practice of benefiting oneself and the practice of benefiting others being both perfect and good: the first two praise the fullness of the practice of benefiting oneself, the latter two praise the fullness of the practice of benefiting others. Herein, if the Tathāgata praises himself for perfectly awakening to all phenomena and becoming rightly and perfectly awakened, one should understand that it is precisely for the sake of the bodhisattvas equally tending toward the great vehicle; if he praises himself for the total extinction of the outflows, one should understand that it is precisely for the sake of the sentient beings equally tending toward the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha vehicles; if he praises the path of emergence and the phenomena of hindrance, one should understand that it is for the sake of all the sentient beings equally tending toward the several vehicles. Therefore the scriptural sentence that the Tathāgata speaks — "I expound the path of emergence for the bodhisattvas and the śrāvakas," down to the fuller expounding — the compilers, in the Śrāvaka Basket they compiled, remove the word "bodhisattva," and in the Bodhisattva Basket they compiled, recite only the word "bodhisattva."

III. The Three Foundations of Mindfulness, the Three Guardlessnesses

The text of the Tathāgata's three foundations of mindfulness — one should understand its character as expounded in the sūtras. It is said that the Tathāgatas, through the long night, have this wish and desire: how they might cause the sentient beings truly to dwell in accord within the Dharma-and-discipline that I well expound, within the unmistaken practice. Such a Dharma-lord, desiring and delighting through the long night, at the time when he teaches, transforms, and governs the great assembly — whether what he wishes for is fulfilled or not fulfilled, he gives rise to no defilement — this is briefly shown by the three foundations of mindfulness. These three foundations of mindfulness are again established by the difference of the three assemblies. What are the three assemblies? All who are wholly of right practice are the first assembly; all who are wholly of wrong practice are the second assembly; those in the assembly who are in one part of right practice and in one part of wrong practice are the third assembly.

The text of the Tathāgata's three guardlessnesses — one should understand its character as expounded in the sūtras. It is said that the Tathāgatas, stated in brief, have forever cut off the concealing of base and evil deeds of every kind — this is shown by the three guardlessnesses. The arhats, because of lapse of mindfulness, still from time to time have a small measure of indeterminate base and evil deeds; the Tathāgata, within all this, has none whatever. Therefore the Tathāgata, toward his disciples, according to the covenant set up, in accord with his very nature earnestly admonishes and openly reproves them, at times bringing to bear a plain and forthright pressing, and toward his disciples has nothing to be on guard about — he need not be concerned that "I should not dwell together with them too long, lest they come to know that my three kinds of karma are impure, and, harboring displeasure over former matters, thereby fall into discord and either mock me to my face or spread it in report to others."

IV. Great Compassion, the Dharma of Never Losing Mindfulness, the Forever Harming of the Residual Perfumings, the Knowledge Marvelous in Every Kind

One should understand that the every-kind character of the Tathāgata's great compassion is all as expounded above in the Chapter on Offering, Drawing Near, and the Measureless; one should understand that the Tathāgata's great compassion is measureless and unsurpassed.

What is the Tathāgata's Dharma of never losing mindfulness? The Tathāgatas constantly keep in mind and recollect: whatever the matter, whatever the place, in whatever manner, at whatever time there is anything to be done, the Tathāgata then, with regard to this matter, this place, this manner, this time, rightly recollects it — this is called the Tathāgata's Dharma of never losing mindfulness. That is to say: the Tathāgata, universally with regard to all deeds to be done, universally with regard to all differences of place and region, universally with regard to all the skillful means of what is to be done, universally with regard to all differences of time-division, has mindfulness never lost and dwells constantly in right mindfulness — this should be understood to be called the Dharma of never losing mindfulness.

What is the Tathāgata's forever harming of the residual perfumings? The Tathāgatas, whether in moving about, or in gazing, or in discourse, or in dwelling at rest, mostly do not bring into action the deeds arising from "the semblance of affliction" — this is called the Tathāgata's forever harming of the residual perfumings. The arhats, though they have already cut off the afflictions, still, in moving about, gazing, discourse, and dwelling at rest, have various deeds arising from the semblance of affliction.

What is the Tathāgata's knowledge marvelous in every kind? The Tathāgatas, stated in brief, perfectly and rightly awaken to the phenomena of the three collections. Which three collections? First, the phenomena of the collection that can draw forth what has meaning; second, the phenomena of the collection that can draw forth what is without meaning; third, that which neither can draw forth what has meaning nor can draw forth what is without meaning. One should understand herein: the Tathāgata's unmistaken knowledge, universally within all these phenomena — whether within the phenomena of the collection that can draw forth what is without meaning, or within the phenomena that neither can draw forth what has meaning nor can draw forth what is without meaning — is called the Tathāgata's knowledge of every kind; the Tathāgata's unmistaken knowledge within all the phenomena of the collection that can draw forth what has meaning should be understood to be called the Tathāgata's marvelous knowledge. Herein, the knowledge of every kind and the marvelous knowledge together gathered into one are called the knowledge marvelous in every kind.

V. The General Discussion: The Adamantine-like Concentration, the Excellent Transformation of the Basis, the Eight Similes

All the foregoing, gathered together, is named the one hundred and forty kinds of buddha-dharma uncommon to the Tathāgata. Herein, the marks and secondary excellences, within the final existence of the bodhisattva stage, have all been attained to the utmost of good purity. When the bodhisattva sits upon the seat of awakening and dwells in his final existence, upon the bodhisattva path his provisions for awakening have reached the utmost of good perfection; at that time, without a teacher, he cultivates by himself the thirty-seven factors of awakening and realizes, in a single instant, what is named "the concentration of unhindered knowledge" — this is the adamantine-like concentration (vajropama-samādhi) subsumed under the learning-path of the bodhisattva. From the second instant, without interval, he all at once realizes the remaining buddha-dharmas uncommon to the Tathāgata — with the ten powers of the Tathāgata foremost and the knowledge marvelous in every kind last — all of them utmost in purity, all of them unsurpassed. Because he attains this, universally with regard to all the knowable spheres, a knowledge unhindered and unobstructed, of the utmost purity and without stain, comes to turn. In dependence on the momentary rousing-to-awakening, the perfection of reflection, and the perfection of the mind-chariot, he passes beyond all bodhisattva practices and bodhisattva stages, and realizes and enters upon all the practices of the Tathāgata and the Tathāgata stage. Because all the coarse-and-heavy of the category of the cognitive obstruction that is wholly within the flesh (the six editions — Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Sheng, Zhi — read "wholly within the real") is cut off without remainder, he attains the excellent transformation of the basis — such a transformation of the basis is the most unsurpassed; all the rest, down even to the transformation of the basis of the bodhisattva in the topmost dwelling of consummate fulfillment, should be understood to be still surpassable.

Question: The knowledge and the rest of all the bodhisattvas who abide in the ultimate stage, and the knowledge and the rest of the Tathāgata — how should one understand the difference between these two?

Answer: As a clear-eyed person looks upon the host of color-images through a thin veil of gauze — so should the marvelous knowledge of the bodhisattva of the ultimate stage toward all spheres be understood; as a clear-eyed person looks upon the host of color-images with no hindrance or veil at all — so should the marvelous knowledge of the Tathāgata toward all spheres be understood. As a painting has been spread all over with the host of pigments, only the final marvelous coloring not yet purely applied — so is the marvelous knowledge of the bodhisattva of the ultimate stage; the final marvelous coloring already purely applied — so is the marvelous knowledge of the Tathāgata. As a clear-eyed person sees color in a faint gloom — the bodhisattva's marvelous knowledge; seeing color free of all gloom — the Tathāgata's marvelous knowledge. As a clear-eyed person looks upon the host of colors from afar — the bodhisattva's marvelous knowledge; looking upon the host of colors from near — the Tathāgata's marvelous knowledge. As an eye with a slight film observes color — the bodhisattva's marvelous knowledge; an utterly pure eye observing color — the Tathāgata's marvelous knowledge. As a body within the womb — the body of the bodhisattva of the ultimate stage; as a body emerged from the womb — the body of the Tathāgatas. As the mind-activity of an arhat within a dream — the mind-activity of the bodhisattva of the ultimate stage; as the mind-activity of an arhat when awake — the mind-activity of the Tathāgata. As the substance of a dim lamp — the substance of the bodhisattva's knowledge; as the substance of a bright lamp — the substance of the Tathāgata's knowledge. Therefore one should understand: all the host of bodhisattvas who abide in the ultimate stage, and the Tathāgatas, have a great difference in marvelous knowledge, in body, and in mind.

VI. The Deeds of the Tathāgata: Ten Kinds of Deed-Doing

Thus, after the Tathāgata has realized awakening, universally throughout all the buddha-lands of the ten directions, he can universally perform all buddha-deeds. What is named all buddha-deeds? The Tathāgata's deeds of the Tathāgata, the doings of the Tathāgata, are, in brief, of ten kinds; and each single deed of the Tathāgata, doing of the Tathāgata, can accomplish measureless matters of benefiting sentient beings, and beyond this there is nothing exceeding or added. Which ten?

First, the Tathāgatas first of all manifest of themselves the body of a great man, wishing to make the sentient beings give rise to pure faith of mind — because the body of a great man is the most excellent for giving rise to pure faith — this is the first deed-doing; this deed-doing is what can be accomplished by the marks and secondary excellences. Second, the Tathāgatas universally, for all sentient beings, rouse the applied effort of instruction of every kind — this is the second deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the four every-kind purities. Third, the Tathāgatas can do all the matters of benefiting sentient beings and can cut off all the doubts that arise — this is the third deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the ten powers of the Tathāgata — because the ten powers of the Tathāgata expounded above have the capability, in accomplishing all the benefit and welfare of all sentient beings; and moreover, to the objections raised against the ten powers realized by the Tathāgata, only the Tathāgata can know, can see, can understand, can comprehend, and only the Tathāgata can rightly answer. Fourth, the Tathāgatas can universally subdue all others' theories and can universally establish all their own theories — this is the fourth deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the four fearlessnesses. Fifth, the Tathāgata's sentient beings to be trained, whether they rightly abide or do not rightly abide in the Buddha's teaching-command, the Tathāgata toward them is of mind without defilement — this is the fifth deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the three foundations of mindfulness. Sixth, the Tathāgatas, just as they themselves have spoken, so do they truly act — this is the sixth deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the three guardlessnesses. Seventh, the Tathāgatas constantly, with the buddha-eye, throughout the divisions of day and night universally behold the world — this is the seventh deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the Tathāgata's great compassion. Eighth, the Tathāgatas all at once, in all, in every deed-doing, are without withdrawing or forsaking — this is the eighth deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the Dharma of never losing mindfulness. Ninth, the deportment-rules that the Tathāgatas practice turn truly in accord, without any overstepping of function — this is the ninth deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the forever harming of the residual perfumings. Tenth, the Tathāgatas, with regard to the phenomena of the collection that can draw forth what is without meaning, and the phenomena of the collection that neither can draw forth what has meaning nor can draw forth what is without meaning, select out and relinquish them; with regard to the phenomena of the collection that can draw forth what has meaning, they expound, reveal, and disclose them for the assembly — this is the tenth deed-doing; it is what can be accomplished by the knowledge marvelous in every kind.

Thus the Tathāgata, by the one hundred and forty kinds of buddha-dharma uncommon to the Tathāgata expounded above, can do all the doings of the Tathāgata, all the buddha-deeds. If these buddha-deeds be discriminated in detail, they are not easily reckoned, so that even in koṭi-nayuta hundreds of thousands of great eons one could not finish expounding them.

VII. Conclusion: Establishment, the Uncommon, and the Names of the Bodhisattva Stage

The dwellings of the Tathāgatas, the stages of the Tathāgatas, expounded as above, are named "establishment." Why? Because in dependence on this, abiding in this, the host of bodhisattvas of the kinds who have their aspirations can rightly train in the bodhisattva training-grounds; and abiding in this they have their realization, that is, in dependence on abiding in this they can universally accomplish all the benefit and welfare of all sentient beings — therefore it is said that this is named establishment.

Moreover, all these buddha-dharmas expounded are the most concordant with the matter of benefiting others; all the Tathāgatas are precisely the manifestation of the matter of benefiting others, whereas the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are not so — therefore they are named "buddha-dharmas uncommon." Moreover, among these buddha-dharmas, there are buddha-dharmas that the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas altogether do not attain at all — namely great compassion, the Dharma of never losing mindfulness, the forever harming of the residual perfumings, and the knowledge marvelous in every kind; there are buddha-dharmas of which they, though they attain some small resembling portion, yet in every kind are not perfect — whereas the Tathāgata attains all of them altogether and in every kind is nowhere not perfect, most utterly surpassing, most utterly marvelous, and so all are called uncommon. One should understand herein that the sense of "solely possessed" is precisely the sense of "uncommon."

Thus fully revealing the learning-path of all bodhisattvas and the fruit of the learning-path, it is named "the Bodhisattva Stage" — because it is the true ground of reliance for all the every-kind teaching that fully expounds the learning-path of all bodhisattvas and the fruit of the learning-path. Moreover, this Bodhisattva Stage is also named "the Bodhisattva-Basket Mātṛkā (the Matrix-mother)," is also named "the Embracing of the Great Vehicle," is also named "the Revealing of the Ruined and the Unruined Road," is also named "the Root of the Purity of Unhindered Knowledge."

If gods, humans, and the world — whether gods, or humans, whether śramaṇas, brahmins, and the like — toward this Bodhisattva Stage expounded give rise to firm conviction, delight to hear, receive, and uphold it, diligently train in it, and expound it widely to others, down even to writing it out and holding it, offering to it and revering it, and cherishing it with deep mind, the store of merit they attain, stated in brief, is equal and no different from the store of merit attained by the delighting-to-hear and the like of the Bhagavat's expounding, revealing, discriminating, setting forth, and praising of all the marvelous scriptures subsumed under the Bodhisattva Basket. Why? Because this Bodhisattva Stage reveals what is subsumed under all the gates of brief indication and wide explanation within all the Bodhisattva Baskets. Within this stage the Dharma-and-discipline can be widely revealed, down even to numerous sentient beings to be trained receiving and upholding, reciting, and, according to the Dharma, practicing this right Dharma, and abiding, growing, and advancing broadly and greatly — during that span of time, the semblance right Dharma does not come to flourish, and the right Dharma is not extinguished; if at that time the semblance right Dharma should come to flourish, then at that time the right Dharma that can draw forth the true meaning would swiftly perish and sink away. Therefore, toward this Bodhisattva Stage, to give rise to firm conviction, to delight to hear, receive, and uphold it, down to the wider expounding — the store of merit thereby attained is measureless and boundless.

From Expounding Apart to the General Discussion

Part One expounded the ten powers one by one; the very first sentence of Part Two shifts the register: "Having thus expounded the ten powers of the Buddha apart, now the general discussion is to be made." The general discussion sets up seven gates by a single uddāna: intrinsic nature, discrimination, the uncommon, equality, activity, sequence, difference. The expounding-apart was a file on each of the ten powers severally; the general discussion takes the ten powers as a single whole and puts seven questions to them: what is their substance? why are they measureless? on what ground are they uncommon? are they equal among the buddhas? what are they taken up to do? by what order do they set to work? where do the ten powers draw their boundaries against one another?

The first four gates are clean and quick: the gate of intrinsic nature says the ten powers have, overall, the five faculties for their substance, and "because wisdom is the most excellent" speaks only of "the power of knowing" — the substance of a power is the whole set of cultivated faculties, only with wisdom taken as the representative under whose name they are hung; the gate of discrimination says the ten powers are measureless by the three discriminations of time-division, kind, and continuum — the three ages, the particular and common marks of every single phenomenon, the continuum of every single sentient being in the ten directions, all within range; the gate of the uncommon is a single sentence: only the Buddha has them, the two vehicles have them not; the gate of equality supplies one subtle measure: the ten powers all the buddhas possess in equal fullness, yet "that in which each mostly abides" has its several emphasis — equality is the substance, emphasis is the function.

Within the Gate of Activity Lies a Complete Course in Meditation

The fifth gate, activity, tells what each of the ten powers is "taken up to do"; the format is properly one power to a passage: the power of what-is-and-is-not subdues the theories of no-cause and evil-cause, the power of one's own karma subdues the theory of "the transfer of the merit of giving" (Jing sets down that vivid scene of dispute: someone pays money to "buy" from another the merit of his reverencing the tree of awakening and his giving — the Buddha breaks it by the power of one's own karma: one makes it oneself and receives it oneself, there is no buying and selling), the power of concentration displays the three miraculous transformations, the power of faculties expounds the Dharma to meet the occasion …

But when it reaches the power of knowing the various elements, the treatise suddenly slows and inserts a whole passage of the Tathāgata's instruction to the bodhisattvas beginning their work — this is the deepest passage of doctrine in the whole chapter, and it is worth a careful reading straight through.

The Tathāgata says to the bodhisattva who is beginning his work: Good son, come. Find a secluded place to dwell, sit down alone, and first reflect upon a thing that is most intimate to you: your name. This name that your father, mother, teachers, and elders set up for you — reflect upon it: is there truly some "self," apart from the six sense-fields (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind), of a true intrinsic nature, upon which this name, this name-concept, this designation are set? Reflecting on in this way, "you will find nothing at all of such a thing" — that true self that carries the name is not to be found. The conclusion is a single key phrase: "it is merely upon an adventitious thing that an adventitious concept turns" — the name is only a guest-concept, set upon a guest-thing; there is no master.

Then he turns the same knife upon phenomena: reflect upon your eye. Within the eye there are only two things: first, the name, concept, and designation "eye"; second, that "bare event" — the pure thing itself. The name is not the eye ("the set-up eye-name, eye-concept, and fictive designation of the eye are not themselves the eye"); and apart from the name, not even a trace of "eye"-cognition can arise ("it is not the case that here, apart from the set-up eye-name … there could be even a little eye-awareness that could turn"). The treatise adds a reductio: if the thing were real and matched the name, it ought to draw forth eye-awareness directly, without waiting on the name — "yet such a thing, an awareness turning without waiting upon name and speech, is not to be found." Therefore: the eye-name is a guest, the eye-concept is a guest, and so on to ear, nose, tongue, body, to what is seen, heard, sensed, and cognized, "universally within the concept of all phenomena, only the guest-concept shall arise and be attained." Cultivating on until the concept of idle proliferation is again and again dispelled, "with a mind free of discrimination and free of marks, taking hold only of the meaning as it turns" — grasping neither name nor mark, only truly receiving that meaning apart from words — cultivating and abiding much, one attains the unmistaken one-pointedness of mind. The treatise names this road: "the universal-approaching right practice of all bodhisattvas," one and the same setting-forth of the Tathāgatas of the three ages.

Dunlun's outline lays bare the skeleton of this passage: first the contemplation of the emptiness of the person (seeking the self apart from the six sense-fields and finding it ungraspable), then the contemplation of the emptiness of phenomena (first the emptiness of the eye, then the rest — ear and so on — by extension); and he judges it directly in the language of the three natures: "There is only the other-dependent eye-faculty, the event apart from speech; upon it the eye-name and the rest are fictively established, which the name cannot reach. If, chasing the eye-name, one clings to there being an eye-substance, this is the wholly-imagined — ultimately without substance, and so it is said that the eye is empty" — the name-and-speech is the wholly-imagined, the event-apart-from-words is the other-dependent, and this instruction is the operating manual of the contemplation of the three natures. The closing words are especially weighty: "If one contemplates the emptiness of the person and can enter the patience-of-suffering, the direct realization of phenomena; if one can turn the mind about and contemplate the two emptinesses together, one can then attain the direct realization of the first ground" — the graduation-exit of this course is precisely that "entering the ground of pure superior intention" that the Chapter on the Grounds expounded.

The Gate of Sequence: On the First Day of Buddhahood, Which Power Sets to Work First

The sixth gate, sequence, poses a question few ever think of: when the Buddha first attains the Way, the ten powers are "attained all at once," but after that sudden attainment, is there an order in the putting of them to work? The treatise gives the answer in three gates, each a complete process of teaching-and-transforming. The first gate is the standard process: first the power of what-is-and-is-not sets up cause and fruit, next the power of one's own karma urges the good, next the power of concentration teaches worldly freedom from desire, then faculties → resolute convictions → elements (latent proclivities) → the universal-approaching practice → recollecting former abodes + death-and-birth (expounding the middle path so as to depart from the two extremes of eternalism and annihilation) → the extinction of the outflows (breaking, too, the overweening pride of "supposing the uncut cut"). The second gate has one dramatic moment more: the Buddha, with the power of concentration, observes the renunciant portion, to see whether there is in the world one who can expound the path out of suffering — "having thus observed, he knows rightly that there is none at all. He observes that the various worlds are without protection, without refuge. Out of great compassion, with the buddha-eye he truly beholds all the worlds" — and only then does he begin to know the faculties and bestow the Dharma. The third gate sets out from the realm of phenomena: first he observes the realm of conditionally-arisen phenomena, then observes the fictively-established realm of sentient beings (making it oneself, receiving it oneself), then displays the three miraculous transformations and instructs. Three gates stand side by side — the same brushwork as the three causes-and-conditions of the Chapter on Practice: the sequence admits of more than one reading.

The Gate of Difference: The Boundary Lines of the Ten Powers, and Two Lists of Seeds

The seventh gate, difference, sets adjacent pairs of powers against one another (knowing that karma brings on fruit is the power of what-is-and-is-not, knowing "who makes it and who receives it" is the power of one's own karma …); Ji and Jing each have a parallel set of judgments. When the comparison reaches the boundary between the power of resolute conviction and the power of elements, the treatise forks off two lists of classification of its own.

One is the six inclinations: the non-emerging (those with conviction toward Maheśvara, Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā), the emerging (those with conviction toward the three vehicles), the far-purified (the maturity of the inferior and middling classes), the near-purified (the maturity of the superior class), attaining nirvāṇa in the present life (the śrāvaka vehicle), and attaining nirvāṇa in the world to come (the great vehicle). The other is the four seeds of the elements: the innate-abiding seed, the seed arisen from prior habituation, the amenable-to-cultivation seed (those who have the nature of final nirvāṇa), and the not-amenable-to-cultivation seed (those who do not have the nature of final nirvāṇa).

This second list carries enormous weight. The innate-abiding and the arisen-from-prior-habituation are precisely the "innate lineage / cultivated lineage" of the Chapter on Lineage, reappearing within the fruit-ground power of knowledge; the amenable and not-amenable-to-cultivation gather the Chapter on Lineage's judgment of "those without lineage, determined not to realize" into the scope of the buddha-knowledge's beholding. Jing expounds this boundary most clearly: "If one knows that resolute conviction perfumes and forms a seed of its own resembling kind, this is by the power of resolute conviction; if one rightly illumines and grasps the differences of the seed, this is by the power of elements" — resolute conviction perfumes and forms seeds; the Buddha's knowing that the perfuming is the power of resolute conviction and knowing that the seed is the power of elements. The Buddha, beholding sentient beings, beholds down to this layer of the seed.

From the Four Fearlessnesses to the Marvelous Knowledge: A Quick Reading of Seven Gates of Merit

The four fearlessnesses — the treatise divides the first two respects by the two obstructions: "because the cognitive obstruction is forever released, he perfectly and rightly awakens within every kind of all phenomena, not in common with the śrāvakas"; "because the afflictive obstructions are forever released, he realizes the extinction of the outflows, in common with the śrāvakas" — the fearlessness of omniscience is not in common with the two vehicles, the fearlessness of the extinction of the outflows is in common with them (Dunlun); the framework of the two obstructions is written straight into the definition of the fruit-merits. Dunlun further records at length the four objections and their four resolutions (someone objects to the Buddha: a disciple, when the rains-retreat is over, comes to pay respects, and the Buddha still greets him with inquiry — "this is asking because he does not know"; and again, "loving words to Rāhula" seems to have craving, "reproaching Devadatta" seems to have anger, and so on — each resolved in turn), together with a footnote on the history of compilation: the Tathāgata's latter two fearlessnesses were originally expounded in common for the three vehicles, but "the compilers, in the Śrāvaka Basket they compiled, remove the word 'bodhisattva'; in the Bodhisattva Basket they compiled, recite only this word 'bodhisattva'" — the divergence of the Śrāvaka Basket and the Bodhisattva Basket is brought about by the editing of the compilers.

The three foundations of mindfulness: teaching-and-transforming the great assembly, he does not rejoice over those who accord with him, does not grieve over those who go against him, and dwells in equanimity toward those half-according and half-against — the mind of the Dharma-lord does not move with the success or failure of the teaching. The three guardlessnesses: the Tathāgata's three kinds of karma are utterly without concealment, and so toward his disciples he "earnestly admonishes and openly reproves" without any misgiving — not afraid that, dwelling long, the students may discover the teacher's shortcomings, because there are no shortcomings to be discovered. Great compassion: see the Chapter on Offering, Drawing Near, and the Measureless. The Dharma of never losing mindfulness: matter, place, manner, and time — the four never lost (Ji glosses "manner" = the skillful means suited to the occasion in teaching-and-transforming). The forever harming of the residual perfumings: the arhat cuts off the afflictions, yet the residue still remains (the habitual motions of "the semblance of affliction" in moving about, gazing, discourse, and dwelling at rest); the Tathāgata forever harms even this — which meets and joins with the first four matters of the eighteen exclusive buddha-dharmas of the Section on Ascertainment (see the Textual Study, Heading II). The knowledge marvelous in every kind closes the row; Kuiji judges it by the non-conceptual and the subsequently-attained knowledge: on the surface, to know the unwholesome and indeterminate and not act is the knowledge of every kind, and to know the wholesome and act is the marvelous knowledge; but tracing it to its substance — "in truth, the non-conceptual knowledge does not observe the unwholesome and the like, but makes only a wholesome observation, and so is solely the marvelous knowledge; the subsequently-attained knowledge is the knowledge marvelous in every kind" — the non-conceptual knowledge is solely the marvelous knowledge, and only the subsequently-attained knowledge is the knowledge marvelous in every kind; and he breaks the doctrine that "the subsequently-attained knowledge has right knowledge in both." Jing has a separate judgment, and the two accounts stand set forth side by side (Textual Study, Heading III (6)).

The Last Two Instants: The Adamantine-like Concentration and the Excellent Transformation of the Basis

The reckoning of the one hundred and forty exclusive buddha-dharmas complete, the treatise describes the last two instants of the attaining of buddhahood: the bodhisattva, dwelling in his final existence, seated upon the seat of awakening, his provisions reached to the utmost of good perfection, "without a teacher cultivates the thirty-seven factors of awakening" — the last lesson has no teacher — and attains, in a single instant, "the concentration of unhindered knowledge," which is the adamantine-like concentration (vajropama-samādhi) subsumed under the learning-path of the bodhisattva; "from the second instant, without interval, he all at once attains the remaining exclusive buddha-dharmas." Then comes the gathering-up sentence of the whole chapter's consciousness-only meaning: "Because all the coarse-and-heavy of the category of the cognitive obstruction that is wholly within the flesh is cut off without remainder, he attains the excellent transformation of the basis. Such a transformation of the basis is the most unsurpassed." (The two characters 「在肉」 "within the flesh," the six editions — Song, Yuan, Ming, Palace, Sheng, Zhi — all read 「在實」 "within the real" — the taking or leaving of this character the Textual Study has recorded and set before the reader.)

Lay out the whole axis of the transformation of the basis across the Bodhisattva Stage: in the Chapter on the Grounds, at the first ground, the coarse-and-heavy of the category of the evil destinies is removed and dispelled — the first transformation of the basis; in Establishment, Part One, the support of the buddha-ground is purified, the coarse-and-heavy and the residual perfumings of the category of affliction forever extinguished; here, the coarse-and-heavy of the category of the cognitive obstruction is cut off without remainder — the excellent transformation of the basis, the most unsurpassed. The treatise adds one more line: down even to the transformation of the basis of the bodhisattva in the topmost dwelling of consummate fulfillment, "one should understand that it is still surpassable" — the transformation of the basis has a staircase, and only the Buddha's step is the roof-beam. Dunlun leaves a balancing note under "attained all at once": "This is said with reference to the place of consummate fulfillment, saying the Buddha attains it all at once; in true principle, the several merits are attained gradually from the first ground onward, and only at buddhahood are they full" — the "all at once" is spoken with reference to the place of fulfillment; the "gradually" is spoken with reference to the road traveled.

Then wherein exactly does equal-awakening differ from marvelous-awakening? The treatise answers with eight similes: seeing color through a thin veil of gauze versus with no veil, a painting spread with pigments only its last coloring not yet applied versus already applied, seeing color in a faint gloom versus free of gloom, looking from afar versus from near, an eye with a film versus a pure eye, a body within the womb versus emerged from the womb, an arhat's mind-activity within a dream versus when awake, a dim lamp versus a bright lamp. The eight similes all share one structure: it is not a difference of having versus lacking, but a single veil's remove. The bodhisattva of the ultimate stage has everything already; only that last layer of gauze remains.

Ten Deeds: The Buddha's Work-List

At the chapter's end, the treatise cashes all the one hundred and forty merits out into action: the ten deeds of the Tathāgata, each deed marked with the gate of merit that accomplishes it — manifesting the body of a great man to give pure faith to men (accomplished by the marks and excellences), rousing all instruction (accomplished by the four purities), benefiting beings and cutting off doubt (accomplished by the ten powers), subduing others' theories and establishing one's own (accomplished by the four fearlessnesses), being of mind without defilement toward the according and the contrary (accomplished by the three foundations of mindfulness), being one in word and deed (accomplished by the three guardlessnesses), universally beholding the world day and night with the buddha-eye (accomplished by great compassion), being without withdrawing or forsaking in all deeds (accomplished by never losing mindfulness), the deportment-rules without overstepping (accomplished by the forever harming of the residual perfumings), and selecting-and-relinquishing together with expounding-and-revealing (accomplished by the marvelous knowledge). Eleven gates of merit matched to ten deeds — Dunlun points out the reckoning: "gathering the marks and excellences into one deed, there are therefore only ten". The two old translations here both give nine buddha-deeds — a different way of joining and dividing (Textual Study, Heading II).

This table is the finishing stroke of the whole chapter: merit is not a medal, but a capacity for work. Every gate of exclusive buddha-dharma answers to a concrete function of benefiting beings — the Buddha's greatness is at last totted up by "what he can do for sentient beings."

Rolling Up the Scroll: The Names of the Bodhisattva Stage

Last, the treatise gathers up the whole Bodhisattva Stage: thus fully revealing the learning-path of all bodhisattvas and the fruit of the learning-path, it is named "the Bodhisattva Stage." And it lists its alternate names: the Bodhisattva-Basket Mātṛkā (the Matrix-mother), the Embracing of the Great Vehicle, the Revealing of the Ruined and the Unruined Road, the Root of the Purity of Unhindered Knowledge — Dunlun glosses: "because it possesses the sense of embracing the cause and fruit of the Great Vehicle, it is also named the Embracing of the Great Vehicle; affliction, karma, and suffering are named the ruined road, the world-transcending counteragent the unruined road". The merit of receiving and upholding this stage equals that of receiving and upholding all the scriptures of the Bodhisattva Basket spoken by the Buddha; and the treatise's parting gift is a sober word of warning: while this Dharma dwells in the world, "the semblance right Dharma does not come to flourish, and the right Dharma is not extinguished; if at that time the semblance right Dharma should come to flourish, then at that time the right Dharma that can draw forth the true meaning would swiftly perish and sink away" — the survival or perishing of the right Dharma hangs upon the waxing and waning of the semblance Dharma.

The One Meaning This Unit Reveals

Part Two travels from the general discussion of the seven gates to the rolling-up at the ten deeds, yet it sets up in truth only one meaning: the buddha-fruit is a complete, operating system for benefiting beings — its substance is the power that holds the five faculties together as one; its beholding reaches down to the seed within the sentient being's mind; its cutting reaches the excellent transformation of the basis, where the coarse-and-heavy of the category of the cognitive obstruction is cut off without remainder; and all its merits are at last cashed out into ten works that never rest day or night. And that course in "the merely-adventitious concept," meditation buried within the gate of activity, reminds the reader: the entrance to this system stands open always — beginning from reflecting upon one's own name, the emptiness of the person, the emptiness of phenomena, the two emptinesses contemplated together, the direct realization of the first ground; the Third Section on Ultimate Yoga writes up to the very summit of the Buddha, yet does not forget to set the first rung of the ladder back beneath the reader's own foot.

Carrying Forward

Part Two comes carrying forward from Part One's "now the general discussion is to be made," and together with Part One forms the whole roll of the Chapter on Establishment; the Chapter on Establishment complete, the five chapters of the Third Section on Ultimate Yoga (Birth · Taking-Hold · the Grounds · Practice · Establishment) are all finished, and Dunlun's outline of "discussing the fruit against the practice" here comes to a close. The four seeds of the elements echo the two lineages of the Chapter on Lineage; the excellent transformation of the basis carries forward from the first-ground transformation of the basis of the Chapter on the Grounds and mounts to the summit; the two-emptiness contemplation of the instruction-passage is on the same axis as the intrinsic-nature-apart-from-words of the Chapter on the True Meaning; great compassion is seen mutually with the Chapter on Offering, Drawing Near, and the Measureless; the one hundred and forty carries forward from the prior indication in the Chapter on Awakening, under the second alternate heading; the Section on Ascertainment, in its ascertainment of the Third Section on Ultimate Yoga, meets and joins this chapter by the eighteen exclusive buddha-dharmas. Next follows the Fourth Section, on the Sequential Yoga, the Chapter on Giving Rise to the Mind of Right and Perfect Awakening — the last chapter of the Bodhisattva Stage, which clarifies the sequence of the phenomena of the Bodhisattva Stage.