大乘莊嚴經論 發心品

Arousing the mind — setting the whole bodhisattva path upon a single thought

A road of a thousand, ten thousand miles all begins from the first step. Arousing the mind is that first step: gazing up toward the highest awakening, gazing down upon beings without end — hung between the highest awakening and the widest compassion. Apart from these two, it is not the mind of awakening.

This thought has its deep and its shallow. What rises at another's urging is like borrowed fire, out at a breath; what burns up from the bottom of the heart is like one's own kindling, and keeps itself alight. And once one realizes the real and mounts the first ground, it is called the Joyful Ground — like a long-absent traveler come home again, recognizing the house that was always his: beings and myself, the Buddha-ground and myself, were never truly apart.

Most moving of all: one who truly arouses this mind is not held fast by favorable circumstances, nor turned back by adverse ones. He walks into a place of suffering as though walking into a garden — for that is the very place where his vow is done. Great compassion sits within the mind, and the moment he sees beings suffer, he suffers as if it were his own; without waiting to be urged, he acts of himself.

Now watch this single thought — how it sprouts, grows, takes up the burden of beings, and walks the whole road through.

Having distinguished the bodhisattva's lineage (種性, gotra), the text next distinguishes the character of the bodhisattva's arousing of the mind of awakening (發菩提心; cittotpāda) — the resolve to seek supreme awakening and to vow to liberate all beings.

Valor and skillful means, benefit and going forth: four greatnesses, three merits — from these two aims the mind arises.

The bodhisattva's arousing of the mind has four kinds of "greatness":

1. The greatness of valor: for the vast, deep, and hard-to-perform vow is pursued with vigor, followed continuously over long time.
2. The greatness of skillful means: for, having put on the armor of the vow, one applies skillful means with unremitting vigor at all times.
3. The greatness of benefit: for at all times one performs the work of benefiting both oneself and others.
4. The greatness of going forth: for the whole aim is to seek supreme awakening (無上菩提, anuttarā bodhi).

Further, these four greatnesses display three merits. The first and second greatness display the merit of "doing what a true man should do"; the third greatness displays the merit of "accomplishing the great aim" (benefiting others); the fourth greatness displays the merit of "receiving the fruit." And these three merits take two aims as their object: namely, supreme awakening and all sentient beings. It is by thinking upon these that one arouses the mind of awakening. Having stated the character of arousing the mind, the text next states its divisions.

By resolute practice, by pure reliance, by ripened fruition, and by freedom from hindrance: the arousing of the mind, following the grounds, has four divisions.

The bodhisattva's arousing of the mind, following the grounds (諸地, bhūmi) of practice, has four divisions: first, arousing the mind by resolute practice (信行發心) — that is, on the ground of resolute practice, where the beginner proceeds on the strength of confidence; second, arousing the mind by pure reliance (淨依發心) — that is, on the first seven grounds; third, arousing the mind by ripened fruition (報得發心) — that is, on the last three grounds, where it arises spontaneously; fourth, arousing the mind free of hindrance (無障發心) — that is, on the ground of the Tathāgata, perfect and unobstructed. Having stated the divisions, the text now expounds them at length. Question: This arousing of the mind — what is its root? What does it rely upon? What does it place confidence in? What is its object? What does it ride upon? Where does it abide? What is its hindrance? What is its merit? What is its own nature? What is its going forth? Where is its consummation?

Great compassion and benefiting beings, the great Dharma and all-kinds-of-knowledge, surpassing aspiration and the great protection, sustaining hindrance and increasing the good, merit-and-wisdom and cultivating the perfections, and the fulfilling of ground upon ground: from the first root to the final consummation — know it in due order.

The bodhisattva's arousing of the mind takes great compassion (大悲, mahākaruṇā) as its root; takes benefiting beings as what it relies upon; takes the great-vehicle Dharma (大乘法, mahāyāna) as what it places confidence in; takes all-kinds-of-knowledge (種智, sarvajñatā) as its object, since it seeks to attain it; takes surpassing aspiration as what it rides upon, since it wishes to ride the supreme vehicle; takes the great protection as where it abides, since it abides in the bodhisattva precepts; takes sustaining hindrance as its difficulty, namely giving rise to a mind for another vehicle; takes increasing the good as its merit; takes merit-and-wisdom (福智, puṇya-jñāna) as its own nature; takes cultivating the perfections (諸度, the six pāramitā) as its going forth; and takes the fulfilling of ground upon ground as its consummation, since on each and every ground one diligently applies skillful means, corresponding to that ground's own aim. Having thus distinguished it at length, the text next states the arousing of the mind on the conventional level (受世俗發心).

By the power of the friend and the power of the cause, the power of the faculties and the power of hearing: four powers gather into two arousings — the unstable and the stable.

If one is awakened and arouses the mind through another's teaching and hearing, this is called arousing the mind on the conventional level. This arousing is set in motion by four powers:

1. The power of the friend: gaining the guidance of a good spiritual friend (善知識, kalyāṇamitra) who leads one along.
2. The power of the cause: having aroused the mind in past lives, so that it has become one's nature.
3. The power of the faculties: having cultivated all kinds of wholesome roots (善根, kuśala-mūla) in past lives, now brought to fullness.
4. The power of hearing: when the Dharma is taught in place after place, immeasurable beings arouse the mind of awakening upon hearing it; or again, one who cultivates wholesome roots hears, upholds, and so forth, the Dharma constantly and rightly in the present.

Further, these four powers of arousing the mind gather into two kinds: first, the unstable arousing — that aroused by the power of the friend (relying on an outer condition, easily shaken); second, the stable arousing — that aroused by the three powers of cause, faculties, and hearing (having an inner ground beneath it). Having stated the conventional arousing of the mind, the text next states the arousing of the mind on the level of ultimate meaning (第一義發心).

Drawing near to the Rightly and Fully Awakened One, well amassing the store of merit and wisdom, non-discriminating toward dharmas — the supreme true knowledge is born.

The arousing of the mind on the level of ultimate meaning (the mind aroused upon realizing the real) displays three excellences: first, the excellence of instruction — drawing near to the Rightly and Fully Awakened One (正遍知, samyak-saṃbuddha) and receiving teaching; second, the excellence of accord — well able to amass the store of merit and wisdom; third, the excellence of the resultant fruit — giving rise to non-conceptual knowledge (無分別智, nirvikalpa-jñāna). Such an arousing of the mind is named the Joyful Ground (歡喜地; 玄奘系 極喜地 the Ground of Supreme Joy, pramuditā-bhūmi), the first ground, because joy is its excellence. Question: This excellence — what is its cause?

Toward dharmas and toward beings, toward the work to be done and toward the Buddha's body: in these four one is equal — thus one gains the excellence of joy.

By four kinds of equality: first, equality with respect to dharmas, through penetrating the no-self of dharmas (法無我); second, equality with respect to beings, through attaining the equality of self and other; third, equality with respect to the work to be done, through causing others' suffering to be exhausted just as one exhausts one's own; fourth, equality with respect to the Buddha's body, through the settled ability to penetrate that "the dharma-realm (法界, dharmadhātu) is not other than myself." By these four equalities, one gains the excellence of joy. Having stated the cause of the excellence, the text next states the divisions of the excellence.

The excellence of station and the excellence of vow, likewise of valor and of pure reliance, the further skill and the further going forth: the six excellences are likewise so.

The arousing of the mind on the level of ultimate meaning has, further, six excellences: first, the excellence of station; second, the excellence of vow; third, the excellence of valor; fourth, the excellence of pure reliance; fifth, the excellence of further skill; sixth, the excellence of further going forth. Question: In what way are these six excellent?

The station excels by four aims; the vow is great — it has ten kinds; valor never turns back; pure reliance gives birth to the twofold benefit; skillful means advances to further grounds; going forth is right contemplation: by these six principles, in order, the six excellences are formed.

1. The station excels by four aims: first, the excellence of the seed — for confidence in the great-vehicle Dharma is the seed (種子, bīja); second, the excellence of the mother — for the perfection of wisdom (般若波羅蜜, prajñāpāramitā) is the birth-mother; third, the excellence of the womb — for the bliss of great meditative concentration (大禪定, dhyāna) is the womb; fourth, the excellence of the nurse — for great compassion's nourishing is the wet-nurse. (This images, by "entering the womb and being born," the bodhisattva's birth within the path of awakening.)
2. The vow excels: it has ten great vows (as stated in the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds, 《十地經》), and it excels because one makes these great vows.
3. Valor excels: one is able to perform what is hard to perform and never turns back.
4. Pure reliance excels: first, one knows oneself to be near awakening; second, one comprehends the skillful means for benefiting others.
5. Further skill excels (skillful means): one gains the skillful means for advancing into the higher grounds.
6. Further going forth excels (going forth): one rightly contemplates the dharmas established upon the several grounds. Question: How does one contemplate? Answer: One discerns them just as they are established, according to their proper measure and bounds; and by this very discernment, one also knows the non-discriminated (無分別).

Having stated the arousing of the mind, the text next uses similes to display this arousing of the mind.

Like the earth, like pure gold, like the moon, like a rising fire, like a great treasury, like a jewel-casket, like the ocean, like a diamond, like the king of mountains, like the king of medicines, like a friend, like a wish-granting gem, like the blazing sun, like sweet music, like a king, like a storehouse, like the royal road, like a carriage, like a spring, like a joyful sound, like a river, and also like a cloud: the arousing of the mind is likened thus.

This arousing of the mind — in what sense is it like these many similes? The commentary pairs them one by one (most pairing the arousing of the mind that "corresponds to" a particular perfection):

1. Like the great earth — the very first arousing of the mind, for it can give birth to and bear up all the qualities of a Buddha.
2. Like pure gold — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to "reliance," for it benefits and gladdens, without turning back or being spoiled.
3. Like the new moon — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to "diligence," for the wholesome dharmas increase, portion by portion.
4. Like a rising fire (which blazes higher as fuel is added) — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to "utmost reliance," for as one heaps up the ground of practice, the fire blazes ever fiercer.
5. Like a great treasury — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the perfection of giving (檀波羅蜜; 施 dāna-pāramitā), for it relieves [beings] with wealth and yet is never exhausted.
6. Like a jewel-casket — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the perfection of discipline (尸波羅蜜; 戒 śīla-pāramitā), for the jewels of the Dharma of merit are born from it.
7. Like the great ocean — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the perfection of patience (羼提波羅蜜; 忍 kṣānti-pāramitā), for whatever adversities come, the mind is not moved.
8. Like a diamond — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the perfection of vigor (毘梨耶波羅蜜; 精進 vīrya-pāramitā), for it is valorous, firm, and cannot be broken.
9. Like the king of mountains — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the perfection of meditation (禪波羅蜜; 定 dhyāna-pāramitā), for it abides settled and unshaken, and no outer thing can move it.
10. Like the king of medicines — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the perfection of wisdom (般若波羅蜜, prajñā-pāramitā), for it can cure the two diseases of the afflictions and the cognitive [obscuration].
11. Like a good friend — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the four immeasurables (四無量), for at all times it does not forsake sentient beings.
12. Like a wish-granting gem — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the supernormal powers (神通, ṛddhi), for whatever it wishes to manifest, it can accomplish.
13. Like the blazing sun — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the [four] means of gathering (攝, the four saṃgraha-vastu), for, as the sun ripens the grain, it ripens sentient beings.
14. Like sweet music — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to eloquence (辯, pratibhāna), for by teaching the Dharma it instructs and gathers in sentient beings.
15. Like a king — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to "measure," for it can be the cause of the right path that cannot be spoiled.
16. Like a storehouse — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to "amassing," for it is where the Dharma-wealth of merit and wisdom is gathered.
17. Like the royal road — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the factors of awakening (覺分, bodhipākṣika), for the great sages walk it first and the rest walk it after.
18. Like a carriage — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to tranquillity and insight (止觀, śamatha-vipaśyanā), for, the two wheels being complete, one travels at ease.
19. Like a welling spring — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the retentions (總持, dhāraṇī), for, though the hearers be many, the Dharma is not exhausted.
20. Like a joyful sound — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to the Dharma-seal (法印, dharma-mudrā), for it is what those who seek liberation delight to hear.
21. Like a river — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to "own-nature," for the path of the acceptance that dharmas are unborn (無生忍, anutpattika-dharma-kṣānti) flows of itself, without any deliberate effort.
22. Like a great cloud (which can bring a world to completion) — the arousing of the mind that corresponds to skillful means (方便, upāya), for it manifests the eight aspects of attaining the path (八相成道) and liberates sentient beings.

Thus, by these and the like — twenty-two similes in all — that arousing of the mind is likened (as is set forth at length in the Sūtra of the Noble One of Inexhaustible Wisdom, 《聖者無盡慧經》). Having stated the similes for arousing the mind, the text next states the fault of not arousing the mind.

Thinking on benefit, and gaining skillful means, understanding the meaning, and realizing the real: such are the four joys — but one who inclines toward [mere] quiescence forsakes them.

The bodhisattva has four joys: first, the joy of thinking on benefit — the time of contemplating how to benefit others; second, the joy of gaining skillful means — the time of attaining skillful means; third, the joy of understanding the meaning — the time of understanding the intent of the great vehicle; fourth, the joy of realizing the real — the time of realizing the no-self of persons and of dharmas. If someone forsakes sentient beings and inclines toward [his own] quiescence, know that this person does not gain these four joys of the bodhisattva. Having rebuked the not-arousing of the mind, the text next praises those who arouse the mind.

First arousing the great mind, one is well-guarded from boundless evil; because the good increases and compassion increases, one rejoices in pleasure and rejoices in pain too.

When the bodhisattva first arouses the great mind of awakening, at that very moment, relying on boundless sentient beings, he gains "good guardianship" and no longer performs any evil deeds — for this reason this person is free of the fear of falling back into the evil destinies. Further, because the good increases and compassion increases, he ever rejoices in pleasure (pleasure can aid the good) and ever rejoices in pain too (pain can nourish compassion) — for this reason this person is free of the fear of falling away from the good path. Having praised the arousing of the mind, the text next states: through this arousing of the mind one gains the "guardianship of not doing [evil]."

Loving others more than loving oneself, forgetting oneself to benefit beings, not for one's own sake wronging another — how could one do an unwholesome deed?

Showing that meaning in brief: the bodhisattva loves others more than he loves himself, and thereby forgets his own body and life to benefit others, never harming others for his own benefit — and for this reason he can utterly cut off all evil deeds toward sentient beings. Having stated the guardianship of not doing [evil], the text next states the gaining of the "non-retreating mind."

Contemplating dharmas as one who knows an illusion, contemplating [one's] birth as entering a garden: whether one succeeds or does not succeed, of affliction and suffering there is no fear.

The bodhisattva contemplates all dharmas as one who knows an illusion (knowing it to be illusory, one is not deceived by it) — and so, at the time of "success" (favorable circumstances), he gives rise to no fear of the afflictions. The bodhisattva contemplates the place of his own birth as [one who is] entering a garden (to be born is to liberate beings; he delights in it) — and so, at the time of "no success" (adverse circumstances, undergoing suffering), he gives rise to no fear of suffering either. This being so, what reason could there be to fall away from the mind of awakening? Further —

Self-adornment and self-nourishment, garden-ground and the delight of play: such are the four matters — the compassionate one's, and not the other vehicles'.

The bodhisattva takes his own merit as his "adornment," the gladness of benefiting others as his "nourishment," the place of birth willed [by his intention] as his "garden-ground," and supernormal transformations as his "delight of play." These four matters belong to the bodhisattva alone; they are absent in the two vehicles (二乘, śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha). Since the bodhisattva has these four matters (enjoyed so freely within the path of awakening), how could he fall away from the mind of awakening? Having stated the non-retreating mind, the text next blocks the "mind that fears suffering."

Striving to the utmost to benefit beings, because great compassion is his very nature: [even] the Uninterrupted [Hell] is like a place of pleasure — how could he fear the sufferings of existence?

The bodhisattva has great compassion for his substance, and therefore strives to the utmost to benefit others; though he enter the Avīci Hell of Uninterrupted [torment] (無間; 阿鼻, avīci), it is to him like roaming a place of pleasure. The bodhisattva being thus, how could he give rise to fear amid the other sufferings, and through that fear fall away from the mind?

Great compassion ever present in mind, others' suffering taken as one's own suffering: spontaneously doing what is to be done — to wait for urging is deep conscience.

The bodhisattvas keep great compassion as the master ever present in the mind (great compassion is their governing preceptor, 大悲闍梨 — compassion serving as one's teacher-and-model, ācārya); the moment they see sentient beings undergoing suffering, they suffer as if it were their own — and by this principle they spontaneously do what ought to be done. If they had to wait for a good friend to urge and rouse them, they would feel deep and heavy conscience and shame.

Bearing the burden of sentient beings, sloth is ugly and unexcellent; to loose the bonds of self and other, one's vigor should be a hundredfold.

The bodhisattva's arousing of the mind bears the heavy burden of sentient beings on his own shoulders. To go slack and sluggish under it is an ugly thing, not the deed of a "foremost, upright" being. The bodhisattva should reflect: whether for oneself or for others, there are all kinds of tight bonds — namely affliction, karmic deeds, and birth-and-death; to loose these bonds one must give a hundredfold vigor, surpassing the śrāvaka, to do what ought to be done.

(Here the chapter on Arousing the Mind ends.)

The Chapter on Lineage said that "there is a seed"; the Chapter on Arousing the Mind speaks of that seed's first sprouting — the "arousing of the mind of awakening." To arouse the mind of awakening is to set up an aspiration: to seek the unsurpassed awakening above, and to deliver inexhaustible beings below. The whole path of the bodhisattva, a thousand miles and ten thousand, steps off from this single thought of mind. This chapter first speaks of the shape and the depth of this one thought, then draws out its many faces with the four similes of gestation and the twenty-two comparisons, and at the last, with a run of verses, teaches this: once this mind is truly aroused, no measure of hardship can frighten it, and no size of burden will it refuse to shoulder.

I. What "arousing the mind" is: four kinds of greatness, three virtues, and two objects

Valor and skillful means, benefit and going-forth — four greatnesses, three virtues: through two meanings the mind arises.

This one thought by which the bodhisattva arouses the mind is of the utmost weight, and the prose commentary speaks of it under four words of "great": great in valor (the vow he sets up is deep, vast, and hard to carry out, and he stays with it, striving, for the long time), great in skillful means (having put on the armor of that vow, he applies himself skillfully and strives at every moment), great in benefit (at all times he does the work of benefiting himself and others), and great in going-forth (he moves toward the unsurpassed awakening and nothing else). These four greatnesses in turn let three virtues show through: the first two greatnesses are the virtue of "daring to take responsibility and being willing to bear the toil"; the third greatness is the virtue of "being able to benefit others"; the fourth greatness is the virtue of "coming at last to the fruit of buddhahood." And this one thought of mind arises clinging to two great matters: looking up to "the unsurpassed awakening," and mindful below of "all sentient beings." — Hold onto these two objects and you have hold of the very lifeline of arousing the mind: a single aspiration, hung between the highest awakening and the widest compassion. Apart from these two, it is not the mind of awakening.

The prose commentary then, with the treatise's very first simile, sets its place: the first arousing of the mind is "like the great earth" — all the buddha-dharmas are born from this ground and are borne up by this ground. A tower of ten thousand feet rises from level ground; only when there is first this "earth" of the one thought of mind does everything else, all the virtues that follow, have a place to take root.

II. The depth and shallowness of arousing the mind: four kinds by four grounds, and borrowed fire against one's own fire

Faith-and-practice, and pure reliance, won-as-reward, and unobstructed: arousing the mind rests on the several grounds, and its differences are of four kinds.

Arousing the mind is not of one sort only, nor of one height only. Following the grounds of practice, from shallow to deep it has four layers: the beginner's faith-and-practice arousing, which proceeds by faith; the pure-reliance arousing of the first seven grounds; the won-as-reward arousing of the latter three grounds, which arises effortlessly; and the unobstructed arousing of the buddha-ground, perfect and free of all hindrance. It is one and the same thought of the mind of awakening, yet a young shoot and a tree of a full span's girth differ in depth as heaven from earth.

The prose commentary then, with "eleven questions," asks out the whole framework of arousing the mind at a single stroke — what is its root, its support, what it has faith in, what it takes as object, what it rides, where it dwells, what its hindrance is, what its virtue, what its own-nature, what its going-forth, and what its utmost end? Strung together, the answers make a full chart of arousing the mind: great compassion for its root; the benefiting of beings for its support; the great-vehicle dharma for what it has faith in; all-kinds-of-knowledge for its object; a surpassing aspiration for what it rides; the bodhisattva precepts for where it dwells (the "great guarding" that is its dwelling); the dread of raising a mind of some other vehicle for its hindrance; the increase of wholesome dharmas for its virtue; merit and wisdom for its own-nature; the practicing of all the perfections for its going-forth; and the fulfilling of ground upon ground for its utmost end. That one thought of mind should hold these eleven meanings shows that the two words "arousing the mind" are no light thing. Of them, the one most to be held in mind is the first: the root is great compassion — without great compassion for a root, this mind will not stand.

〔exposition-borrowed simile〕 Why should "great compassion," of all things, be the root? The Flower-Ornament Scripture, in the Chapter on the Practices and Vows of Samantabhadra, has a most apt comparison: "It is as if, in the sands of a desert waste, there were a great tree-king: if its roots get water, its branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit all flourish. So too is the bodhi tree-king in the wilderness of birth-and-death: all sentient beings are its tree-roots, and the buddhas and bodhisattvas are its flowers and fruit; by benefiting sentient beings with the water of great compassion, one is able to bring to accomplishment the flowers and fruit of the wisdom of the buddhas and bodhisattvas." — Sentient beings are the "roots" of this great bodhi tree; the wisdom of the buddhas and bodhisattvas is the "flowers and fruit"; and what runs through both root and fruit, making the whole tree flourish, is that one channel of the water of great compassion. The same scripture then points straight to the bottom of it: "From sentient beings great compassion arises; from great compassion the mind of awakening is born; from the mind of awakening one accomplishes perfect awakening"; and again, "Therefore awakening belongs to sentient beings: were there no sentient beings, no bodhisattva could ever attain unsurpassed perfect awakening." Reading here, one who arouses the mind understands the weight of this chapter's four words, "great compassion is the root": awakening is not won out of thin air; it grows up out of sentient beings, out of that spot of unbearing-to-let-them-suffer that you have toward beings — let great compassion once be cut, and the root parts from the water, and this thought of the mind of awakening, together with all the flower-and-fruit virtues it would one day bear, has no way to flourish at all.

Now for the "way in" by which the mind is aroused.

The strength of a friend, and the strength of a cause, the strength of a root, and the strength of hearing: four strengths, gathered into two arousings, the unstable and the stable.

How does a person come to arouse this mind? The prose commentary counts four kinds of strength: the strength of a friend (the guiding of a good spiritual friend), the strength of a cause (having aroused it in a past life, so that it has become a settled disposition), the strength of a root (the wholesome roots grown thick in past lives), and the strength of hearing (being stirred by hearing the true dharma). These four strengths in turn gather into two classes: the arousing that comes by "the strength of a friend" is unstable; the arousing that comes by the three strengths of "cause, root, and hearing" is stable. Here one may frame it thus: the mind aroused only by a good friend's momentary urging is like a borrowed fire — someone else's flame is brought near and lights it, and a gust of wind may put it out; but the mind that kindles up out of one's own past-life cause and root is like a fire of one's own — there is charcoal on the root of it, and it goes on burning of itself. One who arouses the mind might well ask himself: this one thought of mine — is it a borrowed fire, or a fire of my own? A borrowed fire is well enough, but he must hurry to grow a fire-source of his own, and then it is stable.

III. Why arousing it brings "joy" at once: four kinds of equality

Drawing near to the Rightly and Fully Awakened, well gathering the store of merit and wisdom, with respect to dharmas without discrimination — the highest true knowledge is born.

What has been spoken of so far is mostly "conventional arousing of the mind" (aroused from hearing and from outward conditions, still on the side of the conditioned). The true turning-point is arousing the mind in the ultimate sense — not a mind that comes by hearing or by thinking, but one aroused by directly realizing suchness. It has three surpassings: drawing near the Buddha and receiving his teaching (the surpassing of instruction), well gathering merit and wisdom (the surpassing of according), and giving rise to non-conceptual knowledge (the surpassing of gaining the fruit). Reaching this step, one climbs onto the first of the bodhisattva's ten grounds, called "the Joyful Ground" — because this moment is a great joy.

Dharmas and sentient beings, the deeds done, and the buddha-body: equal in these four, therefore one gains the surpassing of joy.

Why should the direct realizing of the true bring such joy? The prose commentary points to "four kinds of equality": equality of dharmas (penetrating the no-self of dharmas, all the ten thousand dharmas one suchness), equality of sentient beings (realizing the non-duality of self and other), equality of deeds done (wishing others free of suffering as one wishes oneself free of suffering), and equality of the buddha-body (knowing for certain that "the dharma-realm and I are not apart," that I too must in the end become a buddha). The joy these four equalities bring can be felt through a long-exiled one returning home: a person adrift abroad, everywhere making distinctions, everywhere with barriers, of a sudden one day recognizes his own original home — that beings and I are of one dharma-realm, that the buddha-ground and I are of one suchness, never once truly apart. That solid gladness of "having come home" is just why the first ground is named "Joyful." The joy is not a high pitch of feeling; it is the ease of a barrier all at once dissolving and the way home known for certain.

IV. How this mind is born and grows up: six surpassings and the "four similes of gestation"

The station of birth and the station of vow, valor too, and pure reliance, further skill and further going-forth: the six surpassings are likewise so.

Arousing the mind in the ultimate sense has, further, six kinds of surpassing (of birth, of vow, of valor, of pure reliance, of further skill, of further going-forth). The loveliest of them is that, in glossing "the surpassing of birth," the prose commentary uses a set of "four similes of gestation" — likening the bodhisattva's "being born and reared" upon the path of awakening to a person's being carried in the womb:

The surpassing of birth is by four meanings; the great vows are of ten kinds; valor never turning back; pure reliance gives rise to the twofold benefit; skillful means advances to the further grounds; going-forth is right reflection — by such six principles, in order, the six surpassings are formed.

• The surpassing of the seed: with "faith in the great-vehicle dharma" for the seed — before there is birth there must first be a seed.
• The surpassing of the birth-mother: with "the perfection of wisdom" for the birth-mother — wisdom is the mother that gives birth to the awakened.
• The surpassing of the womb: with "the bliss of great meditative absorption" for the womb — meditation is the steady womb-chamber of gestation.
• The surpassing of the wet-nurse: with "great compassion" for the wet-nurse — after birth, it is by great compassion that one is reared and nursed.

Faith for the seed, wisdom for the mother, meditation for the womb, great compassion for the milk: an awakened one is, in just this way, carried, born, and reared up within the dharma. This comparison is most intimate — it tells the far and high "path to becoming a buddha" as a most natural "bearing and rearing." The other four surpassings: making the ten great vows (as the Scripture of the Ten Grounds sets forth); being valorous and never turning back; the pure reliance of knowing oneself near to awakening and being skilled at benefiting others; the further skill of the skillful means for advancing to the higher grounds; and the further going-forth of rightly reflecting on the dharmas established in the several grounds (reflecting to the utmost, so that even "non-discrimination" is known by way of this discrimination). The six surpassings together are the road of rearing by which this thought of mind climbs step by step from the first ground upward, all the way to becoming a buddha.

V. One arousing of the mind, and twenty-two likenesses

Like earth, like refined gold, like the moon, like a growing fire, like a treasury, like a jewel-casket, like the sea, like the diamond, like a mountain, like the king of medicines, like a friend, like the wish-granting gem, like the sun, like sweet music, like a king, like a granary, like a road, like a carriage, like a spring, like a joyful sound, like a river, and like a cloud: the arousing of the mind is likened thus.

In one breath the prose commentary matches arousing the mind with twenty-two similes. Why should one thought of mind take so many comparisons? Because arousing the mind is no thin, single thing — according to which virtue, which perfection it "corresponds with," it shows just that face. Here only their thread is drawn:

• At the outset, like the great earth (giving birth to and bearing all dharmas), like refined gold (its benefit and ease unbroken and unspoilable), like the new moon (its wholesome dharmas gradually waxing full), like a growing fire (the more fuel, the fiercer) — this is the aspect of arousing the mind from its setting-up to its growth.
• Matched with the six perfections, each takes one image: giving is like a great treasury (giving, yet never used up); discipline is like a jewel-casket (storing the dharma-jewels of virtue); patience is like the great sea (unmoved by contrariness); vigor is like the diamond (firm and hard, unbreakable); meditation is like the king of mountains (abiding steady, unstirred); wisdom is like the king of medicines (breaking the two ills of affliction and of the knowable).
• Matched with the other virtues and their functioning uses: the four immeasurables are like a good friend (never forsaking sentient beings); the supernormal powers are like the wish-granting gem (accomplishing whatever is wished); the four means of gathering are like the blazing sun (ripening beings as it ripens grain); eloquence is like fine music (drawing beings in by preaching the dharma) … and at the last, like a river (the path of the patience for the non-arising of dharmas flowing on of itself, without any deliberate effort), like a great cloud (covering and moistening the world, manifesting the eight aspects of accomplishing the path).

One person may be, at the same time, another's son, father, teacher, and friend — the body is but one, yet as the corresponding relations differ, the face differs. So it is with arousing the mind: the substance is but one thought, yet according to virtue and perfection it turns into twenty-two scenes. Many as they seem, they are all this one thought of the mind of awakening, the very same mind in its different positions.

VI. Having aroused this mind, one is without fear

There follows a run of verses saying, over and over, one thing: the person who has truly aroused the mind of awakening — neither favorable circumstance nor adverse can rob him of it or frighten him out of it.

The prose commentary first marks four kinds of "bliss" (the bliss of reflecting on benefit, the bliss of gaining skillful means, the bliss of understanding the meaning, the bliss of realizing the real) as the bodhisattva's alone; and if someone midway forsakes sentient beings and races only for his own quiescent extinction, these four blisses have no part with him. To arouse the mind and then shrink back is to throw away the great ease already in hand.

To contemplate dharmas is like knowing an illusion; to contemplate birth is like entering a pleasure-garden: whether it comes about or does not come about, affliction and suffering are alike without fear.

This one verse is the key to "not turning back." Favorable circumstance (the thing coming about) easily gets one stuck to fame and to affliction — but the bodhisattva "contemplates dharmas like an illusion": he sees through everything as a conjuring-show, and knowing it an illusion, he is not led along by it, and so within favorable circumstance he does not fear affliction. Adverse circumstance (the thing not coming about, having to take birth and undergo suffering) easily breeds a mind of turning back — but the bodhisattva "contemplates birth like entering a pleasure-garden": the place where he takes birth he looks upon as walking into a garden park. Why should a place of suffering be like a garden? Because that is precisely the place of his work, the place he vowed to go. It can be felt through a loving mother: wherever her child is, there the mother goes; a place ever so hard is to her no road of dread but the place where she ought to be. The bodhisattva's entering birth-and-death, his entering places of suffering, is just such an "entering a garden" — he is not flung in; he walks in of himself.

Utterly diligent in benefiting beings, because great compassion is his very nature, the uninterrupted hell is like a place of ease — how should he fear the sufferings of the states of existence?

Push this to the utmost: the bodhisattva, having great compassion for his substance, in order to benefit beings, even entering the Avīci hell is as though roaming in a place of ease. This does not say that hell is not suffering; it says that when a person's whole mind is upon "benefiting others," a place of suffering, because "there are beings there to be delivered," becomes a place he willingly goes to and gladly dwells in. Even the deepest place of suffering cannot move him — how much less the rest? This is the inner truth of the mind-arouser's "being without fear" — not numbness, but a compassion so full that suffering cannot shake it. (In between, the prose commentary also says: the bodhisattva loves others more than he loves himself, and so is willing to forget his own body to benefit others, and never harms another for his own gain; and he takes his own virtues for his adornment, the joy of benefiting others for his food, the place he takes birth at will for his garden-ground, and his supernormal transformations for his sport — these four self-possessed enjoyments belong to the greatly compassionate one alone, and are not had by the two vehicles.)

VII. Great compassion for a teacher, a hundredfold in vigor

Great compassion ever in mind, another's suffering as one's own suffering, of itself doing what is to be done — to wait to be urged is deep conscience.

The last two verses come down to "practice." The prose commentary says a most weighty thing: the bodhisattvas take "great compassion" for the norm-teacher ever dwelling in the mind (what this chapter calls "the ācārya of great compassion" — an ācārya being a teacher). Taking great compassion for a teacher, the moment he sees a being suffer he suffers as if it were himself, and so, without waiting for anyone to press him, he goes of himself to do what is to be done. If he still had to wait for a good friend to urge him before he would stir, he would feel deep conscience and shame — for where is the sense in suffering oneself and yet waiting for another's urging before one will help? This is the weight of "great compassion for a teacher": it is not outside; it sits within your very mind and issues the commands.

Bearing the burden of sentient beings, to be slack is ugly and no surpassing thing; to loose the bonds of self and other, vigor should be a hundredfold.

The closing line is most fit for spurring oneself: to arouse the mind of awakening is to shoulder the heavy burden of sentient beings onto one's own back. To be sluggish and slack while carrying such a load is an ugly thing, unworthy of the "foremost, upright" bodhisattva. Self and other are alike bound fast by affliction, action, and birth-and-death; to loose this bond one should bring out a hundredfold vigor, far surpassing the listeners, and do what is to be done. Arousing the mind is not finished with the making of one fine vow — it is to shoulder the burden and then, step by step, to walk it out to the end.

Coda: from one thought to a whole life

Taken whole, the Chapter on Arousing the Mind speaks of the arousing, deepening, and making-good of one thought of the mind of awakening: it arises between the highest awakening and the widest compassion (the four greatnesses, three virtues, two objects); it deepens at the turn from the conventional to the ultimate (directly realizing suchness, climbing the Joyful Ground, the four equalities coming home); it grows by the gestation of faith for seed, wisdom for mother, meditation for womb, and great compassion for milk (the six surpassings and the four similes of gestation); it shows itself in the scenery of twenty-two likenesses; it is tested in not turning back through favorable and adverse alike, hell like a place of ease; and it is completed by taking great compassion for a teacher and, a hundredfold in vigor, shouldering the burden of beings to the very end.

The Chapter on Lineage gave the seed; the Chapter on Arousing the Mind lets it sprout; and this one sprouting thought has already set its aspiration toward the whole great bodhi tree. What makes the bodhisattva path the bodhisattva path begins from just this one thought of mind — willing to arouse it, daring to arouse it, and, having aroused it, not turning back.