大乘莊嚴經論 述求品

Seeking the path is a long road, and this chapter walks it from beginning to end

Practice is like walking: one has to know where one is heading, where to seek. This is a long chapter, and all of it turns on a single word — "seek": to search out, to look for.

First one seeks the materials and the tools: seeking the Dharma, seeking the conditions and the knowledge for contemplative practice, seeking the attentions, bringing the mind into harmony. Then one goes further in, and seeks that most crucial thing, "reality": the dharmas seem to exist in truth, but they are really like an elephant conjured up by a magic-show — you plainly see it, yet it has no real substance. Having seen this, one no longer grasps them as truly existent, nor declares them wholly absent; the object is what the mind manifests, and toward it one takes neither existence nor non-existence — this is the middle way.

From this one glance that sees through, one seeks on down the whole road. The treatise says that seeds and the remaining consciousnesses are transformed into the outflow-free element. 〔exposition-borrowed simile〕 Settling muddy water only helps convey the continuity implied by "transformation"; it does not prove that what precedes and follows is one identical substance. One then seeks liberation and the unarisen. At the last it comes to rest on "practice": studying all the fields of learning through and through, nourishing the wholesome roots, spreading the benefit of beings out into its inexhaustible fine detail.

Within this one chapter, view and practice are threaded through as one. Now follow this road of "seeking," and go in and see.

Spanning fascicles four and five, this chapter follows a chain of “seekings”: the Dharma, its object, knowledge, attention, reality, consciousness-only, characteristics, liberation, absence of own-being, forbearance toward the unarisen, the one vehicle, fields of learning, the nourishment of wholesome roots, divisions and causes of Dharma, release from discrimination, and the greatness of Dharma.

Having spoken of the various kinds of faith, the text next speaks of seeking out the dharmas by means of faith.

The three baskets, or gathered into two, are formed as three by nine reasons; through perfuming, awakening, stilling, and penetrating, they release one from the business of birth-and-death.

"The three baskets, or gathered into two" — the "three baskets" (三藏, tripiṭaka) are the basket of discourses (修多羅藏, sūtra), the basket of discipline (毘尼藏, vinaya), and the basket of higher doctrine (阿毘曇藏, abhidharma). "Or into two" means that these three, by reason of the distinction between the lower and higher vehicles, are gathered into two — namely, the basket of the listeners (聲聞藏, śrāvaka) and the basket of the bodhisattvas. 〔Question〕 Why are both "the three" and "the two" alike called "baskets"? 〔Answer〕 Because of "gathering" — that is, because they gather up the whole of what should be known 〔and so are called baskets〕. 〔Question〕 Why are they formed as three? 〔Answer〕 "They are formed as three by nine reasons":

By these nine reasons the three baskets are established in order (each basket established from three angles). First set (as counteragent): the basket of discourses is established to counter doubt — so that, if someone gives rise to doubt about the meaning at point after point, that person may reach certainty. The basket of discipline is established to counter the two extremes in how things are used — to leave the extreme of pleasure-seeking conduct, it prohibits faulty use; to leave the extreme of austerity, it permits faultless use. The basket of higher doctrine is established to counter the mind's own grasping at views — for it can display the character of the dharmas without distortion.

Second set (the three trainings): again, the basket of discourses is established to expound the three trainings (precept, concentration, wisdom). The basket of discipline is established to accomplish the training in precept and the training in mind — for by keeping precepts one has no remorse, and by having no remorse one attains concentration in due course. The basket of higher doctrine is established to accomplish the training in wisdom — for it can discern the undistorted meaning.

Third set (Dharma and meaning): again, the basket of discourses is established to state rightly the "Dharma" and the "meaning." The basket of discipline is established to accomplish the "Dharma" and the "meaning" — for by diligent skillful means the afflictions are extinguished. The basket of higher doctrine is established to penetrate the "Dharma" and the "meaning" — for it takes discernment of every kind as its means.

By these nine reasons, then, the three baskets are established. 〔Question〕 Such are their individual functions; what is their function in common? 〔Answer〕 It is what the verse says — "through perfuming, awakening, stilling, and penetrating, they release one from the business of birth-and-death" — which shows that "release from birth-and-death" is the common function of the three baskets: by hearing one is perfumed, by reflecting one awakens, by tranquillity (止, śamatha) one is stilled, by insight (觀, vipaśyanā) one penetrates; and by these four, one is forever released from all the business of birth-and-death.

Discourse, discipline, and higher doctrine — each has four meanings; to comprehend them all is to become the all-kinds-of-knowledge; from a single verse, the exhaustion of the outflows.

If the three baskets are stated in brief, each single basket has "four meanings." If a bodhisattva can comprehend these meanings, he becomes the all-kinds-of-knowledge (種智, sarvajñatā, the knowledge of all modes); if a listener can comprehend a single verse, he attains the everlasting exhaustion of the outflows (漏, āsrava, the defiling flows). 〔Question〕 As to the four meanings of each single basket, what are they?

By its ground and by its character, by its Dharma and by its meaning — such are the four meanings said to be the meaning of the discourses.

The discourses (經, sūtra) have four meanings: first, ground; second, character; third, Dharma; fourth, meaning. Ground — this is the place, the person, and the use: according to whatever the land, according to whatever the Buddha, according to whatever the being, the Tathāgata expounds the discourses relying on these three. Character — the character on the conventional truth and the character on the ultimate truth. Dharma — such dharmas as the aggregates (陰, skandha), the elements (界, dhātu), the sense-fields (入, āyatana), dependent arising, the truths, and nutriment. Meaning — the explanation of the reasons why.

By opposing and by numbering, by subduing and by resolving — such are the four meanings said to be the meaning of the higher doctrine.

The higher doctrine (論, abhidharma) has four meanings: first, opposing; second, numbering; third, subduing; fourth, resolving. Opposing — it is the Dharma that faces toward nirvāṇa, formed by expounding the truths, the factors of awakening, the gates of liberation, and the like. Numbering — it is the Dharma of the continuing series, expounding, upon each and every dharma, distinctions without measure such as "form and non-form" and "visible and invisible." Subduing — it is the supreme Dharma, deciding the Dharma-meaning amid a disputing assembly and making the opponent give way. Resolving — it is the Dharma that explains the meaning; by means of the higher doctrine, the meaning of the discourses becomes easy to understand.

By offense, arising, purifying, and issuing forth; by person, instituting, resolving, and judging — the four meanings and again four meanings — such is said to be the meaning of the discipline.

The discipline (律, vinaya) has two sets of four meanings. The first four meanings: first, offense — the own-nature of offense, namely the five classes of offense; second, arising — the conditioned arising of offense, of which there are four kinds: (i) ignorance, (ii) heedlessness, (iii) the fierce sharpness of the afflictions, (iv) the lack of a respectful mind; third, purifying — the return of an offense to purity, which comes about by a wholesome mind and not by punishment; fourth, issuing forth — the leaving-behind of offense, of which there are seven kinds: (i) confession (which forever blocks the continuance of the offense); (ii) submitting to instruction (being punished by the "act of one still in training"); (iii) permitting (what was instituted at an earlier time being further opened at a later time); (iv) fresh relinquishing (given by the harmonious assembly — at the time the one in training relinquishes the precepts, the earlier offense committed is again made pure); (v) transformation of the basis (a monk or nun, male or female, changing faculties, thereby issues forth from the "uncommon offense"); (vi) actual contemplation (by the "Dharma-udāna," through superior contemplation); (vii) attainment by nature (at the time of seeing the truths, subtle offenses have no substance — this is what is naturally attained by realizing the emptiness of dharmas). The second four meanings: first, person — the person who commits the offense; second, instituting — relying on that offender, the Great Master (the Buddha) gathers the assembly, states his fault, and institutes the training-precept; third, resolving — as it has been instituted, so it is further set out in detail; fourth, judging — judging in what way an offense is incurred and in what way it is not, and thus holding to it. (Having spoken of seeking the Dharma, the text next speaks of seeking the object.)

The Buddha taught the dharmas that serve as object; know them as inner, outer, and both; attaining the meaning of "no duality" in the two, the two themselves cannot be found.

The Buddha taught that all "object" dharmas are of three kinds: first, inner — the body and the rest whose own-nature is grasping; second, outer — the body and the rest whose own-nature is grasped; third, both — the two own-natures, grasping and grasped, joined. 〔Question〕 How does one attain the "meaning of no duality" with respect to these two objects, the inner and the outer? 〔Answer〕 When the grasped meaning is contemplated as not distinct from the grasping meaning, and the grasping meaning is contemplated as not distinct from the grasped meaning; and further, when the two are joined into one, because with respect to the inner and outer objects one attains "suchness as it is." When it is thus, the two have no duality of meaning; and then these two objects themselves cannot be found. 〔Question〕 The object has been attained; how is knowledge attained?

By the three objects, the three knowledges are attained: purely holding the field of mind-speech, having discerned the light of meaning, one settles the mind in "there is only name."

The "three objects" are the inner, outer, and both — the three fields spoken of before; the "three knowledges" are the three wisdoms of hearing, reflecting, and cultivating. Relying on these three objects, one can attain the three wisdoms. 〔Question〕 How are they attained? 〔Answer〕

• If, with respect to the three objects, one "purely holds the field of mind-speech," one attains the wisdom of hearing — "mind-speech" (意言, inner conceptual designation) is discrimination; "purely" is faith and certainty; "holds" is choosing out its seeds; and by this one attains the wisdom of hearing.
• If, with respect to the three objects, one has already "discerned the light of meaning" (that is, knows that "meaning" and "light" are not distinct from mind-speech), one attains the wisdom of reflecting.
• If, with respect to the three objects, one "settles the mind in 'there is only name'" (that is, knows that "meaning" and "light" are alike only name), one attains the wisdom of cultivating.

As was said before, "the two objects cannot be found"; and so one should know that these three objects are precisely the support for the three wisdoms of hearing, reflecting, and cultivating. (Having spoken of seeking the object, the text next speaks of seeking attention.)

First, they say, is lineage; then action, and reliance; faith-and-ease, and the arising of aspiration; relying on concentration, relying too on knowledge; the discrete object and the manifold object; penetration and the cultivation-kinds; own-nature and application-of-power; receiving and skillful means; mastery, the small and the great, and so on — such are the eighteen; they gather up all the attentions; the practitioner should diligently cultivate them.

"Attention" (作意, rousing the mind to focused, methodical reflection) has eighteen kinds, in order: (1) attention on lineage; (2) attention on action; (3) attention on reliance; (4) attention on faith-and-ease; (5) attention on the arising of aspiration; (6) attention relying on concentration; (7) attention relying on knowledge; (8) attention on the discrete object; (9) attention on the manifold object; (10) attention on penetration; (11) attention on the cultivation-kinds; (12) attention on own-nature; (13) attention on application-of-power; (14) attention on receiving; (15) attention on skillful means; (16) attention on mastery; (17) small attention; (18) great attention. The following expounds them one by one:

1. Attention on lineage — because the lineage (種性, gotra) of the three vehicles, the listeners and the rest, is already fixed.
2. Attention on action — because the two stores of merit and knowledge are brought to fullness.
3. Attention on reliance — because of the distinction between the householder and the one gone forth, "hemmed in (under pressure) and not hemmed in."
4. Attention on faith-and-ease — because it corresponds to recollecting the Buddha.
5. Attention on the arising of aspiration — because, at the time of recollecting the Buddha, it corresponds to a mind of faith.
6. Attention relying on concentration — because it corresponds to the three concentrations, "with examination and with investigation" and the rest.
7. Attention relying on knowledge — because it arises from the methodical sequence of hearing, reflecting, and cultivating.
8. Attention on the discrete object — this has five kinds: with respect to the discourses, the udāna, the verse-songs (gāthā), and the parables (avadāna) — the various classes of scripture — one (i) receives, (ii) holds, (iii) reads, (iv) reflects, and (v) expounds.
9. Attention on the manifold object — this has seven kinds: the name as object, the phrase as object, the syllable as object, the no-self of persons as object, the no-self of dharmas as object, form as object, and the formless as object. Form as object means the body as object; the formless as object means feeling, mind, and dharmas as object.
10. Attention on penetration — this has four kinds: (i) penetrating the "thing," namely knowing the substance of suffering; (ii) penetrating the "meaning," namely knowing the meaning of suffering as impermanent, empty, and without self; (iii) penetrating the "fruit," namely knowing liberation; (iv) penetrating the "awakening," namely knowing the knowledge of liberation.
11. Attention on the cultivation-kinds — this has the "four cultivations" and the "thirty-seven cultivations." The four cultivations: the cultivation-kind of the no-self of persons, the cultivation-kind of the no-self of dharmas, the cultivation-kind of seeing, and the cultivation-kind of knowledge. As for the thirty-seven cultivations — the four cultivations of "impure, suffering, impermanent, no-self" are called the cultivation-kinds of the four foundations of mindfulness; again, the four cultivations of "gaining, practicing, cutting off, and counteragent" are called the cultivation-kinds of the four right exertions; again, to counter the four hindrances of "contentment, scattered doubt, agitation, and sinking," one rouses the four cultivations of "aspiration, effort, mindfulness, and wisdom," which are called the cultivation-kinds of the four bases of spiritual power; again, for one settling the mind, in order to accomplish the supramundane, one rouses the five cultivations of "faith, effort, non-forgetting, mental abiding, and discernment," which are called the cultivation-kinds of the five faculties; again, since these five cultivations can counter the five hindrances, they are then named "powers" — these are the cultivation-kinds of the five powers; again, toward awakening one rouses the seven cultivations of "right recollection, discernment, valor, gladness, pliancy, mental abiding, and equanimity," which are called the cultivation-kinds of the seven factors of awakening; again, the eight cultivations of "accomplishing, from having reached certainty, the work of the ground of pure holding; reflective discrimination; being able to keep the three precepts received by the noble ones; diligently practicing the path formerly attained; not forgetting the character of the Dharma's abiding; and the transformation of the basis in mental abiding without conception" — these are called the cultivation-kinds of the eight limbs of the path.
12. Attention on own-nature — this has two kinds: (i) tranquillity (奢摩他, śamatha) and (ii) insight (毘鉢舍那, vipaśyanā); for these two are the own-nature of the path.
13. Attention on application-of-power — power is of two kinds: (i) uprooting the latent impressions (熏習, vāsanā), (ii) uprooting the grasped-and-the-grasping-view.
14. Attention on receiving — because one receives and holds all the "Dharma-streams" taught by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
15. Attention on skillful means — in the sphere where concentration operates, there are five skillful means: (i) the skillful means of understanding number — because one penetrates the "number" of names, phrases, and syllables; (ii) the skillful means of understanding equipment — "equipment" is of two kinds, one being "measured equipment," namely the syllables, and the other "unmeasured equipment," namely names and phrases and the like; (iii) the skillful means of understanding discrimination — discrimination is of two kinds, one being discriminating the meaning by way of the name, and the other discriminating the name by way of the meaning; as for what is "non-discriminated," that is the syllables; (iv) the skillful means of understanding sequence — namely first taking up the name, then turning to take up the meaning; (v) the skillful means of understanding penetration — penetration has eleven kinds: (1) penetrating the adventitious defilements (客塵, āgantuka-kleśa); (2) penetrating the light of the field; (3) penetrating that the meaning cannot be found; (4) penetrating that "cannot-be-found" also cannot be found; (5) penetrating the dharma-realm; (6) penetrating the no-self of persons; (7) penetrating the no-self of dharmas; (8) penetrating the low and inferior mind; (9) penetrating the high and great mind; (10) penetrating the attained Dharma; (11) penetrating the established Dharma.
16. Attention on mastery — mastery has three kinds: (i) the utter purity from the affliction-obstruction; (ii) the utter purity from both obstructions, the afflictive and the cognitive; (iii) the utter purity of the qualities.
17. Small attention — this refers to the first purity.
18. Great attention — this refers to the latter two purities.

(Having spoken of seeking attention, the text next speaks of seeking the truth of reality.)

Free of the two, and the ground of confusion; without utterance, without conceptual elaboration: the three "shoulds," and the two purities — the two purities shown by three similes.

Here one should know: the three natures are all "reality" (each spoken of as real in one respect).

• Free of the two — this is the reality of the wholly-imagined nature (分別性; 玄奘系 遍計所執性, parikalpita-svabhāva): because grasping and grasped are, in the end, without existence.
• The ground of confusion — this is the reality of the other-dependent nature (依他性; 依他起性, paratantra-svabhāva): because upon it the various discriminations arise.
• Without utterance, without conceptual elaboration — this is the reality of the true nature (真實性; 圓成實性, pariniṣpanna-svabhāva): because its own-nature is free of conceptual elaboration and cannot be uttered.

Toward these three natures there are further "three shoulds": the first reality should be known, the second reality should be cut off, the third reality should be purified. And there are "two purities": first, purity of own-nature (purity from the very beginning); second, purity from stain (purity by leaving the adventitious defilements). These two kinds of purity can be shown by three similes — space, gold, and water. These three similes, on the one hand, all illustrate "purity of own-nature" (space and the rest are not by their nature impure); on the other hand, all illustrate "purity from stain" (space and the rest are not pure while yet not free of the adventitious defilements).

The dharma-realm and the world have never had the least difference; because beings' delusion is rampant, they cling to the non-existent and cast away the existent.

The dharma-realm and the world have never had the least difference — why? Because the nature of the dharmas and the dharmas themselves are without difference. It is only that beings' delusion blazes rampant: toward "the world's dharmas that have no own-nature," which ought not to be clung to, they on the contrary give rise to clinging; toward "the truly existent dharma of suchness," which ought not to be cast away, they on the contrary cast it away. (Having spoken of seeking reality, the text next speaks of seeking the similes for reality.)

As the conjurer who calls forth illusions is a simile for the false discrimination, so the various illusory events are a simile for the two kinds of confusion.

Just as an illusion-master (a conjurer) by the power of a spell conjures up wood and stone and the like, making them a "cause of confusion" (the basis on which people misperceive) — so too the false discrimination (the other-dependent nature) gives rise to discriminations of every kind, making them a cause of distortion. And just as those conjured images (gold and manifold forms and features) appear — so too the wholly-imagined nature that arises makes grasping and grasped, the "two confusions," appear at all times.

Because those [illusions] are without substance, one enters the ultimate truth; because those [illusions] can be found, one penetrates the reality of the conventional truth.

The illusion-master and the illusory event have no real substance — this is a simile for the two characteristics, the other-dependent and the wholly-imagined, likewise having no real substance; by this principle one penetrates the ultimate truth (第一義諦). Yet the "substance" of that illusion-master and illusory event (the appearing form) can, after all, be seen — this is a simile for the false discrimination being likewise so; by this principle one penetrates the reality of the conventional truth (世諦). (One dharma with two faces: because there is no real substance, one sees the ultimate; because there is appearance, one sees the conventional.)

Because that event is without substance, one attains the true field; and because of thus transforming the basis, one attains the meaning of reality.

If someone comes to know that the illusory event is without substance, he attains the sight of the true field of wood and the rest; likewise, when the bodhisattvas come to know that grasping and grasped, the "two confusions," are without substance, and attain the transformation of the basis (轉依, āśraya-parāvṛtti, turning the defiled basis into the pure), they attain the meaning of the true nature.

Because the cause of confusion is without substance, there is confusion-free, self-mastering conduct; because the cause of distortion is without substance, there is distortion-free, self-mastering turning.

The world's wood and stone and the rest, though they are without substance, can yet serve as a cause of confusion; if one attains "confusion-free conduct," then one is self-mastering and does not depend on anything else. Likewise, "the other-dependent," when not yet transformed, though it is without substance, can serve as a cause of distortion; but once it is transformed, because there is no distortion, the noble one attains "self-mastering basis and self-mastering conduct."

This event is present there, yet that thing's substance too is absent; because its substance is absent, therefore it is said to be illusory.

"This event is present there, yet that thing's substance too is absent" — this shows that "the illusory event is present yet not present." Why? To say "present" is because that illusory-image event appears there; to say "not present" is because its real substance cannot be found. "Because its substance is absent, therefore it is said to be illusory" — thus "having substance" and "being without substance" are non-dual, and by this principle it is said to be "illusory."

Without substance, yet not without substance; not-without-substance is precisely substance; the substance-less and the substantial are non-dual — therefore it is said to be illusory.

This shows that "the illusory event is not present yet present": to say "not present" is that the illusory event is without substance (has no real substance); to say "yet present" is that the illusory event is not without substance (has an image that appears). The substance-less and the substantial are non-dual, and by this principle it is said to be "illusory."

One speaks of two kinds of light, yet there is no substance of the two lights; therefore it is said that form and the rest — their having-substance is precisely their being-without-substance.

"One speaks of two kinds of light, yet there is no substance of the two lights" — this shows that "the false discrimination is present yet not present." Why? To say "present" is because those two lights (the two appearances, grasping and grasped) appear; to say "not present" is because their real substance cannot be found. "Therefore it is said that form and the rest — their having-substance is precisely their being-without-substance" — by this principle it is said: the "having-substance" of form and the rest is, then and there, their "being-without-substance."

Without substance, yet not without substance; not-without-substance is precisely substance; therefore it is said of form and the rest that the substance-less and the substantial are non-dual.

This shows that "the false discrimination is not present yet present": to say "not present" is that those two lights are without substance (have no real substance); to say "yet present" is that the two lights are not without substance (have a light that appears). By this principle it is said: for form and the rest, the "being-without-substance" and the "having-substance" are non-dual.

〔Question〕 As for "substance" and "being-without-substance," why does one not fix the statement definitively on one side, but rather say that the two have no difference?

The existent-side is to block affirming; the non-existent-side is to block disparaging; and falling back from the great, going to the small quiescence — this too is blocked in like manner.

In due order: the first is to block the "existent-side," the second to block the "non-existent-side," the third to block "going to the small-vehicle quiescence"; and so one may not fix the statement definitively. 〔Question〕 How is the existent-side blocked? 〔Answer〕 "The existent-side is to block affirming" — this shows that, because it is without substance and one knows it is without substance, one should not affirm it as "existent." 〔Question〕 How is the non-existent-side blocked? 〔Answer〕 "The non-existent-side is to block disparaging" — this shows that, because it has substance and one knows it as the conventional truth, one should not disparage it as "non-existent." 〔Question〕 How is going to the small-vehicle quiescence blocked? 〔Answer〕 "Falling back from the great, going to the small quiescence — this too is blocked in like manner" — this shows that, because those two (having-substance and being-without-substance) have no difference, one should not turn away in weariness from this substance and enter the small-vehicle nirvāṇa.

Form-consciousness is the cause of confusion; consciousness-consciousness is the substance of confusion; the cause, form-consciousness, being absent, the substance, consciousness-consciousness, is absent too.

"Form-consciousness is the cause of confusion; consciousness-consciousness is the substance of confusion" — that confused field is named "form-consciousness"; that confusing substance is named "non-form-consciousness (consciousness-consciousness)." "The cause, form-consciousness, being absent, the substance, consciousness-consciousness, is absent too" — form-consciousness (the cause) being absent, non-form-consciousness (consciousness-consciousness) is absent too. Why? Because the "cause" being absent, that "fruit" is absent too.

The illusory image and the grasping-of-the-illusory — through confusion they are said to be two; just so, those two are absent, yet two can be found.

"The illusory image and the grasping-of-the-illusory — through confusion they are said to be two" — the confused person, toward the "illusory image" and the "grasping-of-the-illusory" (clinging to the illusory image), through confusion speaks of two events, the grasping and the grasped. "Just so, those two are absent, yet two can be found" — those two, though absent, yield two characteristics that can be found, because they appear through confusion. 〔Question〕 What does this simile mean to show?

The bone-image and the grasping-of-the-bone — through contemplation they too are said to be two; two are absent, yet two are spoken of; the finding of them is likewise so.

The one who cultivates contemplation (as in the impure contemplation of the white bones), toward the "bone-image" and the "grasping-of-the-bone," through contemplation speaks of two events, the contemplating and the contemplated; in truth those two are absent, yet two characteristics can be found — because they appear through contemplation. 〔Question〕 Having contemplated in this way, what is the thing to be countered, and what is that which counters?

Know that the substance of the thing-to-be-countered is the confusion-character of those dharmas; such a substance is without substance — existent and not-existent, like an illusion.

"Know that the substance of the thing-to-be-countered is the confusion-character of those dharmas" — here one should know that the substance of the "thing-to-be-countered" is the "confusion-character of the dharmas." What is meant by the confusion-character of the dharmas is that it manifests substance "thus and thus." "Such a substance is without substance — existent and not-existent, like an illusion" — of such a substance, to call it "existent" is by reason of the false discrimination; to call it "not-existent" is by reason of the two substances, grasping and grasped, being no different from "non-substance." Thus the "existent" too is like an illusion, and the "non-existent" too is like an illusion — this character, it is said, is like an illusion.

Know that the substance of that-which-counters is such dharmas as the foundations of mindfulness; such a substance is without character — likewise like an illusion.

"Know that the substance of that-which-counters is such dharmas as the foundations of mindfulness" — here one should know that the substance of "that-which-counters" is the dharmas. What is meant by the dharmas is the dharmas the Buddha taught, the foundations of mindfulness and the rest; these too manifest substance "thus and thus." "Such a substance is without character — likewise like an illusion" — its substance too is like an illusion. Why? As grasped by ordinary beings, it has substance "thus and thus"; as taught by the Buddhas, it is without substance "thus and thus." Thus its substance is without character, and yet the World-Honored One (世尊) manifests entering the womb, being born, crossing the wall to go forth, and attaining full awakening — thus, without character, a light appears; and so it is said to be like an illusion. 〔Question〕 If the dharmas are alike like an illusion, then by what meaning is one made "that-which-counters" and the other the "thing-to-be-countered"?

Just as a mighty illusion-king can make the other illusion-kings retreat, so the pure dharma can make the defiled dharmas be exhausted.

Just as there is a mightier illusion-king who can make the other illusion-kings retreat: the pure dharma that counters is likewise an illusion-king (increasing in power by countering the defiled dharmas), and the defiled dharma that is countered is likewise an illusion-king (increasing in power by reason of the object). Just as a mighty illusion-king can make the other illusion-kings retreat, so too the bodhisattva, knowing the dharmas to be like an illusion, can counter the defiled dharmas with the pure dharma, and therefore has no conceit (does not grasp the pure dharma as real). 〔Question〕 The World-Honored One in place after place speaks of "like an illusion, like a dream, like a mirage, like a reflection, like a shadow, like an echo, like the moon in water, like a magical creation" — what does each of these eight similes show?

"Like an illusion" through to "like a magical creation," in order, are similes for the various dharmas of activity; two-sixes, two, two-sixes, one-one-one which is three.

From "illusion" through to "magical creation," these eight similes, in order, are similes for the various dharmas of activity: illusion is a simile for the inner six sense-fields (they have no substance such as a self, yet a light appears); dream is a simile for the outer six sense-fields (the substance of the sense-objects made use of is absent); mirage is a simile for the two dharmas, mind and mental factors (because they give rise to confusion); reflection is again a simile for the inner six sense-fields (they are reflections of past karma); shadow is again a simile for the outer six sense-fields (they are shadows of the inner fields, arising by the dominance of the inner fields); echo is a simile for the dharma that is expounded (the Dharma is like an echo); moon in water is a simile for the dharma that relies on concentration (concentration is like the water, the Dharma like the moon; through that limpid stillness the Dharma appears); magical creation is a simile for the bodhisattva's deliberately taking birth (undefiled by any of the works performed). The count "two-sixes, two, two-sixes, one-one-one" is: the first two-sixes, namely the inner six sense-fields and the outer six sense-fields, shown by the two similes of illusion and dream; the two, namely mind and mental factors, shown by the simile of mirage; the further two-sixes, namely the inner six sense-fields and the outer six sense-fields, shown by the two similes of reflection and shadow; the one-one-one, namely expounding the Dharma, concentration, and taking birth, shown by the three similes of echo, moon in water, and magical creation. (Having spoken of the truth of reality, the text next seeks the knowledge that can know it.)

The unreal and the seeming-real, the real and the seeming-unreal — such four knowledges can know every field.

"The unreal and the seeming-real, the real and the seeming-unreal" — the unreal is the knowledge of unreal discrimination, which does not accord with the discernment of supramundane knowledge; the seeming-real is the knowledge of neither-real-nor-unreal discrimination, from the first stage of utmost penetration onward, which accords with supramundane knowledge; the real is supramundane non-conceptual knowledge (無分別智, nirvikalpa-jñāna), which realizes suchness; the seeming-unreal is the knowledge of neither-discrimination-nor-non-discrimination, namely the mundane knowledge attained after the supramundane. "Such four knowledges can know every field" — by the completeness of these four knowledges, one knows every field. (Having spoken of seeking knowledge, the text next seeks the defiled and the pure.)

One's own element and the two lights arise together with delusion and the other afflictions; such discriminations, the two [held as] real, should be left far behind.

"One's own element and the two lights arise together with delusion and the other afflictions" — "one's own element" is the seeds within one's own store consciousness (阿賴耶識, ālaya-vijñāna; the text writes 阿梨耶); the "two lights" are the grasping-light and the grasped-light; these discriminations arise together with ignorance (delusion) and the other afflictions. "Such discriminations, the two [held as] real, should be left far behind" — the "two [held as] real" are the grasped-as-real and the grasping-as-real (grasping the grasped as real, grasping the grasping as real); such two [held as] real are defiled, and one should seek to leave them far behind.

Having attained those three objects, one should train in one's own element and the field; thus the two lights cease — as with dressing an arrow and a hide.

Having attained those three objects (inner, outer, and both, as spoken of before), one should train in "one's own element" (that is, the discriminations, understood in this way) and the "field" (that is, the field of names, in which the mind should be settled). As for "training," it is cultivating the two paths of tranquillity and insight. Thus grasping and grasped, the two lights, come to rest — as with dressing an arrow-shaft and tanning a hide: the soft hide is dressed to make it supple, the bent arrow is straightened to make it true. The transformation of the basis is likewise: both tranquillity and insight must be cultivated one by one, and once one attains liberation of mind and liberation by wisdom, the two lights do not arise; this purity is to be sought until it is attained. (Having spoken of seeking the defiled and the pure —)

〔Fascicle 5〕

Next it speaks of seeking consciousness-only (唯識, vijñaptimātra).

Grasping and grasped, these two are only the light of mind; the light of craving and the light of faith — these two lights are without the duality of dharmas.

"Grasping and grasped, these two are only the light of mind" — the one who seeks consciousness-only should know that grasping and grasped, these two, are only "the light of mind" (心光, what the mind manifests). "The light of craving and the light of faith — these two lights are without the duality of dharmas" — thus the light of the afflictions such as craving, and the light of the wholesome dharmas such as faith, these two lights too are without the duality of "defiled and pure" dharmas. Why? Because, apart from the light of mind, there is no separate defiled or pure dharma such as craving or faith; and therefore the two lights too are without a dual character.

Manifold lights of mind arise, and thus manifold characteristics; because the light has no substance, one does not find those dharmas to be real.

"Manifold lights of mind arise, and thus manifold characteristics" — the manifold lights of mind are the manifold event-characteristics, arising either at different times or at the same time. Those arising at different times are the light of craving, the light of hatred, and so on; those arising at the same time are the light of faith, the light of effort, and so on. "Because the light has no substance, one does not find those dharmas to be real" — thus the mental factors in the defiled state and the mental factors in the pure state have only "light-character" and no "light-substance" (no real substance); and therefore the World-Honored One does not declare them to be real dharmas. (Having spoken of seeking consciousness-only, the text next speaks of seeking the characteristics.)

The characterized and the characterizing — such is the distinction of characteristics; in order to gather and benefit beings, the Buddhas disclose and display them.

"Characteristics" are of two kinds: first, the characterized (that which is characterized); second, the characterizing (that which characterizes). This verse states them in sum; the verses below explain them one by one.

The common, and mind, and view, and position, and non-turning — stated briefly, the characterized are five; stated fully, they are measureless.

"The common, and mind, and view, and position, and non-turning" — the characterized are five: first, form-dharmas; second, mind-dharmas; third, mental-factor-dharmas; fourth, the non-associated formation-dharmas; fifth, the unconditioned dharmas. 〔The five words of the verse each pair with one dharma:〕 the "common" is form-dharmas; "mind" is consciousness-dharmas (mind-dharmas); "view" is mental-factor-dharmas; "position" is the non-associated formation-dharmas; "non-turning" is the unconditioned dharmas such as space. "Stated briefly, the characterized are five; stated fully, they are measureless" — that consciousness constantly gives rise to these five characteristics; these five characterized are what the World-Honored One states in brief, but if stated in full they have measureless distinctions. (Having spoken of the characterized, the text next speaks of the characterizing.)

Mind-speech and the light of latent habit; name and meaning arising as mutual lights — because this is unreal discrimination, it is called the wholly-imagined mark.

The characterizing, stated briefly, is of three kinds: the wholly-imagined mark, the other-dependent mark, and the true characteristic. This verse shows the wholly-imagined mark. The wholly-imagined mark is again of three kinds: first, the wholly-imagined mark with awareness — "mind-speech" is the notion of meaning ("meaning" is the field of the notion, "notion" is a mental factor, and by this notion one can, with respect to "meaning," give rise thus and thus to an understanding of mind-speech); second, the wholly-imagined mark without awareness — "the light of latent habit" is that "latent habit" is the seed of mind-speech and "light" is the light of meaning that arises directly from that seed, not yet able to give rise thus and thus to an understanding of mind-speech; third, the wholly-imagined mark of mutual causing — namely the light of meaning arising by way of the name, and the light of the name arising by way of the meaning, the field being unreal, being only the discriminated world, namely either name or meaning. These three characteristics are all unreal discrimination, and so are called the wholly-imagined mark.

The grasped and the grasping — the two characteristics, each with three lights; because this is unreal discrimination, it is said to be the other-dependent mark.

This verse shows the other-dependent mark. Within the other-dependent mark there is by itself a grasped-characteristic and a grasping-characteristic. The grasped-characteristic has three lights: the light of the phrase, the light of the meaning, and the light of the body. The grasping-characteristic has three lights: the light of thought, the light of feeling, and the light of discrimination ("thought" is the ever-defiled consciousness at all times, "feeling" is the group of the five consciousnesses, "discrimination" is the mind-consciousness). Those three lights of the grasped-characteristic and three lights of the grasping-characteristic — all these lights are unreal discrimination, and so are the other-dependent mark.

The substance-less and the substantial are non-dual; the not-quiescent is quiescent; because it is free of discrimination, it is said to be the true characteristic.

This verse shows the true characteristic. What is called "the true" is "suchness." The true characteristic has three kinds: first, its own-character; second, its defiled-and-pure character; third, its non-discrimination character. The substance-less and the substantial are non-dual — this is the own-character of the true: "substance-less" says that all dharmas are only discrimination; "substantial" says that it takes being-without-substance as its substance; "non-dual" says that the substantial and the substance-less have no difference. The not-quiescent is quiescent — this is the defiled-and-pure character of the true: "not-quiescent" by reason of the adventitious afflictions; "quiescent" by reason of purity of own-nature. Because it is free of discrimination — this is the non-discrimination character of the true: because discrimination does not operate upon the field, and there is no conceptual elaboration.

Know the five fields of learning: the true Dharma and right recollection, the mind-element, the existent and non-existent; the fifth is called the transformation of the basis.

That characterizing has further five kinds of "field of learning" (that which is trained upon in cultivation): first, that which upholds — the true Dharma taught by the Buddha, whereby this Dharma upholds the one who takes it as object; second, that which is upheld — namely right recollection, upheld by the true Dharma; third, the mirror-image — namely the mind-element, whereby, having attained concentration, one settles the mind in the dharma-realm (as was said before, "all are seen to be name"), the concentrated mind being the mirror and the dharma-realm the image; fourth, clear realization — namely supramundane wisdom, which as to "the existent" sees the existent as it truly is, and as to "the non-existent" sees the non-existent as it truly is ("the existent" means the no-self of dharmas, "the non-existent" means grasping and grasped), seeing all this clearly; fifth, the transformation of the basis —

The noble nature realizes equality; the business of liberation too is one; yet excellence has five meanings; it neither decreases nor increases.

"The noble nature" is the outflow-free element, attained alike by all the noble ones, and so it is said to "realize equality"; the business of liberation too is one — the noble nature of the Buddhas is equal to that of the listeners and solitary awakeners, because their liberation is the same. Yet though the noble nature is equal, the Buddhas are the most excellent, with five meanings of their own: first, excellence of purity (the outflows and the latent impressions alike exhausted); second, excellence of pervasiveness (their fields wholly pure); third, excellence of body (they have a Dharma-body); fourth, excellence of enjoyment (turning the Dharma-wheel, their enjoyment unbroken); fifth, excellence of work (abiding in the Tuṣita heaven and the rest, manifesting works of transformation of every kind, benefiting beings). As for "it does not decrease" — this is when the defiled portion decreases; "it does not increase" — this is when the pure portion increases (the substance of suchness does not follow the increase or decrease). This is the resemblance in the character of liberation belonging to the "five kinds of ground of learning" — resembling those dharmas of liberation that are characterized, and the three dharmas of the characterizing. (Having spoken of the characterized and the characterizing, the text next speaks of seeking liberation.)

When the seeds are thus transformed, and the lights of phrase, meaning, and body are transformed, this is called the outflow-free element, the common support of the three vehicles.

"The seeds are transformed" is the turning of the store consciousness (阿梨耶 = 阿賴耶, ālaya); "the lights of phrase, meaning, and body are transformed" is the turning of the remaining consciousnesses; when they have thus turned, it is named the "outflow-free element" (by reason of attaining liberation); this outflow-free element is the common support relied on by the three vehicles — the listeners, the solitary awakeners, and the Buddhas.

Thought, feeling, and discrimination are transformed; the four kinds of mastery are attained, in due order, by the non-conceptual, the field, knowledge, and work.

"Thought, feeling, and discrimination are transformed; the four kinds of mastery are attained" — if "thought," if "feeling," if "discrimination," these three lights are transformed, one attains four kinds of mastery. 〔Question〕 Which four? 〔Answer〕 It is what the verse says, "in due order, by the non-conceptual, the field, knowledge, and work": first, attaining non-conceptual mastery; second, attaining mastery over the field; third, attaining mastery over knowledge; fourth, attaining mastery over work.

Know that on the last three grounds four masteries are spoken of; the Immovable Ground has two, and the remaining grounds one each.

These four masteries, one should know, are accomplished on the last three grounds (the Immovable Ground, the Ground of Good Wisdom, and the Dharma-Cloud Ground): the Immovable Ground has two — the first, non-conceptual mastery (by reason of the effortless and non-conceptual), and the second, mastery over the field (by reason of the purity of the field); the Ground of Good Wisdom has the third, mastery over knowledge (by reason of attaining the four kinds of analytical eloquence, being surpassing in skill); the Dharma-Cloud Ground has the fourth, mastery over work (by reason of the works of the supernormal powers being without obstruction).

The three existences, the twofold no-self; comprehending, one enters true consciousness-only; and being without even the light of consciousness-only, being freed is called liberation.

There is also another gate of liberation. The three existences, the twofold no-self; comprehending, one enters true consciousness-only — because he takes the "twofold no-self" as his means, the bodhisattva, within the three existences (the three realms), comprehends that persons and dharmas are alike without real substance, and so are without self; and having known thus, it is again not that they are without substance at all — rather, he takes the true "consciousness-only" of all dharmas. And being without even the light of consciousness-only, being freed is called liberation — the bodhisattva at this time settles the mind in consciousness-only, and even that "light of consciousness" is absent, and so he attains liberation. Why? Because persons and dharmas cannot be found, and he has left every "grasping-at-something-attained."

The array of that-which-upholds and that-which-is-upheld — contemplating, there is only name; contemplating the name, one does not see the name; being without name, one attains liberation.

There is also another gate of liberation. The array of that-which-upholds and that-which-is-upheld — "that-which-upholds" is the Dharma heard, "that-which-is-upheld" is right recollection, "the array" is the fullness of merit and knowledge; by the power of the array gathered before, there is that which is upheld. Contemplating, there is only name — there is only verbal expression and no real meaning (further, "only name" is because it is consciousness-only; further, "only name" is because it is the four aggregates that are not form). Contemplating the name, one does not see the name; being without name, one attains liberation — going further, contemplating the "name" that is contemplated, one does not see even its name (because the meaning has no real substance, because one does not see consciousness, and because one does not see the four aggregates that are not form), and thus the "name" too cannot be found. Having left grasping-at-something-attained, it is therefore named liberation.

The mind perfumed by the view of self flows on through the destinies; settling the mind and abiding within, turning back the flow is called liberation.

There is also another gate of liberation. The mind perfumed by the view of self flows on through the destinies — there are two kinds of view of self that moisten like ash, and so it is called "perfuming"; with this perfuming as cause, one therefore flows on through birth-and-death. Settling the mind and abiding within, turning back the flow is called liberation — if one knows the object cannot be found, and settles the mind within, gathering it so that it does not scatter, one can turn back that flowing-on stream — and this is named liberation. (Having spoken of seeking liberation, the text next seeks the absence of own-being.)

Self-absence, and substance-absence, and the substance not abiding; as what is grasped is without substance, so the dharmas become without own-being.

Self-absence, substance-absence, and the substance not abiding — "self-absence" is that the dharmas are of themselves absent, because they cannot arise of themselves (they cannot arise of themselves because they are bound to causes and conditions); "substance-absence" is that a dharma already ceased does not arise again; "the substance not abiding" is that present dharmas do not abide from moment to moment. These three kinds of "absence of own-being" pervade every character of the conditioned — this principle should be known. As what is grasped is without substance, so the dharmas become without own-being — as it is grasped, there is truly no own-being, because own-being has no real substance; just as ordinary beings grasp permanence, bliss, self, and purity in own-being, so too these various "characteristics of altered discrimination" are likewise without substance, and therefore all dharmas become "without own-being."

Because there is no own-being, it is established: the prior serves as the support of the latter; without arising and again without ceasing, originally quiescent, nirvāṇa by nature.

Because there is no own-being, it is established: the prior serves as the support of the latter — because the prior has no own-nature, the non-arising and the rest of the latter are established in due order. 〔Question〕 How is this so? 〔Answer〕 It is what the verse says, "without arising and again without ceasing, originally quiescent, nirvāṇa by nature": if there is no own-nature, then there is no arising; if no arising, then no ceasing; if no ceasing, then originally quiescent; if originally quiescent, then nirvāṇa by nature. Thus each prior in due order serves as the support of each latter, and this principle is established. (Having spoken of seeking the absence of own-nature, the text next speaks of seeking the forbearance toward the unarisen.)

Original, and true, difference-of-character and own-character, spontaneous and without-difference, and defiled — the eightfold distinction.

There are "eight kinds of dharma without arising," named the "forbearance toward the unarisen dharmas" (無生法忍, patient acceptance of the principle that dharmas do not arise): first, originally without arising (birth-and-death has no primordial arising); second, truly without arising (dharmas have no distinction of prior and posterior; a "prior-arising dharma" is absent); third, without arising in respect of difference-of-character (they do not arise afresh from the place of the old seed); fourth, without arising in respect of own-character (the wholly-imagined nature does not, in the end, arise); fifth, without arising spontaneously (the own-nature of the other-dependent nature does not arise); sixth, without arising in respect of difference (the true nature does not arise as a "distinct substance"); seventh, without arising in respect of defilement (when the knowledge of exhaustion is present, the defiled views no longer arise); eighth, without arising in respect of distinction (the Dharma-body of the Buddhas does not arise as a "distinction"). These eight kinds of dharma without arising are named the forbearance toward the unarisen dharmas. (Having spoken of seeking the forbearance toward the unarisen, the text next speaks of seeking the one vehicle.)

The no-self of dharmas, liberation, by sameness and by difference of nature, the attaining of the two aims, and transformation — in the end, "the one vehicle" is spoken of.

Here the Buddha, by eight intentions, speaks of "the one vehicle": first, sameness of Dharma — the listeners and the rest, and the Buddha, share one and the same dharma-realm; because what they head toward is the same, "the one vehicle" is spoken of; second, sameness of no-self — the listeners and the rest are alike without a self-substance; because those who head [toward it] are the same, "the one vehicle" is spoken of; third, sameness of liberation — the listeners and the rest alike extinguish the affliction-obstruction; because their issuing-forth is the same, "the one vehicle" is spoken of; fourth, difference of nature — to draw the persons of undetermined three-vehicle lineage into the great vehicle, "the one vehicle" is spoken of; fifth, the Buddhas attaining the same as their own intent — the Buddhas attain this intent: "As I have attained, so shall all beings likewise attain what I have attained"; by this intent, "the one vehicle" is spoken of; sixth, the listener attaining the intent of becoming a Buddha — the listeners, when in former times they practiced the great awakening-store, had a nature fixed for becoming a Buddha; being then blessed and excellently gathered by the Buddha, they attain the self-knowledge of the "intent of becoming a Buddha"; because in this person the earlier and later are continuous without difference, "the one vehicle" is spoken of; seventh, transformation — the Buddha manifests as a listener and enters final nirvāṇa, for the sake of teaching, as the Buddha himself says, "I have, in immeasurable and countless [instances], manifested nirvāṇa by way of the listener-vehicle"; because, apart from this skillful means, there is no other skillful means to transform beings of small faculties into the great vehicle, and in principle it is truly one, "the one vehicle" is spoken of; eighth, the ultimate — as for the substance of Buddhahood, there is no further place to go, and so "the one vehicle" is spoken of. Thus in scripture after scripture, by these eight intentions the Buddha speaks of "the one vehicle" — and yet it is not that there are no three vehicles. 〔Question〕 If so, then by what intent is "the one vehicle" spoken of?

To draw in the listeners, and to gather and settle the bodhisattvas — for these two who are undetermined, the Buddhas speak of the one vehicle.

That "such-and-such intent" has two meanings: first, to draw in the listeners — if listeners are undetermined in the lineage of their own vehicle, the Buddha, in order to draw them in and cause them to enter the great vehicle, speaks of "the one vehicle"; second, to gather and settle the bodhisattvas — if bodhisattvas are undetermined in the lineage of their own vehicle, the Buddha, in order to gather and settle them so that they do not fall back from the great vehicle, speaks of "the one vehicle."

The listeners undetermined are of two kinds: seeing the meaning and not seeing the meaning; among those who see the meaning, not cutting off craving and cutting off craving — both of soft faculties.

The undetermined listeners are again of two kinds: first, the vehicle of seeing the meaning (having seen the truths, they arouse the great-vehicle mind); second, the vehicle of not seeing the meaning (not having seen the truths, they arouse the great-vehicle mind). Among these, "seeing the meaning" is again of two kinds: first, cutting off craving (they have already left the craving of the desire-realm); second, not cutting off craving (they have not yet left the craving of the desire-realm). These two kinds who "see the meaning," one should know, are both of the soft class, by reason of their dull faculties.

The two who have attained the noble path turn it toward the [various] existences; the turning is inconceivable, because it corresponds to two kinds of birth.

These two kinds who have seen the meaning and attained the noble path can turn the noble path toward the [various] existences (birth in the three realms), and such a turning is named "inconceivable birth"; because they take birth by turning the noble path, these two persons correspond to "two kinds of birth." 〔Question〕 Which two kinds of birth?

By the power of the vow and the power of transformation, they take birth according to their wish; by the power of the vow, not cutting off craving; by transformation, abiding as a non-returner.

The two kinds of birth are: first, birth by mastery through the vow (taking birth by the power of the vow — this is the person who has not left craving); second, birth by mastery through transformation (taking birth by the power of transformation — this is the person who is a non-returner, anāgāmin, 阿那含). 〔Question〕 Why are these two persons said to be of the soft class?

Because these two delight in nirvāṇa, and again and again grow weary of themselves, both are said to be of the dull path; only after a long, long time do they attain awakening.

Because these two persons earlier had a mind that "delights in quiescence" and constantly give rise to a mind that "grows weary of themselves," their path is therefore said to be a "dull path" — by reason of not being able to quickly attain supreme awakening (they attain it only after a long, long time).

The person whose work is not yet done, born in an age without a Buddha, cultivating meditation for the sake of transformation, gradually attains the great awakening.

The so-called person "whose work is not yet done" is the one who has seen the truths but not yet cut off craving, who has not yet attained the fruit of the worthy-one (阿羅漢, arhat). This person is born in an age without a Buddha; being born, he is able of himself to diligently cultivate the meditations, for the sake of transformation; relying on this "transformation" (relinquishing the birth-body and taking on a transformation-body), he gradually further attains supreme awakening. These three stations are just as the Buddha-Śrīmālā Sūtra (佛勝鬘經) says: such a listener next attains solitary-awakening, and afterward attains Buddhahood. And as is said in the great parable: first, one is in the stage of seeing the truths; second, one is born at a time without a Buddha, able of oneself to cultivate meditation, relinquishing the birth-body and taking on a transformation-body; third, one shall attain supreme awakening. (Having spoken of seeking the one vehicle, the text next speaks of seeking the fields of learning.)

The bodhisattva practices the five fields of learning, in sum in order to seek all-kinds-of-knowledge; understanding, subduing, giving faith, curing, and gathering — for these five he seeks them, each severally.

The "fields of learning" (明處, the fields of knowledge) are five: first, inner knowledge (the meaning of the Buddha-dharma); second, the knowledge of reasons (logic); third, the knowledge of sounds (language and letters); fourth, the knowledge of medicine (medical prescription); fifth, the knowledge of crafts (skilled arts and techniques). The bodhisattva learns these five fields, the overall intent being to "seek all-kinds-of-knowledge" — for if one does not diligently practice the five fields, one cannot attain all-kinds-of-knowledge. 〔Question〕 What are the several intents? 〔Answer〕 "Understanding, subduing, giving faith, curing, gathering" are the five, sought severally each in its order: the inner knowledge is learned in order "to seek one's own understanding"; the knowledge of reasons in order "to subdue outside grasping"; the knowledge of sounds in order "to make others believe"; the knowledge of medicine in order "for the means of curing (healing illness)"; the knowledge of crafts in order "to gather all beings." (Having spoken of seeking the fields of learning, the text next speaks of seeking the nourishing of wholesome roots — that is, fulfilling the perfections by means of "attention." This attention has forty-four kinds; the first is the "attention of knowing the cause," down to the last, the "attention of my own excellence"; these will now be set forth one by one.)

Knowing the cause, and mindfulness of the reliance, the shared fruit, and faith-and-understanding — these four attentions, following in order, cultivate the wholesome roots.

This verse has four kinds of attention. The bodhisattva, first abiding in the "nature" (the bodhisattva lineage), thinks thus:

• "I now see for myself the very nature of the perfections, and know that it can be increased." — This is the attention of knowing the cause.
• He thinks again: "Since I have aroused the great mind, the perfections will certainly come to fullness. Why? Because I take this great mind as my reliance." — This is the attention of mindfulness of the reliance.
• He thinks again: "I have aroused the mind and diligently cultivate the perfections for the benefit of self and others; if this fruit may be shared, I vow to receive it; if it may not be shared with others, I vow not to receive it." — This is the attention of the shared fruit.
• He thinks again: "As I now diligently practice the twofold benefit of self and others, I should penetrate the true skillful means of nirvāṇa — namely, being undefiled by the three spheres (giver, receiver, and gift, none of them grasped); just as the past Buddhas have understood, the future Buddhas will understand, and the present Buddhas now understand, so do I rightly believe." — This is the attention of faith-and-understanding.

As for the attentions that follow, one should know their sequence is likewise (each unfolding by the bodhisattva's "thinking thus").

Attaining joy is of four kinds; the two evils cannot make one fall back; know the attention of practicing-in-accord — this too has four kinds.

This verse has three kinds of attention. The bodhisattva next thinks thus:

• "I now, in faith-and-understanding of the perfections, attain four kinds of joy: the joy of cutting off obstruction, the joy of the fullness of the store, the joy of gathering the twofold benefit of self and others, and the joy of the twofold fruit of circumstance-and-person." — This is the attention of attaining joy.
• He thinks again: "As I now cultivate the perfections in order to accomplish the Buddha-dharma of self and others, even if I meet evil people who oppose me and evil events that oppress me, in the end I shall have no mind that falls back." — This is the attention of not falling back.
• He thinks again: "I now, in order to attain supreme awakening, should give rise to four kinds of practicing-in-accord toward the perfections: I should confess the obstructions to the six perfections, should rejoice in the practices of the six perfections, should exhort [others to] the Dharma-meaning of the six perfections, and should turn the six perfections toward supreme awakening." — This is the attention of practicing-in-accord.

Pure faith, and receiving, delighting-in-expounding and donning-the-armor, arousing the vow and also longing — with skillful means, again seven kinds.

This verse has seven kinds of attention. The bodhisattva next thinks thus:

• "I now, toward the Dharma-meaning of the perfections, should give rise to deep faith and uphold it with strength." — The attention of pure faith.
• "I now, toward the Dharma-meaning of the perfections, should single-mindedly give rise to seeking, and give rise to no disparagement." — The attention of receiving.
• "I now should reveal the Dharma-meaning of the perfections to others." — The attention of delighting-in-expounding.
• "I now should bring the perfections to fullness, and give rise to great valor." — The attention of donning-the-armor ("armor" is the coat of mail).
• "I now, in order to bring the perfections to fullness, vow to meet the conditions that bring fullness." — The attention of arousing the vow.
• "I now seek the conditions for right accomplishment." — The attention of longing.
• "I now reflect upon the aids and skillful means of the perfections." — The attention of skillful means.

(Among these, the three attentions of donning-the-armor, arousing the vow, and longing will be further distinguished in the Chapter on Instruction.)

Valor and pity — such two attentions, know their two distinctions; each has four kinds.

This verse has two kinds of attention, each with four distinctions. The bodhisattva, having reflected upon skillful means, next thinks thus:

• "I now should give rise to four kinds of valor: for firmness, for maturing, for offering, and for drawing near." — The attention of valor. ("For firmness" is the cultivation of the six-by-six perfections, namely "six givings" through "six knowledges" — the six givings being the giving of giving through the giving of knowledge, and the six such as discipline likewise; "for maturing" is taking the perfections as the means of gathering things, and maturing beings; "for offering" is taking giving as an offering of benefit, and taking discipline and the rest as an offering of practice; "for drawing near" is drawing near to the one who, without distortion, teaches the perfections.)
• He thinks again: "I now should give rise to the four immeasurable minds: when the perfections are present, I should give rise to loving-kindness; when stinginess and craving and the like are present, I should give rise to compassion; when others' perfections are present, I should give rise to sympathetic joy; when others have faith in the perfections, I should give rise to an undefiled (equanimous) mind." — The attention of pity.

Conscience and also delight, and a mind that does not shrink, cultivation-and-mending and praising-and-declaring — this again is five kinds.

This verse has five kinds of attention. The bodhisattva next thinks thus:

• "If, toward the perfections, I am indolent and do not act, or act crookedly and wrongly, I should give rise to grave conscience and shame; if giving and the rest, which should not fall back, on the contrary fall back, then I should feel conscience and shame." — The attention of conscience.
• "I now, toward the field of the perfections that I take as object, should keep the mind unscattered." — The attention of delight.
• "I now, toward the skillful means that make the perfections fall away, should form the thought of an enemy." — The attention of not shrinking.
• "I now, toward the treatises that correspond to the perfections, should well gather, learn, cultivate, and mend them." — The attention of cultivation-and-mending.
• "I now, in order to give rise to understanding in others, should, according to their faculties, praise and proclaim the Dharma-meaning of the perfections." — The attention of praising-and-declaring.

By the perfections one attains awakening, not by the self-mastering [god] and the rest; both the faults and the qualities — these two too should be known.

This verse has two kinds of attention. The bodhisattva, having praised and proclaimed as before, next thinks thus:

• "I now attain the great awakening by relying on the perfections, not by relying on the self-mastering god (自在天, īśvara) and the like." — The attention of relying on the perfections.
• He thinks again: "I now should come to know the faults that obstruct the perfections, and the qualities of the perfections." — The attention of what should be known.

Joyful gathering and seeing the meaning, delighting in seeking — seeking of four kinds: equality, non-discrimination, present upholding, and future condition.

This verse has three kinds of attention. The bodhisattva, having known this, next thinks thus:

• "I should joyfully gather the two stores of merit and knowledge." — The attention of joyful gathering.
• "I now see that the own-nature of the perfections can attain the benefit of supreme awakening." — The attention of seeing the meaning.
• "Now, having seen this benefit, I should give rise to four seekings: first, the seeking of equality (because tranquillity and insight are cultivated together); second, the seeking of non-discrimination (because the three spheres are pure); third, the seeking of present upholding (seeking the Dharma-meaning that can uphold the accomplishing of the perfections); fourth, the seeking of the future condition (seeking the conditions that will in the future accomplish the perfections)." — The attention of delighting in seeking.

The sevenfold grasping-of-the-non-existent-view, four kinds of thought of the wondrous-and-rare, and reversing this, the non-wondrous-and-rare — this thought too has four.

This verse has three kinds of attention. The bodhisattva, having delighted in seeking, next thinks thus:

• "The seven 'graspings of the non-existent' I now should see: first, [grasping] the non-existent as existent; second, [grasping] a fault as not a fault; third, [grasping] a quality as not a quality; fourth, [grasping] the non-permanent as permanent; fifth, [grasping] the non-blissful as blissful; sixth, [grasping] the non-self as self; seventh, [grasping] the quiescent as not quiescent." (In order to counter these seven graspings of the non-existent, the Tathāgata expounds in order the three concentrations of emptiness and the rest, and the four kinds of Dharma-udāna.) — The attention of seeing the grasping-of-the-non-existent.
• He thinks again: "I now, toward the perfections, should give rise to four thoughts of the wondrous-and-rare: the thought of greatness, the thought of vastness, the thought of not seeking a return of gratitude, and the thought of not looking for a fruit of reward." — The attention of the thought of the wondrous-and-rare.
• He thinks again: "Reversing this wondrous-and-rare, toward the perfections there are also four thoughts of the non-wondrous-and-rare — namely: because the perfections are vast and great, they can attain supreme awakening, can abide in the equality of self and others, can not seek any offering of the world, and can not seek an excellent body or excellent wealth surpassing the worlds." — The attention of the thought of the non-wondrous-and-rare.

Leaving behind the falling to the being-side, the great aim and turning-over-the-gift, the ultimate and the unbroken — such again is five kinds.

This verse has five kinds of attention. The bodhisattva next thinks thus:

• "I now should, with the perfections, act (turn) toward all beings." — The attention of leaving the side.
• "I now should, with the perfections, vastly benefit all beings." — The attention of the great aim.
• "All the merit of the perfections that I have, I vow to give to all beings." — The attention of turning-over-the-gift.
• "May all the perfections that all beings have attain the ultimate in three places: the ultimate of the bodhisattva grounds, the ultimate of the Tathāgata ground, and the ultimate of benefiting beings." — The attention of the ultimate.
• "I should cultivate the perfections at all times without any break." — The attention of the unbroken.

Skillful means ever gathering-in-accord, the mind abiding undistorted; at falling back, no delight; at advancing, joy arises.

This verse has three kinds of attention. The bodhisattva next thinks thus:

• "I now should abide in an undistorted mind, and with the perfections ever gather in accord with what the Buddha knows." — The attention of gathering-in-accord.
• "I now, toward one who shrinks back from the perfections, should not give rise to delight." — The attention of no-delight.
• "I now, toward one who advances in the perfections, should give rise to gladness." — The attention of joy.

The resembling one does not wish to cultivate; the true one wishes to cultivate; not following, and wishing to attain — wishing to attain is of two kinds.

This verse has four kinds of attention. The bodhisattva next thinks thus:

• "I now, toward the resembling (deceptively similar) perfections, should not cultivate them." — The attention of not wishing to cultivate.
• "I now, toward the true perfections, should diligently cultivate them." — The attention of wishing to cultivate.
• "I now, toward the attention that obstructs the perfections, should cut it off." — The attention of not following.
• "I now wish to attain the perfections of the stage of prediction, and wish to attain the perfections of the determined ground." — The attention of wishing to attain.

Resolving to perform the future practice, ever contemplating others' fulfillment of practice, having faith-and-understanding in one's own being foremost, because one knows the substance is unsurpassed.

This verse has three kinds of attention. The bodhisattva next thinks thus:

• "Seeing the destinies to come, I resolve, by wisdom and skillful means, to certainly perform every perfection." — The attention of resolving to perform.
• "I now should contemplate the great bodhisattvas of the ten directions: at the time they attain fulfillment in the perfections, may I too attain fulfillment, since it is one and the same matter." — The attention of contemplating others.
• "I now have faith-and-understanding that the perfections I practice are the very foremost among all practices. Why? Because I contemplate this substance, and there is nothing higher." — The attention of my own excellence.

By these attentions one cultivates the perfections; the bodhisattva, at all times, brings his wholesome roots to fullness.

This verse gathers together the preceding meaning, and should be known. By cultivating the perfections with the above forty-four kinds of attention, the bodhisattva, at all times, brings his wholesome roots to fullness. (Having spoken of seeking the nourishing of wholesome roots, the text next speaks of seeking the divisions of the Dharma.)

Seeking the Dharma is called: increasing, higher intent, and vast; having obstruction and also without obstruction, and by the supernormal powers; without body and also with body, attaining body and fulfilling body; much conceit and little conceit, and also without conceit.

Seeking the Dharma has thirteen kinds of division: first, seeking by increasing (increasing faith by right hearing); second, seeking by higher intent (receiving the Dharma-stream at the Buddha's side); third, seeking by vastness (the bodhisattva who has attained the supernormal powers, fully able to hear the Dharma of the Buddhas from afar); fourth, seeking with obstruction (that is, the one who first increases faith); fifth, seeking without obstruction (that is, the one who seeks by higher intent); sixth, seeking by supernormal power (that is, the one who seeks by vastness); seventh, seeking without body (the wisdom of hearing and the wisdom of reflecting, which as yet have no Dharma-body); eighth, seeking with body (the wisdom of cultivating, which has the seed-body of the latent impressions of much hearing); ninth, seeking with attained body (the first ground through the seventh ground); tenth, seeking with fulfilled body (the eighth, ninth, and tenth grounds); eleventh, seeking with much conceit (the ground of practice-through-faith); twelfth, seeking with little conceit (the first ground through the seventh ground); thirteenth, seeking without conceit (the last three grounds). (Having spoken of seeking the divisions of the Dharma, the text next speaks of seeking the causes of the Dharma.)

For form and for non-form, for the supernormal powers and for the true Dharma: the causes of the marks-and-features, the curing of illness, mastery, and the inexhaustible.

Seeking the Dharma has four causes: first, for form (it is the cause of the marks-and-features); second, for non-form (it is the cause of extinguishing the illness of the afflictions); third, for the supernormal powers (it is the cause of mastery); fourth, for the true Dharma (it is the cause of the inexhaustible). Just as the Sūtra of the Questions of Brahmā (梵天王問經) says, the bodhisattva who seeks the Dharma is complete in four thoughts: first, the thought "as of a wondrous jewel" (taking its "hard-to-obtain" meaning — because the Dharma is the cause of the adornment of marks-and-features); second, the thought "as of a fine medicine" (taking its "removing-illness" meaning — because the Dharma is the cause of extinguishing the illness of the afflictions); third, the thought "as of goods and wealth" (taking its "not-scattering" meaning — because the Dharma is the cause of the mastery of the supernormal powers); fourth, the thought "as of nirvāṇa" (taking its "extinguishing-suffering" meaning — because the Dharma is the cause of the true Dharma's inexhaustibility). (Having spoken of seeking the causes of the Dharma, the text next speaks of seeking to leave discrimination behind.)

The substance-less, the substantial, increasing and decreasing; the one-character, the different, the own- and the separate-character; "as the name," "as the meaning" — discrimination is of ten kinds.

There are ten kinds of discrimination (which are to be left behind): first, discrimination of the substance-less; second, discrimination of the substantial; third, discrimination of adding-on; fourth, discrimination of taking-away; fifth, discrimination of the one-character; sixth, discrimination of the different-character; seventh, discrimination of the own-character; eighth, discrimination of the separate-character; ninth, discrimination that gives rise to meaning as the name [suggests]; tenth, discrimination that gives rise to a name as the meaning [suggests]. In the Sūtra of the Perfection of Wisdom (般若波羅蜜經), in order to make the bodhisattvas leave behind these ten kinds of discrimination, ten kinds of counteragent are correspondingly spoken:

• To counter "discrimination of the substance-less," the sūtra says "there is a bodhisattva, a bodhisattva";
• To counter "discrimination of the substantial," the sūtra says "one does not see the bodhisattva" and the like;
• To counter "discrimination of adding-on," the sūtra says "Śāriputra, form is empty of own-nature";
• To counter "discrimination of taking-away," the sūtra says "it is not that form perishes into emptiness";
• To counter "discrimination of the one-character," the sūtra says "if form were empty, it would not be form";
• To counter "discrimination of the different-character," the sūtra says "emptiness is not other than form, form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is precisely form";
• To counter "discrimination of the own-character," the sūtra says "this form is only name";
• To counter "discrimination of the separate-character," the sūtra says "form neither arises nor ceases, is neither defiled nor pure," and the like;
• To counter "discrimination that gives rise to meaning as the name," the sūtra says "the name acts as a guest" — as the name is, one should not cling to the meaning;
• To counter "discrimination that gives rise to a name as the meaning," the sūtra says "all names cannot be seen, because they cannot be seen" — as the meaning is, one should not cling to the name.

(Having spoken of seeking to leave discrimination behind, the text next speaks of seeking the greatness of the Dharma.)

The bodhisattva, excellent in valor, by the twofold seeking attains reality, in accord with all the worlds; his qualities are full as the sea.

Seeking the Dharma has three kinds of "greatness": first, the greatness of skillful means — because, by the supreme diligence, he seeks the reality of the conventional truth and the ultimate truth, which is real and undistorted; second, the greatness of benefiting others — because he becomes the refuge of the world, settling [beings] in the ultimate truth; third, the greatness of benefiting himself — because all his qualities are full as the great sea.

(Here the Chapter on Seeking the Dharma reaches its consummation.)

This is a substantial chapter spanning scrolls four and five. This exposition follows its major sequence and opens the important joints along the long road of "seeking."

The "seeking" of "seeking the Dharma" (述求) is inquiry, the searching-out of the mind. The chapter lays out one long road of "seeking": first the Dharma (the three baskets) and the condition, knowledge, and attention of contemplative practice; then the true meaning and a set of "illusion-similes"; then consciousness-only, the marks, and the transformation of the basis; then liberation, the absence of self-substance, and the forbearance of non-arising, the harmonization of the one vehicle with the three, and finally the fields of knowledge, the nurture of wholesome roots (the forty-four attentions), and the various distinctions, causes, leaving-behind of discrimination, and greatness of the Dharma. This exposition follows that major route stretch by stretch.

I. First seeking the "Dharma": what the three baskets are, why they are three, and what their common use is

To set out on the road one must first have "materials." The materials are the Dharma — and where the Dharma is gathered is called a "basket" (藏, treasury). The first thing the treatise does in opening the chapter is to make plain the object of seeking the Dharma — the three baskets.

First, "why they are called baskets, why they are three, and why they may be gathered into two." The three baskets are the sūtra (修多羅, the discourses), the vinaya (毘尼, the discipline), and the abhidharma (阿毘曇, the treatises). Why are they all called "baskets"? Because "basket" means "to gather" (攝) — it gathers up the whole of what "ought to be known," like a storehouse that holds all things without exception; hence "basket." Why are they "three"? The treatise gives nine reasons, to be seen in three sets, each set deeper than the last:

• In terms of "counteraction": the sūtra is set up to counteract "doubt" — where a person raises doubts at every turn about the meaning, the sūtra brings him to certainty; the vinaya is set up to counteract "the two extremes in enjoyment" — barring the faulted indulgence in pleasure (the extreme of pleasure-practice) and permitting the faultless use of things (the extreme of pain-practice); the abhidharma is set up to counteract "the grasping of one's own views" — it can reveal the marks of dharmas without distortion.
• In terms of "the three trainings": the sūtra is set up to expound the whole body of the three trainings, discipline, concentration, and wisdom; the vinaya is set up to accomplish the training in discipline and the training in mind — for by keeping the precepts one has no regret, and having no regret one gradually attains concentration; the abhidharma is set up to accomplish the training in wisdom — for it can select out, without distortion, the meaning.
• In terms of "Dharma and meaning": the sūtra is set up to "rightly state" the Dharma and its meaning; the vinaya is set up to "accomplish" the Dharma and its meaning (for by diligent practice of skillful means the afflictions are extinguished); the abhidharma is set up to "penetrate" the Dharma and its meaning (with all kinds of selecting-out as its skillful means).

The three sets of nine reasons round off "why the three baskets cannot but be three." And "or gathered into two" means: these three baskets, by the difference of the lower and higher vehicles, may be gathered into two kinds — the śrāvaka basket and the bodhisattva basket — the one same body of Dharma, divided into great and small by the capacity of the listener.

Next, the "common use" of the three baskets. Their separate uses stated, the treatise asks a point that matters: what, then, is their use taken together? The answer is clean — "liberation from birth-and-death." How does one gain liberation? Through four labors: hearing-and-perfuming (perfuming the Dharma into the field of mind), thinking-and-awakening (awakening through reflection), stilling-and-quieting (quieting through the cultivation of tranquillity), and contemplating-and-penetrating (penetrating through the cultivation of insight). Once these four — hearing, thinking, stilling, contemplating — are turned through, all the affairs of birth-and-death are forever released. This one sentence sets the key for the whole chapter: seeking the Dharma is not for memorization, but in the end for release from birth-and-death.

II. Each of the three baskets has "four senses": the inner framework of sūtra, treatise, and vinaya

Having set up the three baskets, the treatise goes one layer finer: each basket has its "four senses." Why teach these four senses? Because "if a bodhisattva penetrates these four senses, he accomplishes the all-kinds-of-knowledge (一切種智, omniscience); if a śrāvaka fully comprehends a single verse, he attains the eternal exhaustion of the outflows" — the four senses are the key that opens the inside of the three baskets. This exposition describes the four senses of each basket in sequence.

The four senses of the sūtra (修多羅): support, mark, dharma, and meaning.

• Support — the sūtra is spoken in dependence on three things: place, person, and use. Only in dependence on a given land, a given Buddha, and a given kind of sentient beings does the Tathāgata speak forth a sūtra. A sūtra is not stated groundless in the air; it issues in response to time, place, and person.
• Mark — the marks the sūtra conveys are twofold: the mark of conventional truth (the worldly, phenomenal marks) and the mark of the ultimate truth (the highest reality).
• Dharma — the dharmas the sūtra speaks of are the aggregates, the elements, the sense-fields, dependent origination, the truths, the nutriments, and so on.
• Meaning — the sūtra must "explain the wherefore," bringing out the reason why things are so.

The four senses of the abhidharma (阿毘曇): facing, enumerating, subduing, and resolving.

• Facing — the abhidharma is the dharma of "heading toward nirvāṇa," made up of teachings on the truths, the factors of awakening, the gates of liberation, and so on ("facing" being to face nirvāṇa, to head toward nirvāṇa).
• Enumerating — the abhidharma is the dharma of "continuity," which, for each single dharma, enumerates and distinguishes it without measure through such distinctions as "form / non-form," "visible / invisible."
• Subduing — the abhidharma is the "supreme" dharma, which in the great assembly of debate settles the meaning of the Dharma and makes the opponent yield ("subduing" being the subduing of divergent views).
• Resolving — the abhidharma is the dharma of "explaining the meaning"; by means of the abhidharma the meaning within the sūtras becomes easy to comprehend. The proper task of the abhidharma is to serve as a footnote to the sūtra, opening its hard passes.

The vinaya (毘尼) has two sets of four senses. The vinaya is the finest-grained, and the treatise gives two sets of four senses.

• The first four senses: offence, arising, purification, and emergence — these are the complete links of "one precept, from its breaking to its recovered purity." Offence is the self-nature of the offence (the five heaps of offences); arising is the conditioned arising of the offence, of four kinds: ignorance, heedlessness, the violence of the afflictions, and the absence of a reverent mind — the breaking of a precept never departs from these four roots; purification is the recovered purity of the offence — which rests on a "wholesome mind," not on "punishment," and this one point is most worth savoring: the vinaya comes home to the purifying of the mind, not to chastisement; emergence is the emergence-from the offence, of seven kinds (confession, according with the teaching, permission, further relinquishing, transformation of the basis, contemplation of the real, and attainment by nature) — from the first disclosing and confession all the way up to the point where, on seeing the truths, the subtle offences of themselves have no substance and, by the realization of the emptiness of dharmas, are naturally pure. The highest step of emerging from offence already reaches up onto the standpoint of "the emptiness of dharmas."
• The second four senses: person, enacting, resolving, and judging — these are the links of "how a precept comes to be enacted." Person is the person who commits the offence; enacting is the great master (the Buddha), in dependence on that offender, gathering the assembly, stating the fault, and enacting a training-rule; resolving is the drawing-out at length of what has been enacted; judging is the judgment of how one incurs the offence and how one does not. The vinaya is not a set of clauses come down from heaven; it is a rule enacted one by one, according to circumstance, in response to the actual conditions of an offence.

The section on seeking the Dharma closes here. Below, from the "material" that is the Dharma we turn to the "tool" that is contemplative practice — first seeking the condition.

III. Seeking the "condition" of contemplative practice: the object is inner, outer, and both — yet the two graspings are in the end not to be found

With the materials ready, to set to work at contemplation one must first have an "object of contemplation" (所緣) — the realm the mind faces. This section asks: when the bodhisattva cultivates contemplation, what should he take as object?

The treatise says the Buddha taught that all dharmas that serve as "object" fall into no more than three: inner (the body and so on on the grasping side), outer (the body and so on on the grasped side), and both (grasper and grasped taken as one). Yet no sooner has this "inner-and-outer" been set up than the treatise at once presses it deeper: with respect to these inner and outer objects, one must realize their "sense of non-duality" — the grasped and the grasping are to be contemplated "as not separate"; joining the two into one, one gains "suchness" with respect to the inner and outer objects. Once one has realized that grasper and grasped are originally not-two, then even these "two objects" themselves are not to be found — the opposition once dissolved, the two poles within the opposition cannot stand.

This is exactly the opening move of Consciousness-Only contemplation: inner and outer are set up in order to be broken. The object is divided into inner and outer only as a skillful bridge for cultivating contemplation; once one truly reaches the non-duality of grasper and grasped, the bridge is of no further use. In the later "seeking consciousness-only" and "seeking liberation" the text returns to this step again and again; here the seed is first sown.

IV. Seeking "knowledge": three conditions give rise to three wisdoms — one contemplative road of "meaning is only mind-speech → only name"

With the object in hand, one asks further: how, from this object, is the contemplating "knowledge" to be brought forth? The treatise answers: in dependence on the aforesaid inner, outer, and both — the three conditions — one cultivates the three wisdoms of hearing, thinking, and cultivating — and these three steps are just such a contemplative road, from the shallow into the deep:

• Purely holding the realm of mind-speech, one attains the wisdom of hearing — "mind-speech" (意言) is the inner mind's concept-and-word, its discrimination. "Purely" is faith-and-certainty; "holding" is the selecting-out of its seeds. First, upon the object, one holds fast with faith-certainty that "all this is nothing but mind-speech," and attains the wisdom of hearing.
• Discerning the light of meaning, one attains the wisdom of thinking — advancing further, one knows that the "meaning" one faces, the "light (image)" that appears, are not other than mind-speech. Seeing through that meaning and light are originally what mind-speech has transformed into, one attains the wisdom of thinking.
• Settling the mind in "only name," one attains the wisdom of cultivating — advancing yet further, one abides in "all this is only name" — meaning and light alike, in the end, are only a name-and-word set up. The mind settled here, one attains the wisdom of cultivating.

The three steps draw in tighter one after another: from "this is mind-speech," to "meaning and light are not other than mind-speech," to "there is only name." And because, as was said above, "the two objects are not to be found" — it is precisely because grasper and grasped are originally empty that these three conditions can serve as the support for the three wisdoms. This section brings the "non-duality of grasper and grasped" of the third section down onto actual practice: the three wisdoms of hearing, thinking, and cultivating are just the step-by-step drawing back of "supposing one is cognizing an outer realm" into "it is only mind-speech, only name."

This point — "the realm one faces is in fact only the shadow of one's own mind" — is the most abstract; it may be felt through a nearby simile from the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra's Chapter on the Analysis of Yoga — that very sūtra being the one the Bodhisattva Maitreya requested, of the same transmission as this treatise. The sūtra says: "It is as when, in dependence on a well-polished, clear mirror-surface, taking one's own substance as condition, one still sees one's own substance, and yet says 'I now see an image,' and says that apart from the substance there is a separately-operating image appearing." Facing a mirror ground clear and bright, one is in fact taking one's own substance as condition, and what one beholds is still one's own substance; yet the person mistakenly supposes "what I see at this moment is an image," and mistakenly supposes "apart from the substance, there is separately an image now appearing there." The mind's taking-of-a-realm-as-object is exactly so: the realm is fundamentally the shadow that the mind manifests, and to cognize the realm is to cognize the shadow of one's own mind; but sentient beings, "unable to know as it truly is that it is only consciousness," wrongly suppose there is a realm set up outside the mind. In the mirror there was never a second thing; the realm one faces has no substance outside the mind either — clear on this one simile, the three steps of "purely holding mind-speech, discerning the light of meaning, settling the mind in only name" come down to solid ground. (Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, Chapter on the Analysis of Yoga, Chinese T16n0676.)

V. Seeking "attention": eighteen ways of "applying the mind," tuning the tools of contemplation

Condition and knowledge in hand, one still needs "attention" (作意) — the reasoned rousing of mind, the concentration. Attention is where contemplative practice truly "applies the mind": with one and the same object, if the mind is applied wrongly the effort passes empty, if the mind is applied by reason it becomes potent. The treatise sets out eighteen kinds of attention, and this exposition points out the focus of each in turn, not one omitted:

one, lineage (roused in dependence on the settled lineage of the three vehicles); two, the accomplished (roused in dependence on the fulfillment of the two stores of merit and wisdom); three, support (in dependence on the difference of whether, as householder or as one gone forth, one is beset by pressure); four, settled faith (from according with the recollection of the Buddha); five, the arising of aspiration (faith answering in accord as one recollects the Buddha); six, relying on concentration (from according with the three samādhis); seven, relying on knowledge (arising in sequence from hearing, thinking, and cultivating); eight, the particular condition (the five acts of receiving, holding, reading, thinking, and expounding, done upon the sūtras); nine, the various conditions (taking as condition the seven: name, phrase, syllable, the no-self of persons, the no-self of dharmas, form, and the formless); ten, penetration (penetrating the four with respect to suffering: its thing, its meaning, its fruit, and its awakening); eleven, the kinds of cultivation (this the broadest, containing the four cultivations and the cultivation of the thirty-seven factors of awakening — the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right exertions, the four bases of spiritual power, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of awakening, and the eightfold noble path, each with its own obstacle counteracted and its own quality accomplished); twelve, self-nature (tranquillity and insight, which are the self-nature of the path); thirteen, effort (the uprooting of the latent impressions, and the uprooting of the two forces of grasped-mark and grasper); fourteen, receiving (receiving and holding the stream of Dharma taught by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas); fifteen, skillful means (in concentration there are the five skillful means of understanding number, understanding equipment, understanding discrimination, understanding sequence, and understanding penetration — of which "understanding penetration" opens into a further eleven gates, from penetrating the adventitious defilements all the way to penetrating the dharmas established); sixteen, mastery (the three purities: the purity of the afflictive obstruction, the purity of the two obstructions — afflictive and cognitive, and the purity of qualities); seventeen, the small (indicating the first of the purities); eighteen, the great (indicating the latter two purities).

The eighteen attentions are like a complete set of tools: some turn the mind toward the path (lineage, support), some settle faith (settled faith, the arising of aspiration), some enter concentration and issue in wisdom (relying on concentration, relying on knowledge, self-nature), some broadly gather the factors of the path (the kinds of cultivation), some finely treat the name-and-word (skillful means), and finally the three purities (mastery, the small, the great) round it off. The bodhisattva's contemplative practice is not a single undivided exertion; it is thus sorted into departments, each with its own object counteracted, and so "tuned" out. With the tools tuned, we come below to the peak of the whole chapter — seeking the true meaning.

VI. Seeking the true meaning (the chapter's peak): the three natures are all "real," and the rope-and-snake simile

At "seeking the true meaning" we reach the peak of the whole chapter. The treatise opens with a sentence that matters: the three natures are all "real" — only each is spoken of from its own angle. This is hard to hear at first, but it may be felt through that old comparison, "seeing a rope as a snake in the dark":

• In the dark of night one takes a rope for a snake — this "snake" was never there at all; the "I" that could fear it and the "snake" that is feared are both mistaken cognition. This figures the reality of the wholly-imagined nature (分別性; 玄奘系 遍計所執性, the falsely wholly-imagined): its reality lies precisely in that "grasper and grasped are ultimately absent" (free of the two).
• Yet that "rope" is really lying there, and the snake-illusion arises just in dependence on it. This figures the reality of the other-dependent nature (依他性; 依他起性, what arises through conditions): its reality lies in that "only in dependence on it do the various discriminations arise" (the deluded support).
• Look more thoroughly still: the rope too is nothing but hemp, is causes-and-conditions, and at bottom is that inexpressible ground of the real. This figures the reality of the true nature (真實性; 圓成實性, the perfectly-accomplished reality): its reality lies in that "its self-nature is free of conceptual elaboration and cannot be spoken" (without saying, without elaboration).

One rope, one bout of mistaken cognition, and the three natures are strung onto a single string: the mistakenly-cognized snake (wholly-imagined), the rope depended on (other-dependent), and the ultimate hemp (true) — all three layers are "real," it only depends on which layer you speak from.

The treatise next fits these three natures with "three responses" — three labors that should be undertaken: toward the first reality (the wholly-imagined nature), one should know (know it to be originally empty); toward the second reality (the other-dependent nature), one should sever (sever its deluded arising); toward the third reality (the true nature), one should purify (bring forth its intrinsic purity).

And this "purity" of the real is of two kinds: intrinsic purity (pure from the very first) and stainless purity (the purity after the adventitious has been wiped away). The treatise uses "empty space, gold, and water" as three figures: empty space, true gold, and clear water are all pure by nature — this figures intrinsic purity; even when dust settles it is only adventitious dust, and wiping it away restores the original purity — this figures stainless purity. One side says it was pure to begin with; the other says that even when soiled it can be restored to purity; only holding the two sides together does one avoid mistaking "purity" for something newly added. Nothing is added — it is restoring the original.

VII. The dharma-realm and the world have never differed in the least: the sickness of sentient beings is "clinging to the non-existent and discarding the existent"

Having established that the three natures are all real, the treatise adds a pivotal sentence: the dharma-realm and the world have never differed in the least. Why? Because the dharma-nature and the dharmas are originally without difference — the real is not somewhere else, outside the world.

Then where do sentient beings go wrong? They go wrong in "clinging to the non-existent and discarding the existent": toward "the worldly dharmas that are without self-nature," which ought not to be grasped, they perversely give rise to grasping (seizing the self-natureless as if it were really existent); toward "the dharma that is truly-thus and really existent," which ought not to be discarded, they perversely add discarding (throwing away the real as if it were non-existent). One seizing, one throwing — both poles distorted. This sentence sets up the target for the whole set of "illusion-similes" below: what the illusion-similes cure is exactly this sickness of "clinging to the non-existent, discarding the existent" — teaching one not to seize the real amid the illusory, and not to negate amid the real.

VIII. The similes of reality: one "illusion," to see clearly consciousness-only-without-realm

Following on the three natures, the treatise uses a whole set of "illusion-similes" to teach that thing which is the Consciousness-Only school's own business — "consciousness-only-without-realm." This set of verses is the most numerous, and the most abstruse; this exposition uses the "elephant" that a conjuror (an illusion-worker) conjures up to open each layer one by one:

First layer: the elephant "exists yet is not existent." You see that elephant (it appears fully-formed there on the stage) — this is "exists" (existent because it appears); yet it has no real substance (it is only what spell, wood, and stone have transformed into) — this is "not existent" (its real substance is not to be found). The elephant "has substance which is just no-substance; the no-substance and the substance are not-two" — this is just the actual condition of the marks of the other-dependent and the wholly-imagined.

Second layer: by the two sides of the illusory elephant, one penetrates each to a truth. Its side of "having no real substance" figures that the two marks of other-dependent and wholly-imagined discrimination likewise have no real substance, whereby one penetrates the ultimate truth (the supreme); its side of "having a visible substance" figures that false discrimination too has appearing, whereby one penetrates the conventional truth (the worldly). One dharma, two sides, each seeing one truth — this cures the sickness of "clinging to the non-existent, discarding the existent" of the seventh section.

Third layer: comprehending that the illusion has no substance is, in the treatise's account, to attain the real realm and the transformation of the basis. If a person comprehends that the illusory affair has no substance, that person sees the true realm of the wood and stone; the treatise further says that when a bodhisattva comprehends that grasper and grasped, the "two delusions," have no substance and attains the transformation of the basis, the meaning of the true nature is attained. Though wood and stone have no substance, they can serve as causes of delusion; while the other-dependent has not been transformed it can serve as a cause of distortion, whereas after transformation there are "mastery of the basis" and "mastery of practice." This passage distinguishes functions before and after transformation; it does not here adjudicate that the two must be one identical substance.

Fourth layer: repeatedly restating "exists yet not-existent, not-existent yet exists." The treatise, in a run of several verses, from "this thing is present there, and that present thing too has no substance" (exists yet not-existent), to "the no-substance is not no-substance, and the not-no-substance is just substance" (not-existent yet exists), turns over and over the point that "form and the rest have substance which is just no-substance, and the no-substance and the substance are not-two." Why belabor it so? Because this is exactly the pass where one most easily slips to either side — say "exists" and one fears people will grasp it as real, say "non-existent" and one fears they will negate it into emptiness; so one can only hold down both sides at once, pressing out that middle-way actuality of "exists yet not-existent, not-existent yet exists."

IX. Blocking the three extremes: not grasping the existent, not grasping the non-existent, not fleeing into cessation

At this point someone will ask: why, of "substance" and "no-substance," not simply state one side definitively, but instead insist that the two are not separate? The treatise answers clearly: it is precisely to block three biased extremes that one cannot state it one-sidedly and definitively. This exposition marks out this middle way of "blocking the three extremes," teaching side by side:

• Blocking the "extreme of existence" — because one knows it has no substance, one should not posit it as really "existent" (grasping the real is superimposition).
• Blocking the "extreme of non-existence" — because one knows it has appearing in the conventional truth, one should not disparage it as annihilated "non-existent" (negating is diminishment, and it wrecks the conventional truth).
• Blocking "heading toward the cessation of the small vehicle" — because the two dharmas of defilement and purity are originally without difference, one should not weary of and turn from this substance, hiding away in the cessation of the small vehicle (fleeing is faintheartedness).

One illusory elephant, and the whole measure of Consciousness-Only is seen clearly: the realm is what the light of mind manifests, seeming to exist yet without real substance; toward this one does not grasp the existent, does not grasp the non-existent, does not flee into cessation — this is the middle way.

The treatise next uses two pairs of similes to enact "grasper and grasped alike dissolved" once more: form-consciousness and consciousness-consciousness — the deluded realm (form-consciousness) is the cause of delusion, the deluding substance (consciousness-consciousness) is the substance of delusion; the cause (form-consciousness) once absent, the fruit (consciousness-consciousness) is absent too, and the grasping consciousness falls together with the grasped realm. The illusory image and the grasping of bone — the deluded person, with respect to "the illusory image and the grasping of the illusory," speaks, out of delusion, of the two affairs of grasper and grasped; the practitioner of contemplation, with respect to "the bone-image and the grasping of bone" (the contemplation of the white skeleton), speaks, out of contemplation, of the two affairs of contemplator and contemplated — but in fact both are absent, appearing only through delusion or through contemplation. One deluded, one contemplating, the same principle: grasper and grasped are shadows produced by opposition, not things each really existent.

X. The counteracting and the counteracted are both like an illusion: the strong illusion-king makes the other illusion-kings retreat

Since grasper and grasped are both like an illusion, the treatise presses the crucial question: then what are "the counteracted (the defilement to be severed)" and "the counteracting (the purity used to sever it)"? And what difference is there between them?

• The substance of the counteracted is just "the mark of dharma-delusion" — the mark that false discrimination brings forth; it is said to exist (through false discrimination) and said to be not-existent (because the two substances of grasper and grasped are not different from no-substance), and so "its existence too is like an illusion, its non-existence too is like an illusion."
• The substance of the counteracting is just the dharmas of the foundations of mindfulness and the rest (the counteractive dharmas the Buddha taught) — its substance "too is like an illusion": to the grasping of the ordinary person it seems to have substance, in what the Buddhas teach it has no substance; and even the Buddha's manifesting of entering the womb, being born, going forth, and accomplishing the way — such "appearing in light without a real mark" — is likewise like an illusion.

Then the question grows sharp: if the counteracting and the counteracted are alike like an illusion, on what ground does the one counteract and the other get counteracted? The treatise's answer is the finest simile of the chapter: "It is like a strong illusion-king making the other illusion-kings retreat" — as a stronger illusion-king can make the remaining illusion-kings retreat. The pure dharma is like the strong illusion-king (gaining ascendancy in counteracting the defiled dharma); the defiled dharma is like the remaining illusion-kings (gaining ascendancy over the realm of objects); the bodhisattva, knowing dharmas to be like an illusion, then counteracts the defiled dharma with the pure dharma, and the task done, still knows that both are illusion, so that not even the conceit of "I have the merit of counteracting" arises. This simile points home the bodhisattva's application of mind: "cultivating illusion with illusion, cultivating yet not grasping."

Finally the treatise gathers a set of "eight similes" — the illusion, dream, mirage, reflection, shadow, echo, moon-in-water, and conjured-form that the World-Honored One teaches everywhere, each figuring one class of dharma of practice: the illusion figures the six inner sense-fields; the dream figures the six outer sense-fields; the mirage figures the mind and mental factors; the reflection figures the six inner sense-fields (the reflection of past karma); the shadow figures the six outer sense-fields (the shadow of the inner fields); the echo figures the Dharma that is taught; the moon-in-water figures the dharmas relying on concentration (concentration like water, the Dharma like the moon, showing forth when clear and still); the conjured-form figures the bodhisattva's deliberate taking of birth (undefiled by what is done).

Among these eight similes, the line "the mirage figures the mind and mental factors, through the arising of delusion" is the most hidden — how can "mirage" figure the mind and mental factors? The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, explaining the Prajñāpāramitā's simile "like a flame," puts it close to home: "A flame — because sunlight and wind stir up the dust, in the wilderness it is seen like wild horses, and the person without wisdom, seeing it at first, calls it water." It also says: "If from afar one sees the flame, one takes it for water; drawing near, there is no notion of water." In the wilderness the sunlight steams and stirs the dust, and from afar it looks like a stretch of water (what was of old called "the thirsty deer chasing the mirage" — the thirsty deer, seeing the mirage from afar, mistakes it for water and races after it, but on drawing near finds nothing to be had). The mind and mental factors are just like this stretch of mirage: there is fundamentally no real water; only because "the sunlight heats the dust of the activities, and the wind of wrong recollection" stirs, does a mark falsely appear, and sentient beings, deluded, falsely grasp it, supposing it really existent. Fill in this dynamic of "from afar seeming to be water, chased after yet not to be had," and the four words "through the arising of delusion" come alive — it is not that there is a mistaken realm out of nowhere, but that when the deluded mind stirs, it seems vividly to exist, and chased after, is at once empty. (Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Chinese T25n1509.)

Eight similes, eight classes of dharma of practice that are "vivid yet empty" — the great section of seeking the true meaning has, amid this fullness of illusion, said to the end those four words: "exists yet without substance."

XI. Seeking the knowing knowledge: four wisdoms, knowing exhaustively every realm

Having finished with "the true meaning that is known," the treatise turns to ask: then how many kinds are there of the "knowing" knowledge? The answer: four, linked layer to layer —

• Not-true (the not-true discriminating knowledge) — the ordinary person's discrimination that does not yet accord with supramundane knowledge.
• Seeming-true (the neither-true-nor-not-true discriminating knowledge) — from the first extreme-penetration portion onward, it already accords with supramundane knowledge, yet has not truly realized, hence "seeming-true" (this is just the temper of the stage of intensified practice).
• True (the supramundane non-conceptual knowledge) — the root knowledge that directly realizes suchness; this alone is "true."
• Seeming-not-true (the neither-discriminating-nor-non-discriminating knowledge) — the subsequently-attained worldly knowledge that arises again after the supramundane, used to illumine the conventional, hence "seeming-not-true."

With the four wisdoms complete, one knows exhaustively every realm. These four wisdoms are not four blades set side by side, but a single chain from the ordinary into the holy, and from the holy back to illumining the conventional: from not-true, to seeming-true (about to realize), to true (realizing in full), to seeming-not-true (issuing into use after realization). They answer at a distance to the earlier contemplative road of "meaning is only mind-speech → only name," and to the later "transformation of the basis."

XII. Seeking the defiled and the pure: the two "reals" should be left behind; the two lights are like a straightened arrow and a softened hide

Having known the knowing knowledge, one must come down to the actual place of "removing the defiled and bringing forth the pure." First, recognizing the defiled: that "own-element" (自界, the seeds of one's own store consciousness) and the "two lights" (the grasper-light and the grasped-light), together with ignorance and the various afflictions, give rise to all kinds of discrimination; and among them the "two reals" — grasping the grasped as real, grasping the grasper as real — are the root of defilement, and should be sought to be left behind.

Then how to remove it: having attained the three conditions (inner, outer, and both), toward the "own-element" (that is, the various discriminations) and the "place of names" one should settle the mind and train — and training is the cultivating of the two paths of tranquillity and insight. Tranquillity and insight once cultivated, the two lights of grasper and grasped come to rest. Here the treatise gives a most homely simile: "It is like straightening an arrow and softening a hide" — treating raw hide to make it soft, treating a bent arrow to make it straight. The transformation of the basis is likewise: tranquillity and insight, each must be cultivated finely, like softening a hide, like straightening an arrow, so that over long days one attains the liberation of mind and the liberation of wisdom, and the two lights do not arise. That the defiled can be removed and the pure brought forth rests not on one leap, but on just such repeated "softening" and "straightening."

(Scroll four ends here; scroll five follows.)

XIII. Seeking consciousness-only: grasper and grasped, the two graspings, are only a single stretch of "light of mind"

Entering scroll five, the text states "seeking consciousness-only" head-on. After all the winding through illusion-similes above, here it hands over the bottom of the matter: grasper and grasped, these two, are only the "light of mind" (心光, the shadow-appearance the mind manifests); outside the mind there is no real realm.

Further still: even the two lights, defiled and pure, of "the light of craving (the afflictions) and the light of faith (the wholesome dharmas)," have no two dharmas of "defiled and pure" to be divided — apart from the light of mind there are no other real dharmas of craving and faith, so the two lights too have no two marks. It also says: the arising of the various lights of mind (arising at different times, like the light of craving and the light of hatred; arising at the same time, like the light of faith and the light of vigor) is just the various affairs-and-marks; but it "has only the mark of light and no substance of light," and so the World-Honored One does not call them real dharmas. The essential point of consciousness-only is here brought into the open: it is not that "there is a realm outside the mind which the mind goes to cognize," but that "the realm is fundamentally the light of mind, and to cognize the realm is to cognize the shadow of the mind"; and even this stretch of light of mind has no substance, so that one does not, once more, fix "consciousness-only" down into a new "existent."

XIV. Seeking the marks: the marked are five, the marking are three, the fields of learning are five

Having established consciousness-only, the treatise would sort the "marks" clearly — "marks" are of two: the "marked" that is characterized, and the "marking" that characterizes. This section is the most "treatise-flavored" framework in the whole chapter; this exposition teaches each item:

The marked are five (all dharmas that are characterized fall within these five): form-dharmas, mind-dharmas, mental-factor-dharmas (the mental factors), the dharmas not concurrent with mind, and the unconditioned dharmas. In the verse the five words "common, mind, seeing, position, non-turning" are fitted each to one dharma — "common" is form, "mind" is consciousness, "seeing" is the mental factors, "position" is the not-concurrent, "non-turning" is the unconditioned. Stated briefly it is these five; stated at length it is beyond measure.

The marking are three (the marks that characterize):

• The mark of discrimination — again in three: the mark of discrimination with awareness (mind-speech, that is, the arising of a mind-speech understanding toward "meaning"), the mark of discrimination without awareness (the light of latency, the light of meaning arising directly from the seed of mind-speech, not yet formed into an understanding), and the mark of discrimination by mark-and-cause (the light of meaning arising in dependence on name, the light of name arising in dependence on meaning, the realm of objects being not real). All three are non-real discrimination.
• The other-dependent mark — containing the mark of the grasped and the mark of the grasper, each with three lights: the three lights of the grasped-mark are the light of phrase, the light of meaning, and the light of body; the three lights of the grasper-mark are the light of mind (the defiled consciousness), the light of feeling (the five consciousnesses), and the light of discrimination (the mind-consciousness). The six lights are all non-real discrimination, and so are named the other-dependent.
• The true mark — again in three: the self-mark (substance which is just no-substance — dharmas being only discrimination, taking no-substance as substance, substance and no-substance not different), the defiled-and-pure mark (not-quiet-and-quiet — not quiet because of the adventitious, quiet because of the intrinsic purity), and the non-discriminating mark (discrimination not operating, without conceptual elaboration).

Then it opens "the five fields of learning" (the five layered steps that are the object of training): the able-to-hold (the true Dharma the Buddha teaches), the held (right recollection), the mirror-image (the mind-element — attaining concentration, one settles the mind on the dharma-realm; the concentrated mind being the mirror, the dharma-realm being the image), the clear awakening (the supramundane wisdom — where existent, seeing existence as it truly is 〔the no-self of dharmas〕; where not-existent, seeing non-existence as it truly is 〔grasper and grasped〕), and the transformation of the basis (the fifth, taken up in the next section). From holding the true Dharma and rousing right recollection, to illumining the dharma-realm with the concentrated mind and clearly seeing the existent and non-existent with supramundane wisdom, and finally pressing up to "the transformation of the basis" — the five fields of learning are a stairway that draws "seeking the marks" toward actual realization. The ancient masters, reading these five steps of the treatise, fit them just as "hold, sustain, mirror, clear, basis" — holding the Dharma, reasoned attention, the concentrated mind as mirror illumining the shadow-image of what is known, clear seeing and the leaving-behind of the two graspings, and finally attaining the pure transformation of the basis and entering the path of seeing; so this road of "the able-to-hold → the held → the mirror-image → the clear awakening → the transformation of the basis" is just the harvest, in actual realization, of that earlier contemplative road of "discerning the light of meaning · the light of meaning not other than mind-speech."

XV. The transformation of the basis: seeds and remaining consciousnesses transformed; accomplishing five senses, attaining four masteries

The last of the five fields of learning, "the transformation of the basis," is the eye of this whole section. How is the "transformation of the basis" turned? The treatise says it is "the turning of the seeds (the turning of the store consciousness) and the turning of the remaining consciousnesses (the turning of the lights of phrase, meaning, and body)," turned into the "outflow-free element," on which the three vehicles alike depend.

The treatise expressly says that "the seeds are transformed" and "the remaining consciousnesses are transformed" into the outflow-free element; this sentence does not adjudicate whether the stream before and after transformation is numerically identical. 〔exposition-borrowed simile〕 The settling of turbid water only helps convey the continuity implied by "transformation"; it is not evidence of identity of substance, nor a basis for turning the statements that the dharma-realm and the world have not differed, or that saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are not two, into an independent ontological verdict.

After the transformation of the basis there are two layers of fruit-marks, both taught in this exposition:

First, the holy nature is equal, while the Buddha has five kinds of superiority. The "holy nature" (the outflow-free element) is attained by all the holy ones alike, hence "the realization is equal," and the liberation of the Buddha and of the two vehicles is the same; yet the Buddha, though equal with the two vehicles in holy nature, has of his own five kinds of superiority: superiority of purity (outflows and latencies alike exhausted), superiority of pervasion (the buddha-fields all pure), superiority of body (having the dharma-body), superiority of enjoyment (turning the Dharma-wheel unbroken), and superiority of activity (manifesting emanated affairs to benefit beings). Again, "neither decreasing nor increasing" — when the defiled portion decreases its substance does not decrease, when the pure portion increases its substance does not increase; suchness is just so. Equal, yet not effacing the Buddha's fullness; superior, yet not wrecking the sameness of the holy nature — this measure is just the scenery upon the fruit of the "transformation of the basis."

Second, attaining the "four masteries," fitted to the last three grounds. If the three lights of mind, feeling, and discrimination are turned, one attains the four: mastery of non-discrimination, mastery of the buddha-field, mastery of knowledge, and mastery of activity. These four masteries belong severally to the bodhisattva's last three grounds: the Immovable Ground (不動地) attains the first two (mastery of non-discrimination — non-effortful and non-discriminating; mastery of the buddha-field — the buddha-field pure); the Ground of Good Wisdom (善慧地) attains the mastery of knowledge (skill in the four unobstructed discriminations); the Dharma-Cloud Ground (法雲地) attains the mastery of activity (the activity of spiritual powers unobstructed). The transformation of the basis is not an abstract slogan; it has, on the bodhisattva's grounds, definite fruit-positions and functions — ground by ground, the masteries gradually fill out.

XVI. Seeking liberation: three gates of the path, layer by layer setting down "having something to attain"

From the transformation of the basis one advances into a string of liberation-teachings that "grow emptier the more one seeks." The treatise opens three separate gates of liberation in a row; this exposition teaches each — their common direction is to unload "having something to attain" layer by layer:

• The gate of consciousness-only — taking "the twofold no-self" as skillful means: within the three realms of existence, one knows that person and dharma alike have no real substance (no-self); and having so known, again it is not that all is simply absent, but rather one takes the "true consciousness-only" of the dharmas; at the last, even that "light of consciousness" is absent too — person and dharma not to be found, apart from having-something-to-attain, and this is liberation. This gate sets down even the last point of "consciousness-only."
• The gate of only-name — contemplating upon "the able-to-hold (the Dharma heard), the held (right recollection), and the store (the fulfillment of merit and wisdom)": contemplating, one knows "there is only name" (only verbal designation, no real meaning; only-name being just consciousness-only, being just the four aggregates that are non-form); advancing further, contemplating that "name" one is contemplating, one does not see even its name — name too not to be found, apart from having-something-to-attain, and this is liberation.
• The gate of turning-back-the-stream — with "the latent impressions of the view of self" as cause, the mind is made to flow through the destinies; if one knows that the object of contemplation is not to be found, and settles the mind within, gathering it so it does not scatter, one then turns back that flowing stream — turning back the stream, and this is liberation.

The three gates take different routes and come down at one place: the light of consciousness, the name, the flowing-on — all in the end are "not to be found"; liberation is not the getting of some new thing, but the thorough setting-down of "having something to attain."

Only, this "not to be found," this "having nothing to attain," is most easily misheard as annihilation and nihilistic void — as if, setting down to the last, one falls into a stretch of sheer nothing. At the very end this chapter cites, to guard against just this misunderstanding, a simile of the Prajñā tradition — the Prajñā sūtras list "ten similes," of which one is the "fragrance-city" (乾闥婆城, the gandharva-city), which the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom explains most fully: when the sun first rises, one sees from afar city gates, watchtowers, and palaces, with people going in and out; as the sun climbs higher it fades away, "only to be seen with the eye, yet having no reality." The fragrance-city, mirage-like, from afar seems to have ramparts and towers, yet on drawing near has no substance at all; and yet it does appear before the eye as if existent — it is not that nothing appears whatever. "Having nothing to attain" is just this measure: on one side it breaks your real-grasping of the city (chased after, it has no substance), on the other it does not wreck that vivid appearing (gazed at, there is a city). So "having nothing to attain" is not "the getting of a 'nothing,'" still less the sheer nihilist's nothing-at-all; it is that, right where there is vivid appearing, one no longer grasps a substance — the city still appears, yet the grasping is already let go, and this is the liberating "not to be found." (Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Chinese T25n1509.)

XVII. Seeking the absence of self-substance: self-absent, substance-absent, substance-not-abiding — penetrating to "the nirvāṇa of intrinsic quiescence"

Setting-down having come to this point, the treatise presses the principle of "the absence of self-substance" to the bottom. The "absence of self-substance" of dharmas is of three layers, taught by this exposition each in turn:

• Self-absent — dharmas are of themselves absent, because they cannot arise of themselves (being bound to causes and conditions, they cannot generate themselves).
• Substance-absent — a dharma already ceased does not arise again.
• Substance-not-abiding — present dharmas do not abide, instant by instant.

These three kinds of absence of self-substance pervade all conditioned marks; and the ordinary person falsely grasps upon a self-substance "permanence, bliss, self, purity," which various such "marks of divergent discrimination" are likewise without substance — so that all dharmas whatever become "without self-substance."

The marvel is that the treatise, from this, presses on down: "the prior is the support of the latter" — from the self-naturelessness of the prior, the latter is established in sequence: no self-nature → no arising → no ceasing → originally quiescent → the nirvāṇa of self-nature. Link locked into link, from this one step of "dharmas are fundamentally without self-substance" one goes straight through to "the nirvāṇa of self-nature." This flavor may be tasted, again, back at the rope-and-snake: that mistakenly-cognized snake — did it ever "arise"? Never having arisen, it is beyond ceasing too, and is originally quiescent — nirvāṇa is not somewhere far off; it is right in the moment of "seeing through that it was never really existent."

XVIII. Seeking the forbearance of non-arising: eight kinds of "non-arising," patiently forbearing that dharmas are originally unarisen

Following "originally quiescent," the treatise opens "the forbearance of the dharma of non-arising" — that measure of steadiness able patiently to forbear the principle that "dharmas are originally unarisen." It is made up of eight kinds of "non-arising," each pointed out by this exposition:

Non-arising from the origin (birth-and-death having no first origin of birth), true non-arising (dharmas having no difference of before and after), non-arising by way of difference (not arising anew from an old seed in another place), non-arising by self-mark (the wholly-imagined nature ultimately not arising), spontaneous non-arising (the self-nature of the other-dependent nature not arising), non-arising without difference (the true nature not arising as a separately-different substance), defiled non-arising (at the time of the knowledge of exhaustion, the defiled view no longer arises), and non-arising of distinction (the dharma-body of all Buddhas not arising as having distinction).

The eight "non-arisings," from the ordinary person's birth-and-death all the way to the dharma-body of all Buddhas, spread the principle of "non-arising" full across the whole course from defiled to pure. To see that dharmas have never really "arisen," and for the mind to be able to abide unmoved, is the "forbearance of the dharma of non-arising" — not the extinguishing of the "existent" into the "non-existent," but the seeing-through that it was never really existent, so that there is nothing to arise, nothing to cease, and one calmly forbears.

XIX. Seeking the one vehicle: eight intentions teach the one vehicle, and yet there is not no three vehicles

Next is "seeking the one vehicle." The treatise raises eight intentions by which the "one vehicle" is taught; this exposition lists them in turn: sameness of dharma (the one same dharma-realm), sameness of no-self (the same no-self substance), sameness of liberation (the same extinguishing of the obstruction of the afflictions), difference of nature (drawing those of undetermined nature into the great vehicle), all Buddhas attaining the same aim (as I have attained, sentient beings attain alike), the intention of the śrāvaka becoming a Buddha (having formerly the nature settled to become a Buddha, receiving the Buddha's gathering-in), transformation (the Buddha manifesting the śrāvaka's nirvāṇa in order to teach), and the ultimate (reaching the Buddha's substance, there is no further place to go).

Then the treatise specially adds a sentence that matters — "and yet there is not no three vehicles" — and says that the Buddha's teaching the one vehicle is in order to "draw in the undetermined śrāvaka and hold fast the undetermined bodhisattva": the śrāvaka undetermined in his own vehicle-nature, the Buddha draws into the great vehicle; the bodhisattva undetermined in his own vehicle-nature, the Buddha holds fast so that he does not retreat from the great vehicle.

Here one must note the measure of this exposition: it is the treatise itself that, by the eight intentions, sets forth the principle of the one vehicle and at the same time plainly states that the three vehicles are not abolished — the teaching of the one vehicle laying its weight on drawing in those "undetermined in their own vehicle-nature." This exposition faithfully transmits this harmonization within the text, and passes no verdict whatever on "one vehicle versus three vehicles, which is higher." The treatise further sorts out the "undetermined śrāvaka" in fine: the vehicles of seeing-the-meaning / not-seeing-the-meaning, and those who see the meaning divided again into severing-craving / not-severing-craving (both of soft faculties); and it says such persons can, by the holy path, dedicate toward the various existences, are answered in accord with the "two births" (the birth of aspiration-mastery and the birth of transformation-mastery), and, because they "delight in nirvāṇa and are again and again wearied of self," are called "the dull path," needing long ages before attaining awakening; further, those "whose task is not yet done" are born in a world without a Buddha, cultivate meditation of themselves, relinquish the birth-body and receive a transformation-body, and gradually attain the great awakening (their sequence being as the treatise's cited Buddha-Śrīmālā Sūtra says: first seeing the truths, next as a solitary awakener, and after becoming a Buddha). This whole string of fine detail is the treatise's own laying-out of "how the undetermined lineage may turn into the great vehicle"; this exposition transmits it faithfully as it stands — as for which is higher and which lower, it transmits and does not compose. (Buddha-Śrīmālā Sūtra, cited within the treatise, Chinese T31n1604.)

XX. Seeking the fields of knowledge: learning throughout the five sciences, all for "seeking the all-kinds-of-knowledge"

Having seen through the real and harmonized the one vehicle, the bodhisattva must still spread out, in "practice," to measureless fine detail — this is the last great section of the whole chapter, beginning with "seeking the fields of knowledge."

The five sciences are the five fields of learning the bodhisattva should study throughout: inner science (the meaning of the Buddha-Dharma), the science of reasons (logic), the science of sounds (language and letters), the science of medicine (medical formulae), and the science of crafts (crafts and skills). The treatise first states the "general intention": learning throughout the five sciences is all for "seeking the all-kinds-of-knowledge (一切種智, omniscience)" — without diligent practice of the five sciences one does not attain the all-kinds-of-knowledge; it then states the "particular intention": inner science for one's own understanding, the science of reasons for subduing outsiders' grasping, the science of sounds for making others believe, the science of medicine for curing illness, and the science of crafts for gathering in sentient beings. For the sake of benefiting beings, worldly learning too is the bodhisattva's homework — the five sciences are not miscellaneous study, but the five gateways of "the all-kinds-of-knowledge" into the world.

XXI. Seeking the nurture of wholesome roots: forty-four kinds of "attention," rearing wholesome roots thought by thought

The broadest section of seeking-practice is "seeking the nurture of wholesome roots" — fulfilling the various perfections by "attention." The treatise opens forty-four kinds of attention, from "knowing the cause" to "I am superior," each of them one honest application of the bodhisattva's mind of "making this thought." This exposition does not re-list them word for word, but only makes clear the thread of this long string of prayer-beads, so the reader may see it is no loose sand but a heart-road with sequence:

It sets out from "knowing the cause (seeing that the nature of the perfections can grow), recollecting the support (the great mind as support, certain to be fulfilled), the shared fruit (where the fruit can be shared, vowing to receive it), and resolute understanding (penetrating the undefiledness of the three spheres)" — first fixing "why one cultivates, in dependence on what one cultivates"; then through "attaining joy, not retreating, cultivating in accord" (not retreating amid adversity, cultivating in accord by the four affairs of confession, rejoicing, exhortation, and dedication), "pure faith, receiving, delighting to expound, donning the armor, rousing the vow, aspiring, skillful means" (deep faith, not slandering, revealing, donning the armor of great valor, making vows, seeking conditions, reflecting on companions); then to "valor, compassion" (the four valors, the four immeasurable minds), "having conscience, having delight, without cowering, cultivating, praising" (conscience at slackness, holding the mind unscattered, viewing retreat-and-loss as an enemy, gathering learning-related discourse, praising according to capacity); then to "relying on the perfections, that which should be known" (attaining awakening in dependence on the perfections and not on a self-existent god, comprehending obstacle and quality), "delighting to amass, seeing the meaning, delighting to seek" (delighting to amass merit and wisdom, seeing that the perfections can attain the benefit of awakening, rousing the four seekings of equal, non-discriminating, present-holding, and future-conditioning); then to "seeing the not-existent grasping, the notion of the rare, the notion of the not-rare" (seeing the seven not-existent graspings, rousing the four notions of the rare and the four notions of the not-rare), "leaving the extremes, the great meaning, transferring the gift, the ultimate, the unbroken" (turning toward sentient beings, benefiting broadly, giving the gift of merit-and-vow, the three places of the ultimate, unbroken and unceasing), "gathering-in accordingly, no delight, joy" (ever gathering in accordingly, no delight over those who retreat, joy over those who advance), "not wishing to cultivate, wishing to cultivate, not following, wishing to attain" (not cultivating the counterfeit, diligently cultivating the true, severing the obstacle, wishing to attain the prophecy and the certain ground), and finally to "the resolved doing, observing others, I am superior" (resolved to do it, vowing to be fulfilled together with others, confident that what one does is foremost, knowing that beyond this substance there is nothing higher)."

It is like a very long string of prayer-beads, each bead one honest self-reminder — conscience where one ought to feel conscience, joy where one ought to feel joy, dedication where one ought to dedicate, non-retreat where one ought not to retreat. The bodhisattva path is not a single surge of ardor, but is reared out thus, thought by thought. The closing verse sums up: by these forty-four attentions cultivating the various perfections, the bodhisattva, at all times, has his wholesome roots fulfilled.

XXII. Seeking the distinctions of the Dharma: thirteen kinds of "seeking the Dharma," advancing along the three lines of body, ground, and conceit

Practice now spread out, the treatise sorts again upon "seeking the Dharma" itself, into thirteen distinctions. This exposition gathers the thirteen into three lines, to make them easy to remember and understand:

• One line of "growing deeper": the seeking that grows (growing faith by right hearing) → the seeking of higher intention (receiving the stream of Dharma at the Buddha's side) → the vast and great seeking (attaining spiritual powers and hearing from afar the Dharma of all Buddhas); beneath these correspond the seeking with obstacle / the seeking without obstacle / the seeking by spiritual power (the positions, respectively, of these three kinds of person).
• One line of "body": the seeking without body (the wisdoms of hearing and thinking, without yet a dharma-body) → the seeking with body (the wisdom of cultivating, with the seed-body of latent impressions) → the seeking that has attained a body (the first ground through the seventh) → the seeking of the full body (the eighth, ninth, and tenth grounds) — the "body" from absent to full, marking the Dharma's gradual accomplishment upon the body.
• One line of "conceit": the seeking with much conceit (the ground of the practice of faith) → the seeking with little conceit (the first through the seventh ground) → the seeking without conceit (the last three grounds) — "conceit" from much to none, marking the gradual thinning of self-grasping with the grounds.

Seen along the three lines together, the thirteen kinds of seeking the Dharma are in fact one table of "advancing-with-the-grounds": from hearing-and-thinking into cultivating, from bodiless to full-bodied, from much conceit to no conceit — just the graduations of the bodhisattva's steady ascent in seeking the Dharma all the way up.

XXIII. Seeking the causes of the Dharma: four kinds of cause, and the "four notions" of the Sūtra of Questions of Brahmā

For the sake of what does one seek the Dharma? The treatise raises four kinds of cause, and cites the "four notions" of the Sūtra of Questions of Brahmā, fitting them one to one; this exposition teaches them side by side:

• For form (the cause of the marks of excellence) — in seeking the Dharma one should hold the "notion of the wondrous jewel": taking its sense of "hard to obtain" (the Dharma is like a wondrous jewel, the cause of the adornment of the marks of excellence).
• For non-form (the cause of extinguishing the illness of the afflictions) — one should hold the "notion of the good medicine": taking its sense of "removing illness" (the Dharma is like good medicine, extinguishing the illness of the afflictions).
• For spiritual powers (the cause of mastery) — one should hold the "notion of goods and wealth": taking its sense of "not scattering" (the Dharma is like wealth, the cause of the mastery of spiritual powers).
• For the true Dharma (the cause of the inexhaustible) — one should hold the "notion of nirvāṇa": taking its sense of "the extinguishing of suffering" (the Dharma is like nirvāṇa, the true Dharma being inexhaustible).

To seek the Dharma as a wondrous jewel 〔hard to obtain〕, good medicine 〔removing illness〕, goods and wealth 〔not scattering〕, and nirvāṇa 〔the extinguishing of suffering〕 — these four notions are no ornament, but teach one to prize the Dharma with four right "attitudes": seeing at once its hard-to-obtainness, and its curative power, its accumulability, and its ultimacy.

XXIV. Seeking the leaving-behind of discrimination: ten discriminations, the Prajñā Sūtra speaking one line of remedy for each

At the fine and subtle reach of practice, one must do finework upon "discrimination." The treatise lists ten discriminations to be left behind, and points out that the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra speaks, for these ten, one line of remedy for each. This exposition matches them one to one, so one may see how the "sūtra" treats "discrimination" with its own hand:

The discrimination of no-substance (the sūtra says "there is a bodhisattva, a bodhisattva"), the discrimination of substance (the sūtra says "one does not see a bodhisattva," and the rest), the discrimination of superimposition (the sūtra says "the self-nature of form is empty"), the discrimination of diminishment (the sūtra says "it is not that, form ceasing, there is emptiness"), the discrimination of one mark (the sūtra says "if form is empty, it is not form"), the discrimination of divergent mark (the sūtra says "emptiness is not other than form, form is not other than emptiness, emptiness is just form"), the discrimination of self-mark (the sūtra says "this form is only a name"), the discrimination of separate mark (the sūtra says "form neither arises nor ceases, is neither defiled nor pure," and the rest), the discrimination that gives rise to meaning after name (the sūtra says "the name is a guest" — as with name, one should not cling to meaning), and the discrimination that gives rise to name after meaning (the sūtra says "all names are not to be seen" — as with meaning, one should not cling to name).

Ten discriminations, ten lines of sūtra-text, matched one to one. This section shows most clearly the proper task of "the treatise must join the sūtra": the leaving-behind of discrimination is no separate invention of this treatise, but the treatise setting each of the Prajñā's existing remedy-lines into its place — the medicine that treats discrimination was long since prepared within the sūtra.

XXV. Seeking the greatness of the Dharma: three kinds of "greatness," qualities like an ocean

The last section of the whole chapter is "seeking the greatness of the Dharma" — gathering this long road of seeking-the-way into three kinds of "greatness":

• Greatness of skillful means — with the supreme vigor, seeking the reality of the conventional truth and the ultimate truth, real and undistorted.
• Greatness of benefiting others — being the refuge of the world, settling sentient beings in the ultimate truth.
• Greatness of benefiting oneself — all qualities fulfilled, full as a great ocean.

Having oneself attained the real (greatness of skillful means), able also to establish others in the real (greatness of benefiting others), while one's own qualities are full as an ocean (greatness of benefiting oneself) — the "greatness" of seeking the Dharma lies just in this: in self-benefit and benefiting others, in compassion and wisdom rounded both. And so the Chapter on Seeking the Dharma closes with this air of "qualities like an ocean."

Conclusion: one long road of "seeking"

Seen whole, the Chapter on Seeking the Dharma is one long road of "seeking the way" from beginning to end, no stretch of which is walked in vain:

Seeking the Dharma, seeking the condition, seeking knowledge, seeking attention (readying the material of the three baskets and the tools of tranquillity and insight) → seeking the true meaning, the illusion-similes, blocking the three extremes, the eight similes (the view — the three natures all real, the realm like an illusion, not grasping the existent or non-existent, not fleeing into cessation) → seeking the knowing knowledge, seeking the defiled and pure, seeking consciousness-only (the four wisdoms knowing the realm, straightening the arrow and softening the hide to remove the defiled, grasper and grasped a single light of mind) → seeking the marks, the transformation of the basis (the marked five, the marking three, the five fields of learning; seeds and remaining consciousnesses transformed into the outflow-free element, accomplishing the five superiorities, attaining the four masteries) → seeking liberation, the absence of self-substance, the forbearance of non-arising (the three gates setting down having-something-to-attain, pressing on to the nirvāṇa of intrinsic quiescence, patiently forbearing the non-arising of dharmas) → seeking the one vehicle (the eight intentions teaching the one vehicle and yet not abolishing the three, transmitted-and-not-composed) → seeking the fields of knowledge, the forty-four attentions, the distinctions of the Dharma, the causes, the leaving-behind of discrimination, the greatness of the Dharma (the practice — the five sciences, the attentions like a long string of beads, the thirteen seekings, the four notions, the ten lines of remedy, closing at last with qualities like an ocean).

Within this one chapter, the "view" of Consciousness-Only and the "practice" of the bodhisattva run through as one, and no single meaning is mere ornament: the view is everywhere the middle way of "exists yet not-existent," the practice is everywhere the rearing "thought by thought."

One sentence to close: the seeking of the way is inexhaustible, and its whole gist is only in one line — "amid the illusory, seeing the real; amid the real, not forsaking sentient beings." Upon the rope there was never a snake, and yet the hemp rope is vivid before the eye; and it is right here, at this real place of "vivid yet empty, empty yet vivid," that the bodhisattva seeks on, and practices on, to the exhaustion of the future.