大乘莊嚴經論 業伴品

The bodhisattva who gets things done always keeps "skill" walking at his side

The bodhisattva does things — the many doings of body, speech, and mind, which this chapter calls "action" (業); and when he does them he keeps a companion at his side, called "skillful means" (方便), that is, skill. In four short verses it tells the four faces of that skill.

The first is amassing: as the great earth bears up the ocean, the ranged mountains, the grasses and trees, and living beings, so the three kinds of action, bit by bit, gather all that is good and hold it up — the good is not scattered good deeds, but is heaped up thick and deep.

The second is rescuing others: to draw back from the narrow road those who wish only to save themselves, the bodhisattva is willing to endure toil and hardship through measureless eons, and that mind never turns back, never flinches.

The third is guarding oneself: to keep safe the first resolve — "to reach Buddhahood for the sake of beings" — he guards deeply against letting a mind for the lesser vehicle rise in himself, as a man guards deeply against the harms that would injure his body.

The fourth is purifying: having done it, he keeps no reckoning — "I did it, this is what I did, this is for whom I did it" — like a wild goose crossing the long sky, leaving not a single trace; and just because no trace is left, the merit is instead without bound.

To bear up, to go into hardship, to guard the mind, to grasp at nothing — this is the bodhisattva who gets things done, and that "skill" who walks beside him.

"Action and its companion" (業伴): when the bodhisattva undertakes "action" (業 — the doings of body, speech, and mind), he does so with "skillful means" (方便 — the skill of expedient method) as his companion. This chapter states the four skillful means of action: amassing, rescuing others, guarding oneself, and purifying.

Having stated the great instruction of the Tathāgata, the text next states how the bodhisattva undertakes action with skillful means as his companion.

Just as the great earth, the seed-bed, sustains the four kinds of thing, so too the three kinds of action establish all that is good.

This verse displays the skillful means of amassing action (集起業方便 — the skill of gathering wholesome dharmas together). 〔Question〕What are the "four kinds of thing" that "the great earth sustains"? 〔Answer〕First, the great ocean; second, the mountains; third, the grasses and trees; fourth, sentient beings — the great earth is able to bear up these four. As for "the three kinds of action establish all that is good": those four things are a simile for all wholesome dharmas; just as the great earth sustains the four things, so the bodhisattva's three kinds of action — of body, speech, and mind — are able to gather together all manner of good, namely the perfections such as giving (檀波羅蜜, dāna-pāramitā) and all the factors of awakening (菩提分法, bodhipākṣika-dharma).

He can perform the action hard to perform, appearing in form through measureless eons; the own-nature of body, speech, and mind — to rescue them, it never turns back.

This verse displays the skillful means of rescuing-others action (救他業方便 — the skill of delivering others). 〔Question〕What is the "action hard to perform"? 〔Answer〕There are beings who wish only to gain the going-forth of the lesser vehicle; over them the bodhisattva gives rise to the greatest grief (grieving for their loss). In order to turn their minds away from the other vehicle (異乘 — that is, the lesser vehicle), the bodhisattva manifests all kinds of forms, and through measureless world-realms and measureless eons he long endures toil and hardship, performing all manner of action hard to perform. As for "the own-nature of body, speech, and mind — to rescue them, it never turns back": in order to rescue them, though the bodhisattva everywhere long endures toil and hardship, the own-nature of his three kinds of action — of body, speech, and mind — is in the end without any turning back or flinching.

As a man dreads the four harms and guards deeply for his own sake, so the bodhisattva fears the two vehicles, and guards his action likewise.

This verse displays the skillful means of self-guarding action (自護業方便 — the skill of protecting oneself). 〔Question〕What are the "four harms"? 〔Answer〕First, poison; second, weapons; third, tainted food; fourth, enemies — a man guards deeply against these four harms for the sake of benefiting himself. As for "the bodhisattva fears the two vehicles, and guards his action likewise": those four harms are a simile for the various skillful means of action of the people of the two vehicles (二乘, śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha); the bodhisattva, dreading this, deeply guards himself against giving rise to a mind for the lesser vehicle. Why so? Because giving rise to a mind for the lesser vehicle would: cut off the seed (種子, bīja) of the great vehicle; cause the wholesome roots of the great vehicle that have not yet arisen to fail to arise; cause those already arisen to perish again; and moreover set up an obstacle to the fruit of Buddhahood.

Doer, action, and the deed done — in these three spheres there is no discrimination; so he crosses the ocean of purified action, and his merit is without bound.

This verse displays the skillful means of purifying action (清淨業方便 — the skill of making action pure). 〔Question〕What are the "three spheres" (三輪)? 〔Answer〕First, the doer; second, the action; third, the deed done — these are called the three spheres. As for "no discrimination": these three are alike unattainable, and by this the three spheres attain purity; the three spheres being pure, action is thereby pure. As for "he crosses the ocean of purified action, and his merit is without bound": he reaches the far shore of "action" (hence "crossing the ocean of action"), and his merit is without bound (because it is inexhaustible).

(Here the chapter on Action and Its Companion ends.)

The Chapter on Instruction told how the bodhisattva climbs, stage by stage, in cultivation; this chapter turns to say that when the bodhisattva acts — that is, sets action going, the doing of body, speech, and mind — there is always a companion at his side, called skillful means (方便, skill-in-means). In just four short verses this chapter states four kinds of "skillful means of action": gathering the good together (amassing), rescuing beings from the lesser (rescuing others), keeping guard over the Mahāyāna mind (self-guarding), and acting without clinging (purity).

I. Amassing: the three actions are like the great earth, bearing all that is good

As the great earth's ground bears up four kinds of thing, so the three kinds of action establish all that is good.

The first is amassing — gathering all that is good into one. The treatise uses a plain, sturdy comparison: the great earth can bear up four great things — the great ocean, the mountain ranges, plants and trees, and living beings; likewise the bodhisattva's three actions of body, speech, and mind can bear up and gather all wholesome dharmas (giving and the other perfections, and all the factors of awakening). The good is not a scatter of chance kind deeds done on a whim; it must be gathered and held up bit by bit by the three actions, the way the great earth bears up the ten thousand things. One who would act must first have this earth-like strength of thick bearing.

II. Rescuing others: to rescue beings from the lesser, willingly bearing the toil of measureless eons

Able to carry out the hard-to-do deed, taking on forms for measureless eons, the self-nature of body, speech, and mind rescues them without turning back.

The second is rescuing others. Here there is a certain "hard-to-do deed": some beings want only the self-settling escape of the lesser vehicle, and the bodhisattva, watching them, is pained to the heart ("gives rise to great suffering [on their behalf]"). In order to turn them back from the mind of the lesser vehicle, he is willing to manifest all manner of bodily forms, throughout measureless world-systems, across measureless eons, and long and long to bear the toil of hardship, doing every kind of extremely hard deed. Most moving of all is the latter half: for the sake of rescuing them, though he bears the toil of hardship in place after place, the "self-nature" of his three actions of body, speech, and mind never turns back, never bends. To rescue a single being out of the narrow road, the bodhisattva is willing to pay the toil of measureless eons — this is the weight of the Mahāyāna's "rescuing others."

III. Self-guarding: keeping guard over the Mahāyāna mind, warding off backsliding as one wards off the four harms

As a man dreads the four harms and guards deeply for the sake of his own body, the bodhisattva dreads the two vehicles and guards his action likewise.

The third is self-guarding — keeping guard over one's own Mahāyāna mind. The treatise takes the "four harms" as a comparison: a man deeply wards off the four things that injure the body — poison, weapons, bad food, and enemies — in order to keep his own life safe; the bodhisattva too "deeply wards off" one thing — the arising of a mind of the lesser vehicle. Toward "the various actions of the two vehicles (二乘, the lesser vehicle)" he is as fearful as of the four harms. Why so fearful? Because once a mind of the lesser vehicle rises up, it cuts off the seed of the Mahāyāna, keeps the not-yet-arisen Mahāyāna roots of good from arising, and makes the already-arisen perish again, and it also obstructs the fruit of buddhahood. To keep guard over that first mind — "for the sake of all beings, to become a buddha" — is the bodhisattva's most vital self-protection.

IV. Purity: acting yet not clinging — no discrimination of the three spheres

The doer, the action, and the deed done — not discriminating this three spheres, one crosses the ocean of purified action; the merit is without bound.

The fourth is purity — having done, yet not clinging. The treatise points out the "three spheres" (三輪): the doer (the one who acts), the action (the deed itself), and the deed done (that toward which one acts). These three are in fact all "unobtainable"; not giving rise to discrimination toward this three spheres, the three spheres is thereby pure, and action follows it into purity. Thus one "crosses the ocean of action," and the merit is boundless and inexhaustible.

This "purity of the three spheres" is stated most plainly by the Great Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra where it speaks of giving: when the bodhisattva practices giving, the three spheres is pure — "first, not clinging to oneself as the giver; second, not clinging to the other as the receiver; third, not clinging to the gift or to the fruit of giving" (Chinese T05n0220, scroll 75). Giver, receiver, the thing given, and the fruit gained — not grasping at any of these places: this is called purity of the three spheres. This chapter's "doer, action, and deed done" is precisely the same import: not giving rise to clinging over "I do, what is done, for whom it is done."

It may be felt through a wild goose crossing the vast sky: the wild goose flies across the sky — the water's surface catches its reflection yet keeps no trace of it; the sky lets it fly across, and has never kept it in mind. The bodhisattva's doing of good should be just so — having done, it is as though nothing were done; the mind keeps no record of "I have done, what was done, for whom it was done." It is not that he does not act; it is that he acts leaving no trace behind. And precisely because no trace is left, this merit is, on the contrary, "without bound."

Conclusion: one who would act must have "skill-in-means" for a companion

Taking the whole chapter together, the Chapter on Action and Its Companion tells of the four kinds of skillful means in the bodhisattva's "acting": to bear up all that is good like the great earth (amassing), to willingly toil without turning back in order to rescue beings from the lesser (rescuing others), to keep guard over the first mind as one wards off the four harms (self-guarding), and, having done, to leave no trace (purity).

In a single phrase: the bodhisattva who truly knows how to act always has "skill-in-means" at his side for a companion — gathering the good with the thickness of the great earth, rescuing beings with the courage of one who braves scalding water, guarding the mind with the strictness of one warding off harm; and, the deed once done, like a wild goose crossing the vast sky, leaving not a single trace.