CH 9 - Praise
1. Prajñāpāramitā, perfectly pure
Subhuti: To call it 'Prajñāpāramitā,' 0 Lord, that is merely giving it a name. And what that name corresponds to, that cannot be got at. One speaks of a 'name' with reference to a merely nominal entity. Even this Prajñāpāramitā cannot be found or got at. In so far as it is a word, in so far is it Prajñāpāramitā; in so far as it is Prajñāpāramitā, in so far is it a word. No duality of dharmas between those two can either be found or got at. For what reason then will Maitreya, the Bodhisattva, the great being, after he has won the supreme enlightenment, preach just this very same Prajñāpāramitā at this very spot of earth in just these same words?” Buddha: “The reason is that Maitreya will be fully enlightened as to the fact that the skandhas are neither permanent nor impermanent, that they are neither bound nor freed, that they are absolutely pure.”
2. Effects of Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “But this is the most precious thing in the entire world, this Prajñāpāramitā, which has been set up and undertaken for the benefit and happiness of the world, by showing that all dharmas have not been produced nor destroyed, are neither defiled nor purified.”
3. The Second Turning of the Dharma Wheel
Thereupon a great many thousands of Gods in the intermediate realm called out aloud with cries of joy, waved their garments, and said: “We now, indeed, see the second turning of the wheel of dharma taking place in Jambudvipa!” Buddha: “This, Subhuti, is not the second turning of the wheel of dharma. No dharma can be turned forwards or backwards. Just this is a Bodhisattva's Prajñāpāramitā.”
Buddha: ”Subhuti. Emptiness does not proceed nor recede, and that holds good also for the Signless and the Wishless.”
4. Modes and Qualities of Prajñāpāramitā
Subhuti: “This is a perfection of what is not, because space is not something that is.”
CH 10 - Proclamation of the Qualities of Bearing in Mind
1. Past Deeds and Present Attitudes
Śakra: “Deep, 0 holy Sariputra, is Prajñāpāramitā. It is not at all astonishing that, when it is being taught, a Bodhisattva would not believe in it, if he had not practised in the past.”
The Lord: “So it is, Sariputra. The bodhisattva does not stand in the notion that 'form, etc., is deep.' Insofar as they do not stand in this notion they make efforts about form, etc. They do not make efforts about the notion that 'form, etc., is deep.' In so far as they make no efforts about this notion they do not stand in the notion that 'form, etc., is deep.'
2. Qualifications of a Bodhisattva
Sariputra: “If a Bodhisattva obtains this Prajñāpāramitā, for vision, praise, worship and hearing, and if they remain unafraid when they hear it, one can be sure that they have come from afar, has set out for long in the vehicle, and that his wholesome roots are well matured. It will not be long from now onwards until he receives the prediction to supreme enlightenment.”
3. Five Similes of Nearness to Enlightenment
Like a having a dream that one is sitting at the site of Enlightenment
Like someone coming out of a forest, seeing signs of civilization
Like someone trying to find the ocean
Like signs of spring
Like a pregnant woman who feels like she’s about to give birth
4. Why Bodhisattvas are Well Favored by Buddhas
Buddha: “It is because these Bodhisattvas have practised for the weal and happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world.”
5. Right Attitude toward Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “Bodhisattvas course in Prajñāpāramitā when they review neither the growth nor the diminution of form, etc., when they do not review either dharma or no-dharma. It is thus that their development of Prajñāpāramitā becomes increasingly perfect.” Subhuti: “This explanation is surely unthinkable.” Buddha: “Because form is unthinkable, and so are the other skandhas. When one does not even perceive that form, etc., are unthinkable, then they course in Prajñāpāramitā.
6. Obstacles to Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “Mara, the Evil One, will make great efforts to cause - difficulties. Therefore one should hurry up with one's task of copying it out. If one has one month to do it in, or two months, or three months, one should just carry on with the writing. If one has a year or more, even then one should just carry on with writing this Prajñāpāramitā.
7. Bodhisattvas Sustained by the Buddha
Buddha: “Bodhisattvas who study Prajñāpāramitā are known to the Tathagata, they are sustained and seen by the Tathagata, and the Tathagata beholds them with his Buddha-eye. And those Bodhisattvas who study this Prajñāpāramitā, and who are progressively training in Thusness, they are near to the Thusness of the supreme enlightenment, and they stand poised in their decision to win full enlightenment.”
8. Prediction of the Spread of Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “These Sutras associated with the six perfections will, after the passing away of the Tathagata, appear in the South. From the South they will spread to the East, and from there to the North-from the time when the Dharma-Vinaya is like freshly made cream right into the period when the good law disappears. Those who at that time study and preserve this Prajñāpāramitā will be brought to mind by the Tathagata; the Tathagata will know, sustain and see them, and behold them with his Buddha-eye.”
9. Description of Bodhisattvas who Study Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “After [those bodhisattvas] have passed through this present birth, just these ideas associated with the state of all-knowledge and with the Prajñāpāramitā, will persist by force of habit.”
CH 11 - Mara’s Deeds
1. Various Deeds of Mara
Buddha: “Or, because this book does not name the place where they were born, does not mention their own name and clan, nor that of their mother and father, nor that of their family, they may decide not to listen to Prajñāpāramitā, and take their leave.”
2. Prajñāpāramitā and the Sutras of śrāvakas
Buddha: “In the future, some persons belonging to the vehicle of the Bodhisattvas will spurn this Prajñāpāramitā, which is the root of the cognition of the all-knowing, and decide to look for the core, for growth, for Buddhahood, in the vehicle of the Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas, which really corresponds to branches, leaves and foliage. This also should be known as done to them by Mara.”
Buddha: “Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas make up their minds that "one single self we shall tame, one single self we shall pacify, one single self we shall lead to final Nirvana." Thus they undertake exercises which are intended to bring about wholesome roots for the sake of taming themselves, pacifying themselves, leading themselves to Nirvana. Bodhisattvas should certainly not in such way train. On the contrary, they should train thus: "My own self I will place in Suchness, and, so that all the world might be helped, I will place all beings into Suchness, and I will lead to Nirvana the whole immeasurable world of beings."
Buddha: “[Those] who prefer the Sutras which welcome the level of Disciples or Pratyekabuddhas, through advocating a dwelling in unconcerned inactivity, and which do not recommend the vehicle of the Bodhisattvas, but only the taming, appeasing, Nirvana of one single self. The decision to win seclusion, to win the fruits of a holy life, from the fruit of a Streamwinner to Pratyekabuddhahood, to enter Parinirvana after one has, in this very life, freed thought, without further clinging, from the outflows,-that means to be "associated with the level of a Disciple or Pratyekabuddha."
3. Various Deeds of Mara
Buddha: ”It is also a deed of Mara if after one has written down Prajñāpāramitā, one should either think that it is Prajñāpāramitā which is written down, or that it is not Prajñāpāramitā which is written down, or if one should adhere to Prajñāpāramitā either in the letters, or as something not in the letters.”
4. Sources of Discord Between Teacher and Student
Buddha: “It may be that the pupil is zealous, and desires to learn perfect wisdom, but that the teacher is indolent, and has no desire to demonstrate dharma. Or, the teacher may be untiring, and desire to give perfect wisdom, while the pupil is tired or too busy.”
5. Misdirection of Aim
The Buddha has said: "I do not praise any kind of rebirth in becoming, because it lasts no longer than a finger-snap. For everything that is conditioned is impermanent. Anything that may cause fear is ill. All that is in the triple world is empty.”
6. More Discord Between Teacher and Student
Buddha: “Therefore then, Subhuti, all the factors which prevent cooperation between teacher and pupil should be recognized as Mara's deeds, and one should try to avoid them.”
7. Mara Dissuades from Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “To those who have forsaken the defilements, Mara cannot gain entry, and that makes him distressed and dispirited, and the dart of sorrow vexes him.”
8. Antagonism Between Mara and the Buddha
Buddha: “Subhuti! And while it is true that these deeds of Mara are bound to arise, a great many agencies will arise in their turn that oppose the faults of Mara. …For whereas Mara, the Evil One, will make great efforts to cause obstacles, the Tathagata in his turn will send help.”
CH 12 - Showing the World
1. Prajñāpāramitā the Mother of the Buddhas
Buddha: “So fond are the Tathagatas of this perfection of wisdom, so much do they cherish and protect it. For she is their mother and begetter, she showed them this all-knowledge, she instructed them in the ways of the world. From her have the Tathagatas come forth. For she has begotten and shown that cognition of the all-knowing, she has shown them the world for what it really is.”
2. How the Tathagata Knows the World
Buddha: “perfect wisdom of the Tathagatas has pointed out the five skandhas as 'the world' [loka], because they do not crumble, nor crumble away [lujyante, pralujyante]. For the five skandhas have emptiness for own-being, and, as devoid of own-being, emptiness cannot crumble nor crumble away. It is in this sense that perfect wisdom instructs the Tathagatas in this world. And as emptiness does not crumble, nor crumble away, so also the Signless, the Wishless, the Unaffected, the Unproduced, Non-existence, and the Realm of Dharma.”
3. How the Tathagata Knows the Thoughts of Beings
Buddha: “In the likeness of the immeasurable inextinction of space should the immeasurable inextinction of the minds of all beings be understood."
Buddha: “Subhuti, that which is the Suchness of the skandhas, that is the Suchness of the world; that which is the Suchness of the world, that is the Suchness of all dharmas; that which is the Suchness of all dharmas that is the Suchness of the fruit of a Streamwinner, and so on, up to: that is the Suchness of Pratyekabuddhahood, that is the Suchness of the Tathagata.”
4. Deep Marks and how they are fastened (CH 13 in the Kumarajiva version)
Śakra: "Deep dharmas are being revealed, 0 Lord. How, 0 Lord, are characteristics fixed onto them? 是法甚深，於此法中，云何作相？
Buddha: “Characteristics are fixed on to the fact that they are empty, signless, wishless, not brought together, not produced, not stopped, not defiled, not purified, that they are non-existence, Nirvana, the realm of Dharma, and Suchness. … Would it be correct to say that this space is fixed on by something?”
Śakra: “No, because it is unconditioned.”
5. The World Shown as Empty
Buddha: “Prajñāpāramitā can be regarded as the instructress of the Tathagatas in this world, i.e. because none of the skandhas has been viewed.”
Subhuti: How can there be non-viewing of form, etc.?”
Buddha: “Where there arises an act of consciousness which has none of the skandhas for objective support, there the non-viewing of form, etc., takes place. But just this non-viewing of the skandhas is the viewing of the world. That is the way in which the world is viewed by the Tathagata. It is thus that Prajñāpāramitā acts as an instructress in the world to the Tathagatas. And how does Prajñāpāramitā show up the world for what it is? She shows that the world is empty, unthinkable, calmly quiet. As purified of itself she shows up the world, she makes it known, she indicates it.”
CH 13 - Inconceivable
1. Five attributes of Prajñāpāramitā
Subhuti: “Deep, 0 Lord, is perfect wisdom. Certainly as a great enterprise has this perfection of wisdom been set up, as an unthinkable, incomparable, immeasurable, incalculable enterprise, as an enterprise which equals the unequalled.”
Buddha: “So it is, Subhuti. And why is it an unthinkable enterprise? Because unthinkable are Tathagatahood, Buddhahood, Self-existence, and the state of all-knowledge. And on these one cannot reflect with one's thought, since they cannot be an object of thought, or of volition, or of any of the dharmas which constitute thought. And why is it an incomparable enterprise? Because one cannot reflect on Tathagatahood, etc., nor compare it. And why is it immeasurable? Because Tathagatahood, etc., is immeasurable. And why is it incalculable? Because Tathagatahood, etc., is incalculable. And why is it an enterprise which equals the unequalled? Because nothing can be equal to the Tathagata, to the fully Enlightened One, to the Self-existent, to the All-knowing, how much less can anything be superior?”
Subhuti: “Do these five attributes apply only to Tathagatahood, etc., or also to the skandhas, and to all dharmas?”
Buddha: “They apply to them also”
“These dharmas are incomparable in the same sense in which space is incomparable. These dharmas can certainly not be placed side by side, and that is why they cannot be compared. These dharmas are unthinkable, incomparable, immeasurable, incalculable, equal to the unequalled in the same sense that space has these attributes.”
2. Spiritual Rebirth
When this doctrine of unthinkability, etc., was being taught, the minds of five hundred monks were freed, without further clinging, etc..
3. Nothing to take hold of
Buddha “It is the perfection of wisdom which in them does the work.”
Buddha to Subuti: “Do you view Arhatship as a real dharma which you could take hold of, or settle down in?” Subhuti: No, Lord!
Buddha: “So it is, Subhuti. I also do not view Tathagatahood as real, and therefore I do not take hold of it, do not settle down in it. For that reason all-knowledge also is a state in which one neither takes hold of anything, nor settles down in anything.”
4. Reactions of the Gods
Gods: “If all the beings in this great Three Thousand World System should, for a kalpa or the remainder of a kalpa, course on the stage of a Faith-follower; and if, on the other hand, someone should, for one day only, find pleasure in the patient acceptance of this deep perfection of wisdom, and should search for it, reflect on it, weigh it up, investigate it and meditate on it, then this latter will be better than all those beings.”
CH 14 - Similes
1. Future and Past Rebirths
Buddha: “It is quite possible that a Bodhisattva who is endowed with these qualities, has, before he was reborn here, deceased in other Buddhafields, where he has honoured and questioned the Buddhas and Lords.”
See Vimalakirti Sutra, Ch 12
2. Past Deeds of a Bodhisattva
Buddha: “If a Bodhisattva in the past has heard this deep perfection of wisdom but has asked no questions about it, and if later on, when he is reborn among men and hears this deep perfection of wisdom being taught, he hesitates and is stupefied and cowed, then one can be sure that in the past also he was one of those who were unwilling to ask questions.”
3. Four Similes
Like floating on a piece of wood used as support after a boat sinks, or not
Like carrying water in a solid jar, vs a borken jar
Like an uncaulked boat loaded with goods, or a well caulked boat
Like an old person who can’t get out of bed
CH 15 - Gods
1. The Beginner’s Task
Buddha: “[Beginner] Bodhisattvas should tend, love and honor good friends. Good friends are those who instruct and admonish in Prajñāpāramitā, and who will expound its meaning. They will expound it as follows, ‘Make effort in the six perfections. Whatever you may have achieved by way of giving a gift, guarding morality, perfecting yourself in patience, exertion of vigour, entering into concentration, or mastery in wisdom - all that transfer to full enlightenment. But do not misconstrue full enlightenment as form, or sensation, or any other skandha. For intangible is all-knowledge. And do not long for the level of Disciple or Pratyekabuddha. It is thus that a Bodhisattva who is just beginning should gradually, through the good friends, enter into perfect wisdom."
2. How a Bodhisattva Helps Beings
Buddha: “So it is, [Subhuti]. Doers of what is hard are the Bodhisattvas who have set out for the benefit and happiness of the world, out of pity for it. ‘We will become:
A shelter for the world - protecting sentient beings from suffering
A refuge - setting beings free from birth & death
A place of rest - by not embracing anything
The final relief - In that ‘Beyond’ there is no discrimination
Islands - by the limitation of all dharmas being the same as the Calm Quiet, Nirvana
Lights - removing the darkness of ignorance from those ‘enveloped in the membrane of the eggshell of ignorance’.
Leaders of the world - Enlightened bodhisattvas demonstrating the non-arising of dharmas
‘We will win full enlightenment and become:
The resort of the world -Enlightened bodhisattvas demonstrating that all dharmas are situated in space, they have not come, they have not gone, they are the same as space.
3. Description of Prajñāpāramitā *****
Subhuti: A doer of what is hard is the Bodhisattva who has ‘armed themselves with this armor: ‘Immeasurable and incalculable beings I shall lead to Nirvana.’ Buddha: “The armor of such a Bodhisattva is, however, not connected with form, sensation, etc., nor is it put on for the sake of form, sensation etc. It is not connected with the level of a Disciple, or a Pratyekabuddha, or a Buddha, nor put on for their sake. For surely unconnected with all dharmas is that armor of a Bodhisattva who is armed with the great armor.”
Subhuti: “How does one apperceive Prajñāpāramitā through a series of thoughts [inclined to all-knowledge]?” Buddha: “Through a series of thoughts inclined towards space, prone to space, sloping towards space. This apperception is won through a series of thoughts inclined to all-knowledge. And why? Because all-knowledge is immeasurable and unlimited. What is immeasurable and unlimited, that is not form, or any other skandha. That is not attainment, or reunion, or getting there; not the path or its fruit; not cognition, or consciousness; not genesis, or destruction, or production, or passing away, or stopping, or development, or annihilation. It has not been made by anything, it has not come from anywhere, it does not go to anywhere, it does not stand in any place or spot. On the contrary, it comes to be styled 'immeasurable, unlimited.' From the immeasurableness of space is the immeasurableness of all-knowledge. But what is immeasurableness that does not lend itself to being fully known by anything, be it form, or any skandha, or any of the six perfections, Because form is all-knowledge, and so are the other skandhas, and the six perfections.
Thereupon Śakra approached and said: “Deep, World-Honored One, is Prajñāpāramitā. It is hard to fathom, hard to see, hard to understand. The thought of a Tathagata who considers this depth of dharma, and who, seated on the terrace of enlightenment, has just won full enlightenment, is inclined to carefree non-action, and not to demonstration of dharma.”
Buddha: “So it is. Deep certainly is this dharma I have fully known. Nothing has been, or will be, or is being fully known, and that is the depth of this dharma. This dharma which I have fully known is deep through the depth of space, the depth of the self, the depth of the not-coming of all dharmas, and of their not going.”
Śakra: “It is wonderful, Thus Come One, it is astonishing, Well-Gone One! As contrary to the ways of the whole world is this dharma demonstrated, it teaches you not to seize upon dharmas, but the world is wont to grasp at anything.”
CH 16 - Suchness
1. Tathagata-Suchness
Sakra and the Gods: “Born after the image of the Lord is this Disciple, the holy Subhuti, the Elder. For, whichever dharma he demonstrates, he always starts from emptiness.”
Subhuti: “Because he is not born is Subhuti, the Elder, born after the image of the Tathagata. He is born after the image of the Tathagata's Suchness. As that has neither come nor gone, so also the Suchness of Subhuti has neither come nor gone.” … “For the Suchness of the Tathagata, and the Suchness of all dharmas, they are both one single Suchness, not two, not divided. A non-dual Suchness, however, is nowhere, is from nowhere, belongs to nowhere.” …. “And also, the Suchness of the World-Honored One when he was a Bodhisattva that is the Suchness of the World-Honored One when he had won full enlightenment. And that is the Suchness through which Bodhisattvas, when they have definitely won full enlightenment, comes to be called 'Tathagata' (Thus Come One).
2. The Earth Shakes
When this disquisition of the Suchness of the Tathagata had taken place [by Subhuti], the great earth shook in six ways, stirred, quaked, was agitated, resounded and tumbled, as it did when the Tathagata won full enlightenment.
3. Prajñā & Upāya
Buddha: “However great may be their setting forth and the thought which they raise to full enlightenment, if they are not upheld by Prajñāpāramitā and lacks in upaya, they are bound to fall.” …”they hear the word ‘emptiness’ and treat it as a characteristic.”
4. Enlightenment and Emptiness
Subhuti: “How can the World-Honored One say that full enlightenment is hard to win, when there is no one who can win?”
Buddha: “Because it cannot possibly come about is full enlightenment hard to win, because in reality it is not there, because it cannot be discriminated, because it has not been fabricated [as a false appearance].”
5. Requisites for Going Forth
Subhuti: “How should Bodhisattvas behave, how should they train, if they want to go forth to the full and supreme enlightenment?” Buddha: “Bodhisattvas should adopt the same attitude towards all beings, their mind should be even towards all beings, they should not handle others with an uneven mind, but with a mind which is friendly, well disposed, helpful, free from aversion, avoiding harm and hurt, they should handle others as if they were his mother, father, son or daughter.”
CH 17 - Attributes, Tokens, and Signs of Irreversibility
1. Tokens of Irreversibility
Buddha: “Even in their dreams irreversible Bodhisattvas keep the ten wholesome paths of action present in his mind.”
2. Mara’s Deeds
Buddha: “Mara, the Evil One, may come along in the guise of a Shramana, and say: "What you have heard just now, that is not the word of the Buddha. It is poetry, the work of poets. But what I here teach to you, that is the teaching of the Buddha, that is the word of the Buddha.”
“If a Bodhisattva recognizes the deeds of Mara, if, when he hears discouraging remarks from strangers, he does not desist, nor slide back, nor change his mind, if he perceives those deeds of Mara for what they are, then this is another token of irreversibility.”
“One says therefore that "a Bodhisattva is irreversible if they patiently accept the cognition of non-production." This is another token of irreversibility.”
3. More Tokens of Irreversibility
Buddha: “An irreversible Bodhisattva does not attach weight to a name, nor to renown, title or fame. They do not get attached to a [particular] name [which in any case is absent in emptiness]. Their mind remains undismayed, and interested only in the welfare of all beings.”
CH 18 - Emptiness
1. Deep Stations
Buddha: “Deep," Subhuti, of Emptiness that is a synonym, of the Signless, the Wishless, the Uneffected, the Unproduced, of No-birth, Non-existence, Dispassion, Cessation, Nirvana and Departing. Subhuti: “Is it a synonym only of these, or of all dharmas?” Buddha: “It is a synonym of all dharmas. For form, etc., is deep.”
2. How to attend Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “A Bodhisattva spurns birth-and-death, turns his back on it, seeks to end it.”
3. Merit
Buddha: “A Bodhisattva who for one day only makes endeavours about perfect wisdom begets greater merit than another Bodhisattva who for countless kalpas gives and bestows gifts on all the classes of holy persons.”
4. Immeasurable, Empty, and Talk
Buddha: “One just talks when one speaks of 'immeasurable,' or 'incalculable,' or 'inexhaustible,' or of 'empty,' or 'signless,' or 'wishless,' or 'the Uneffected,' or 'Non-production,' 'no-birth,' 'non-existence,' 'dispassion,' 'cessation,' 'Nirvana.'”
Subhuti: “It is wonderful to see the extent which the Tathagata has demonstrated the true nature of all these dharmas, and yet one cannot properly talk about the true nature of all these dharmas, [in the sense of Predicating distinctive attributes to separate real entities].”
5. No Increase or Decrease
Buddha: “A Bodhisattva who courses in perfect wisdom, who develops perfect wisdom, and who is skilled in means, does obviously not think that "this perfection of giving grows, this perfection of giving diminishes." But he knows that "this perfection of giving is a mere word."
Subhuti: “What then is this supreme enlightenment?”
Buddha: “It is Suchness. But Suchness neither grows nor diminishes. A Bodhisattva who repeatedly and often dwells in mental activities connected with that Suchness comes near to the supreme enlightenment, and he does not lose those mental activities again. It is certain that there can be no growth or diminution of an entity which is beyond all words, and that therefore neither the perfections, nor all dharmas, can grow or diminish.”
CH 19 - Goddess of the Ganges
1. Conditioned Coproduction
Buddha: “It is neither through the first [thought of enlightenment] nor through the last thought of enlightenment, nor independent of them that a Bodhisattva wins full enlightenment.”
2. No Development
Subhuti: “[The Buddha] has said that dream and waking are indiscriminate, [essentially the same]. If a Bodhisattva who has received perfect wisdom, day by day courses in perfect wisdom, then he also in his dreams remains quite close to perfect wisdom, and develops it even then in abundance.”
Sariputra: “If someone in his dreams does a deed, wholesome or unwholesome, will that be added on to the heap or collection of his karma?”
Subhuti: “In so far as the World-Honored One has taught that ultimately all dharmas are like a dream, in so far [i.e. from the standpoint of ultimate reality] that deed will not be added to his heap or collection of karma. But on the other hand [from the standpoint of empirical reality], that deed will be added to the heap and collection of his karma if, after the man has woken up, he thinks the dream over, and consciously forms the notion that he wants to kill someone. How does he do that? During his dream he may have taken life, and after he has woken up, he thinks it over like this: "it is good that he was killed! It is right that he was killed! It was just that he was killed! It was I who killed him." Such thoughts are equivalent to the conscious notion that he wants to kill someone.”
3. No objective supports and no own-being
Maitreya: “With reference to what the Venerable Subhuti has said, what corresponds to those words "Maitreya" and "he will dispose of this matter"? Will my form reply? Or my feeling, perception, impulses, or consciousness? Will my outward appearance reply, or my shape? Or will the emptiness of form reply, or the emptiness of feeling, perception, impulses, or consciousness? Obviously the emptiness of form, etc., does not have the capacity to reply. Nor do I see any dharma which could reply, or which should reply, or by which one could reply, or any dharma which has been predicted to the supreme enlightenment.”
4. Five Places the Inspire Fear
Buddha: “A Bodhisattva is not afraid when he gets into a wilderness infested with wild beasts. For it is his duty to renounce everything for the sake of all beings. Therefore he should react with the thought: "If these wild beasts should devour me, then just that will be my gift to them. The perfection of giving will become more perfect in me, and I will come nearer to full enlightenment.”
“A Bodhisattva should not be afraid if he finds himself in a wilderness infested by robbers. For Bodhisattvas take pleasure in the wholesome practice of renouncing all their belongings. A Bodhisattva must cast away even his body, and he must renounce all that is necessary to life. He should react to the danger with the thought, "If those beings take away from me everything that is necessary to life, then let that be my gift to them. If someone should rob me of my life, I should feel no ill will, anger or fury on account of that.”
“In a waterless waste also a Bodhisattva should not be afraid. For his character is such that he is not alarmed or terrified. He should resolve that his own training might result in removing all thirst from all beings.”
“In a foodless waste also a Bodhisattva should not be afraid. He should arm himself with the thought; "I will exert firm vigor, I will purify my own Buddha-field in such a way that, after I have won enlightenment, in that Buddha-field there will be no foodless wastes, and none will be even conceivable.”
“A Bodhisattva will not be afraid in a district infested by epidemics. But he should consider, reflect and deliberate that 'there is no dharma here which sickness could oppress, nor is that which is called 'sickness' a dharma." In that manner he should contemplate emptiness, and he should not be afraid.”
5. Prediction of the Goddess of the Ganges
Buddha [after smiling]: “This Goddess of the Ganges, Ananda, will, in a future period, become a Tathagata, "Golden Flower" by name.
When she has deceased here she will cease to be a woman, she will become a man. She will be reborn in Abhirati, the Buddha-field of the Tathagata Akshobhya, in whose presence she will lead the holy life.”
Ananda: “Who was the Tathagata in whose presence this Goddess of the Ganges has planted the wholesome root of the first thought of enlightenment, and turned it over to supreme enlightenment?” Buddha: “That was under the Tathagata Dipankara. And she actually scattered golden flowers over the Tathagata when she requested of him [the prediction to] the supreme enlightenment. It was when I strewed the five lotus flowers over Dipankara, the Tathagata, and I acquired the patient acceptance of dharmas which fail to be produced, and then Dipankara predicted my future enlightenment with the words: "You, young man, will in a future period become a Tathagata, Shakyarnuni by name!" Thereupon, when she had heard my prediction, that Goddess produced a thought to the effect that, "Oh, certainly, like that young man I also would like to be predicted to full enlightenment!" And in that way, Ananda, in the presence of the Tathagata Dipankara, that Goddess planted the wholesome root of the first thought of enlightenment, [and turned it over to] full enlightenment.”
CH 20 - Discussion of Skillful Means
1. Emptiness and the Limit of Reality
Buddha: “[Bodhisattvas] should contemplate form, etc., as empty. But they should contemplate that with an undisturbed series of thoughts in such a way that, when they contemplate the fact that "form, etc., is empty," they do not regard that true nature of dharmas [i.e. emptiness] as something which, as a result of its own true nature [i.e. emptiness] is a real entity. But when they do not regard that true nature of dharmas as a real thing, then they cannot realize the reality-limit.
2. Three Similes
Buddha: “A Bodhisattva who is full of loving-kindness and concerned with the welfare of all beings, who dwells in friendliness, compassion, sympathetic joy and impartiality, who has been taken hold of by skill in means and perfect wisdom, who has correctly turned over his wholesome roots, employing the kind of transformation which has the Buddha's sanction. Although he enters into the concentrations which are the doors to deliverance, i.e. the concentrations on emptiness, the signless and the wishless, he nevertheless just does not realize the reality-limit, [i.e, neither on the level of a Disciple, nor on that of a Pratyekabuddha]. For he has at his disposal very strong and powerful helpers, in perfect wisdom and skill in means.”
Like a strong man in a fearful woods
Like a bird in the sky, unsupported
Like an archer keeping an arrow in the sky with other arrows
3. [The Three] Doors to Liberation and Vows about Beings
Buddha: “[A bodhisattva] should form the following aspiration: "For a long time those beings, because they have the notion of existence, course in the apprehension of a basis. After I have won full enlightenment I shall demonstrate dharma to those beings so that they may forsake the erroneous views about a basis." As a free agent he then enters into the concentrations on emptiness, on the Signless, on the Wishless. A Bodhisattva who is thus endowed with this thought of enlightenment and with skill in means does not midway realize the reality-limit.”
“A Bodhisattva reflects that "for a long time those beings, because they perceive dharmas, course in the apprehension of a basis," and they develop this aspiration as they did the former one, entering the concentration on emptiness. Furthermore, they reflect that by perceiving a sign, those beings have, for a long time, coursed in the sign, and they deal with this aspiration as before, entering the concentration on the signless.”
“A bodhisattva reflects: "For a long time have these beings been perverted by the perceptions of permanence, of happiness, of the self, of loveliness. I will act in such a way that, after my full enlightenment, I shall demonstrate dharma in order that they may forsake the perverted views of the perception of permanence, of happiness, of the self, of loveliness, and in order that they may learn that 'impermanent is all this, not permanent; ill is all this, not happiness; without self is all this, not with a self; repulsive is all this, not lovely.“
If a Bodhisattva raises the following thought: "These beings also have for a long time been in the habit of coursing in the apprehension of a basis, and even just now they do so. They have for a long time been in the habit of coursing in the apprehension of a basis, and even just now they do so. They have for a long time been in the habit of coursing in the perception of signs, in perverted views, in perceptions of material objects, in perceptions of unreal objects, in wrong views, and even now they continue to do so. Thus will I act that these faults in each and every way may cease to be in them, that they will be inconceivable in them."
4. Irreversibility
Buddha: “If [a bodhisattva] should not make manifest the production of the thought of the non-abandonment of all beings, or if they should not include skill in means in their answer, then one must know that this Bodhisattva has not in irreversibility been predicted to full enlightenment by the Tathagatas of the past. For they do not indicate this special dharma of an irreversible Bodhisattva [i.e. the non-abandonment of all beings], does not make much of it, does not make it manifest, does not wisely know it, does not include it in his answer, and he does not induce others to enter into that stage [of skill in means] which is the true stage of an irreversible Bodhisattva.”
5. Dream Experiences and the Characteristic of Irreversibility
Buddha “Immediately after [a bodhisattva] has woken up from a dream, they reflect that "like a dream is all this which belongs to the triple world. And in that sense should I demonstrate dharmas after I have won enlightenment, as one who demonstrates dharma correctly."
6. Irreversibility and the Magical Power of Veracity
Buddha: :If a person, -man or woman, boy or girl, -were seized or possessed by a ghost, then a Bodhisattva, who has come across him, should perform the Act of Truth, and say: "If it is true that I have been predicted to full enlightenment by the Tathagatas of the past, and if it is true that my intention to win full enlightenment is perfectly pure, -to the extent that I want to win full enlightenment and that my attention to it is perfectly pure, to that extent I have left behind the thoughts of Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas. It is my duty to win full enlightenment. Not shall I not win full enlightenment! But I shall win just full enlightenment! There is nothing that the Buddhas and Lords who reside in countless world systems have not cognized, seen, felt and fully known. Those Buddhas and Lords know my earnest intention that also I want to win full enlightenment. -Because this is the truth, because this is an utterance of the Truth, may he depart who seized and possessed that person with his ghostly seizure!" If, as a result of these words of the Bodhisattva that ghost does not depart, one should know that the Bodhisattva has not had his prediction; but if he departs one should know that he has had his prediction to full enlightenment.”
CH 21 - Mara’s Deeds
1. Pride and the Magical Power of Veracity
Buddha: “It will then be the magical power of Mara which has driven the ghost away. But the Bodhisattva thinks that it was his might which drove him away, and he does not know that it was Mara's might. He will then slacken in his efforts.”
2. Pride in Connection with the Annunciation of the Name
Buddha: “It may be that [after Mara tells a bodhisattva about their past lives and past prediction of enlightenment] then they feel conceit when they think of the annunciation of their names and circumstances in the past, and of their present austere penances as a rigid ascetic. They may actually think that they have had this prediction in the past because now they have those qualities of a rigid ascetic. And Mara will confirm this view.”
“Furthermore, Subhuti, Mara also operates in connection with the prediction of the name which a Bodhisattva will have as a Buddha. In the guise of a monk he comes to a Bodhisattva and predicts to him that "this will be your name when you have won full enlightenment." And Mara will predict that name which the Bodhisattva had already guessed for himself when he had pondered over the name he would bear after his full enlightenment.”
3. Faults in Connection with Detatchment
Buddha: “Furthermore, Mara the Evil One may come to the Bodhisattva and exhort and inform them in connection with the quality of detachment that the Tathagata has praised detachment, and that that means that one should dwell in the remote forest, in a jungle, in mountain clefts, burial grounds, or on heaps of straw, etc. But that is not what I teach as the detachment of a Bodhisattva, that he should live in a forest, remote, lonely and isolated, or in jungle, mountain clefts, burial grounds, on heaps of straw, etc.”
Subhuti: “If that is not the detachment of the Bodhisattva, what then is it?”
The Lord: “A Bodhisattva dwells detached when they become detached from the mental activities associated with the Disciples and Pratyekabuddhas. For, if they are taken hold of by perfection of wisdom and skill in means, and if they dwell in the dwelling of friendliness and of great compassion towards all beings, then he dwells detached even when he dwells in the neighborhood of a village.”
CH 22 - The Good Friend
1. The Good Friends
Subhuti: “Who are those good friends of a Bodhisattva?”
Buddha: “The Buddhas and Lords, and also the irreversible Bodhisattvas who are skilfull in the Bodhisattva-course, and who instruct and admonish him in the perfections, who demonstrate and expound the perfection of wisdom. The perfection of wisdom in particular should be regarded as a Bodhisattva's good friend. All the six perfections, in fact, are the good friends of a Bodhisattva. They are his Teacher, his path, his light, his torch, his illumination, his shelter, etc,”
“For the six perfections contain the thirty-seven dharmas which act as wings to enlightenment, they contain the four Brahma-dwellings, the four means of conversion, and any Buddha-dharma there may be…”
2. Emptiness, Defilements, and Purification
Subhuti “If all dharmas are isolated and empty, how is the defilement and purification of beings conceivable? For what is isolated cannot be defiled or purified, what is empty cannot be defiled or purified, and what is isolated and empty cannot know full enlightenment.”
Buddha: “What do you think, Subhuti. Do beings course for a long time in I-making and mine-making?”
Subhuti: “So it is.”
Buddha: “Are also I-making and mine-making empty?”
Subhuti: “They are.”
Buddha: “Is it just because of their I-making and mine-making that beings wander about in birth-and-death?”
Subhuti: “So it is.”
Buddha: “It is in that sense that the defilement of beings becomes conceivable. To the extent that beings take hold of things and settle down in them, to that extent is there defilement. But no one is thereby defiled. And to the extent that one does not take hold of things and does not settle down in them, to that extent can one conceive of the absence of I-making and mine-making. In that sense can one form the concept of the purification of beings.” …”But no one is therein purified. When a Bodhisattva courses thus, they course in perfect wisdom. It is in this sense that one can form the concept of the defilement and purification of beings in spite of the fact that all dharmas are isolated and empty.”
3. Attentions to Prajñāpāramitā, and the Pearl of Great Price
Buddha: “How then does that son or daughter of good family at first aspire to the merit [of a bodhisattva]? They become endowed with that kind of wise insight which allows them to see all beings as on the way to their slaughter. Great compassion on that occasion takes hold.”
4. Emptiness and Growth in Enlightenment
Buddha: “Just as perfect wisdom is empty, without increase or decrease, just so also a Bodhisattva is empty, without increase or decrease. It is because of this fact, --i.e. that just as perfect wisdom is empty, without increase or decrease, so also the Bodhisattva is empty, without increase or decrease, -that a Bodhisattva arrives at the full attainment of enlightenment, and thus knows full enlightenment. If a Bodhisattva, when this is being taught, is not afraid nor loses heart, then they should be known as a Bodhisattva who courses in perfect wisdom.”
Buddha: “Do you see as real that dharma which offers no basis for apprehension? Has that dharma by any chance been produced, or will it be produced, or is it being produced, has it been stopped, will it be stopped, or is it being stopped?
Subhuti: “No.”
Buddha: “This insight gives a Bodhisattva the patient acceptance of dharmas which fail to be produced. When he is endowed with that, he is predestined to full enlightenment.”
CH 23 - Śakra
1. The Superior Position of Bodhisattvas
Buddha: “A person who hears, studies, spreads and writes this Prajñāpāramitā begets greater merit than they. The just mentioned heap of merit, due to the morality of all beings in Jambudvipa, is infinitesimal compared with the heap of merit which is due to the wholesome root of someone who hears, studies, spreads and writes this deep Prajñāpāramitā.
Thereupon a monk said to Sakra, Chief of Gods: “You have been surpassed, Kausika, by that person who hears, studies, spreads and writes this deep Prajñāpāramitā!
2. Rewards of Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “Not only the four World Guardians will come to the Bodhisattva who trains in Prajñāpāramitā as it has been expounded, but I also, not to mention the other Gods. Constantly also the Tathagatas will bring him to mind. All the worldly ills that might befall the Bodhisattva who courses in Prajñāpāramitā, such as attacks from others, etc., shall be prevented from affecting him in any way.”
CH 24 - Conceit
1. Conditions which open a bodhisattva to Mara’s influence
Buddha: “Mara tries to hurt a Bodhisattva who in the past, when the perfection of wisdom was being taught, did not produce a thought of firm belief, and he gains entry to him.”
2. The Bodhisattvas Right Attitude to other Bodhisattvas
Buddha: “[The bodhisattva thinks] ‘Even when my life is in danger I must not get into a rage, and no frown should appear on my face." Of such a Bodhisattva I teach the escape. This is the attitude which a Bodhisattva should adopt also towards persons who belong to the vehicle of the Disciples. Never to get angry with any being, that is the attitude of mind one should adopt towards all beings.”
CH 25 - Training
1. How a Bodhisattva is Trained in All-Knowledge
Buddha: “What do you think, Subhuti, the Suchness of the Tathagata, which is the prime cause of the Tathagata being a Tathagata, does that become extinct?”
Subhuti: “No, Lord. For extinction cannot become extinct, extinction being inextinguishable.”
Buddha: “The Suchness of the Tathagata, which is the prime cause of the Tathagata being a Tathagata, is that now produced, or stopped, or born; or does it become or cease to become; or does it become isolated; or impassioned or dispassionate; or does it become like space, or does it become of the nature of dharma?”
Subhuti: “No, Lord.”
Buddha: “Does that Suchness then enter Nirvana?”
Subliuti: “No, Lord.”
Buddha: “Therefore then, Subhuti, a Bodhisattva who trains thus, trains in [the conviction that] ‘Suchness does not get extinct.’ When one trains thus, one reaches the perfection of all training. He cannot be crushed by Mara, or by Mara's associates or by Mara's host. Soon they shall reach the condition of irreversibility. Soon they shall sit on the terrace of enlightenment.”
Subhuti: “But if, 0 Lord, as we all know, all dharmas are by nature perfectly pure, then with regard to what dharma does a Bodhisattva incur and reach the perfect purity of the powers, the grounds of self-confidence and the Buddha-dharmas?”
Buddha: “So it is, Subhuti. For all dharmas are just by [their essential original] nature perfectly pure. When a Bodhisattva who trains in perfect wisdom does not lose heart and remains uncowed although all dharmas are by their nature perfectly pure, then that is his perfection of wisdom. But the foolish common people do not know nor see that these dharmas are really so constituted, and they neither know nor see the true nature of dharmas. On behalf of those beings the Bodhisattvas struggle on and exert vigour so that those who do not know may be enabled to know, so that those who do not see may be made to see. In this training they train, and therefore [in the world of appearance] a Bodhisattva reaches the powers, the grounds of self-confidence, and all Buddha-dharmas. When they train thus, Bodhisattvas wisely know the throbbing thoughts and actions of other beings, of other persons as they really are. And then they go beyond the knowledge of the thoughts and actions of others.”
2. Fewness of Bodhisattvas
Buddha: …”Therefore then, Subhuti, in the world of beings few beings exist who have set out for full enlightenment. Fewer are those who progress in Thusness. Still fewer are those very few who make endeavours about perfect wisdom. Still fewer even arc those very very few Bodhisattvas who are irreversible from full enlightenment. A Bodhisattva who wants to be numbered among those very, very few irreversible Bodhisattvas should therefore train in just this perfection of wisdom, and make endeavours about it.”
3. Prajñāpāramitā Comprehends all Pāramitā
“The view of individuality includes all the sixty-two [erroneous] views, and even so, for a Bodhisattva who trains in the perfection of wisdom, all the perfections are included in that.”
4. Merit from Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “Much greater merit still would that Bodhisattva beget who would develop this perfection of wisdom for even the duration of a finger-snap. So greatly profitable is the perfection of wisdom of the Bodhisattvas, because she feeds the supreme enlightenment. Bodhisattvas should therefore train in perfect wisdom if they want to know full enlightenment, to arrive at the supreme position among all beings, to become a protector of the helpless, to reach the sphere of the Buddha, to emulate the the Buddha, to sport with a Buddha's sport, to roar a Buddha's lion roar, to reach the accomplishment of a Buddha, and to explain the dharma in the great trichiliocosm.”
5. Bodhisattvas and Disciples
Buddha:… “The bodhisattva is near to full enlightenment. If, however, it occurs to the bodhisattva that ‘this is the perfection of wisdom which brings this all-knowledge,’ - then one who has such a notion does not course in the perfection of wisdom. On the contrary, they have no notion even of perfect wisdom, one does not perceive or review that "this is the perfection of wisdom," or "I am the perfection of wisdom," or "it shall feed all-knowledge." If one courses thus, a Bodhisattva courses in the perfection of wisdom.”
CH 26 - Like Illusion
1. Śakra Praises the Bodhisattvas
Śakra: “I have not even the slightest suspicion that those Bodhisattvas, who are endowed with the great compassion, might turn away from full enlightenment, or that those persons who belong to the vehicle of the Bodhisattvas and who have set out for full enlightenment might turn away from it. On the contrary, I am sure that this resolve to win full enlightenment will increase more and more in them, as they survey the ills which afflict beings on the plane of birth-and-death. For through their great compassion they desire the welfare of the world with its Gods, men and Asuras, desire to benefit it, are full of pity for it, they, who are endowed with this attitude of mind, dwell in the attitude of mind which is expressed in their resolution that ‘we have crossed over, we shall help beings to cross over! Freed we shall free them! Recovered we shall help them to recover! Gone to Nirvana we shall lead them to Nirvana!’"
2. Jubilation, Transferring Merit
Sakra: Beset by Mara are those beings who do not come to hear of this immeasurable merit of that jubilation over the career of Bodhisattva, which begins with the first thought of enlightenment and which ends with full enlightenment - who do not know it, who do not see it, who do not bring that jubilation to mind. They are partisans of Mara, deceased in Mara's realms. For those who have brought to mind those thoughts, who have turned them over into the supreme enlightenment, have rejoiced at them, they have done so in order to shatter Mara's realm.”
3. The Nature of Illusion
Subhuti: “As I understand the meaning of the Lord's teaching, there is in this way no Bodhisattva at all who is a doer of what is hard. For that very dharma is not got at which could realize, nor that which could be realized, nor that by means of which one could realize. If, when this is being taught, a Bodhisattva does not despond, become cowed or stolid, does not turn back, and remains unafraid, then he courses in perfect wisdom.”
… “Just as a Tathagata, because he has forsaken all constructions and discriminations, finds nothing dear or not dear, just so a Bodhisattva who courses in perfect wisdom. For there is no discrimination on the part of perfect wisdom.”
… “An expert mason, or mason's apprentice, might make of wood an automatic man or woman, a puppet which could be moved by pulling the strings. Whatever action it were made to perform, that action it would perform. And yet that wooden machine would have no discriminations. Because it is so constituted that it lacks all discrimination. Just so, a Bodhisattva performs the work for the sake of which he develops the perfection of wisdom, but the perfection of wisdom remains without discrimination. Because that perfection of wisdom is so constituted that it lacks all discriminations.”
CH 27 - The Core
1. The Bodhisattvas Courage in Difficulties
Subhuti read the thoughts [of the gods], and said to them, “Not that is hard for those Bodhisattvas that they do not realize the reality-limit. This, however, is hard for them, this is most hard for them, that they put on the armor of the resolution to lead countless beings to Nirvana, when absolutely those beings do not exist. And since they do not exist, they cannot be got at.”
2. The Bodhisattva Protected by the Gods
Buddha: “No obstacle put up by Mara or anyone else can stop [the bodhisattva]. Even if all beings in the great trichiliocosm should become evil Maras, and if each one of them would conjure up just as many diabolic armies, then even they all together would not have the strength to obstruct on his way to full enlightenment that Bodhisattva who is brought to mind by the Buddhas, and who courses in Prajñāpāramitā.
3. The Buddha’s Praise the Bodhisattva
Buddha: “For the Buddhas and Lords, who reside in the countless world-systems, and who, surrounded by the congregation of monks and attended by a multitude of Bodhisattvas, demonstrate dharma, will proclaim the name, clan, power, appearance and form of a Bodhisattva who courses and dwells in Prajñāpāramitā, and who is endowed with the virtues of roaming inPrajñāpāramitā.”
4. Enlightenment and Suchness
Buddha: “One cannot get at any different dharma, distinct from Suchness, that will stand firmly in Suchness. The very Suchness, to begin with, is not apprehended, how much less he who will stand firmly in Suchness.”
5. Emptiness and Dwelling in Prajñāpāramitā
Sakra: “Whatever the holy Subhuti mdy expound, that he expounds with reference to emptiness, and he does not get stuck anywhere. The holy Subhuti's demonstration of dharma does not get stuck anywhere, no more than an arrow shot into the air.”
Buddha: “Because the Elder Subhuti does not, to begin with, even review or apprehend the Prajñāpāramitā, how much less him who courses in Prajñāpāramitā. Even enlightenment, to begin with, he does not get at, how much less at him who will know full enlightenment. Even all-knowledge he does not get at, how much less at him who will reach all-knowledge, Even Suchness he does not get at, how much less at him who will become a Tathagata. Etc.”
CH 28 - Avakīrṇakusuma
1. Prediction of Avakīrṇakusuma
Thereupon, on that occasion, the Lord smiled. But such is the nature of the Buddhas and Lords that, when they manifest a smile [in an assembly of Bodhisattvas], then various coloured rays issue from the Lord's mouth,-rays blue, yellow, red, white, crimson, crystal, silverish and golden.”
Buddha: “Those six thousand monks, Ananda, shall in a future period, in the Starlike aeon, know full enlightenment, and after that demonstrate dharma to beings. They all shall bear the same name. With Avakirnakusuma for their name these Tathagatas shall be teachers in the world.”
2. Praise of Prajñāpāramitā
If Bodhisattvas do not revile this perfection of wisdom, do not oppose, deny or reject it, then one should know that they have fulfilled their duties under the jinas of the past.”
3. Transmission of the Sutra to Ananda
Buddha, “Therefore then, Ananda, again and again I entrust and transmit to you this perfection of wisdom, laid out in letters, so that it may be available for learning, for bearing in mind, preaching, studying and spreading wide, so that it may last long, so that it may not disappear.”
For the Tathagata has said that "the perfection of wisdom is the mother, the creator, the genetrix of the past, future and present Tathagatas, their nurse in all-knowledge." Therefore then, Ananda, do I entrust and transmit to you this perfection of wisdom, so that it might not disappear.”
4. Akṣobhya’s Buddha Field
Thereupon the Lord on that occasion exercised His wonderworking power. The entire assembly … all, through the Buddha's might, saw the Tathagata Akshobhya surrounded by the congregation of monks, accompanied by a retinue of Bodhisattvas demonstrating dharma, in an assembly which was vast like the ocean, deep and imperturbable, surrounded and accompanied by Bodhisattvas who were endowed with unthinkable qualities, all of them Arhats.”
“As a result of training in this training of perfect wisdom, the Buddhas and Lords have reached a state of non-attachment to past, future and present dharmas.”
5. Extinction, Non-Extinction and Prajñāpāramitā
Buddha: “Through the non-extinction of form, sensation, etc. Through the non-extinction of ignorance, of the karma-formations, of consciousness, of name and form, of the six sense-fields, of contact, of feeling, of craving, of grasping, of becoming, of birth, of decay and death, of grief, lamentation, pain, sadness and despair. In this manner the Bodhisattva surveys conditioned coproduction in such a way that he avoids the duality of the extremes. He surveys it without seeing any beginning, end or middle. To survey conditioned coproduction in such a manner, that is the special dharma of the Bodhisattva who is seated on the terrace of enlightenment. When he thus surveys conditioned coproduction, he acquires the cognition of the all-knowing.”
6. Advantages Derived from Prajñāpāramitā
“Whatever deeds of Mara may arise in a Bodhisattva who courses in perfect wisdom, he shall wisely know them when they are taking place, and he shall get rid of them again.”
“These are the qualities and advantages of a Bodhisattva who courses in perfect wisdom, who aspires for perfect wisdom, and who raises such thoughts, if even for the length of a finger snap. How much greater will be the advantage of one who pursues such thoughts daily, as for instance the Bodhisattva Gandhahastin who just now leads the holy life in the presence of the Tathagata Akshobhya.”
CH 29 - Approaches *****
Buddha: “Subhuti, a Bodhisattva should approach the perfection of wisdom as follows: Through non-attachment to all dharmas. From the non-differentiatedness of all dharmas. From the fact that all dharmas cannot possibly come about. Etc.
CH 30 - Sadaprarudita
1. Sadāprarudita sets out to find Prajñāpāramitā
2. Description of Gandhavati and of Dharmodgata’s Life
3. List and Significance of Samadhi’s
4. Sadāprarudita and the Merchant’s Daughter
Sadaprarudita then went to the middle of the marketplace, lifted up his voice, and cried: "Who wants a man? Who wants a man? Who wants to buy a man?"
5. The Meeting with Dharmodgata
For the Bodhisattva Dharmodgata had at that time created, for the perfection of wisdom, a pointed tower, made of the seven precious substances, adorned with red sandalwood, and encircled by an ornament of pearls. Gems were placed into the four corners of the pointed tower, and performed the functions of lamps. Four incense jars made of silver were suspended on its four sides, and pure black aloe wood was burning in them, as a token of worship for the perfection of wisdom. And in the middle of that pointed tower a couch made of the seven precious things was put up, and on it a box made of four large gems. Into that the perfection of wisdom was placed, written with melted vaidurya on golden tablets. And that pointed tower was adorned with brightly coloured garlands which hung down in strips.
The Bodhisattva Sadaprarudita then told the whole story of his quest for the perfcction of wisdom, beginning with the voice he had heard in the forest, that bid him go East.
Now I have come to you, and I ask you, son of good family: 'Where have those Tathagatas come from, and whither have they gone to?' Demonstrate to me, son of good family, the coming and going of those Tathagatas, so that we may cognize it, and so that we may become not lacking in the vision of the Tathagatas."
CH 31 - Dharmodgata
1. The Coming and Going of the Tathagatas
When the sound of a boogharp is being produced, it does not come from anywhere. When it is stopped, it does not go anywhere, nor does it pass on to anywhere. But it has been produced conditioned by the totality of its causes and conditions - namely the boat-shaped hollow body of the harp, the parchment sounding board, the strings, the hollow arm of the boogharp, the bindings, the plectrum, the person who plays it, and his exertions. In that way this sound comes forth from the boogharp, dependent on causes, dependent on conditions. And yet that sound does not come forth from that hollow body of the harp, nor from the parchment sounding board, nor from the strings, nor from the hollow arm, nor from the bindings, nor from the plectrum, nor from the person who plays it, nor from his exertions. It is just the combination of all of them that makes the sound conceivable. And when it is stopped, the sound also does not go anywhere. Just so the perfect body of the Buddhas and Lords is dependent on causes, dependent on conditions, and it has been brought to perfection through exertions which have led to many wholesome roots.”
2. Sadāprarudita’s Self-Sacrifice
3. Dharmodgata’s Demonstration of Dharma
CH 32 - Entrusting
1. End of the Story of Sadāprarudita
2. Prajñāpāramitā Entrusted to Ananda