CH 3 - The Stupa
1. Advantages of Prajñāpāramitā
“Where this Prajñāpāramitā has been written down in a book, and has been put up and worshipped, etc. there humans and ghosts can do no harm. …Because this Prajñāpāramitā makes the spot of earth where it is into a true shrine (stupa) for beings.”
2. The Cult of Prajñāpāramitā vs. the Cult of Buddhas
Śakra asks about the difference between Prajñāpāramitā as a stupa vs. depositing Tathagata relics in a stupa.
Buddha: “Worshipping Prajñāpāramitā is worshipping the all-knowing cognition of the Tathagata.”
Greater merit is gained from coursing in Prajñāpāramitā.
3. Prajñāpāramitā is a Great Mantra (CH 4 in Chinese)
Śakra: “Prajñāpāramitā is a great mantra, an unsurpassable mantra, etc.” Compare to the Heart Sutra.
Buddha: “It is from the great ocean of Prajñāpāramitā that the great jewel of the all-knowledge of the Tathagatas has come forth.”
4. Prajñā and the Other Pāramitās
“Prajñāpāramitā controls the five other pāramitās through the transference to all-knowledge.
5. Further Advantages of Prajñāpāramitā
“All the Gods in the universe will decide to come to that place. They will come, look upon the COPY of the PP, salute it respectfully, pay homage, etc.”
Compare to Heart Sutra.
CH 4 - Proclamation of Qualities
1. Tathagata-Relics
“You should not think that this individual body is my body. You should see me from the accomplishment of the Dharmakaya. But that Tathagata-body should be seen as brought about by the ‘reality-limit’ [i.e. Prajñāpāramitā]
2. Maṇi Jewel
“If a [wish-fulfilling maṇi] jewel were put into a basket, then that basket would still be desirable after the jewel had again been taken out…. In the same way, the qualities of the cognition of the all-knowing are derived from PP. On account of it the relics of the Tathagata who has gone to Parinirvana are worshiped.”
3. Value of Prajñāpāramitā
Choosing a ‘copy’ of Prajñāpāramitā over a Three Thousand Great Thousand filled with the relics of the Tathagata.
CH 5 - Revolution of Merit (or, Śarīras ‘relics’)
1. Prajñāpāramitā is a Great Source of Merit
Śakra: Who begets greater merit, someone who believes and never abandons Prajñāpāramitā, or someone who believes and then gives a copy of Prajñāpāramitā to another?
A: “Light it up.”
2. Counterfeit Prajñā
Śakra: How can we recognize counterfeit Prajñāpāramitā in the future?
A: Counterfeit is saying that the impermanence of form, (and the other aggregates) is the destruction of form (i.e. a form of nihilism).
3. Greater than any spiritual gift
A hyperbolic comparison of two people ‘raising the hearts of sentient beings to enlightenment’
But one of them gives them a copy of Prajñāpāramitā