Session 6 - Transference (Ch 6 & 7)

CH 6 - Dedication (transference of merit)

1. Transference of Merit (Pariṇāmanā)

Maitreya declares Pariṇāmanā #1

2. The range of Jubilation

The bodhisattva ‘considers’ the path to Buddhahood with jubilation

3. A metaphysical problem

How can thought, which is extinct, stopped and departed, think of transferring merit?

4. How distorted views can be avoided

Having the thought of transference without giving rise to thought

5. Considerations of Merit

Four Heavenly Kings: “This transference to all-knowledge of wholesome roots by those who have been taken hold of by Prajñāpāramitā and by upaya, is a great transformation of the bodhisattvas. Because it surpasses the accumulation of merit, derived from giving, of those bodhisattvas who are based on something, however great it may be.”

Ch 7 - Hell (’joyless’, niraya)

1. Hymn to Prajñāpāramitā

Sariputra: ‘Prajñāpāramitā gives light, 0 Lord. I pay homage to Prajñāpāramitā! She is worthy of homage. She is unstained, the entire world cannot stain her. She is a source of light, and from everyone in the triple world she removes darkness, and she leads away from the blinding darkness caused by the defilements and by wrong views. In her we can find shelter. Most excellent are her works. She makes us seek the safety of the wings of enlightenment. She brings light to the blind, she brings light so that all fear and distress may be forsaken. She has gained the five eyes, and she shows the path to all beings. She herself is an organ of vision. She disperses the gloom and darkness of delusion. She does nothing about all dharmas. She guides to the path those who have strayed on to a bad road. She is identical with all-knowledge. She never produces any dharma, because she has forsaken the residues relating to both kinds of coverings, those produced by defilement and those produced by the cognizable. She does not stop any dharma. Herself unstopped and unproduced is Prajñāpāramitā. She is the mother of the Bodhisattvas, on account of the emptiness of own marks. As the donor of the jewel of all the Buddha-dharmas she brings about the ten powers (of a Buddha). She cannot be crushed. She protects the unprotected, with the help of the four grounds of self-confidence. She is the antidote to birth and-death. She has a clear knowledge of the own-being of all dharmas, for she does not stray away from it. Prajñāpāramitā of the Buddhas, the Lords, sets in motion the wheel of the Dharma.”

2. Predominance of Prajñāpāramitā

Sariputra to Śakra “It is just Prajñāpāramitā which directs the five perfections in their ascent on the path to all-knowledge.”

3. Nothing attained by Prajñāpāramitā

Buddha: “For where PP is lit up, there form does not become lit up, nor the other skandhas, nor the fruits of the holy life, up to Buddhahood.”

4. Why Prajñāpāramitā is Great

Subhuti: “For the absence of own-being in sentient beings should be known as belonging to the very essence of Prajñāpāramitā” 眾生無性故，般若波羅蜜無性

5. Causes for belief in Prajñāpāramitā

“Prajñāpāramitā cannot be a expounded, or learned, or distinguished, or considered, or stated, or reflected upon by means of the skandhas, or by means of the elements, or by means of the sense-fields. This is a consequence of the fact that all dharmas are isolated, absolutely isolated. Nor can Prajñāpāramitā be understood otherwise than by the skandhas, elements and sense-fields, for just the very skandhas, elements and sense-fields are empty, isolated and calmly quiet. It is thus that Prajñāpāramitā and the skandhas, elements and sense-fields are not two, nor divided. As a result of their emptiness, isolatedness and quietude they cannot be apprehended. The lack of a basis of apprehension in all dharmas, that is called Prajñāpāramitā ('Deliverance by Wisdom'). Where there is no perception, appellation, conception or conventional expression, there one speaks of 'Prajñāpāramitā'.

6. Causes of disbelief

The levels of rejecting Prajñāpāramitā as the Enlightenment of the Buddha, and the consequences of doing so.

Ch 8 - Purity

1. Depth and Purity of Prajñāpāramitā

Subhuti: “Moreover, this Prajñāpāramitā does not stand on this shore, nor on the shore beyond, nor between the two. The Lord: “Because of its absolute purity.” Subhuti: “A Bodhisattva who treats even that [insight] as an object of perception, will thereby part from this perfection of wisdom, and get far away from it.”