CH 9 - Praise
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 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 o
f the all-knowing, she has shown them the world for what it really is.”
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).
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.”
CH 20 - Discussion of Skillful Means
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."
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