Neither Increasing Nor Decreasing
Śāriputra asks a question that sounds almost like arithmetic — does the number of sentient beings increase, or decrease? — and the Buddha's answer collapses the question itself, tracing a single chain of identity from the "one realm" all the way to the tathāgatagarbha and the dharmakāya. A short sūtra, but an unusually load-bearing one: this is one of the core scriptural sources the Ratnagotravibhāga (究竟一乘寶性論) builds its entire systematic treatment of tathāgatagarbha doctrine from, quoting it by name at least six times.
Translation Method
The Chinese source is Bodhiruci's translation (菩提流支), an Indian monk active in the Northern Wei capital of Luoyang in the early sixth century — the same translator responsible for the Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā and the Daśabhūmikabhāṣya, and a contemporary of Ratnamati, who translated the Ratnagotravibhāga a few years earlier. No independent commentary on this sūtra survives, but it did not need one: the Ratnagotravibhāga (究竟一乘寶性論, T1611, attributed to Maitreya/Sāramati), the treatise that systematizes tathāgatagarbha doctrine out of a handful of key sūtras — this one, the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, and others — quotes this exact sūtra by name at least six times, using it as direct scriptural proof-text for its own systematic architecture. This collection's reading notes draw on those passages, tracing how the treatise puts this sūtra's own claims to use. Classical text is set in the left-hand column below, our English in the right. See also this site's note on translation method.
Śāriputra's Question, and the Danger of Two Wrong Views
如是我聞：一時，婆伽婆住王舍城耆闍崛山中，與大比丘眾千二百五十人俱，諸菩薩摩訶薩無量無邊不可稱計。
爾時慧命舍利弗，於大眾中即從坐起，前至佛所，到已頂禮佛足，退坐一面，合掌白佛言：「世尊！一切眾生從無始世來，周旋六道，往來三界，於四生中輪迴生死，受苦無窮。世尊！此眾生聚、眾生海，為有增減？為無增減？此義深隱，我未能解。若人問我，當云何答？」
爾時世尊告舍利弗：「善哉，善哉！舍利弗！汝為安隱一切眾生，安樂一切眾生，憐愍一切眾生，利益一切眾生，饒益安樂一切眾生、諸天人故，乃能問我是甚深義。舍利弗！汝若不問如來、應供、正遍知如是義者，有多過咎。所以者何？於現在世及未來世，諸天人等一切眾生，長受衰惱損害之事，永失一切利益安樂。舍利弗！大邪見者，所謂見眾生界增、見眾生界減。舍利弗！此大邪見諸眾生等，以是見故，生盲無目，是故長夜妄行邪道，以是因緣，於現在世墮諸惡趣。舍利弗！大險難者，所謂取眾生界增堅著妄執、取眾生界減堅著妄執。舍利弗！此諸眾生堅著妄執，是故長夜妄行邪道，以是因緣，於未來世墮諸惡趣。」
Thus have I heard. At one time the Bhagavān was dwelling at Rājagṛha, on Vulture Peak, together with a great assembly of 1,250 monks, and with bodhisattva-mahāsattvas immeasurable, boundless, and beyond all reckoning.
Then the Elder Śāriputra rose from his seat in the midst of the great assembly, came before the Buddha, bowed his head to the Buddha's feet, withdrew to one side, and, with palms joined, said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! All sentient beings, from beginningless time, have circled through the six destinies, passed back and forth through the three realms, and turned through birth-and-death within the four modes of birth, undergoing suffering without end. World-Honored One! This assembly of beings, this ocean of beings — does it increase or decrease? Or does it neither increase nor decrease? This meaning is deep and hidden, and I have not been able to understand it. If someone were to ask me, how should I answer?"
Then the World-Honored One said to Śāriputra: "Excellent, excellent, Śāriputra! It is for the sake of bringing peace to all beings, bringing happiness to all beings, having compassion for all beings, benefiting all beings, and bestowing benefit and happiness on all beings, gods and humans alike, that you are able to ask me this profound meaning. Śāriputra, had you not asked the Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly and Fully Awakened, about a meaning such as this, there would have been many faults. Why is this? Because, in the present age and in ages to come, all beings — gods and humans alike — would long suffer decline, affliction, and harm, and would forever lose every benefit and happiness. Śāriputra, the great wrong view is this: seeing the realm of beings as increasing, or seeing the realm of beings as decreasing. Śāriputra, beings who hold this great wrong view are, because of this view, born blind, without eyes at all, and for this reason wander falsely down wrong paths through the long night of saṃsāra — and because of this, in the present age, they fall into the evil destinies. Śāriputra, the great, perilous danger is this: clinging firmly and falsely to the grasp that the realm of beings increases, or clinging firmly and falsely to the grasp that the realm of beings decreases. Śāriputra, beings who cling firmly to this false grasp likewise wander falsely down wrong paths through the long night of saṃsāra — and because of this, in ages to come, they will fall into the evil destinies."
Śāriputra's question sounds at first like a question about population — does the "ocean of beings" grow larger or smaller over beginningless time? — but the Buddha's response never actually answers it on those terms. Instead he reclassifies the question itself as a symptom: both possible answers, "it increases" and "it decreases," are named outright as wrong views before any argument against either is given. This is a recurring move in tathāgatagarbha literature — the *Heart Sūtra*'s own "no increase, no decrease" (不增不減) with respect to all dharmas is the same denial applied at a more compressed altitude, and this sūtra can be read as that single phrase's own extended commentary, worked out specifically with respect to the realm of sentient beings rather than dharmas in general.
Why Ordinary Beings Fall Into These Views
「舍利弗！一切愚癡凡夫，不如實知一法界故、不如實見一法界故，起邪見心，謂眾生界增、眾生界減。舍利弗！如來在世，我諸弟子不起此見。若我滅後，過五百歲，多有眾生愚無智慧，於佛法中雖除鬚髮、服三法衣現沙門像，然其內無沙門德行。如是等輩，實非沙門自謂沙門，非佛弟子謂佛弟子，而自說言：『我是沙門，真佛弟子。』如是等人，起增、減見。何以故？此諸眾生以依如來不了義經，無慧眼故、遠離如實空見故，不如實知如來所證初發心故、不如實知修集無量菩提功德行故、不如實知如來所得無量法故、不如實知如來無量力故、不如實知如來無量境界故、不信如來無量行處故、不如實知如來不思議無量法自在故、不如實知如來不思議無量方便故、不能如實分別如來無量差別境界故、不能善入如來不可思議大悲故、不如實知如來大涅槃故。」
"Śāriputra! Every foolish ordinary being, because they do not truly know the one dharma-realm, and do not truly see the one dharma-realm, gives rise to a wrong-view mind, and says that the realm of beings increases, or that the realm of beings decreases. Śāriputra, while the Tathāgata remains in the world, my disciples do not give rise to this view. But after I have passed away, once five hundred years have gone by, there will be many beings, foolish and without wisdom, who, within the Buddha's teaching, though they have shaved their hair and beard and put on the three Dharma robes, taking on the appearance of a śramaṇa, have within them no virtuous conduct of a śramaṇa at all. Such people, who are not truly śramaṇas but call themselves śramaṇas, who are not truly disciples of the Buddha but call themselves disciples of the Buddha, and who say of themselves, 'I am a śramaṇa, a true disciple of the Buddha' — such people are the ones who give rise to the views of increase and decrease. Why is this? These beings, relying on the Tathāgata's provisional, non-definitive scriptures, lacking the eye of wisdom, and far removed from the true view of emptiness, do not truly know the Tathāgata's own realization at the moment he first aroused the bodhi-mind; do not truly know the cultivation and accumulation of immeasurable meritorious practices toward bodhi; do not truly know the immeasurable dharmas the Tathāgata has attained; do not truly know the Tathāgata's immeasurable powers; do not truly know the Tathāgata's immeasurable domain; do not believe in the Tathāgata's immeasurable field of activity; do not truly know the Tathāgata's inconceivable, immeasurable mastery of the Dharma; do not truly know the Tathāgata's inconceivable, immeasurable skillful means; are not able truly to discern the Tathāgata's immeasurable, differentiated domains; are not able rightly to enter the Tathāgata's inconceivable great compassion; and do not truly know the Tathāgata's great nirvāṇa."
The sūtra's warning is aimed less at outright heretics than at insiders — monastics who look the part but rely on the Buddha's own "provisional, non-definitive scriptures" (不了義經) as though they were the final word. The eleven items of not-truly-knowing that follow are not eleven separate failures so much as one failure restated eleven times at different points along the Buddhist path — the causal vow, the accumulated practice, the attained powers, the domain, the skillful means, and finally the great nirvāṇa itself — a structure that anticipates this site's own Śrīmālādevī Sūtra collection's insistence, at length, that arhat and pratyekabuddha "nirvāṇa" falls short of this same standard.
A Net of Wrong Views
「舍利弗！愚癡凡夫無聞慧故，聞如來涅槃起斷見、滅見，以起斷想及滅想故，謂眾生界減，成大邪見極重惡業。復次舍利弗！此諸眾生依於減見復起三見，此三種見與彼減見不相捨離猶如羅網。何謂三見？一者斷見，謂畢竟盡；二者滅見，謂即涅槃；三者無涅槃見，謂此涅槃畢竟空寂。舍利弗！此三種見，如是縛、如是執、如是觸；以是三見力因緣故，展轉復生二種邪見，此二種見與彼三見不相捨離猶如羅網。何謂二見？一者無欲見，二者畢竟無涅槃見。
「舍利弗！依無欲見復起二見，此二種見與無欲見不相捨離猶如羅網。何謂二見？一者戒取見，二者於不淨中起淨顛倒見。
「舍利弗！依畢竟無涅槃見，復起六種見，此六種見與無涅槃見不相捨離猶如羅網。何謂六見？一者世間有始見，二者世間有終見，三者眾生幻化所作見，四者無苦無樂見，五者無眾生事見，六者無聖諦見。
「復次舍利弗！此諸眾生依於增見，復起二見，此二種見與彼增見不相捨離猶如羅網。何謂二見？一者涅槃始生見，二者無因無緣忽然而有見。舍利弗！此二種見，令諸眾生，於善法中無願欲心、勤精進心。舍利弗，是諸眾生，以起如是二種見故，正使七佛如來、應、正遍知次第出世為其說法，於善法中若生欲心、勤精進心，無有是處。
「舍利弗！此二種見乃是無明諸惑根本，所謂涅槃始生見，無因無緣忽然而有見。舍利弗！此二種見，乃是極惡根本大患之法。舍利弗！依此二見起一切見，此一切見與彼二見不相捨離猶如羅網。一切見者，所謂若內若外，若麁若細，若中種種諸見。
「所謂增見、減見，舍利弗！此二種見依止一界，同一界合一界。一切愚癡凡夫，不如實知彼一界故、不如實見彼一界故，起於極惡大邪見心，謂眾生界增、謂眾生界減。」
"Śāriputra! Foolish ordinary beings, lacking the wisdom gained from hearing the Dharma, hear of the Tathāgata's nirvāṇa and give rise to the view of annihilation, the view of cessation; and because they give rise to the notion of annihilation and the notion of cessation, they say that the realm of beings decreases, forming a great wrong view and an exceedingly grave, evil karma. Furthermore, Śāriputra, these beings, depending on this view of decrease, give rise in turn to three further views, and these three views cling to that view of decrease inseparably, like a net. What are the three views? First, the view of annihilation, holding that all is ultimately exhausted; second, the view of cessation, holding that this is itself nirvāṇa; third, the view of no-nirvāṇa, holding that this nirvāṇa is ultimately empty and quiescent. Śāriputra, these three views bind, grasp, and touch in just this way; and by the power and condition of these three views, two further wrong views arise in turn, and these two views cling to those three views inseparably, like a net. What are the two views? First, the view of no-desire; second, the view of ultimately no nirvāṇa at all.
"Śāriputra! Depending on the view of no-desire, two further views arise, and these two views cling to the view of no-desire inseparably, like a net. What are the two views? First, the view of clinging to precepts and vows; second, the inverted view that sees purity within what is impure.
"Śāriputra! Depending on the view of ultimately no nirvāṇa at all, six further views arise, and these six views cling to the view of no-nirvāṇa inseparably, like a net. What are the six views? First, the view that the world had a beginning; second, the view that the world will have an end; third, the view that beings are only illusory, magically-conjured things; fourth, the view that there is neither suffering nor happiness; fifth, the view that there is no real matter of beings at all; sixth, the view that there are no noble truths.
"Furthermore, Śāriputra, these beings, depending on the view of increase, give rise to two further views, and these two views cling to that view of increase inseparably, like a net. What are the two views? First, the view that nirvāṇa first comes into being; second, the view that things suddenly exist without any cause or condition at all. Śāriputra, these two views cause beings to have neither the aspiration nor the diligent effort for wholesome dharmas. Śāriputra, once beings have given rise to these two views, even if the seven past buddhas, Tathāgatas, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly and Fully Awakened, were to appear in the world one after another and teach the Dharma to them, there is no possibility at all that they would give rise to any aspiration or diligent effort toward wholesome dharmas.
"Śāriputra! These two views are indeed the very root of ignorance and every delusion — namely, the view that nirvāṇa first comes into being, and the view that things suddenly exist without cause or condition. Śāriputra! These two views are indeed the root of what is extremely evil, a dharma of great affliction. Śāriputra! Depending on these two views, every other view arises, and every one of these views clings to those two views inseparably, like a net. By 'every view' is meant every kind of view whatsoever, whether inward or outward, whether coarse or subtle, or of any intermediate kind.
"As for the view of increase and the view of decrease, Śāriputra — these two views both depend on the one realm, share the same one realm, and are united within the one realm. Every foolish ordinary being, because they do not truly know that one realm, and do not truly see that one realm, gives rise to an extremely evil, great wrong-view mind, saying that the realm of beings increases, or that the realm of beings decreases."
The sūtra draws its whole taxonomy of wrong view as a single branching structure, and the branching itself is the argument: decrease-view alone spawns three further views, which spawn two more, which spawn two more still — six total, each one described as inseparable from its parent "like a net" (猶如羅網), an image repeated five times across this passage on purpose. No individual strand of the net is treated as an isolated mistake to be corrected one at a time; the whole net stands or falls together, because every strand ultimately depends on the same root failure — not knowing the "one realm." This is also, notably, where the sūtra names its own doctrinal opponents without ceremony: the view that "nirvāṇa is itself ultimately empty and quiescent" (畢竟空寂) reads as a direct rebuke of any reading of emptiness that collapses nirvāṇa into bare negation, the same target this site's Heart Sūtra and Śrīmālādevī Sūtra pages both approach from different angles.
What Is the One Realm?
爾時，慧命舍利弗白佛言：「世尊！何者是一界？而言一切愚癡凡夫，不如實知彼一界故、不如實見彼一界故，起於極惡大邪見心，謂眾生界增、謂眾生界減。」舍利弗言：「善哉世尊！此義甚深，我未能解。唯願如來為我解說，令得解了。」
爾時世尊告慧命舍利弗：「此甚深義，乃是如來智慧境界，亦是如來心所行處。舍利弗！如是深義，一切聲聞、緣覺智慧所不能知、所不能見，不能觀察，何況一切愚癡凡夫而能測量？唯有諸佛如來智慧，乃能觀察知見此義。舍利弗！一切聲聞、緣覺所有智慧，於此義中唯可仰信，不能如實知見觀察。舍利弗！甚深義者即是第一義諦，第一義諦者即是眾生界，眾生界者即是如來藏，如來藏者即是法身。舍利弗！如我所說法身義者，過於恒沙，不離不脫、不斷不異、不思議佛法、如來功德智慧。」
Then the Elder Śāriputra said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! What is this one realm, of which it is said that every foolish ordinary being, because they do not truly know it and do not truly see it, gives rise to an extremely evil, great wrong-view mind, saying that the realm of beings increases, or that the realm of beings decreases?" Śāriputra said: "Excellent, World-Honored One! This meaning is exceedingly deep, and I have not been able to understand it. I only ask that the Tathāgata explain it for me, so that I may come to understand."
Then the World-Honored One said to the Elder Śāriputra: "This exceedingly deep meaning belongs to the Tathāgata's own domain of wisdom; it is also the very place where the Tathāgata's own mind moves. Śāriputra! A meaning this deep cannot be known, cannot be seen, and cannot be examined by the wisdom of any śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha — how much less could any foolish ordinary being fathom it? Only the wisdom of the buddhas, the tathāgatas, is able to examine, know, and see this meaning. Śāriputra, whatever wisdom śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas possess, with respect to this meaning, can only look up to it in faith — it cannot truly know, see, or examine it. Śāriputra! This exceedingly deep meaning is itself the truth of the first principle; the truth of the first principle is itself the realm of beings; the realm of beings is itself the tathāgatagarbha; and the tathāgatagarbha is itself the dharmakāya. Śāriputra, this dharmakāya, exactly as I have described it, is, beyond the sands of the Ganges, inseparable, unreleased, unsevered, no different, an inconceivable buddha-dharma — the Tathāgata's own virtue and wisdom."
This single chain of identity — first-principle truth = realm of beings = tathāgatagarbha = dharmakāya — is exactly the equation the Ratnagotravibhāga builds its own "four names for one reality" schema from. Explaining why a single unconditioned reality can be called by four different names — dharmakāya, tathāgata, the truth of the first principle, and nirvāṇa — the treatise cites this sūtra by name for the very last of its four supporting proofs: "as this meaning is established, the sūtra says: Śāriputra, the tathāgatagarbha is precisely the dharmakāya" (以是義故，《不增不減經》言：舍利弗言如來藏者即是法身故), immediately alongside a parallel citation from the Śrīmālā Sūtra — "not apart from the dharmakāya is there a tathāgatagarbha; not apart from the tathāgatagarbha is there a dharmakāya... nirvāṇa is itself the Tathāgata's dharmakāya." The treatise's own gloss on why one reality earns four names: dharmakāya names it as inseparable from buddha-qualities beyond the sands of the Ganges; tathāgata names it as suchness itself; the first-principle truth names it as a dharma-nature that is never false; and nirvāṇa names it as inherently pure from the very beginning — four descriptions of a single, undivided substance, exactly as this sūtra's own compressed equation already implies.
The Lamp, the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel, and a Dharmakāya That Never Changes
「舍利弗！如世間燈，所有明色及觸，不離不脫。又如摩尼寶珠，所有明色形相，不離不脫。舍利弗！如來所說法身之義亦復如是，過於恒沙，不離不脫、不斷不異、不思議佛法、如來功德智慧。
「舍利弗！此法身者，是不生不滅法，非過去際、非未來際，離二邊故。舍利弗！非過去際者離生時故，非未來際者離滅時故。舍利弗！如來法身常，以不異法故、以不盡法故。舍利弗！如來法身恒，以常可歸依故、以未來際平等故。舍利弗！如來法身清涼，以不二法故、以無分別法故。舍利弗，如來法身不變，以非滅法故、以非作法故。」
"Śāriputra! It is like a worldly lamp: its light, its color, and its warmth are inseparable, never released from one another. Or it is like a wish-fulfilling jewel: its radiance, its color, and its shape are inseparable, never released from one another. Śāriputra! The meaning of the dharmakāya, exactly as the Tathāgata has explained it, is just the same — beyond the sands of the Ganges, inseparable, unreleased, unsevered, no different, an inconceivable buddha-dharma, the Tathāgata's own virtue and wisdom.
"Śāriputra! This dharmakāya is a dharma neither arisen nor ceasing; it is neither in the past limit nor in the future limit, being apart from both extremes. Śāriputra, it is not in the past limit because it is apart from any time of arising; it is not in the future limit because it is apart from any time of ceasing. Śāriputra! The Tathāgata's dharmakāya is permanent, because it is a dharma that never changes, and a dharma that is never exhausted. Śāriputra! The Tathāgata's dharmakāya is eternal, because it is a permanent refuge one may always take, and because it is equal throughout the future limit of time. Śāriputra! The Tathāgata's dharmakāya is cool and tranquil, because it is a dharma without duality, and a dharma without discrimination. Śāriputra, the Tathāgata's dharmakāya is unchanging, because it is not a dharma that ceases, and not a dharma that is fabricated."
The Ratnagotravibhāga quotes this exact fourfold gloss — permanent, eternal, cool and tranquil, unchanging — in full, and then does something this sūtra itself does not: it ties each of the four terms to a specific thing the dharmakāya has become free of. "Permanent, because free of the mind-made body; eternal, because free of the inconceivable death of transformation; cool and tranquil, because free of what belongs to the ignorance-dwelling-ground; unchanging, because free of the turning-over of undefiled karma" (以常故不生，離意生身故；以恒故不死，離不思議變易死故；以本後際來清涼故不病，以離無明住地所攝故；若如是者不墮三世彼則不變，是故不老，以離無漏業迴轉故). Every one of these four terms — mind-made body, the death of inconceivable transformation, the ignorance-dwelling-ground — is vocabulary this site's own Śrīmālādevī Sūtra collection translates at length; the treatise is explicitly reading this sūtra's four-word description of the dharmakāya through the technical apparatus the Śrīmālā Sūtra supplies, treating the two sūtras as jointly authored contributions to one single doctrine rather than as separate texts making separate claims.
One Dharmakāya, Three Names: Being, Bodhisattva, Buddha
「舍利弗！即此法身，過於恒沙無邊煩惱所纏，從無始世來隨順世間，波浪漂流，往來生死，名為眾生。舍利弗！即此法身，厭離世間生死苦惱，棄捨一切諸有欲求，行十波羅蜜，攝八萬四千法門，修菩提行，名為菩薩。
「復次舍利弗！即此法身，離一切世間煩惱、使、纏，過一切苦。離一切煩惱垢得淨得清淨，住於彼岸清淨法中，到一切眾生所願之地，於一切境界中究竟通達，更無勝者；離一切障、離一切礙，於一切法中得自在力，名為如來、應、正遍知。是故舍利弗！不離眾生界有法身，不離法身有眾生界；眾生界即法身，法身即眾生界。舍利弗！此二法者，義一名異。」
"Śāriputra! It is this very dharmakāya, wrapped in boundless afflictions beyond the sands of the Ganges, following along with the world from beginningless time, drifting on its waves, passing back and forth through birth-and-death, that is called a sentient being. Śāriputra! It is this very dharmakāya, wearied of and turning away from the suffering and affliction of saṃsāra, casting aside every desire for any kind of existence, practicing the ten pāramitās, gathering in the eighty-four thousand teachings, and cultivating the practice of bodhi, that is called a bodhisattva.
"Furthermore, Śāriputra! It is this very dharmakāya, freed from every worldly affliction, proclivity, and entanglement, having gone beyond every suffering, freed from every stain of affliction, made pure and utterly pure, abiding within the pure dharma of the far shore, having arrived at the very ground every being aspires to, ultimately penetrating every domain with no one superior to it, freed from every obstruction and every hindrance, having attained sovereign mastery over every dharma, that is called the Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly and Fully Awakened. This is why, Śāriputra, there is no dharmakāya apart from the realm of beings, and no realm of beings apart from the dharmakāya; the realm of beings is itself the dharmakāya, and the dharmakāya is itself the realm of beings. Śāriputra! These two dharmas are one in meaning, though different in name."
The treatise quotes both paragraphs of this passage nearly verbatim, and uses them as its scriptural anchor for an entire chapter's worth of systematic argument: the claim that the identical dharma-nature, seen at three successive stages, earns three successive names — "in the time of impurity it is called a sentient being... in the time of mixed impurity and purity it is called a bodhisattva... in the time of complete purity it is called the Tathāgata" (不淨時名為眾生…不淨淨時名為菩薩…於善淨時名為如來). The treatise's own verse for this passage compresses it further still: "as it has stains, as it is being purified, and as it is fully purified — in this order these are spoken of as sentient being, bodhisattva, and buddha" (有不淨有淨，及以善淨等，如是次第說，眾生菩薩佛). Crucially, on the treatise's own reading, this is a claim about naming, not about ontological upgrade — the passage's own closing line, that the two dharmas "are one in meaning though different in name" (義一名異), is quoted by the treatise word for word, immediately followed by its own image for what this kind of identity-across-difference looks like: space itself, undivided and identical, whether it happens to be enclosed for a moment inside a vessel of clay, of silver, or of gold. A being is not dharmakāya-in-waiting; a being simply is dharmakāya, under conditions the treatise's own account of affliction goes on to describe.
The Three Aspects of the Tathāgatagarbha
「復次舍利弗！如我上說，眾生界中亦三種法，皆真實如，不異不差。何謂三法？一者如來藏本際相應體及清淨法，二者如來藏本際不相應體及煩惱纏不清淨法，三者如來藏未來際平等恒及有法。
「舍利弗當知，如來藏本際相應體及清淨法者，此法如實不虛妄，不離不脫智慧清淨，真如、法界、不思議法，無始本際來，有此清淨相應法體。舍利弗，我依此清淨真如、法界，為眾生故，說為不可思議法自性清淨心。
「舍利弗當知，如來藏本際不相應體及煩惱纏不清淨法者，此本際來離脫、不相應、煩惱所纏不清淨法，唯有如來菩提智之所能斷。舍利弗！我依此煩惱所纏、不相應、不思議法界，為眾生故，說為客塵煩惱所染自性清淨心不可思議法。
「舍利弗當知，如來藏未來際平等恒及有法者，即是一切諸法根本，備一切法、具一切法，於世法中不離不脫真實一切法，住持一切法、攝一切法。舍利弗！我依此不生不滅、常恒清涼、不變歸依、不可思議清淨法界，說名眾生。所以者何？言眾生者，即是不生不滅、常恒清涼、不變歸依、不可思議清淨法界等異名，以是義故，我依彼法說名眾生。」
"Furthermore, Śāriputra! As I have explained above, within the realm of beings there are also three dharmas, each one truly thus, without difference or discrepancy. What are the three dharmas? First, the tathāgatagarbha's own aspect that corresponds to purity from the very beginning, together with its pure dharma; second, the tathāgatagarbha's own aspect that does not correspond to purity from the very beginning, together with the impure dharma of being wrapped in affliction; third, the tathāgatagarbha's own aspect that remains equal and constant into the future limit of time, and possesses every dharma.
"Śāriputra should know: the tathāgatagarbha's aspect that corresponds to purity from the very beginning, together with its pure dharma, is a dharma that is genuinely real, not false — inseparable from, unreleased from pure wisdom, suchness, the dharma-realm, an inconceivable dharma. Since beginningless time, this pure, corresponding dharma-aspect has always been present. Śāriputra, it is with respect to this pure suchness, this dharma-realm, that I speak, for the sake of beings, of the inconceivable dharma of the mind pure by its own nature.
"Śāriputra should know: the tathāgatagarbha's aspect that does not correspond to purity from the very beginning, together with the impure dharma of being wrapped in affliction, is a dharma — separate, unreleased, non-corresponding, wrapped in affliction, impure since the very beginning — that only the Tathāgata's bodhi-wisdom is able to sever. Śāriputra! It is with respect to this dharma-realm — wrapped in affliction, non-corresponding, inconceivable — that I speak, for the sake of beings, of the inconceivable dharma of the mind pure by its own nature, stained by adventitious afflictions.
"Śāriputra should know: the tathāgatagarbha's aspect that remains equal and constant into the future limit of time, and possesses every dharma, is itself the very root of every dharma, complete with every dharma, endowed with every dharma; within worldly dharmas, it is inseparable from and unreleased from every real dharma, sustaining every dharma and gathering in every dharma. Śāriputra! It is with respect to this dharma-realm — unborn, unceasing, ever-constant, cool and tranquil, unchanging, a refuge, inconceivable, and pure — that I speak the name 'sentient being.' Why is this? Because the very word 'sentient being' is itself only another name for this same dharma-realm — unborn, unceasing, ever-constant, cool and tranquil, unchanging, a refuge, inconceivable, pure — and it is for this reason that I speak the name 'sentient being' with respect to that same dharma."
This threefold division is this sūtra's single most consequential contribution to later doctrine, even though the Ratnagotravibhāga's surviving text does not quote this exact paragraph word for word — its own systematic architecture is unmistakably built from precisely this shape of distinction. The treatise's entire treatment of buddha-nature rests on a threefold classification with the same underlying logic: an aspect corresponding to purity that has never changed, an aspect not yet corresponding to purity because it remains wrapped in what conceals it, and an aspect that is simply the constant ground beneath both descriptions — the same tripartite structure Zongmi, writing centuries later on the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment and translated elsewhere on this site, glosses as the tathāgatagarbha's three classical senses: concealment, inclusion, and generation. What this sūtra adds that a purely doctrinal summary tends to flatten is the explicit claim that "sentient being" is not a fourth thing standing apart from these three dharmas, but literally just another name for the third one — the constant, all-including aspect — spoken for the sake of beings who could not otherwise recognize themselves as what the sūtra has just finished describing.
The Icchantika Warning
「舍利弗！此三種法皆真實如，不異不差。於此真實如、不異不差法中，畢竟不起極惡不善二種邪見。何以故？以如實見故。所謂減見、增見——舍利弗！——此二邪見，諸佛如來畢竟遠離，諸佛如來之所呵責。
「舍利弗！若有比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷，若起一見、若起二見，諸佛如來非彼世尊，如是等人非我弟子。舍利弗！此人以起二見因緣故，從冥入冥、從闇入闇，我說是等，名一闡提。是故舍利弗！汝今應學此法，化彼眾生，令離二見，住正道中。舍利弗！如是等法，汝亦應學，離彼二見，住正道中。」
佛說此經已，慧命舍利弗，比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷，菩薩摩訶薩，及諸天、龍、夜叉、乾闥婆、阿修羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽、人非人等一切大眾，皆大歡喜，信受奉行。
"Śāriputra! These three dharmas are each truly thus, without difference or discrepancy. Within this truly-thus dharma, without difference or discrepancy, one ultimately never gives rise to these two extremely evil and unwholesome wrong views. Why is this? Because one sees truly, exactly as things are. As for the view of decrease and the view of increase — Śāriputra — these two wrong views are, without exception, what every buddha and tathāgata has forever abandoned, and what every buddha and tathāgata condemns.
"Śāriputra! If there is any monk, nun, layman, or laywoman who gives rise to one of these views, or to both of these views, then the buddhas and tathāgatas are not that person's World-Honored One, and such a person is not my disciple. Śāriputra! Because such a person gives rise to these two views, they pass from darkness into darkness, from obscurity into obscurity — I call such people icchantikas. Therefore, Śāriputra, you should now study this teaching, and use it to transform those beings, so that they leave behind these two views and abide on the right path. Śāriputra! You too should study this teaching in just this way, leaving behind these two views, and abiding on the right path."
When the Buddha had finished speaking this sūtra, the Elder Śāriputra, the monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, the bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and the whole great assembly — gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, humans, and non-humans alike — all rejoiced greatly, and, believing and accepting this teaching, carried it out with reverence.
The treatise quotes this exact warning as scriptural proof for one leg of its own fourfold classification of beings whose faith in the Dharma needs strengthening — icchantikas, non-Buddhist outsiders, śrāvakas, and pratyekabuddhas, each obstructed in a different way. For the icchantika specifically, it cites this sūtra by name: "if any monk, nun, layman, or laywoman gives rise to one view, or to two views, the buddhas and tathāgatas are not that person's world-honored ones, and such people are not my disciples; because they give rise to these two views, they pass from darkness into darkness, from obscurity into obscurity — I call such people icchantikas" (若有比丘比丘尼優婆塞優婆夷，若起一見、若起二見、諸佛如來非彼世尊，如是等人非我弟子…我說是等名一闡提). The treatise then divides this category further still, into those who actively slander the Mahāyāna out of hatred for it and those who merely lack any means of approaching the path at all — but both, on its reading, ultimately share the same root diagnosis this sūtra gives: mistaking the "one realm" for something that could coherently increase or decrease in the first place. This site's Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra collection translates the sūtra usually credited with softening this same term — insisting, against readings like this one, that even the icchantika retains buddha-nature and is never permanently excluded — a tension this site's reading notes do not attempt to resolve, since the two sūtras were composed to make different points to different audiences.