The Great Renunciation, and the Fruit of Gentle Taming
Great compassion and great loving-kindness issue directly into practice: a bodhisattva on the Ground of Joy gives away everything, without exception, down to his own eyes and limbs — closing the excellence of practice with seven further accomplishments and a precise account of why two kinds of body result from two kinds of offering. The section of comparative excellence then turns to its final division: the fourfold fruit, opening with the image of gold refined again and again in fire.
The Great Renunciation
經曰：諸佛子？菩薩摩訶薩隨順如是大慈悲法住在初地，以深妙心於一切物無所悋惜，以智求佛大妙智故，修行大捨，即時所有可施之物皆悉能捨，所謂一切財穀庫藏等捨，或以金銀、摩尼、真珠、琉璃、珂貝、車璩、馬瑙、生金等捨，或以寶莊嚴具瓔珞等捨，或以象馬車乘輦輿等捨，或以寺舍園林樓觀流泉浴池等捨，或以奴婢僮僕等捨，或以國土聚落城邑王都等捨，或以妻子男女等捨，或以一切所愛之事皆悉能捨，或以頭目耳鼻支節手足一切身分等捨。如是一切可捨之物而不貪惜，唯求無上佛智慧故而行大捨。如是菩薩摩訶薩住於初地能成大捨。
論曰：即時所有可施之物皆悉能捨者，求佛無上大妙智故。是中一切物者，略有二種：一外、二內。外者復有二種：一、所用；二、貯積。如經「所謂一切財穀庫藏等」故。如是次第於中廣有八種，從金銀等乃至一切所愛之事。內者，自身所攝。是外事捨中，初捨是總，餘九捨是別。依二種喜：一、藏攝喜；二、利益喜。藏攝喜者，謂金銀等。利益喜者，復有八種：一者嚴飾利益喜，謂寶莊嚴等。二者代步利益喜，謂象馬等。三者戲樂利益喜，謂園林樓觀等。四者代苦利益喜，謂奴婢等。五者自在利益喜，謂國土聚落等。六者眷屬利益喜，謂妻子等。七者堅著利益喜，謂一切所愛等。八者稱意利益喜，謂頭目耳鼻等。
Sūtra: Sons of the Buddha! A bodhisattva-mahāsattva, dwelling in the First Ground in accordance with this dharma of great loving-kindness and compassion, holds nothing back with respect to any object, his mind profound and sublime; and, seeking a buddha's great, sublime wisdom through wisdom itself, he cultivates great renunciation. At that very moment, he is able to give away entirely whatever object may be given — namely: giving away every kind of wealth, grain, and storehouse; or giving away gold, silver, maṇi-jewels, pearls, lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl, coral, agate, and unrefined gold; or giving away jeweled ornaments and necklaces; or giving away elephants, horses, chariots, and carriages; or giving away temples, dwellings, gardens, groves, towers, pavilions, flowing springs, and bathing pools; or giving away male and female servants; or giving away lands, villages, cities, towns, and royal capitals; or giving away wife and children, sons and daughters; or giving away every object he holds dear, entirely; or giving away his own head, eyes, ears, nose, limbs, joints, hands, feet — every part of his body. Toward all such objects that can be given, he holds no greed or attachment, seeking only the unsurpassed wisdom of a buddha, and thus practices great renunciation. In this way, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva dwelling in the First Ground is able to accomplish great renunciation.
Commentary: "At that very moment, he is able to give away entirely whatever object may be given" means he seeks a buddha's unsurpassed, great, sublime wisdom. Here, "every object" is, in brief, of two kinds: external and internal. The external is, again, of two kinds: what is used, and what is stored. As the sūtra says, "namely, every kind of wealth, grain, and storehouse." In this same sequence, there are, more fully, eight kinds, from gold and silver all the way to every object he holds dear. The internal is what is included within his own person. Within this giving of external things, the first act of giving is the universal aspect, and the remaining nine are the particular aspects. This rests on two kinds of joy: the joy of what is stored, and the joy of benefit. The joy of what is stored refers to gold, silver, and the like. The joy of benefit is, again, of eight kinds. First, the joy of the benefit of adornment, referring to jeweled ornaments and the like. Second, the joy of the benefit of transport, referring to elephants, horses, and the like. Third, the joy of the benefit of pleasure and delight, referring to gardens, groves, towers, and pavilions and the like. Fourth, the joy of the benefit of relieving hardship, referring to servants and the like. Fifth, the joy of the benefit of self-mastery, referring to lands and villages and the like. Sixth, the joy of the benefit of family, referring to wife and children and the like. Seventh, the joy of the benefit of firm attachment, referring to every object he holds dear and the like. Eighth, the joy of the benefit that suits one's own desire, referring to head, eyes, ears, nose, and the like.
Huiyuan gives four distinct reasons why great renunciation follows directly from the three contemplations closing the previous section, rather than treating it as simply the next item on a list of virtues: 一、以大悲為拔物苦，然諸眾生交在苦中，須以財救，故須行施；二、以悲心欲拔眾生生死之苦，自我不出生死之苦，無由令他出離生死，生死必由施行而捨，故須行之 — "first, since great compassion means relieving beings of suffering, and sentient beings are caught within suffering, one must rescue them through material means, and so giving is required; second, since compassion wishes to relieve sentient beings of the suffering of birth-and-death, but if one has not oneself escaped that suffering, there is no way to lead others out of it, and escape from birth-and-death itself depends on the practice of giving as renunciation, giving is required for this reason too." He then gives the mirror pair for loving-kindness — one wishing to bestow ordinary happiness, which likewise requires material giving, and one wishing to bestow the happiness of enlightenment, which the bodhisattva cannot bestow on others until he has attained it himself, and enlightenment is itself accomplished through giving. Compassion and loving-kindness are not, on this account, feelings that merely accompany the practice of giving — each demands giving twice over, once to relieve or provide directly, and once because the very escape from suffering the bodhisattva hopes to lead others toward is itself reached only by means of giving.
On the two kinds of joy sorting what can be given — the joy of what is stored (gold, silver, unworked wealth) and the eightfold joy of benefit (adornment, transport, pleasure, relief from hardship, self-mastery, family, firm attachment, and what suits one's own desire) — Huiyuan is precise that this is a classification of what giving something away actually costs the giver, not merely an inventory of possessions. The final category, "the joy that suits one's own desire," covers giving away one's own head, eyes, ears, and limbs — deliberately placed last and named for how thoroughly it satisfies whatever is asked, since the body responds to any specific need exactly as requested, unlike wealth or land, which can only ever approximate what is actually wanted. The sequence runs from what is easiest to relinquish (stored, unused wealth) to what is hardest (the objects of firm attachment — wife, children, one's own most treasured possessions) to what looks hardest of all but, on the treatise's own logic, is named for its very perfection of fit: nothing serves a request more precisely than the body itself.
Seven Further Accomplishments Close the Excellence of Practice
經曰：菩薩如是以大施心救一切眾生故，轉轉推求世間出世間利益勝事。彼推求利益勝事時心不疲惓，是故菩薩成不疲惓心。成不疲惓已，於一切經論心無怯弱，是名成一切經論智。如是成一切經論智已，善能籌量應作不應作，於上中下眾生隨宜隨宜而行、隨力隨感，是故菩薩成就世智。成世智已，知時知量慚愧莊嚴修習自利利他之道，是故菩薩成慚愧莊嚴。如是行中精勤修行得不退不轉力，如是菩薩成堅固力。得堅固力已，勤行供養諸佛，隨所聞法如說修行。諸佛子！是菩薩悉知生起如是清淨諸地法，所謂信悲慈捨不疲惓，知諸經論善解世法，慚愧堅固力，供養諸佛如說修行。
論曰：是中依此世智隨宜隨宜而行者，如論中說隨自己力隨彼能受故。依慚愧知時知量者，示三種時：一者念時；二者日夜時；三者所作必得不斷時。依堅固力如是彼行中者，如上所說信等故。精勤修行者，有二種：一、不退力，不捨行故；二、不轉力，精進不息故。供養諸佛如說修行者，有二種：一、利養供養；二、修行供養。此十種行顯二種勝成就：一、深心成就，謂信悲慈等。二、修行成就，謂捨不疲惓，知諸經論善解世法，慚愧堅固力，供養諸佛如說修行等。於中依自利行，謂信能信菩薩行及諸佛法，求必能得故。依利他行，所謂悲慈能安隱與樂心故。捨者，以財攝他行故。
不疲惓者，自攝法行故。知諸經論善解世法者，以法攝他行故。餘有三行攝護信等：一者不著行，以慚愧對治障信等不著行故；二者不動行，有堅固力，信等不可動故；三者修行，彼垢清淨依止行供養諸佛，攝信等善根故。是中依二種供養故，得二種身：一者上妙身，所可見者心生敬重，利益不空故；二者調柔心，自性善根成就，樂行法故。前所說三十句，從信增上等乃至常求上上勝道，是清淨地法。今此十句從信等乃至供養諸佛，盡是障地淨法，是名修行挍量勝。云何果利益挍量勝？
Sūtra: A bodhisattva such as this, with this mind of great giving, saving every sentient being, further and further seeks out every excellent worldly and supramundane benefit. As he seeks out these excellent benefits, his mind is never wearied — and this is why the bodhisattva accomplishes an untiring mind. Having accomplished an untiring mind, his mind is fearless before every scripture and treatise — this is called accomplishing wisdom regarding every scripture and treatise. Having thus accomplished wisdom regarding every scripture and treatise, he is well able to determine what should and should not be done, acting appropriately toward beings of high, middling, and low capacity, in accordance with their strength and their circumstances — this is why the bodhisattva accomplishes worldly wisdom. Having accomplished worldly wisdom, knowing the proper time and the proper measure, adorned with a sense of shame and conscience, he cultivates the path of both self-benefit and benefiting others — this is why the bodhisattva accomplishes adornment through shame and conscience. Diligently practicing in this way, he attains the power of never retreating and never regressing — and this is how the bodhisattva accomplishes resolute power. Having attained resolute power, he diligently makes offerings to the buddhas, practicing in accordance with whatever Dharma he has heard. Sons of the Buddha! This bodhisattva knows fully how to give rise to these pure dharmas of the grounds — namely, faith, compassion, loving-kindness, renunciation, an untiring mind, wisdom regarding every scripture and treatise, a good understanding of worldly matters, shame and conscience, resolute power, and making offerings to the buddhas while practicing in accordance with the Dharma.
Commentary: Here, relying on this worldly wisdom, "acting appropriately" means, as another treatise explains, acting in accordance with one's own strength and with what others are capable of receiving. Relying on shame and conscience, "knowing the proper time and the proper measure" shows three kinds of time: the time of each single thought; the time of day and night; and the time in which whatever is undertaken is surely brought to completion without interruption. Relying on resolute power, "in this practice" refers to faith and the rest, as explained above. "Diligently practicing" is of two kinds: the power of never retreating, since one never abandons the practice; and the power of never regressing, since diligence never rests. "Making offerings to the buddhas, practicing in accordance with the Dharma" is of two kinds: the offering of material benefit, and the offering of practice. These ten kinds of practice make manifest two kinds of superior accomplishment: the accomplishment of a deep mind — namely, faith, compassion, loving-kindness, and the rest; and the accomplishment of practice — namely, renunciation, an untiring mind, wisdom regarding every scripture and treatise, a good understanding of worldly matters, shame and conscience, resolute power, and making offerings to the buddhas while practicing in accordance with the Dharma. Among these, relying on the practice of self-benefit means that faith is able to have faith in a bodhisattva's practice and in every buddha-dharma, seeking it and surely being able to attain it. Relying on the practice of benefiting others means that compassion and loving-kindness are able to give ease and to bestow the mind of happiness. Renunciation means the practice of gathering others in through material wealth.
An untiring mind means the practice of gathering in the Dharma for oneself. Wisdom regarding every scripture and treatise and a good understanding of worldly matters mean the practice of gathering others in through the Dharma. There remain three further practices that guard and protect faith and the rest: first, the practice of non-attachment, since shame and conscience counteract the hindrance to faith and the rest, making them free of attachment; second, the practice of steadfastness, since resolute power means that faith and the rest cannot be shaken; and third, the practice of cultivation, since practicing in accordance with the Dharma, making offerings to the buddhas — the very ground on which one's own defilement is purified — gathers in the roots of goodness of faith and the rest. Here, in dependence on these two kinds of offering, two kinds of body are attained: first, a supreme and sublime body, such that whoever sees it gives rise to a mind of reverence, its benefit never in vain; and second, a gentle, tamed mind, its own nature and roots of goodness accomplished, delighting in the practice of the Dharma. The thirty clauses spoken of earlier, from "faith is increased" all the way to "constantly seeking the path that is ever more supreme," are the pure dharmas of the ground. These present ten clauses, from faith all the way to making offerings to the buddhas, are entirely the pure dharmas that overcome the hindrances of the ground — and this is called the excellence of practice, comparatively measured. What is the excellence of fruit and benefit, comparatively measured?
Huiyuan groups these ten culminating practices into three functional roles rather than treating them as one more undifferentiated list: faith, compassion, and loving-kindness serve self-benefit and benefiting others respectively (依自利行…依利他行), giving, an untiring mind, and the two kinds of scriptural and worldly wisdom actively gather others in (前之七種別利自、他), and the final three — shame and conscience, resolute power, and cultivation through offering — exist purely to guard and protect everything that came before: 由慚、愧故，護令離惡；由堅固力，護令信善不退不失…所言攝者…由如說行，起彼信等，故名為攝 — "through shame and conscience, one is protected and made to leave evil behind; through resolute power, one is protected so that faith in the good neither retreats nor is lost… as for 'gathering,' it means that, by practicing in accordance with the Dharma, faith and the rest are aroused, and this is why it is called gathering." Ten items sort cleanly into three jobs: two that build the capacity for practice, five that turn it outward toward others, and three that keep the whole structure from eroding once it is built.
On the closing distinction between two kinds of body arising from two kinds of offering, Huiyuan is careful that "material offering" and "practice offering" are not merely two techniques producing the same result twice over, but two genuinely different achievements: the offering of material benefit yields 上妙身, a supreme and sublime body — the visible presence that inspires reverence in whoever encounters it — while the offering of practice yields 調柔心, a gentle, tamed mind, the inward accomplishment of one's own roots of goodness maturing into a nature that delights in the Dharma for its own sake. He also flags a terminological distinction easy to miss on a quick reading: the treatise's earlier thirty clauses on abiding are called 淨治地法, "dharmas that purify and cultivate the ground" — a description of purification still underway — while these present ten clauses are called 障地淨法, "the pure dharmas that overcome the hindrances of the ground" — a description of hindrances already, at this point, actually overcome. The two phrases use nearly identical vocabulary but mark two different moments in the same process: 前是能淨，此是所淨 — "the earlier passage names the purifying itself; this one names what has been purified" — a subtlety Huiyuan insists is worth pausing on precisely because the wording is so easy to read past without noticing the shift.
The Fruit of Comparative Excellence Begins: Gentle Taming
經曰：諸佛子！是菩薩住此菩薩歡喜地已，多見諸佛。以大神通力、大願力故，見多百佛、多千佛、多百千佛、多百千那由他佛、多億佛、多百億佛、多千億佛、多百千億佛、多百千億那由他佛，以大神通力大願力故。是菩薩見諸佛時，以上心深心供養恭敬尊重讚歎，衣服飲食臥具湯藥一切供具悉以奉施，以諸菩薩上妙樂具供養眾僧，以此善根皆願迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。是菩薩因供養諸佛故，成教化利益眾生法。是菩薩多以二攝攝取眾生，所謂布施、愛語。後二攝法但以信解力行，未善通達。是菩薩十波羅蜜中檀波羅蜜增上，餘波羅蜜非不修集，隨力隨分是菩薩隨所供養諸佛，教化眾生皆能受行清淨地法。如是如是彼諸善根皆願迴向薩婆若，轉復明淨調柔成就隨意所用。諸佛子！譬如金師善巧鍊金數數入火，如是如是轉復明淨調柔成就隨意所用。諸佛子！菩薩亦復如是，如是如是供養諸佛教化眾生，皆能修行清淨地法。正修行已，如是如是彼諸善根皆願迴向薩婆若，轉復明淨調柔成就隨意所用。
論曰：果利益挍量勝有四種：一、調柔果利益勝；二、發趣果利益勝；三、攝報果利益勝；四、願智果利益勝。調柔果利益勝者，金相似法，信等善法猶如真金。數數入火者，有三種入：一、功德入，供養佛僧故；二、悲心入，教化眾生故；三、無上果入，願迴向大菩提故。以大神通力見諸佛者，以勝神通力見色身佛。大願力者，以內正願力見法身佛。多百佛乃至百千億那由他佛者，方便善巧示現多佛，顯多數故。供養者，有三種：一、恭敬供養，謂讚歎等，顯佛功德故；二、尊重供養，謂禮拜等；三、奉施供養，謂花香塗香末香幡蓋等。以諸菩薩上妙樂具者，是諸菩薩所有世間不共之物，具足奉施一切眾僧故。云何發趣果利益勝？
Sūtra: Sons of the Buddha! This bodhisattva, having dwelt in this bodhisattva's Ground of Joy, sees many buddhas. Through great spiritual power and the power of his great vows, he sees hundreds of buddhas, thousands of buddhas, hundreds of thousands of buddhas, hundreds of thousands of niyutas of buddhas, koṭis of buddhas, hundreds of koṭis of buddhas, thousands of koṭis of buddhas, hundreds of thousands of koṭis of buddhas, and hundreds of thousands of koṭis of niyutas of buddhas — through great spiritual power and the power of his great vows. When this bodhisattva sees these buddhas, with a supreme, deep mind he makes offerings to them, reveres, honors, and praises them, presenting robes, food and drink, bedding, medicine, and every requisite entirely as offerings; and, with the supreme and sublime objects of delight belonging to the bodhisattvas, he makes offerings to the entire monastic assembly, dedicating this root of goodness, wishing for unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. Through making offerings to the buddhas, this bodhisattva accomplishes the Dharma of teaching, transforming, and benefiting sentient beings. This bodhisattva gathers in sentient beings chiefly through two of the means of attraction — namely, giving and kind speech. The remaining two means of attraction he practices only through the power of faith and understanding, not yet fully mastering them. Among the ten perfections, this bodhisattva excels especially in the perfection of giving; the other perfections he does not fail to cultivate and gather, but in accordance with his own strength and portion. This bodhisattva, in whatever way he makes offerings to the buddhas and teaches and transforms sentient beings, is able to receive and practice the pure dharmas of the ground. In just this way, he dedicates every one of these roots of goodness toward omniscience, and they become ever more radiant, pure, gentle, and tamed, accomplished and ready for use at will. Sons of the Buddha! It is like a skilled goldsmith who refines gold, placing it into the fire again and again — in just this way, it becomes ever more radiant, pure, gentle, and tamed, accomplished and ready for use at will. Sons of the Buddha! A bodhisattva is just the same: in just this way, making offerings to the buddhas and teaching and transforming sentient beings, he is able to cultivate and practice the pure dharmas of the ground. Having rightly practiced them, in just this way, he dedicates every one of these roots of goodness toward omniscience, and they become ever more radiant, pure, gentle, and tamed, accomplished and ready for use at will.
Commentary: The excellence of fruit and benefit, comparatively measured, is of four kinds: the excellence of the fruit and benefit of gentle taming; the excellence of the fruit and benefit of advancing forth; the excellence of the fruit and benefit of gathered retribution; and the excellence of the fruit and benefit of vow and wisdom. The excellence of the fruit and benefit of gentle taming resembles gold: faith and the other wholesome dharmas are just like true gold. "Placing it into the fire again and again" has three kinds of entry: the entry of merit, through making offerings to the buddhas and the monastic assembly; the entry of a compassionate mind, through teaching and transforming sentient beings; and the entry of the unsurpassed fruit, through dedicating oneself toward great enlightenment. "Through great spiritual power" he "sees" the buddhas by means of supreme spiritual power seeing the form-body buddha. "The power of his great vows" means seeing the dharma-body buddha through the power of his own correct, inner vow. "Hundreds of buddhas" all the way to "hundreds of thousands of koṭis of niyutas of buddhas" means that, through skillful means, many buddhas are manifested, making their great number evident. "Making offerings" is of three kinds: the offering of reverence, such as praise and the like, making manifest the buddha's own merit; the offering of honor, such as prostration and the like; and the offering of presentation, such as flowers, incense, perfumed powder, banners, and canopies. "The supreme and sublime objects of delight belonging to the bodhisattvas" means whatever objects, unshared with the world, the bodhisattvas themselves possess, presented in full as offerings to the entire monastic assembly. What is the excellence of the fruit and benefit of advancing forth?
Huiyuan names all four kinds of fruit before the treatise reaches them in detail, giving each a compact etymology worth having in view from the start: 調柔果者…能練信等名為調柔 — "the fruit of gentle taming: refining faith and the rest is what is meant by 'gentle taming'"; 發趣果者，地滿足已更集明解，能發此地有能趣向，故云發趣 — "the fruit of advancing forth: once a ground is fulfilled, further gathering clear understanding, one is able to set out from this ground with the capacity to advance toward the next, and this is why it is called 'advancing forth'"; 攝報果者，王位之身酬因名報，因成納報故名為攝 — "the fruit of gathered retribution: the body of royal station repays a cause, and this is called 'retribution'; the cause having matured, retribution is received, and this is called 'gathered'"; and 願智果者，內證願力教智自在，名為願智 — "the fruit of vow and wisdom: inner realization through the power of vow, and self-mastery in the wisdom of teaching, is called 'vow and wisdom.'" He also explains why this order was chosen over the reverse sequence a related text uses: 調柔練前信等十法，乘前之便，故先明之…前說調柔自地滿足，便能發此趣向後地，故次論之 — "gentle taming refines the ten preceding dharmas of faith and the rest, and, following naturally from what came just before, is explained first… once gentle taming is spoken of as the fulfillment of this very ground, it is then able to give rise to advancing toward the next ground, and so this is discussed next." Gentle taming names what the whole prior chapter has been building toward; advancing forth is what that completed taming makes possible; gathered retribution and the wisdom of vow describe, in turn, the visible and the inward fruits that follow from having advanced.
On the goldsmith simile that opens the first fruit, Huiyuan is precise that "placing it into the fire again and again" names three distinct acts, not one repeated gesture: 一、功德入，供養佛僧故；二、悲心入，教化眾生故；三、無上果入，願迴向大菩提故 — "first, the entry of merit, through making offerings to the buddhas and the monastic assembly; second, the entry of a compassionate mind, through teaching and transforming sentient beings; third, the entry of the unsurpassed fruit, through dedicating oneself toward great enlightenment." Gold does not become finer through a single firing repeated identically — each pass through the flame targets a different impurity, and only the sum of all three produces metal fit for use. The bodhisattva's own faith and other wholesome dharmas, on this reading, are similarly refined by three distinct activities rather than by any single repeated practice: offering purifies through merit, teaching others purifies through compassion, and dedication toward enlightenment purifies through orienting everything already refined toward its final purpose.
Part 13 Complete
This closes Part 13: the Great Renunciation issuing directly from great compassion and loving-kindness, the seven further accomplishments that close the excellence of practice, and the opening of the fourfold fruit of comparative excellence with the fruit of gentle taming — faith and the other wholesome dharmas refined like gold through three distinct kinds of fire. Part 14 turns to the three remaining fruits — advancing forth, gathered retribution, and the wisdom of vow — closing out Pramuditā, the Ground of Joy, and the whole of the First Ground.
Continue to Part 14 — The First Ground Complete →