Five Faults, Five Virtues
This page opens Ru-Yi's translation of the Treatise on Buddha Nature (佛性論), attributed to Vasubandhu and translated into Chinese by Paramārtha in the sixth century. No Sanskrit or Tibetan version of this text has ever been located — it survives only in Paramārtha's Chinese, and, unusually for a treatise this influential, it never attracted a dedicated line-by-line commentary of its own. The treatise opens with a single question — why did the Buddha teach that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature at all? — and answers it with a symmetrical pair of five: five faults the teaching removes, and five virtues it gives rise to in their place.
Translation Method
The Chinese source is Paramārtha's sixth-century translation, the sole surviving version of this treatise in any language. Because no ancient commentary on this specific text survives — unlike the Awakening of Faith, which Fazang glossed line by line — the reading notes on this collection's pages are original commentary from Ru-Yi Meditation Center rather than a translation of an ancient master's gloss, and they appear only where a passage seemed to call for one, not on every page. Classical text is set in the left-hand column below, our English in the right. See also this site's note on translation method.
Why the Buddha Taught Buddha-Nature
問曰：佛何因緣說於佛性？
答曰：如來為除五種過失、生五功德故，說一切眾生悉有佛性。除五種過失者，一為令眾生離下劣心故、二為離慢下品人故、三為離虛妄執故、四為離誹謗真實法故、五為離我執故。
Question: "For what reason did the Buddha teach buddha-nature?"
Answer: "The Tathāgata taught that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature in order to remove five faults and give rise to five virtues. The five faults to be removed are: first, so that sentient beings may leave behind a mind of low self-regard; second, so that they may leave behind the arrogance of those who look down on others; third, so that they may leave behind false attachment; fourth, so that they may leave behind slander of the true Dharma; and fifth, so that they may leave behind attachment to self."
The Five Faults, Explained
一為令眾生離下劣心者，有諸眾生未聞佛說有佛性理，不知自身必當有得佛義故，於此身起下劣想，不能發菩提心。今欲令其發心，捨下劣意故，說眾生悉有佛性。
二為離高慢心者，若有人曾聞佛說眾生有佛性故，因此發心，既發心已，便謂我有佛性故能發心，作輕慢意，謂他不能。為破此執故，佛說一切眾生皆有佛性。
三為離虛妄執者，若人有此慢心，則於如理如量正智不得生顯故起虛妄。虛妄者，是眾生過失。過失有二：一本無、二是客。一本無者，如如理中本無人我，作人我執，此執無本。由無本執故，起無明等。由無明起業，由業起果報。如此三種無實根本所執是無，故知能執皆成虛妄故。由於此執所起無明諸業果報並是虛妄故，無受者作者而於中執有，是虛妄故言本無。二是客者，有為諸法皆念念滅無停住義，則能罵所罵二無所有，但初剎那為舊、次剎那為客。能罵所罵起而即謝，是則初剎那是怨、次則非怨，以於客中作於舊執，此執不實故名虛妄。若起此執，正智不生。為除此執，故說佛性。佛性者，即是人法二空所顯真如。由真如故，無能罵所罵。通達此理，離虛妄執。
四為除誹謗真實法者，一切眾生過失之事並是二空，由解此空故所起清淨智慧功德，是名真實。言誹謗者，若不說佛性則不了空，便執實有，違謗真如，淨智功德皆不成就。
五離我執者，若不見虛妄過失、真實功德，於眾生中不起大悲。由聞佛說佛性故，知虛妄過失、真實功德，則於眾生中起大悲心，無有彼此故除我執。
First, as to leaving behind a mind of low self-regard: there are sentient beings who, not having heard the Buddha teach the principle that buddha-nature exists, do not know that they themselves are certain, in time, to attain buddhahood — and so they conceive of themselves as base and lowly, and are unable to give rise to the thought of enlightenment (bodhicitta). Wishing now to let them give rise to this thought and cast off their low self-regard, the Buddha teaches that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature.
Second, as to leaving behind arrogance: suppose someone has already heard the Buddha teach that sentient beings possess buddha-nature, and on that account has given rise to the thought of enlightenment. Having done so, he then supposes, "I am able to give rise to this thought because I possess buddha-nature," and conceives a disdainful attitude, thinking others incapable of it. To break this attachment, the Buddha teaches that all sentient beings, without exception, possess buddha-nature.
Third, as to leaving behind false attachment: when a person harbors this arrogant mind, the correct wisdom that accords with principle and accords with measure cannot arise and become manifest, and false attachment arises instead. This falseness is itself a fault of sentient beings, and it is of two kinds — the groundless, and the adventitious. As to the groundless: within true principle there has never been any self or person; to construct an attachment to self and person is an attachment with no ground at all. From this groundless attachment, ignorance arises; from ignorance, karmic action arises; from karmic action, the fruit of retribution arises. Since these three have, at root, no real ground, the attaching mind that grasps them is entirely false. Since the ignorance, actions, and fruits of retribution that arise from this attachment are themselves all false, there is, within them, neither an experiencer nor an agent — and yet one attaches to them as existing. This is what is meant by "groundless." As to the adventitious: all conditioned dharmas perish moment by moment and have no nature of abiding, so that, in the case of one who reviles and one who is reviled, neither truly persists at all — it is only that the first instant is taken as "the old" and the very next as "a guest." The reviler and the one reviled arise and immediately cease; the first instant is an enemy, and the next is one no longer — yet within this "guest" one constructs an attachment to it as "the old enemy." This attachment is unreal, and so it is called false. Where this attachment arises, correct wisdom cannot arise. It is to remove this attachment that buddha-nature is taught. Buddha-nature is precisely the suchness revealed by the twofold emptiness of person and of dharma. Because of suchness, there is no reviler and no one reviled. To penetrate this principle is to leave behind false attachment.
Fourth, as to removing slander of the true Dharma: every fault among sentient beings is, in every case, an instance of the twofold emptiness, and the pure wisdom and merit that arise from understanding this emptiness are what is called "the true." As for slander: if buddha-nature were not taught, emptiness would not be understood, and one would attach to things instead as truly existing — thereby violating and slandering suchness, so that pure wisdom and merit could never be accomplished.
Fifth, as to leaving behind attachment to self: if one does not see the fault of what is false and the merit of what is true, one will not give rise to great compassion toward sentient beings. It is by hearing the Buddha teach buddha-nature that one comes to know the fault of what is false and the merit of what is true, and thereby gives rise, toward sentient beings, to a mind of great compassion in which there is no "self" and "other" — and so attachment to self is removed.
The Five Virtues, and How Each Reverses a Fault
為此五義因緣，佛說佛性生五種功德。五功德者，一起正勤心、二生恭敬事、三生般若、四生闍那、五生大悲。由五功德能翻五失，由正勤故，翻下劣心；由恭敬故，翻輕慢意；由般若故，翻妄想執；由生闍那俗智，能顯實智及諸功德故，翻謗真法，由大悲心，慈念平等，故翻我執。
翻我執者，由佛性故觀一切眾生二無所有，息自愛念；觀諸眾生二空所攝，一切功德而得成就，是故於他而生愛念。由般若故，滅自愛念；由大悲故，生他愛念。由般若故，捨凡夫執；由大悲故，捨二乘執。由般若故，不捨涅槃；由大悲故，不捨生死。由般若故，成就佛法；由大悲故，成熟眾生。由二方便住無住處，無有退轉速證菩提，滅五過失、生五功德，是故佛說一切眾生皆有佛性。
On account of these five reasons, the Buddha's teaching of buddha-nature gives rise to five virtues. The five virtues are: first, the arising of a mind of true diligence; second, the arising of reverence; third, the arising of prajñā; fourth, the arising of jñāna, worldly wisdom; and fifth, the arising of great compassion. These five virtues are able to reverse the five faults: through true diligence, low self-regard is reversed; through reverence, disdain is reversed; through prajñā, false conceptual attachment is reversed; through the arising of jñāna, the conventional wisdom able to manifest true wisdom and all its merits, slander of the true Dharma is reversed; and through the mind of great compassion, which regards all with impartial kindness, attachment to self is reversed.
As for the reversal of attachment to self: on account of buddha-nature, one observes that, in all sentient beings, the twofold self and dharma have no real existence, and so one's fond regard for oneself is stilled; and one observes that all sentient beings are included within the twofold emptiness and that all merit is thereby accomplished, and so a fond regard for others arises. Through prajñā, fond regard for self is extinguished; through great compassion, fond regard for others arises. Through prajñā, the attachments of the ordinary person are abandoned; through great compassion, the attachments of the two vehicles are abandoned. Through prajñā, nirvāṇa is not abandoned; through great compassion, saṃsāra is not abandoned. Through prajñā, the Buddha-dharma is accomplished; through great compassion, sentient beings are brought to maturity. By means of these two skillful means, one abides in the state of non-abiding, and without ever retreating, swiftly realizes enlightenment. The five faults are extinguished and the five virtues arise — and this is why the Buddha teaches that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature.
Part 1 Complete
This closes the "Part on Causes and Conditions" (緣起分), the treatise's short opening chapter: one question, and a symmetrical answer in five faults removed and five virtues gained. Part 2 turns to the treatise's second major division, the "Part Refuting Attachments" (破執分), which opens by taking on objections from within the Buddhist tradition itself — the doubt, raised from certain Hīnayāna readings of the canon, that some beings might be permanently excluded from nirvāṇa.
Continue to Part 2 — Refuting the Hīnayāna Objection →