Why the Buddha Addresses Śāriputra

Sutra: The Buddha addressed Śāriputra.

Treatise: Question: Prajñāpāramitā is the teaching for bodhisattva mahāsattvas. Why does the Buddha address Śāriputra rather than a bodhisattva?

Answer: Śāriputra is foremost in wisdom among all the disciples. As the Buddha says in verse:

‘Of all beings, except the World-Honored Buddha, none can compare with Śāriputra in wisdom and learning. Their wisdom and learning do not reach even one sixteenth of his.’

Furthermore, Śāriputra possessed wisdom, extensive learning, and great merit. At only eight years old, he could recite eighteen divisions of scripture and thoroughly understand their teachings. At that time, Magadha had two dragon kings who were brothers, named Jili and Agaluo. They brought timely rain, and the country suffered no years of famine. In gratitude, every year in the second month of spring the people gathered at the dragons’ dwelling for a great festival, playing music and discussing teachings throughout the day.

This gathering had continued from ancient times and was named after the dragons. By custom, four high seats were set out: one for the king, one for the crown prince, one for the chief minister, and one for a debater.

Eight-year-old Śāriputra asked, ‘For whom are these four high seats prepared?’ The people answered, ‘For the king, crown prince, chief minister, and debater.’ Observing the brahmins and others present, he saw no one whose bearing suggested an intellect greater than his own. He climbed onto the debater’s seat and sat in full lotus posture.

The crowd was astonished. Some thought him a foolish, ignorant child; others thought his intelligence extraordinary. Although impressed by his unusual ability, the scholars remained proud. Embarrassed to debate someone so young, they sent their younger pupils to question him instead. His replies were exceptional in meaning, expression, and reasoning. The debaters marveled at this unprecedented ability, and everyone, wise or foolish, young or old, acknowledged his superiority.

The king rejoiced and ordered officials to grant him a village for his continuing support. Riding an elephant carriage, the king had bells rung and the news proclaimed everywhere. Throughout the sixteen great countries and six great cities, everyone celebrated.

At that time, Śāriputra befriended Kolita, son of a diviner and a member of the Mahāmaudgalyāyana clan. Śāriputra was respected for his brilliance; Maudgalyāyana was esteemed for his noble, generous character. They were comparable in intelligence and alike in conduct. They traveled and stayed together, remaining close as they grew up and pledging lifelong friendship.

Later, both became disenchanted with the world, went forth to seek the path, and became pupils of a brahmin. After a long search without any evidence of attainment, they questioned their teacher, Sañjaya. He replied, ‘I have sought the path for many years, yet I do not know whether its fruit exists. Perhaps I am not suited to it, for I too have not attained it!’

One day their teacher fell ill. Śāriputra stood by his head and Maudgalyāyana by his feet. As he lay gasping, near death, he smiled with pity. Both asked why. He replied, ‘Worldly people lack vision and are overcome by attachment. I see that the king of the Land of Gold has died. His chief queen has thrown herself onto his funeral pyre, hoping to be with him. But their actions bring different results, and their places of rebirth are far apart.’

They wrote down his words to test their truth. Later, merchants from the Land of Gold came to Magadha. Checking their record against what the merchants reported, they found that their teacher’s words were true. Disheartened, they sighed, ‘Are we unsuited to the path, or did our teacher conceal it from us?’ They pledged to each other, ‘Whoever first obtains the nectar of the deathless must share its taste with the other.’

The Buddha had by then liberated the Kāśyapa brothers and their thousand followers. Traveling onward through various countries, he reached Rājagṛha and stayed in the Bamboo Grove. Hearing that a Buddha had appeared, the two brahmin teachers entered the city together to learn more.

A monk named Aśvajit (one of the original five monks) put on his robe, took his bowl, and entered the city for alms. Seeing his distinctive bearing and dress, and the calm restraint of his faculties, Śāriputra approached and asked, ‘Whose disciple are you? Who is your teacher?’

He answered, ‘The prince of the Śākya clan became disenchanted with the suffering of aging, sickness, and death, went forth to seek the path, and attained unsurpassed complete awakening. He is my teacher.’

Śāriputra asked, ‘Please tell me your teacher’s instruction!’ Aśvajit answered in verse: ‘I am young, and my learning is recent and limited. How could I proclaim the highest truth and explain the Tathāgata’s meaning at length?’

Śāriputra said, ‘Briefly state its essence.’ Aśvajit then spoke this verse: ‘Dharmas arise through causes and conditions. Their causes and conditions are taught, as is the ending of those causes and conditions. Thus the great teacher teaches.’

Hearing this verse, Śāriputra immediately attained the first stage of the path and returned to tell Maudgalyāyana. Seeing his peaceful, joyful expression, Maudgalyāyana greeted him: ‘Have you tasted the nectar of the deathless? Tell me!’ Śāriputra repeated the verse. Maudgalyāyana asked to hear it again. After hearing it once more, he too attained the first stage of the path.

The two teachers and their two hundred and fifty disciples went together to the Buddha. Seeing them approach, the Buddha asked the monks, ‘Do you see those two leading the brahmins?’ They answered, ‘We do.’ He said, ‘These two will be foremost among my disciples in wisdom and supernatural power.’

The group drew near, bowed their heads in homage, and stood to one side. They said, ‘World-Honored One! We wish to go forth and receive ordination in the Buddha Dharma.’ The Buddha said, ‘Come, monks!’ Their hair and beards immediately fell away, Dharma robes covered them, and their robes and bowls were complete. They received full ordination.

Half a month later, while the Buddha was teaching the brahmin Long Nails, Śāriputra attained arhatship. Why did it take half a month? He was to become a teacher who followed the Buddha in turning the Dharma wheel. While still a trainee, he needed to enter the dharmas directly and know their many aspects completely. Therefore, he attained arhatship after half a month. His many virtues were like these. Thus, although Śāriputra was an arhat, the Buddha taught him the profound Dharma of Prajñāpāramitā.

Question: If so, why is only a little taught to Śāriputra at the beginning, while much more is later taught to Subhūti? If Śāriputra’s foremost wisdom is the reason, he should receive more of the teaching. Why address Subhūti?

Answer: Śāriputra is foremost in wisdom among the Buddha’s disciples. Subhūti is foremost in attaining the samādhi of non-contention. Its character is constantly to consider beings without causing distress and to practice much compassion. Bodhisattvas make vast vows to liberate beings. Because their compassion is alike, the Buddha instructs Subhūti to speak.

Furthermore, Subhūti delights in practicing the samādhi of emptiness. After spending the rains retreat in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three and completing its closing observance, the Buddha returned to Jambudvīpa. Subhūti was staying in a rock cave and wondered, ‘The Buddha is descending from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Should I go to him or not?’ He then reflected, ‘The Buddha always says that seeing his Dharma body with the eye of wisdom is the highest way of seeing him.’

As the Buddha descended, the fourfold community gathered in Jambudvīpa. Devas saw humans, and humans saw devas. The Buddha, a wheel-turning sage king, and great assemblies of devas were present. The assembly’s splendor was unprecedented.

Subhūti thought, ‘Though extraordinary, this great assembly will not last. Subject to dissolution, all of it is impermanent.’ Entering through the contemplation of impermanence, he knew all dharmas to be empty and without substantial reality. Through this contemplation he realized the path.

Everyone wished to be first to see the Buddha, bow, and make offerings. The nun Flower Color wished to remove the disadvantage attached to being called a woman. She manifested as a wheel-turning sage king with the seven treasures and a thousand sons. Seeing this, people rose and made way. On reaching the Buddha, she resumed her form as a nun and was the first to bow.

The Buddha told her, ‘You were not the first to bow. Subhūti bowed to me first. Why? By contemplating dharmas as empty, he saw the Buddha’s Dharma body and made a true offering, the highest offering. Merely paying respects to the body born of parents is not that offering.’ Thus, Subhūti constantly practices the samādhi of emptiness, which accords with the empty character of Prajñāpāramitā. Therefore, the Buddha instructs him to teach it.

Furthermore, beings trust and honor arhats whose influxes have ended. By instructing them to teach, the Buddha enables the assembly to gain pure faith. Bodhisattvas have not yet ended their influxes; if they were presented as witnesses, people would not believe them. Therefore, he teaches Prajñāpāramitā together with Śāriputra and Subhūti.

Question: Why is he called Śāriputra? Did his parents give him this name, or was it established on the basis of his conduct and virtues?

Answer: It is a name given by his parents. In Magadha, a country of exceptional well-being in Jambudvīpa, lies the great city Rājagṛha. Its king was Bimbisāra. A brahmin debater named Matuoluo (摩陀羅) was so skilled that the king granted him a village near the city. He married and had a daughter whose eyes resembled those of a śāri bird, so he named her Śāri. A son born afterward had large kneecaps and was named Kauṣṭhila.

(Kauṣṭhila means ‘Great Knees.’) Busy with family life and raising his children, the brahmin forgot the scriptures he had studied and learned nothing new. At that time, a great brahmin debater from southern India named Tiṣya had mastered all eighteen great scriptures.

He entered Rājagṛha carrying a flame on his head and copper plates around his abdomen. Asked why, he said, ‘I have learned so many scriptures that I fear my belly will burst; therefore I bind it.’ Asked about the flame, he replied, ‘Because the darkness is great.’ People said, ‘The sun is shining. Why speak of darkness?’ He answered, ‘There are two kinds: the absence of sunlight and the obscurity of ignorance. Though the sun shines, ignorance remains dark.’

They told him, ‘You have simply not met the brahmin Matuoluo. If you did, your belly would shrink and your light would dim.’ He went straight to the debating drum and struck it. Hearing it, the king asked who had come. His ministers said, ‘A great brahmin debater from southern India named Tiṣya seeks a debate.’ Delighted, the king assembled the people and announced, ‘Whoever can challenge him should debate him!’

Matuoluo doubted himself: ‘I have forgotten what I studied and learned nothing new. Can I still debate him?’ Reluctantly he set out. On the way he saw two bulls fighting and thought, ‘Let this bull represent me and that one him. This omen will show who wins.’ His bull lost, and he became deeply anxious, thinking it foretold his defeat. Near the assembly, a woman carrying a water jar fell in front of him and broke it. He regarded this too as inauspicious and felt deeply unhappy.

On entering, he saw that his opponent’s face, bearing, and confidence all displayed the signs of victory, and he knew himself outmatched. Having no choice, he debated and was defeated. The king rejoiced: ‘A man of great wisdom and brilliance has come from afar to my country!’ He wished to grant him a village.

The ministers objected: ‘If every clever newcomer receives a village while meritorious ministers go unrewarded, we honor mere argument rather than secure the state and its households. Since Matuoluo has lost, his grant should go to the victor. If another defeats him, let it pass to that person.’ The king accepted their advice and transferred the grant.

Matuoluo told Tiṣya, ‘You are an intelligent man. I give you my daughter in marriage and entrust my son to your care. I now wish to travel abroad to pursue my original aim.’ Tiṣya married his daughter.

During her pregnancy, she dreamed of a man wearing armor and holding a vajra, who shattered mountains and stood beside a great mountain. On awakening she told her husband. Tiṣya said, ‘You will bear a son who will defeat all debaters except one. He will become that person’s disciple.’

Because of the child she carried, Śāri herself became brilliant and skilled in debate. Her brother Kauṣṭhila repeatedly lost arguments with her. Realizing that the unborn child must possess great wisdom—already so powerful before birth, and surely more so afterward—he left home to study in southern India. He did not trim his nails while mastering the eighteen scriptures, so people called him the brahmin Long Nails.

Seven days after his sister’s son was born, the baby was wrapped in white cloth and shown to his father. His father thought, ‘My name is Tiṣya. Following my name, I shall call him Upatiṣya.’ (Upa means ‘following’; Tiṣya is the name of a star.) This was the name given by his parents.

Because he was born of Śāri, people called him Śāriputra. (Putra means ‘son.’)

Furthermore, life after life he had vowed to become Śākyamuni Buddha’s foremost disciple in wisdom, named Śāriputra. His name thus also arose through the causes and conditions of his original vow.

Question: If so, why call him Śāriputra rather than Upatiṣya? Answer: People held his mother in high regard as the most intelligent of women. Therefore, they called him Śāriputra.

Sutra: ‘A bodhisattva mahāsattva who wishes to know all dharmas in every aspect should train in and practice Prajñāpāramitā.’

Treatise: The meaning of bodhisattva mahāsattva was explained earlier in the section praising bodhisattvas. Question: What is meant by ‘every aspect’? What is meant by ‘all dharmas’?

Answer: An ‘aspect’ is a gateway of wisdom. Some contemplate dharmas through one gateway, others through two, three, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, or asaṃkhyeyas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. Entering every aspect through all gateways of wisdom and contemplating all dharmas is called ‘every aspect.’

Ordinary people wishing to leave sensual desire and form employ three contemplations: they regard the desire and form realms as coarse and harmful, deceptive, and impure and burdensome.

The Buddha’s disciples employ eight contemplations: impermanence, suffering, emptiness, non-self, illness, a sore, an arrow lodged in the body, and affliction. These enter the four noble truths and include four of the sixteen aspects. The sixteen are: contemplating suffering as impermanent, suffering, empty, and without self; its origin as accumulation, cause, condition, and arising; its cessation as exhaustion, cessation, excellence, and release; and the path as path, rightness, practice, and the way.

There are also sixteen aspects of breathing practice: observing inhalation; observing exhalation; observing long and short breaths; observing breath throughout the body; calming bodily activities; experiencing joy; experiencing pleasure; experiencing mental activities; joy without contrivance; collecting the mind; liberating the mind; contemplating impermanence; contemplating dissolution; contemplating dispassion; contemplating cessation; and contemplating relinquishment.

There are also six recollections. Recollection of the Buddha recalls his ten titles, beginning with Tathāgata, Arhat, and Fully and Perfectly Awakened One. The other five are explained later. Worldly and supramundane wisdom, and the wisdom of arhats, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas—knowing dharmas through these kinds of wisdom is called knowing ‘every aspect.’

‘All dharmas’ means everything that consciousness takes as its object. Visual consciousness takes forms as objects; auditory consciousness sounds; olfactory consciousness odors; gustatory consciousness tastes; bodily consciousness tangible objects; and mental consciousness dharmas. Mental consciousness can take the eye, forms, and visual consciousness as objects, and likewise the ear and sounds, nose and odors, tongue and tastes, body and tangible objects, through to mind, dharmas, and mental consciousness. These are all dharmas as objects of consciousness.

Furthermore, all dharmas are the objects of knowledge. Knowledge of suffering knows suffering; knowledge of its origin knows its origin; knowledge of cessation knows cessation; and knowledge of the path knows the path. Worldly knowledge knows suffering, origin, cessation, and path, as well as space and cessation not obtained through discernment. These are the objects of knowledge.

Furthermore, paired categories encompass all dharmas: material and immaterial; visible and invisible; resistant and non-resistant; with and without influxes; conditioned and unconditioned; associated and not associated with mind; associated and not associated with karma. (A Dan annotation says: among mental dharmas, volition is excluded; the others are associated. Karma is volition itself, so volition is excluded.) There are also near and distant dharmas. Such pairs encompass all dharmas. (A Dan annotation says: present and unconditioned dharmas are near; future and past dharmas are distant.)

Furthermore, threefold classifications encompass all dharmas: wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate; belonging to trainees, those beyond training, and neither; abandoned through seeing the truths, through cultivation, and not abandoned. There are also the three schemes of five aggregates, twelve sense bases, and eighteen elements. These various threefold classifications encompass all dharmas.

Fourfold classifications also encompass all dharmas: past, future, present, and outside these three times; bound to the desire realm, form realm, formless realm, and unbound; having wholesome, unwholesome, indeterminate causes, and none of these; taking conditioned objects, unconditioned objects, both, and neither. Such fourfold classifications encompass all dharmas. Fivefold classifications include form, mind, dharmas associated with mind, those dissociated from mind, and the unconditioned. Sixfold classifications include what is abandoned through seeing suffering, its origin, cessation, and path, through cultivation, and what is not abandoned. These and innumerable other classifications encompass all dharmas. This is what ‘all dharmas’ means.

Question: Dharmas are profound, subtle, and inconceivable. Even all beings together cannot know them. How could one person wish to know all dharmas completely? It is like measuring the earth, counting the ocean’s drops, weighing Mount Sumeru, or discovering the limits of space. Since such things cannot be known, how can one wish to know all dharmas in every aspect?

Answer: The darkness of ignorance is great suffering; the light of wisdom is the greatest happiness. Beings reject suffering and seek happiness. Therefore, bodhisattvas seek supreme, great wisdom, contemplating every aspect and wishing to know all dharmas. They arouse expansive intentions and seek wisdom for all beings. A physician treating one or two people may need only one or two medicines; to treat every being’s illnesses requires every kind of medicine. Likewise, to liberate all beings, bodhisattvas wish to know all aspects of all dharmas. Just as dharmas are profound, subtle, and immeasurable, so is bodhisattva wisdom. This was explained fully earlier in answering objections to an all-knowing person: a large box has a correspondingly large lid.

Furthermore, seeking dharmas without a proper method cannot succeed, whereas seeking them properly can. Fire can be obtained by drilling wood, but not by splitting firewood in search of it. The earth has limits, but someone lacking all-knowledge and great spiritual power cannot know them. With great spiritual power, one knows the boundaries of the land of this great trichiliocosm. This land rests upon vajra, with space on its four sides. That is knowing its boundaries. Weighing Mount Sumeru is similar. As for measuring space, it is not a failure of ability: space has no measurable substance, so it cannot be measured.

Sutra: Śāriputra asked the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! How should a bodhisattva mahāsattva who wishes to know all dharmas in every aspect train in and practice Prajñāpāramitā?’

Treatise: Question: The Buddha displayed various miracles in preparation for teaching Prajñāpāramitā. Why not teach immediately afterward, instead of waiting for Śāriputra’s question? Answer: Teaching in response to a question is the way of the Buddha Dharma. Furthermore, Śāriputra knew that Prajñāpāramitā is profound, subtle, without marks, and difficult to understand. He reflected in various ways: ‘Is contemplating dharmas as impermanent Prajñāpāramitā, or is it not?’ Unable to resolve this himself, he asked.

Furthermore, Śāriputra is not all-knowing. Compared with the Buddha’s wisdom, his is like a child’s. An Avadāna scripture relates that, while staying at Jetavana, the Buddha was walking in meditation in the late afternoon with Śāriputra following him. A pigeon fleeing a hawk came beside the Buddha. As he walked past and his shadow covered it, the pigeon became calm, its fear disappeared, and it stopped crying. When Śāriputra’s shadow reached it, it cried out and trembled as before.

Śāriputra asked, ‘Both the Buddha and I are free of the three poisons. Why does your shadow calm the pigeon, while mine leaves it crying and trembling?’ The Buddha replied, ‘Your residual tendencies of the three poisons have not ended. Therefore, your shadow does not remove its fear. Examine its past causes and conditions: for how many lives has it been a pigeon?’

Śāriputra entered the samādhi of knowledge of former lives. He saw that the pigeon had come from another pigeon life, and another, back through eighty thousand great kalpas, always as a pigeon. Beyond that he could not see. Emerging, he told the Buddha, ‘For eighty thousand great kalpas it has always been a pigeon. Earlier than that, I cannot know.’

The Buddha said, ‘If you cannot fully know its past, examine its future. When will it escape this condition?’

Śāriputra entered the samādhi of knowledge through aspiration and saw one, two, three lives, through eighty thousand great kalpas, without escape from a pigeon’s body. Beyond that he could not know. Emerging, he said, ‘I see no escape from being a pigeon for eighty thousand great kalpas. Beyond that I cannot know. I do not know the limits of its past or future. When will it be freed?’

The Buddha told him, ‘Beyond the range known to śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, this pigeon will remain a pigeon for great kalpas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. When its wrongdoing is exhausted, it will escape. Wandering through the five destinies, it will eventually become human. After five hundred human lives, its faculties will become sharp. A Buddha will then liberate immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas of beings and enter nirvāṇa without remainder. During the period of his surviving Dharma, this person will become a lay follower observing the five precepts. Hearing a monk praise the Buddha’s virtues, he will first aspire to Buddhahood. He will then practice the six pāramitās for three asaṃkhyeya kalpas, fulfill the ten stages, become a Buddha, liberate immeasurable beings, and enter nirvāṇa without remainder.’

Śāriputra then repented before the Buddha: ‘I cannot know the whole story of even one bird, much less all dharmas! Had I known your wisdom was like this, I would willingly have entered Avīci hell and endured immeasurable kalpas of suffering for the sake of that wisdom, without considering it difficult.’ Thus, he asked because his understanding of dharmas was incomplete.

Sutra: The Buddha told Śāriputra, ‘A bodhisattva mahāsattva abides in Prajñāpāramitā by not abiding in any dharma, and fulfills the perfection of giving without any dharma being relinquished, because giver, recipient, and material gift cannot be apprehended.’

Treatise: Question: What dharma is Prajñāpāramitā? Answer: Some say its character is the undefiled faculty of wisdom. Why? Prajñāpāramitā is the foremost wisdom, and the undefiled faculty of wisdom is foremost. Therefore it is called Prajñāpāramitā.

Question: If bodhisattvas have not severed their fetters, how can they practice undefiled wisdom? Answer: Though their fetters are not severed, they practice Prajñāpāramitā resembling undefiled wisdom, and are therefore said to practice it. Likewise, śrāvakas practicing warmth, summit, acceptance, and the highest worldly dharma first practice dharmas resembling the undefiled, making it easier afterward to arouse acceptance based on knowledge of suffering as Dharma.

Others say there are two kinds of bodhisattvas: pure ones who have severed the fetters, and impure ones who have not. Those who have severed them can practice undefiled Prajñāpāramitā.

Question: If a bodhisattva is already purified of fetters, why continue practicing Prajñāpāramitā? Answer: Although the fetters have been severed, the ten stages are not fulfilled, Buddha lands are not adorned, and beings have not been taught. Therefore, the bodhisattva continues practicing.

Furthermore, severing fetters has two aspects: first, cutting off the mind of the three poisons and attachment to human and heavenly sense pleasures; second, relinquishing the sense pleasures that result from bodhisattva merit. Even without attachment to human and heavenly pleasures, a bodhisattva may not yet have relinquished the latter and should therefore practice Prajñāpāramitā.

For example, while the elder Aniruddha meditated in a forest, goddesses including Pure Love came in exquisitely beautiful forms to test him. He told them, ‘Sisters, appear in blue, not mixed colors.’ He wished to contemplate impurity but could not. The same happened with yellow, red, and white. He closed his eyes and said, ‘Sisters, go away!’ They disappeared.

If forms produced by heavenly merit are like this, how much more so are the sense pleasures resulting from the immeasurable merit of bodhisattvas?

Likewise, a kiṃnara king and eighty-four thousand kiṃnaras came to the Buddha, playing strings and singing praises as offerings. Mount Sumeru, the other mountains, trees, people, birds, and beasts all danced. Even Mahākāśyapa and the assembly beside the Buddha could not sit still. Bodhisattva Heavenly Subhūti asked him, ‘Venerable elder, foremost in the twelve ascetic practices, why can you not remain still in your seat?’

Mahākāśyapa replied, ‘The sense pleasures of the three realms cannot move me. It is the power of this bodhisattva’s supernatural abilities and meritorious results that makes me like this, not a restless intention of my own. Winds on all four sides cannot move Mount Sumeru, but at the end of a great kalpa the vairambha wind blows it away like rotten grass.’ Thus, one of these two kinds of fetter may remain unsevered, and such bodhisattvas should practice Prajñāpāramitā.

This is explained in the Abhidharma. Others say Prajñāpāramitā is wisdom with influxes, because bodhisattvas sever their fetters only beneath the tree of awakening. Although they previously possess great wisdom and immeasurable merit, their afflictions have not been severed. Therefore their Prajñāpāramitā is called wisdom with influxes.

Others call all wisdom from the initial aspiration until sitting beneath the tree of awakening Prajñāpāramitā. On becoming a Buddha, it is renamed all-knowledge.

Others say a bodhisattva’s wisdom, both with and without influxes, is collectively called Prajñāpāramitā. Contemplating nirvāṇa and practicing the Buddha path make it undefiled; yet because fetters remain and the task is unfinished, it should also be called wisdom with influxes.

Others say a bodhisattva’s Prajñāpāramitā is undefiled, unconditioned, invisible, and non-resistant.

Others say its character cannot be apprehended as existing or not existing, permanent or impermanent, empty or substantial. It is not included in aggregates, elements, or sense bases; it is neither conditioned nor unconditioned, neither dharma nor non-dharma. It involves no grasping or relinquishing, arising or ceasing. Beyond the four alternatives concerning existence and nonexistence, it clings nowhere. Like a flame that cannot be touched from any side without burning the hand, Prajñāpāramitā cannot be grasped without being burned by the fire of wrong views.

Question: Which of these various explanations is true? Answer: Some say each has its reasoning and all are true. A scripture relates that five hundred monks each explained the two extremes and the middle way, and the Buddha said all their explanations had sound reasoning.

Others say the last answer is true because it cannot be refuted or destroyed. Asserting even a hair’s breadth of an existent dharma involves faults that can be refuted; asserting nonexistence can also be refuted. In this prajñā, existence is absent, nonexistence is absent, and neither-existence-nor-nonexistence is absent. Even such formulations are absent. This is the peaceful, immeasurable Dharma free of conceptual proliferation. Therefore it cannot be refuted or destroyed and is called true Prajñāpāramitā, supreme and unsurpassed.

Like a wheel-turning sage king who defeats his enemies without becoming proud, Prajñāpāramitā refutes all verbal and conceptual proliferation without grasping at anything as refuted.

Furthermore, the various gateways of meaning through which later sections explain Prajñāpāramitā all concern true reality. By abiding in Prajñāpāramitā without abiding in any dharma, one can fulfill the six pāramitās.

Question: How does abiding without abiding in any dharma fulfill the six pāramitās? Answer: The bodhisattva contemplates all dharmas as neither permanent nor impermanent, neither suffering nor happiness, neither empty nor substantial, neither self nor non-self, neither arising and ceasing nor free from arising and ceasing. Abiding in profound Prajñāpāramitā in this way, one does not grasp even its character. This is abiding without abiding in dharmas. Grasping its character would be abiding through attachment to a dharma.

Question: If one does not grasp Prajñāpāramitā and the mind clings nowhere, how can the six pāramitās be fulfilled? The Buddha says that aspiration is the basis of all dharmas.

Answer: Out of compassion for beings, the bodhisattva first vows, ‘I will certainly liberate all beings.’ Through the power of diligence, although knowing dharmas as neither arising nor ceasing, like nirvāṇa, one still cultivates merit and fulfills the six pāramitās. This is possible because one abides in Prajñāpāramitā without abiding in any dharma.

Question: What benefits does giving have, such that bodhisattvas abiding in Prajñāpāramitā fulfill its perfection? Answer: Giving has many benefits. It is a treasure that follows a person, destroys suffering, and brings happiness. It is a good guide showing the road to heaven, and a treasury gathering good people. (Giving gathers them by forming connections with them.) It brings safety and freedom from fear at death. It expresses loving-kindness and helps everyone, gathers happiness and defeats the robbers of suffering, and is a great general overcoming stinginess. It bears wondrous fruit loved by devas and humans and is a pure path traveled by noble ones. It is a gateway to accumulated goodness and merit, a condition for establishing endeavors and bringing people together, and a seed of wholesome conduct and desirable results. It marks the meritorious deeds of good people, breaks poverty, closes the three bad destinies, and safeguards the fruits of merit and happiness. It is an initial condition for nirvāṇa, an essential means of joining the good, a treasury of praise, and the virtue of entering assemblies without difficulty. It shelters the mind from regret, grounds wholesome practice, and is a forest of many joys, a field of merit for prosperity and safety, and a bridge to the path and nirvāṇa. Noble ones, great beings, and the wise practice it; those of little virtue and understanding emulate them.

When a house catches fire, a clever person understands the danger and quickly carries out possessions before the flames reach them. Though the house burns down, the possessions survive, and another dwelling can be built. Likewise, a generous person knows the body is fragile and wealth impermanent, and cultivates merit while there is time, like rescuing belongings from a fire. Happiness in future lives is like rebuilding the house, sustained by the blessings of merit.

A deluded person thinks only of saving the house and frantically struggles to rescue it. Losing judgment, that person fails to gauge the flames. Fierce winds fan the fire until even earth and stone are scorched, and everything is suddenly destroyed. Neither house nor possessions are saved, leaving a life of hunger, cold, anxiety, and suffering.

Likewise, the miser does not understand that life is impermanent and cannot be secured even briefly. Instead, one accumulates, guards, and cherishes wealth. Death comes unexpectedly; the body becomes like earth and wood, and possessions are abandoned like discarded objects. This is like the fool whose mistaken plan brings grief.

Furthermore, wise and thoughtful people awaken to the fact that the body is like an illusion, wealth cannot be secured, and everything is impermanent. Only merit can be relied upon to lead one out of suffering toward the great path. Great people with expansive hearts can give greatly and benefit themselves. Small-minded people neither benefit others nor enrich themselves.

A brave warrior meets an enemy determined to defeat it. Likewise, a wise person who deeply understands the principle can subdue even the powerful robber of stinginess and act as intended. Encountering a good field of merit at a suitable time, one recognizes the opportunity and gives greatly. (A suitable time means a time when giving is appropriate; failing to give then is missing the opportunity.)

Generous people are respected and loved like the newly risen moon. Their good reputation spreads everywhere; people trust and look up to them. The high-ranking remember them, the lowly honor them, and they are fearless at death. These present-life results are like a tree’s flowers; immeasurable great fruit is the merit of future lives. Wandering through the five destinies, one has no relative to rely upon: giving alone provides support. Pure rewards among devas and humans arise from giving; even elephants and horses receiving good shelter and care obtain it through giving. Giving brings prosperity and joy; keeping precepts brings heavenly birth; meditation and wisdom purify the mind and lead without attachment to nirvāṇa. The merit of giving supplies provisions for that path. Recollecting giving brings joy, joy collects the mind, and a collected mind contemplates arising, ceasing, and impermanence, thereby attaining the path. Planting a tree may be for shade, flowers, or fruit. Likewise, the rewards sought through giving may be happiness now and later, like shade; śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha attainment, like flowers; or Buddhahood, like fruit. These are the many virtues of giving.

Question: What is dāna? Answer: Dāna means giving. Wholesome volition associated with mind is called giving. Some also include the bodily and verbal actions arising from that volition. Others say that when faith, a field of merit, and possessions come together, relinquishment arises in the mind and breaks stinginess and greed: this is giving. Just as loving-kindness arises when contemplating beings’ happiness, the mental factor of giving arises when these three conditions meet, producing relinquishment and overcoming stinginess and greed.

Giving may be bound to the desire realm, bound to the form realm, or unbound. (A Dan-edition annotation says that giving practiced by noble ones is called unbound.) It is associated with mind, follows and arises together with mind, is immaterial, and can serve as a condition. It is not karma itself, but is associated with karma, follows and arises together with it, and is not produced as a result of past karma. Its two modes of cultivation are cultivation through practice and through acquisition; its two modes of realization are bodily realization and realization through wisdom. It may be abandoned through cultivation or not abandoned; regarding abandonment through seeing, there are the desire-realm and form-realm categories. It involves initial and sustained mental application and is practiced by ordinary and noble people alike. The Abhidharma analyzes these matters extensively.

Furthermore, giving may be pure or impure. Impure giving includes giving without a considered purpose, to gain wealth, from embarrassment, to avoid blame, from fear, to win someone over, from fear of death, or to please a disturbed person. One may give because wealth and status seem to require it, to outdo another, from jealousy or anger, from pride, for reputation, for blessings, to remove misfortune and obtain good fortune, to gather followers, or with contempt and disrespect. Such giving is impure. Pure giving is the opposite.

Furthermore, pure giving arises from a pure mind for the sake of the path, free from fetters, seeking no reward in this or future lives, and motivated by respect and compassion. It supplies provisions for the path to nirvāṇa, hence the expression ‘giving for the path.’ Before nirvāṇa is attained, it also causes happy rewards among humans and devas.

Pure giving resembles a newly made flower garland, fragrant, fresh, and intact. Giving purely for nirvāṇa likewise bears fragrant fruit. As the Buddha says, ‘Two kinds of people are hard to find: among monastics, a monk whose liberation does not depend on favorable occasions; among householders, someone who gives purely.’

The character of pure giving is not lost through immeasurable lives, like a deed of agreement that never fails. Its fruit appears when causes and conditions meet. A tree produces flowers, leaves, and fruit when the season arrives; before then, the cause exists but the fruit has not appeared.

Giving directed toward the path can bring attainment. Why? Nirvāṇa is the ending of fetters. Giving weakens afflictions and thus assists nirvāṇa. Not begrudging the gift removes stinginess; respecting the recipient removes jealousy; straightforward giving removes deceit; single-minded giving removes restlessness; thoughtful giving removes regret; considering the recipient’s virtues removes disrespect; restraining the mind removes shamelessness; recognizing others’ esteem for virtue removes lack of moral concern; nonattachment to possessions removes craving; compassion removes anger; respect removes pride; knowing wholesome action removes ignorance; faith in results removes wrong views; and certainty about results removes doubt. During giving, these unwholesome afflictions weaken and wholesome dharmas are obtained.

During giving, the six faculties become pure, wholesome aspiration arises, and the inner mind is purified. Considering the merits of the result brings faith; bodily and mental gentleness brings joy and happiness; these bring collectedness, and collectedness brings true wisdom. Such wholesome dharmas are all obtained.

Furthermore, giving produces qualities resembling the noble eightfold path. Faith in its results brings right view; undistracted reflection within that view brings right intention; pure speech brings right speech; pure bodily conduct brings right action; not seeking reward brings right livelihood; diligent giving brings right effort; uninterrupted recollection brings right mindfulness; and a steady, undispersed mind brings right concentration. In this way, qualities resembling the thirty-seven aids to awakening arise in the mind.

Furthermore, some say giving causes the thirty-two marks. Firm resolve in giving produces well-planted feet. Giving accompanied by five factors, with recipients forming a retinue through karmic connections, produces wheels beneath the feet. Courageous giving produces broad, level heels; gathering people through giving produces webbed hands and feet. Offering fine food produces soft hands and feet and fullness in seven places. Gifts sustaining life produce long fingers and an upright body. Promising to give and increasing generosity produce high insteps and upward-turning hair. Attentively hearing requests and ensuring prompt delivery produce antelope-like calves. Neither resenting nor despising petitioners produces arms reaching below the knees. Anticipating wishes without waiting to be asked produces the concealed organ. Giving fine clothing, bedding, gold, silver, and jewels produces golden skin and delicate skin. Letting recipients freely use the gift produces one hair in each pore and the white tuft between the brows. Immediately promising a requested gift produces a lion-like upper body and rounded shoulders. Giving medicine to the sick and food and drink to the hungry and thirsty produces filled armpits and supreme taste. Encouraging and reassuring others in giving produces the crown protuberance and a body proportioned like a banyan tree. Gentle, truthful promises unfailingly fulfilled produce a broad, long tongue, a Brahmā-like voice, and a voice like the kalaviṅka bird. Truthful, beneficial speech produces lion-like cheeks. Respectful giving with a pure mind produces white teeth and even teeth. Truthful, harmonious speech produces closely set teeth and forty teeth. Looking equally upon recipients without anger or attachment produces blue eyes and eyelashes like a bull’s. These are causes of the thirty-two marks.

Furthermore, giving the seven jewels, attendants, vehicles, gold, silver, lamps, dwellings, incense, and flowers leads to becoming a wheel-turning king endowed with the seven treasures.

Furthermore, giving at the right time increases its reward. The Buddha says, ‘Giving to travelers departing or arriving, to the sick and their caregivers, and during hardship caused by wind and cold is timely giving.’

Giving what a region needs also increases rewards. So do giving along desolate roads, giving continually, meeting petitioners’ wishes, giving valuable things such as monasteries, gardens, and bathing pools, giving to good people or the Saṅgha, and virtue in both giver and recipient. (A Dan annotation identifies compassionate giving by bodhisattvas and Buddhas with virtuous givers, and offerings to Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, and pratyekabuddhas with virtuous recipients.) Respectful welcome, rare gifts, and giving everything one has also increase merit. For example, a painter named Qianna from the city of Fuluojialuo in the Great Yuezhi traveled east to Duochatuoluo. After twelve years painting there, he earned thirty taels of gold and returned home. Hearing drums announcing a great gathering, he visited the Saṅgha and developed pure faith. He asked its steward what one day’s meal would cost. The answer was thirty taels of gold. He gave all he had, saying, ‘Provide a meal for me to offer. I will come tomorrow.’

Returning empty-handed, he told his wife that his earnings had been planted in a field of merit by giving them to the Saṅgha. She bound him and took him before an official, accusing him of foolishly giving away twelve years’ earnings without caring for his wife and children.

Asked why, he replied, ‘Because I cultivated no merit before, I am poor and suffer hardship now. If I fail to plant merit when I encounter a field of merit, poverty will continue in future lives without escape. Wishing to relinquish poverty completely, I gave all the gold to the Saṅgha.’

The official, a lay Buddhist with pure faith, praised him: ‘How difficult! You worked hard for this little wealth and gave it all to the Saṅgha. You are a good person!’ He gave the poor man his own ornaments, horse, and a village, saying, ‘You have just made the offering, and the Saṅgha has not yet eaten. Before the seed is planted, its shoot has already appeared! The great fruit awaits a future life.’ Thus giving all of something difficult to obtain brings the greatest merit.

Furthermore, there is worldly and supramundane giving, giving praised and not praised by noble ones, and the giving of Buddhas and bodhisattvas as distinct from that of śrāvakas.

What is worldly giving? Giving by ordinary people, and giving by noble ones with a mind affected by influxes, is called worldly giving. Some, however, say only ordinary people’s giving is worldly. Even when noble ones give with a mind affected by influxes, their giving is supramundane because their fetters have been severed and they have attained the samādhi of wishlessness.

Furthermore, worldly giving is impure and supramundane giving pure. Fetters are of two kinds: those belonging to craving and those belonging to views. Giving driven by either is worldly; giving without them is supramundane.

When the three obstructions bind the mind, giving is worldly. Why? Conditioned dharmas contain no real self, yet one thinks, ‘I give and that person receives.’ Moreover, self has no fixed location: what I call myself, another does not; what another calls himself, I do not. Because it is indeterminate, there is no substantial self. The gift too exists through combined causes and conditions, with no independently obtainable dharma. Silk and cloth exist through assembled conditions; remove the threads and there is no silk or cloth. Likewise, all dharmas share the character of being without fixed characteristics, always empty of themselves. Imagining them to exist substantially is an unreal inversion: this is worldly giving. A mind free of the three obstructions, truly knowing dharmas without inversion, practices supramundane giving.

Supramundane giving is praised by noble ones; worldly giving is not.

Furthermore, pure giving, unmixed with the stains of fetters and in accord with true reality, is praised by noble ones. Impure giving mixed with fetters and attachment through an inverted mind is not.

Giving united with wisdom concerning true reality is praised by noble ones; giving otherwise is not.

Giving merely to escape birth, aging, sickness, and death, rather than for beings or knowledge of true reality, is śrāvaka giving. Giving for all beings and for knowledge of the true reality of dharmas is the giving of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Seeking only a small share of merit rather than its fulfillment is śrāvaka giving. Seeking complete fulfillment of every virtue is the giving of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Giving out of fear of aging, sickness, and death is śrāvaka giving. Giving to support the Buddha path and teach beings without fearing aging, sickness, or death is the giving of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Here accounts of the bodhisattva’s former births should be related. An Avadāna scripture tells of a king named Vāsava in Jambudvīpa. A brahmin bodhisattva named Velāma was his teacher and instructed him in the conduct of a wheel-turning sage king.

Velāma possessed immeasurable wealth and abundant jewels. He thought, ‘People consider me honored and immensely wealthy. Now is the time to benefit beings through great giving. Though wealth and status are pleasant, they are impermanent and shared with five claimants. They scatter the mind, making it restless and unstable like a monkey unable to pause. Life passes faster than a lightning flash. The body is impermanent, a thicket of suffering. Therefore, I should give.’

He wrote invitations to brahmins and all who had gone forth throughout Jambudvīpa: ‘Please graciously assemble at my house. I wish to make a great offering.’ For twelve years, rice water flowed deep enough for boats, curds formed ponds, rice and flour formed mountains, and clarified butter and oil formed channels. Clothing, food, bedding, and medicines were all of the finest quality.

After twelve years, he wished to give eighty-four thousand white elephants with rhinoceros-hide armor and gold decorations, renowned jewels, great golden standards, and adornments of four precious materials; eighty-four thousand horses similarly armored and adorned; and eighty-four thousand carriages decorated with gold, silver, vaiḍūrya, and crystal, covered with lion, tiger, and leopard skins or white kambala cloth, and ornamented with jeweled fittings. There were eighty-four thousand beds of four precious materials, fitted with multicolored coverings and soft, fine mattresses, red pillows and brocade quilts at both ends, and exquisite clothing. Eighty-four thousand gold bowls held silver grains, silver bowls gold grains, vaiḍūrya bowls crystal grains, and crystal bowls vaiḍūrya grains. Eighty-four thousand milk cows each yielded a hu of milk, their hooves and horns adorned with gold and their bodies draped in white cloth. Eighty-four thousand beautiful, fortunate women wore pearl and jewel garlands. These are only the chief items; the full variety cannot be recorded.

King Poluopo and eighty-four thousand lesser kings, together with ministers, citizens, leading men, and elders, each contributed a hundred thousand old gold coins to support the offering ceremony. When everything was prepared, Śakra came and spoke to Velāma: ‘You have obtained everything rare in heaven and earth that can delight others. Now give it all for the Buddha path!’

Devas of the Pure Abodes appeared and praised him in verse: ‘Opening your gates to great giving, you act rightly. Out of compassion for beings, you seek the Buddha path for their sake!’

The devas thought, ‘We shall close his golden vessel so that no water pours out. There is a giver, but no field of merit.’

Māra asked the Pure Abodes devas, ‘These brahmins have gone forth, keep precepts, and enter the path in purity. Why say there is no field of merit?’ They replied, ‘This bodhisattva gives for the Buddha path, but these people all hold wrong views. That is why we say there is no field of merit.’

Māra asked how they knew that Velāma gave for Buddhahood. A Pure Abodes deva then assumed a brahmin’s form, carrying a golden vessel and staff, and asked Velāma, ‘You give greatly, relinquishing what is hard to relinquish. What do you seek? To be a wheel-turning sage king with seven treasures, a thousand sons, and dominion over the four continents?’ He answered, ‘No.’ ‘Do you seek to become Śakra, lord of eight thousand nayutas of goddesses?’ ‘No.’ ‘Lord of the six desire heavens?’ ‘No.’ ‘Brahmā, lord of the great trichiliocosm and ancestor of beings?’ ‘No.’ Asked what he sought, the bodhisattva replied in verse: ‘I seek the state free of desire, beyond birth, aging, sickness, and death. To liberate beings, I seek this Buddha path!’

The disguised brahmin said, ‘Generous donor, the Buddha path is difficult and requires great hardship. You are gentle and accustomed to comfort; surely you cannot accomplish it. The positions I mentioned—wheel-turning king, Śakra, lord of the desire heavens, and Brahmā—are easy to obtain. Better seek one of those!’

The bodhisattva replied, ‘Hear my wholehearted vow: Even if a wheel of heated iron revolved upon my head, I would single-mindedly seek Buddhahood without regret. Even amid the three bad destinies and immeasurable human suffering, my resolve for Buddhahood would never be turned aside!’

The disguised brahmin said, ‘Excellent! Excellent! This is how to seek Buddhahood.’ He praised him in verse: ‘Great is your power of diligence and your compassion for all. Your wisdom is unobstructed; Buddhahood is not far away!’

The devas showered flowers as offerings. The Pure Abodes devas who had stopped the water disappeared. Velāma approached the senior brahmin and tried to pour water from the golden vessel, but none flowed. Everyone wondered why, since the gifts were complete and the donor’s merit great. Velāma thought, ‘Perhaps the fault is mine. Is my mind impure? Are the gifts incomplete?’ Examining himself according to sixteen ritual texts, he found everything pure and faultless.

The devas told him, ‘Do not doubt or regret. You have neglected nothing. These brahmins are corrupt, hold wrong views, and are impure.’ They spoke in verse: ‘Caught in the net of wrong views, their afflictions destroy right understanding. Far from pure precepts, they suffer in vain on mistaken paths.’ That was why the water did not flow.

Having spoken, they vanished. The six desire heavens emitted lights illuminating the gathering and spoke this verse: ‘They travel in the sea of evil, not following your right path. Among those receiving your gifts, none is equal to you!’

The devas vanished. Hearing the verse, Velāma thought, ‘Truly no one here is my equal. Is that why the water is stopped?’ He said: ‘To all good and pure people in heaven and earth throughout the ten directions, I take refuge and bow! Holding the vessel in my right hand, I pour upon my left, and vow that I alone am worthy to receive this great offering.’

The water rose into the sky and descended onto his left hand. Seeing this response, King Vāsava felt reverence and said in verse: ‘Great brahmin lord! Water clear as vaiḍūrya streams down from above and falls into your hand!’

The brahmins joined their palms and bowed, taking refuge in the bodhisattva. He said: ‘My giving seeks no reward in the three realms. For the sake of beings, I use it to seek Buddhahood!’

The earth, mountains, rivers, and trees shook in six ways. Velāma had initially offered to the assembly because he thought them worthy recipients. Having learned otherwise, he now gave them the gifts out of compassion. Such former-birth accounts of giving should be related here at length. This is external giving.

What is internal giving? It means giving to beings without clinging to one’s body or life. A former-birth account relates that Śākyamuni, while a bodhisattva and a great king, lived when there was no Buddha, Dharma, or monastic community. Searching everywhere, he could not obtain the Buddha Dharma. A brahmin said, ‘I know a Buddha verse. Make an offering to me and I will give it to you.’ Asked what he wanted, he demanded that the king cut his flesh to make lamp wicks on his body. The king thought, ‘This body is fragile and impure. Through countless lives it has suffered, yet never served the Dharma. Now it can finally be useful. I do not begrudge it!’

He summoned a caṇḍāla to cut his flesh into wicks, wrap them in white cloth, and pour clarified butter and oil over them. They were lit together, and his whole body blazed. Only then did the brahmin give him a verse.

Furthermore, Śākyamuni was once a pigeon in the snowy mountains. During a heavy snowstorm, a traveler lost his way and faced hunger, cold, and imminent death. Seeing him, the pigeon flew to find fire, gathered fuel, and lit it for him, then threw its own body into the fire as an offering to feed him. Accounts of giving heads, eyes, marrow, and brains to beings should likewise be related extensively here. Such acts are internal giving. These immeasurable forms of internal and external giving constitute the character of dāna.

Question: What is giving the Dharma? Answer: Some say it is speaking beneficial, kindly words. Others say it is explaining the excellent Dharma spoken by Buddhas. Others define it as teaching the three divisions: sūtra, Vinaya, and Abhidharma. Others give four collections: sūtra, Vinaya, Abhidharma, and miscellaneous teachings. Still others summarize it as teaching either the śrāvaka Dharma or the Mahāyāna.

Question: Devadatta, Hata, and others also teach the three or four collections, śrāvaka Dharma, and Mahāyāna, yet fall into hell. How is this explained?

Answer: Devadatta committed much wrongdoing through wrong views, and Hata through false speech. Their teaching was not pure Dharma-giving for the path; they sought fame, profit, respect, and offerings. Because of these evil intentions, Devadatta entered hell while alive, and Hata fell into a bad destiny after death.

Furthermore, speaking alone is not giving the Dharma. Teaching everyone with a pure mind and wholesome intention is Dharma-giving. Material giving without a wholesome mind is not meritorious; likewise, teaching without purity and wholesome intention is not Dharma-giving. A teacher who, with pure mind and wholesome intention, praises the Three Jewels, explains wrongdoing and merit, reveals the four truths, and guides beings into the Buddha path practices genuinely pure Dharma-giving.

Briefly, there are two teachings: not harming beings and acting with kindness and compassion, which cause the Buddha path; and contemplating and knowing the true emptiness of dharmas, which cause the path to nirvāṇa. Teaching these before an assembly with compassion, without seeking fame, gain, honor, or respect, is pure Dharma-giving for the Buddha path.

An account relates that King Aśoka built eighty thousand Buddhist shrines in one day. Though he had not realized the path, he had some faith and delight in the Dharma. He invited monks to the palace daily for offerings and had teachers take turns speaking. A young, learned, handsome teacher of the three collections came to speak. Seated beside the king, he emitted an unusual fragrance from his mouth. Suspicious, the king thought he was trying to attract palace women. He ordered him to open his mouth, but found nothing. Rinsing with water did not remove the fragrance. Asked whether it was new, the monk replied, ‘It has been with me a long time, not just today.’

Asked how long, he replied in verse: ‘In Kāśyapa Buddha’s time, I cultivated this fragrant Dharma. Though so very long ago, the fragrance is always fresh.’

The king asked for a fuller explanation. The monk said, ‘Listen attentively. During Kāśyapa Buddha’s dispensation I was a teaching monk. Before great assemblies, I joyfully explained that Buddha’s immeasurable virtues, the true reality of dharmas, and immeasurable Dharma gateways, earnestly praising and instructing everyone. Since then, this exquisite fragrance has issued from my mouth, uninterrupted life after life, just as today.’

He spoke this verse: ‘Surpassing the fragrances of grasses, trees, and flowers, this scent delights every heart and never disappears through successive lives.’

The king felt both shame and joy and said, ‘Unprecedented! The merit of teaching brings such a great fruit!’ The monk replied, ‘This is called the flower, not yet the fruit.’

The king asked, ‘What is the fruit? Please explain.’ The monk replied, ‘Briefly, there are ten fruits. Listen carefully!’ He spoke in verse: ‘Great renown, beauty, happiness, respect, radiance like sun and moon, being loved by all, eloquence, great wisdom, the ending of all fetters, and cessation of suffering through nirvāṇa: these are the ten.’

The king asked, ‘Venerable one, how does praising the Buddha’s virtues bring these rewards?’ The monk replied in verse: ‘Making the Buddha’s virtues widely heard brings great renown. Praising his true virtues and making everyone rejoice brings beauty life after life. Explaining wrongdoing and merit leads others to happiness and brings lasting joy. Praising the power of the Buddha’s virtues wins people’s hearts and brings respect. Revealing the lamp of Dharma to awaken beings brings radiance like the sun. Praising his virtues in many ways delights everyone and makes one beloved. Skillfully praising his inexhaustible virtues brings inexhaustible eloquence. Praising his wondrous, unsurpassed teachings brings great, pure wisdom.’

‘Praising the Buddha’s virtues weakens others’ afflictions. Through this merit, fetters end and stains disappear. With both kinds of fetter ended, nirvāṇa is personally realized, like a downpour extinguishing a fire without residual heat.’

He added, ‘If anything remains unclear, now is the time to ask. With the arrows of wisdom I will defeat your army of doubts.’ The king replied, ‘My mind is joyful and awakened; I have no doubts. Venerable one, you are blessed and skillfully praise the Buddha.’ Teaching the Dharma and liberating people through such causes and conditions is called giving the Dharma.

Question: Which is superior, material giving or Dharma-giving? Answer: As the Buddha says, ‘Of these two gifts, the gift of Dharma is superior.’ The results of material giving remain within the desire realm. Those of Dharma-giving may occur within the three realms or transcend them. Pure speech deeply accords with the principle; when the mind also realizes it, one goes beyond the three realms.

Furthermore, material giving is limited, while Dharma-giving is immeasurable. Material gifts are exhausted, but Dharma-giving is inexhaustible, like adding fuel to a fire and increasing its light.

The rewards of material giving contain less purity and more defilement; Dharma-giving brings less defilement and more purity. A great material offering requires others’ support, while Dharma-giving arises from one’s own mind and does not depend on others.

Material giving nourishes the four elements and sense faculties; Dharma-giving fulfills the undefiled faculties, powers, awakening factors, and path.

Material giving exists whether or not a Buddha appears. Dharma-giving exists only in a Buddha’s dispensation, so it is exceedingly rare. Even a pratyekabuddha possessing the marks cannot teach the Dharma, but liberates people through seeking alms, flying, and transformations.

Furthermore, Dharma-giving gives rise to material giving and to śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and Buddhas.

Dharma-giving distinguishes dharmas with and without influxes, material and immaterial, conditioned and unconditioned, wholesome, unwholesome, and indeterminate, permanent and impermanent, existent and nonexistent. The true reality of all dharmas is pure, irrefutable, and indestructible. Briefly, there are eighty-four thousand collections of Dharma; in detail, they are immeasurable. Through Dharma-giving, these are distinguished and understood. Therefore, it is superior. These two gifts together constitute the practice of giving. Dedicated to Buddhahood, they can lead one to the Buddha path, much more to lesser attainments!

Question: There are four relinquishments called giving: possessions, Dharma, fearlessness, and afflictions. Why omit the last two here? Answer: Giving fearlessness is not separate from morality, so it is not discussed separately. Relinquishing afflictions is covered by prajñā. If the six pāramitās were not being discussed, all four should be explained.