The Cause and Effect of That Entry: The Six Perfections
Part Four described the moment a bodhisattva breaks through into direct realization; Part Five explains the six perfections (pāramitā) that serve, at once, as the cause that leads to that entry and the fruit that follows from it. The treatise's own closing summary verse names ten questions it works through in turn — why six, in what order, what each name means, how each is cultivated, its three grades, what it counteracts, and what it yields.
Translation Method
As in Parts 1 through 4, the Chinese source is Xuánzàng's translation of Asaṅga's root text (T1594), read with Vasubandhu's commentary (T1597), also translated by Xuánzàng. The six perfections' names and threefold distinctions are kept aligned with the site's Cheng Weishi Lun pages. See also this site's note on translation method.
1. The Six Perfections as Both Cause and Fruit of Entry
如是已說入所知相，彼入因果云何可見？謂由施，戒，忍，精進，靜慮，般若六種波羅蜜多。云何由六波羅蜜多得入唯識？復云何六波羅蜜多成彼入果？謂此菩薩不著財位，不犯尸羅，於苦無動，於修無懈，於如是等散動因中不現行時心專一境，便能如理簡擇諸法得入唯識。
Having thus spoken of entering the character of the knowable, how may that entry's cause and effect be seen? It is by means of the six perfections: generosity, moral discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom. How does one enter Consciousness-Only by means of the six perfections? And how do the six perfections become the fruit of that entry? This is because a bodhisattva who is not attached to wealth or position, who does not violate moral discipline, who is unmoved by suffering, and who is untiring in meditative cultivation, does not, at the time these very causes of distraction fail to operate, have a mind scattered across many objects — and so is thereby able correctly to discriminate the dharmas and enter Consciousness-Only.
菩薩依六波羅蜜多入唯識已，證得六種清淨增上意樂所攝波羅蜜多。是故於此設離六種波羅蜜多現起加行，由於聖教得勝解故，及由愛重，隨喜，欣樂諸作意故，恒常無間相應方便修習六種波羅蜜多速得圓滿。
Once a bodhisattva has entered Consciousness-Only by means of the six perfections, the six perfections themselves — now embraced by six kinds of pure, superior resolve — are thereby realized as its fruit. For this reason, even setting aside the actual active practice of the six perfections, through resolute conviction in the noble teaching, and through the attitudes of cherishing, rejoicing in, and delighting in them, one continuously and unceasingly cultivates the six perfections in a manner that swiftly brings them to full completion.
Vasubandhu reads the opening line as answering two different questions at once, which is why the perfections are named for both "cause" and "effect" together. As cause: before realization, an ordinary bodhisattva's practice of generosity, discipline, patience, and diligence keeps the mind free of the distractions — greed, moral laxity, aversion to hardship, laziness — that would otherwise scatter attention and block the concentrated, single-pointed discrimination realization requires. As effect: once realization has actually occurred, those same six qualities are transformed — no longer effortful practices undertaken to reach a goal, but the natural expression of "pure, superior resolve" that flows from having already entered Consciousness-Only. The same six perfections, in other words, look different depending on which side of the breakthrough a bodhisattva stands on.
2. Three Verses on Seven Marks of Pure Resolve
此中有三頌：
「已圓滿白法； 及得利疾忍；
菩薩於自乘， 甚深廣大教；
等覺唯分別， 得無分別智；
悕求勝解淨， 故意樂清淨；
前及此法流， 皆得見諸佛；
了知菩提近， 以無難得故。」
Here there are three verses:
"Wholesome dharmas already brought to completion; and a swift, keen acceptance already attained;
the bodhisattva, with regard to the deep and vast teachings of one's own vehicle,
fully awakening to the fact that there is only discrimination, thereby attains non-discriminating wisdom;
aspiration and resolute conviction are both purified, and so this resolve is pure;
both before and within this very flow of the Dharma, one comes to behold the buddhas —
knowing that awakening is near, since it is no longer difficult to attain."
由此三頌，總顯清淨增上意樂有七種相：謂資糧故，堪忍故，所緣故，作意故，自體故，瑞相故，勝利故。如其次第，諸句伽他應知顯示。
These three verses, together, disclose seven marks of pure, superior resolve: as provision, as capacity to bear it, as object, as attitude, as its own essence, as auspicious sign, and as benefit — each shown, in turn, by the corresponding phrase of the verses.
Vasubandhu walks through the seven marks phrase by phrase. "Wholesome dharmas already completed" is the provision — the accumulated merit from the earlier stage of preparation that makes this resolve possible at all. "A swift, keen acceptance" is the capacity to bear it — the sharpest of the three grades of patience, able to hold the teaching without wavering. The deep and vast teachings of one's own vehicle are the object — specifically the doctrine of selflessness and the great absorptions named elsewhere in the treatise. Fully awakening that there is "only discrimination" and thereby gaining non-discriminating wisdom is the attitude. Purified aspiration and conviction together are the resolve's own essence. Beholding buddhas, both before and during this stage, is its auspicious sign. And knowing that awakening is now near, no longer difficult, is its benefit. Together, these seven marks give pure, superior resolve — the fruit-side of the six perfections named in the previous section — its own complete anatomy.
3. Why Exactly Six?
何因緣故波羅蜜多唯有六數？成立對治所治障故。證諸佛法所依處故，隨順成熟諸有情故。為欲對治不發趣因，故立施戒波羅蜜多。不發趣因，謂著財位及著室家。為欲對治雖已發趣復退還因，故立忍進波羅蜜多。退還因者，謂處生死有情違犯所生眾苦，及於長時善品加行所生疲怠。為欲對治雖已發趣不復退還而失壞因，故立定慧波羅蜜多。失壞因者，謂諸散動及邪惡慧。
For what reason are the perfections exactly six in number? Because this establishes the antidote to what is to be counteracted; because it establishes the basis for realizing the buddha-dharmas; and because it accords with bringing all sentient beings to maturity. In order to counteract the cause of not setting out on the path, generosity and moral discipline are established. The cause of not setting out is attachment to wealth and position, and attachment to household life. In order to counteract the cause of turning back even after having set out, patience and diligence are established. The cause of turning back is the many sufferings that arise from the offenses committed by beings dwelling in saṃsāra, and the weariness that arises from wholesome effort sustained over a long time. In order to counteract the cause of failure even in one who has set out and not turned back, meditative concentration and wisdom are established. The cause of failure is distraction and mistaken, unwholesome views.
如是成立對治所治障故，唯立六數。又前四波羅蜜多是不散動因，次一波羅蜜多不散動成就。此不散動為依止故，如實等覺諸法真義，便能證得一切佛法。如是證諸佛法所依處故，唯立六數。由施波羅蜜多故，於諸有情能正攝受；由戒波羅蜜多故，於諸有情能不毀害；由忍波羅蜜多故，雖遭毀害而能忍受；由精進波羅蜜多故，能助經營彼所應作。即由如是攝利因緣，令諸有情於成熟事有所堪任。從此已後，心未定者令其得定，心已定者令得解脫，於開悟時彼得成熟。如是隨順成熟一切有情，唯立六數，應如是知。
This is why, in order to establish the antidote to what is to be counteracted, the number is fixed at exactly six. Moreover, the first four perfections are the cause of non-distraction, and the next perfection is non-distraction actually accomplished; it is in dependence on this very non-distraction that one truly and fully awakens to the real meaning of the dharmas, and is thereby able to realize every buddha-dharma. This is why, in order to establish the basis for realizing the buddha-dharmas, the number is fixed at exactly six. Through the perfection of generosity, one is able rightly to draw sentient beings in; through the perfection of moral discipline, one is able not to harm them; through the perfection of patience, one is able to bear it even when harmed; through the perfection of diligence, one is able to assist and carry through what needs to be done for them. It is by these very causes of benefiting and drawing them in that sentient beings become capable of undergoing maturation. After this, those whose minds are not yet settled are brought to settle them; those whose minds are already settled are brought to liberation; and at the moment of awakening, they attain maturity. This is why, in according with bringing all sentient beings to maturity, the number is fixed at exactly six — this should be understood accordingly.
Each of the three reasons gives a complete, independent justification for exactly six, not merely a traditional count. The first traces a specific obstacle to each pair of perfections: attachment to wealth and home keeps beings from setting out on the path at all, which generosity and discipline directly counter; the sheer difficulty of sustained practice over a long time tempts those already on the path to turn back, which patience and diligence counter; and even a committed practitioner can still fail through distraction or wrong view, which concentration and wisdom counter. The second reason treats the first four as jointly producing the stability (non-distraction) that the fifth, concentration, actually accomplishes, with wisdom — the sixth — then arising in dependence on that stability to directly realize the truth. The third reason shifts the frame entirely, from the practitioner's own progress to how each perfection specifically serves other beings — drawing them in, protecting them from harm, bearing their harm patiently, and actively working on their behalf. Vasubandhu's point across all three is that six is not an arbitrary round number but the minimum set that closes every relevant gap three separate times over.
4. Six Marks That Make a Practice a "Perfection"
此六種相云何可見？由六種最勝故：一、由所依最勝，謂菩提心為所依故。二、由事最勝，謂具足現行故。三、由處最勝，謂一切有情利益安樂事為依處故。四、由方便善巧最勝，謂無分別智所攝受故。五、由迴向最勝，謂迴向無上正等菩提故。六、由清淨最勝，謂煩惱所知二障無障所集起故。
How may these six characteristics be seen? By six kinds of surpassing excellence. First, surpassing in basis: having the mind of awakening as its basis. Second, surpassing in substance: being fully, actually carried out. Third, surpassing in sphere: taking the benefit and happiness of all sentient beings as its object. Fourth, surpassing in skillful means: being embraced by non-discriminating wisdom. Fifth, surpassing in dedication: being dedicated toward unsurpassed, perfect awakening. Sixth, surpassing in purity: arising without any obstruction from either of the two obstructions, afflictive or cognitive.
若施是波羅蜜多耶；設波羅蜜多是施耶？有施非波羅蜜多，應作四句。如於其施，如是於餘波羅蜜多，亦作四句，如應當知。
Is generosity always a perfection? Or is a perfection always generosity? There is generosity that is not a perfection — a full tetralemma should be worked out. Just as with generosity, so too with each of the other perfections, a full tetralemma should likewise be understood.
These six marks distinguish a genuine perfection from an ordinary good deed that merely resembles one — ordinary generosity, discipline, or patience, practiced by anyone in the world without these six qualities, does not count as pāramitā in the technical sense, however admirable it may be. Only when generosity, say, is grounded in bodhicitta, actually carried through, aimed at benefiting all beings, embraced by non-discriminating wisdom (so that giver, gift, and recipient are not clung to as fixed, separate realities — the "threefold purity" tradition speaks of elsewhere), dedicated to full awakening, and eventually purified of both obstructions does it become the perfection of generosity proper. The tetralemma that follows makes the resulting logic explicit: some acts of giving are generosity but not a perfection (ordinary charity, lacking the six marks); some perfections are not, strictly, generosity (moral discipline and the rest, which are perfections of a different kind); some acts are both (bodhicitta-grounded giving); and some are neither (an ordinary act of discipline lacking the six marks) — a pattern Vasubandhu says applies equally to each of the other five perfections.
5. Why This Order; What Each Name Means
何因緣故如是六種波羅蜜多此次第說？謂前波羅蜜多隨順生後波羅蜜多故。
For what reason are the six perfections spoken of in exactly this order? Because each preceding perfection accords with, and gives rise to, the one that follows it.
復次，此諸波羅蜜多訓釋名言，云何可見？於諸世間、聲聞、獨覺施等善根最為殊勝，能到彼岸，是故通稱波羅蜜多。又能破裂慳悋貧窮，及能引得廣大財位福德資糧，故名為施；又能息滅惡戒、惡趣，及能取得善趣、等持，故名為戒；又能滅盡忿怒、怨讎，及能善住自他安隱，故名為忍；又能遠離所有懈怠、惡不善法，及能出生無量善法令其增長，故名精進；又能消除所有散動，及能引得內心安住，故名靜慮；又能除遣一切見趣、諸邪惡慧，及能真實品別知法，故名為慧。
Furthermore, how may the etymology of each of these perfections be seen? Surpassing the wholesome roots of generosity and the rest found in the ordinary world and among śrāvakas and solitary buddhas, and able to reach the further shore, they are all together named "perfections" (pāramitā, "gone to the far shore"). Because it breaks apart stinginess and poverty, and draws forth vast provisions of wealth, position, and merit, it is named "generosity." Because it extinguishes bad conduct and the evil destinies, and secures a fortunate destiny and meditative stability, it is named "moral discipline." Because it puts an end to anger and enmity, and firmly establishes peace for oneself and others, it is named "patience." Because it leaves behind every kind of laziness and unwholesome dharma, and gives rise to immeasurable wholesome dharmas, causing them to grow, it is named "diligence." Because it eliminates all distraction, and draws forth an inwardly settled mind, it is named "meditative concentration." Because it dispels every mistaken view and unwholesome opinion, and truly discerns and knows the dharmas, it is named "wisdom."
The order, Vasubandhu explains, follows a natural causal sequence, each perfection preparing the ground for the next: generosity's letting-go naturally softens the mind toward taking up moral discipline; a disciplined life naturally builds the stability needed to bear hardship patiently; patience under hardship naturally sustains diligent effort where a less patient mind would give up; sustained diligence naturally settles into meditative concentration; and a concentrated mind is what actually allows wisdom to see clearly, rather than being scattered across distractions. Each name, meanwhile, is shown to carry two senses at once — the fault it removes and the positive quality it produces: generosity breaks apart stinginess and produces wealth; discipline ends bad destinies and produces good rebirth and stability; patience ends anger and produces peace; diligence ends laziness and produces the growth of wholesome qualities; concentration ends distraction and produces inner settledness; and wisdom ends wrong view and produces true discernment — the same double structure running through all six.
6. Five Kinds of Cultivation, and the Six-Fold Resolve Behind It
The treatise now turns to how the perfections are actually cultivated — five modes of practice, the last of which is illustrated with a deliberately overwhelming image of boundless, unwavering resolve.
云何應知修習如是波羅蜜多？應知此修略有五種：一、現起加行修，二、勝解修，三、作意修，四、方便善巧修，五、成所作事修。此中四修如前已說。成所作事修者，謂諸如來任運佛事無有休息，於其圓滿波羅蜜多，復更修習六到彼岸。
How should the cultivation of these perfections be understood? This cultivation, briefly, is of five kinds: first, cultivation through active practice; second, cultivation through resolute conviction; third, cultivation through attitude; fourth, cultivation through skillful means; fifth, cultivation through accomplished activity. The first four of these have already been explained above. Cultivation through accomplished activity refers to this: the tathāgatas, whose buddha-activity proceeds spontaneously without ever ceasing, continue, even having already perfected the six perfections, to cultivate them still further.
又作意修者，謂修六種意樂所攝愛重、隨喜、欣樂作意：一、廣大意樂，二、長時意樂，三、歡喜意樂，四、荷恩意樂，五、大志意樂，六、純善意樂。
As for cultivation through attitude: this refers to cultivating the attitudes of cherishing, rejoicing in, and delighting in, embraced by six kinds of resolve — first, vast resolve; second, sustained resolve; third, joyful resolve; fourth, resolve of gratitude; fifth, resolve of great aspiration; sixth, resolve of unmixed goodness.
若諸菩薩，乃至若干無數大劫現證無上正等菩提，經爾所時，一一剎那，假使頓捨一切身命，以殑伽河沙等世界盛滿七寶奉施如來，乃至安坐妙菩提座，如是菩薩布施意樂猶無厭足；經爾所時，一一剎那，假使三千大千世界滿中熾火，於四威儀常乏一切資生眾具，戒，忍，精進，靜慮，般若心恒現行，乃至安坐妙菩提座，如是菩薩所有戒，忍，精進，靜慮，般若意樂猶無厭足；是名菩薩廣大意樂。又諸菩薩，即於此中無厭意樂，乃至安坐妙菩提座，常無間息，是名菩薩長時意樂。
Suppose that a bodhisattva takes however many incalculable eons are needed to directly realize unsurpassed, perfect awakening — and that, in every single instant throughout that entire span, one instantly gave up body and life, and offered to the tathāgatas worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, filled entirely with the seven treasures, all the way up to the very moment of sitting beneath the tree of awakening: even so, such a bodhisattva's resolve toward generosity would still never once be satisfied. Suppose, too, that in every single instant throughout that same span, though the entire trichiliocosm were filled with blazing fire, and one were constantly deprived, in every posture, of all the necessities of life, one's mind still constantly practiced moral discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom, all the way up to sitting beneath the tree of awakening: even so, such a bodhisattva's resolve toward moral discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom would still never once be satisfied. This is named a bodhisattva's vast resolve. And a bodhisattva's very same unsatisfied resolve, continuing without a single interruption all the way up to sitting beneath the tree of awakening, is named a bodhisattva's sustained resolve.
又諸菩薩以其六種波羅蜜多饒益有情，由此所作深生歡喜，蒙益有情所不能及，是名菩薩歡喜意樂。又諸菩薩以其六種波羅蜜多饒益有情，見彼於己有大恩德，不見自身於彼有恩，是名菩薩荷恩意樂。又諸菩薩即以如是六到彼岸所集善根，深心迴施一切有情，令得可愛勝果異熟，是名菩薩大志意樂。又諸菩薩復以如是六到彼岸所集善根，共諸有情迴求無上正等菩提，是名菩薩純善意樂。如是菩薩修此六種意樂所攝愛重作意。
A bodhisattva who benefits sentient beings by means of the six perfections, and thereby gives rise to a joy deeper than even the benefited beings themselves could feel, has what is named a bodhisattva's joyful resolve. A bodhisattva who benefits sentient beings by means of the six perfections, and sees them as having conferred a great debt of gratitude upon oneself, without ever seeing oneself as having conferred any debt upon them, has what is named a bodhisattva's resolve of gratitude. A bodhisattva who takes the wholesome roots gathered through these six perfections and, with deep sincerity, dedicates them to all sentient beings, so that they may attain a desirable, excellent ripened result, has what is named a bodhisattva's resolve of great aspiration. And a bodhisattva who, further, takes these same gathered wholesome roots and, together with all sentient beings, dedicates them toward unsurpassed, perfect awakening, has what is named a bodhisattva's resolve of unmixed goodness. In this way, a bodhisattva cultivates the attitude of cherishing, embraced by these six kinds of resolve.
又諸菩薩於餘菩薩六種意樂修習相應無量善根，深心隨喜，如是菩薩修此六種意樂所攝隨喜意樂。又諸菩薩深心欣樂一切有情六種意樂所攝六種到彼岸修，亦願自身與此六種到彼岸修恒不相離，乃至安坐妙菩提座，如是菩薩修此六種意樂所攝欣樂作意。若有聞此菩薩六種意樂所攝作意修已，但當能起一念信心，尚當發生無量福聚，諸惡業障亦當消滅，何況菩薩！
A bodhisattva who, with deep sincerity, rejoices in the immeasurable wholesome roots that other bodhisattvas cultivate in accord with these six kinds of resolve has what is named a bodhisattva's cultivation of the attitude of rejoicing, embraced by these six kinds of resolve. And a bodhisattva who, with deep sincerity, delights in the six perfections, embraced by these six kinds of resolve, as practiced by every sentient being, and further wishes that one's own self might never be separated from this sixfold practice, all the way up to sitting beneath the tree of awakening, has what is named a bodhisattva's cultivation of the attitude of delight, embraced by these six kinds of resolve. If one who merely hears of this bodhisattva cultivation of attitude, embraced by these six kinds of resolve, is able to give rise to even a single moment of faith, one will already generate an immeasurable mass of merit, and one's own evil karmic obstructions, too, will thereby be dissolved — how much more so the bodhisattva who actually cultivates it!
Vasubandhu treats the deliberately overwhelming imagery here — countless eons, worlds filled with treasure or with fire, never once satisfied — not as literal biography but as a calibrated exercise in scale: it is meant to stretch the reader's own sense of what "enough" generosity or patience could possibly mean, until the very idea of a bodhisattva's resolve ever being satisfied starts to feel absurd on its own terms. The six kinds of resolve that structure this cultivation move through a complete emotional arc: vastness and endurance describe its sheer scale and persistence; joy and gratitude describe its inner emotional quality, with gratitude in particular inverting the ordinary direction of a favor (the bodhisattva feels indebted to those helped, not the reverse); and aspiration and unmixed goodness describe where all of it is ultimately dedicated — first toward other beings' own excellent results, and finally toward full awakening shared with them. Even hearing about this practice, Vasubandhu notes, generates real merit, since the mere contemplation of such unlimited resolve already begins to loosen the narrower, self-interested habits of an ordinary mind.
7. Three Grades of Each Perfection
此諸波羅蜜多差別云何可見？應知一一各有三品。施三品者，一、法施，二、財施，三、無畏施。戒三品者，一、律儀戒，二、攝善法戒，三、饒益有情戒。忍三品者，一、耐怨害忍，二、安受苦忍，三、諦察法忍。精進三品者，一、被甲精進，二、加行精進，三、無怯弱，無退轉，無喜足精進。靜慮三品者，一、安住靜慮，二、引發靜慮，三、成所作事靜慮。慧三品者，一、無分別加行慧，二、無分別慧，三、無分別後得慧。
How may the distinctions among these perfections be seen? It should be understood that each one has three grades. Generosity's three grades are: first, the giving of the Dharma; second, the giving of wealth; third, the giving of fearlessness. Moral discipline's three grades are: first, the discipline of restraint; second, the discipline of gathering wholesome dharmas; third, the discipline of benefiting sentient beings. Patience's three grades are: first, patience in bearing harm from an enemy; second, patience in willingly enduring suffering; third, patience through the examination and discernment of the Dharma. Diligence's three grades are: first, the diligence of donning armor; second, the diligence of actual practice; third, the diligence that is free of timidity, free of retreat, and free of easy satisfaction. Meditative concentration's three grades are: first, concentration that abides in the present; second, concentration that draws forth [supernormal powers]; third, concentration that accomplishes what needs to be done. Wisdom's three grades are: first, non-discriminating wisdom in preparatory effort; second, non-discriminating wisdom itself; third, non-discriminating wisdom subsequently attained.
Vasubandhu's gloss on moral discipline's three grades became a standard scheme repeated across later Yogācāra literature: the discipline of restraint (holding precepts, avoiding wrongdoing) is the foundation that makes the other two possible — without it, one can neither gather the wholesome dharmas needed for one's own awakening nor reliably benefit others. Diligence's threefold "donning armor, actual practice, and freedom from timidity, retreat, or easy satisfaction" is glossed through a scriptural list of five qualities (vigor, effort, courage, firmness, and never laying down the yoke of practice) which Vasubandhu maps onto the three grades in turn: initial vigor is armor, sustained effort is actual practice, and courage, firmness, and refusal to stop short together describe the third grade's freedom from timidity, reversal, and premature satisfaction. Wisdom's three grades trace a single process across time: preparatory, discriminating effort before direct realization; the direct, non-discriminating realization itself; and the wisdom that remains active afterward, engaging the world skillfully once realization has occurred — precisely the "subsequently attained wisdom" already introduced in Part 4's illusionist simile.
8. How the Perfections Include All Wholesome Dharmas, and Counteract All Defilement
如是相攝云何可見？由此能攝一切善法，是其相故，是隨順故，是等流故。如是所治攝諸雜染，云何可見？是此相故，是此因故，是此果故。
How may it be seen that the perfections thereby include all wholesome dharmas? Because these dharmas are the perfections' own mark, because they accord with them, and because they flow forth as their natural outcome. And how may it be seen that what the perfections counteract includes every kind of defilement? Because that defilement is their mark, because it is their cause, and because it is their result.
Vasubandhu identifies the three relationships concretely: wisdom itself is the "mark" shared with every factor of enlightenment; qualities such as faith and mental pliancy "accord with" the perfections, supporting them without being identical to them; and the six supernormal powers and the ten powers of a buddha "flow forth" from them as their eventual natural fruit. On the counteracted side, the same threefold structure applies in reverse: the afflictions themselves (craving and the rest) are what the perfections directly oppose as their mark; lack of faith and wrong view are their causes; and stinginess, broken discipline, anger, and the rest are their resulting fruits. The point of both lists together is that the six perfections are not six isolated practices sitting alongside the rest of the path, but the very hub that the entire structure of wholesome and unwholesome dharmas — factors of enlightenment on one side, afflictions on the other — connects through.
9. The Benefits of the Six Perfections
如是六種波羅蜜多所得勝利，云何可見？謂諸菩薩流轉生死富貴攝故，大生攝故，大朋大屬之所攝故，廣大事業加行成就之所攝故，無諸惱害性薄塵垢之所攝故，善知一切工論明處之所攝故。勝生，無罪，乃至安坐妙菩提座，常能現作一切有情一切義利，是名勝利。
How may the benefit gained through the six perfections be seen? A bodhisattva, circling through birth and death, is thereby endowed with wealth and high position, with an excellent birth, with a great circle of companions and family, with the accomplishment of vast undertakings, with a nature little troubled by affliction and free of coarse defilement, and with skill in every field of learning and craft. Excellent rebirth, free of fault, continuing all the way up to sitting beneath the tree of awakening, constantly and actually accomplishing the welfare of every sentient being — this is named the benefit.
Vasubandhu is careful to distinguish these worldly-sounding benefits — wealth, good birth, wide social connection, capability, skill — from the superficially similar rewards a non-Buddhist practitioner might seek: unlike ordinary worldly success, which is still tainted by attachment and is, in any case, impermanent, the excellent rebirths a bodhisattva's perfections produce are said to be "free of fault," continuing without interruption all the way to buddhahood itself, and are never merely self-serving, since they are constantly redirected toward "accomplishing the welfare of every sentient being." The list functions, in effect, as a description of exactly the kind of favorable circumstances — resources, relationships, capability, and freedom from affliction — a bodhisattva actually needs in order to keep helping others effectively across countless future lifetimes, rather than an endorsement of worldly success for its own sake.
10. How the Six Perfections Mutually Support One Another
如是六種波羅蜜多互相決擇，云何可見？世尊於此一切六種波羅蜜多，或有處所以施聲說，或有處所以戒聲說，或有處所以忍聲說，或有處所以勤聲說，或有處所以定聲說，或有處所以慧聲說。如是所說有何意趣？謂於一切波羅蜜多修加行中，皆有一切波羅蜜多互相助成，如是意趣。
How may it be seen that the six perfections mutually determine one another? Regarding these six perfections, the World-Honored One, in one passage, speaks in terms of generosity; in another, in terms of moral discipline; in another, in terms of patience; in another, in terms of diligence; in another, in terms of concentration; and in another, in terms of wisdom. What is the intent behind speaking in this way? It is this: within the practice of any single perfection, all six perfections are, in fact, mutually assisting and bringing one another to completion — this is the intent.
此中有一嗢拕南頌：
「數，相及次第， 訓詞，修，差別，
攝，所治，功德， 互決擇應知。」
Here there is one summary verse:
"Number, and characteristic, and order; etymology, cultivation, and distinctions;
inclusion, what is counteracted, and benefit; and mutual determination — these should be understood."
The scriptural puzzle here is that the Perfection of Wisdom literature sometimes seems to speak as though a single perfection, on its own, were sufficient — praising generosity alone in one passage, wisdom alone in another. Vasubandhu's resolution is that any passage praising one perfection is not claiming that perfection operates in isolation, but is using it as a way of pointing to the whole interconnected set: genuine generosity, practiced fully, already requires the self-restraint of discipline, the patience to give even when it is difficult, the diligence to sustain the practice, the concentration to give without a scattered mind, and the wisdom to give without clinging to giver, gift, or recipient as fixed realities. Each perfection, properly practiced, already contains all the others within it. The closing summary verse then simply names the ten questions this entire part has worked through in turn — number, characteristic, order, etymology, cultivation, distinctions, inclusion, what is counteracted, benefit, and this final mutual determination — Asaṅga's own table of contents for Part Five, provided after the fact.
Part Five Complete
This closes Part Five of Ru-Yi's translation: the six perfections as both the cause that leads to entering Consciousness-Only and the fruit that follows from it, worked through by number, order, etymology, cultivation, grade, inclusion, antidote, benefit, and mutual support. Part Six turns to how these same six perfections are actually cultivated, ground by ground, across the bodhisattva's ten stages — a path spanning three incalculable great eons.
Continue to Part 6 — The Distinctions in Cultivating That →