Instruction, Karmic Companionship, and Gathering Beings
Three chapters trace the path in its most granular detail anywhere in the treatise. Instruction follows a bodhisattva through a first incalculable eon of nurtured faith, six minds and eleven kinds of attention in approaching a teaching, nine kinds of mental abiding refined into supple concentration, five merits the buddhas themselves praise, the four classical factors conducive to penetration each redefined in this treatise's own vocabulary, the path of seeing with its fivefold equality of self and other and its three gates of liberation, and the path of cultivation through nine further grounds to the vajra-like absorption that ends it. Karmic companionship then turns to skillful means in four kinds of concrete activity. And the opening of gathering beings takes up the six perfections themselves — why exactly six, in what order, under what names, and cultivated on what five supports, worked out down to specific six-fold catalogues of the mind a bodhisattva brings to giving alone.
Where This Fascicle Picks Up
Fascicle 6 closed with the bodhisattva's practice purified of the three wheels — cultivator, what is cultivated, and correct cultivation. This fascicle asks what that cultivation actually consists in, stage by stage, in more procedural detail than any other stretch of the treatise: instruction from the buddhas, the mental technique of approaching a teaching, the classical stages of the path each redefined in this treatise's own terms, and finally the perfections themselves — not just what they are, but why there are exactly six of them and how each is actually practiced.
Classical text is set in the left-hand column, our English in the right. See also this site's note on translation method.
1. One Incalculable Eon of Cultivating Faith; Six Minds and Eleven Kinds of Attention
釋曰：已說菩薩隨修，次說如來教授。
偈曰：
行盡一僧祇， 長信令增上，
眾善隨信集， 亦具如海滿。
釋曰：行盡一僧祇長信令增上者，若諸菩薩行行盡一阿僧祇劫，爾時長養於信方至上品。問：獨信增耶？答：眾善隨信集亦具如海滿。謂於信增時，一切眾善隨信聚集亦得具足，如大海水湛然圓滿。
偈曰：
聚集福德已， 佛子最初淨，
極智及軟心， 勤修諸正行。
釋曰：聚集福德已者，如前所說聚集故。佛子最初淨者，令護清淨故。及於大乘作正直見，不顛倒受義故。極智者，得多聞故。軟心者，離諸障故。勤修諸正行者，有堪能故。
偈曰：
自後蒙諸佛， 法流而教授，
增益寂靜智， 進趣廣大乘。
釋曰：自後蒙諸佛法流而教授者，此諸菩薩從此已後，蒙諸佛如來以修多羅等法而為說之，譬如為說《十地經》。增益寂靜智進趣廣大乘者，此菩薩若得教授，則增益奢摩他智，於廣大乘而能進修。如是得教授已，次起六種心。
偈曰：
想名及了句， 思義亦義知，
法總及義求， 六心次第起。
釋曰：六心者，一根本心、二隨行心、三觀察心、四實解心、五總聚心、六悕望心。想名者，謂根本心，初於修多羅等法觀察無有二義，唯想名聚故。了句者，謂隨行心，次隨諸句決了差別及次第故。思義者，謂觀察心，次於彼義內正思惟故。義知者，謂實解心，於彼思義如實知故。法總者，謂總聚心，更聚前法復總觀故。義求者，謂悕望心，於彼義趣求得意故。如是起六心已，次起十一種作意。
The exposition: the bodhisattva's cultivation in accordance having been explained, next the Tathāgata's instruction is explained.
Practicing through one incalculable eon,
one's faith is nurtured to its superior grade;
every wholesome thing gathers along with faith,
and is likewise brought to fullness, like the sea.
The exposition: once bodhisattvas' practice has run through a full incalculable eon, their nurtured faith at that time finally reaches the superior grade. Question: does faith alone increase? Answer: every wholesome thing gathers along with faith and is likewise brought to fullness, like the sea — as faith increases, every wholesome thing gathers with it, like the vast, calm, full waters of the great sea.
Having gathered merit in this way,
the child of the Buddha is purified for the first time —
of the utmost wisdom, and of a supple mind,
diligently cultivating right practice.
The exposition: having gathered merit refers to the gathering stated above. The child of the Buddha is purified for the first time means his conduct is safeguarded and made pure, and he forms a right, upright view of the Mahāyāna. Of the utmost wisdom means he attains extensive learning. Of a supple mind means he is free of obstructions. And diligently cultivating right practice means he has the capacity to do so.
From then on, he receives from the buddhas
the stream of the Dharma as instruction,
increasing the wisdom of quiescence,
advancing into the vast Mahāyāna.
The exposition: these bodhisattvas, from this point on, receive from the tathāgatas the teaching of the sūtras and other texts — being taught, for instance, the Sūtra of the Ten Grounds. Having received this instruction, the bodhisattva increases the wisdom of calm abiding and is able to advance in the vast Mahāyāna. Having thus received instruction, next he gives rise to six kinds of mind.
Conceiving of the name, and grasping the phrase;
reflecting on the meaning, and knowing the meaning;
the total grasp of the Dharma, and longing for the meaning —
six minds arise in this order.
The exposition: the six minds are the root mind, the following mind, the contemplating mind, the truly understanding mind, the gathering mind, and the longing mind. Conceiving of the name is the root mind, first contemplating the sūtras without a dual sense, conceiving only of the gathering of names. Grasping the phrase is the following mind, next determining the distinctions and order of the phrases. Reflecting on the meaning is the contemplating mind, next rightly reflecting within that meaning. Knowing the meaning is the truly understanding mind, truly knowing that reflected meaning. The total grasp of the Dharma is the gathering mind, further gathering the preceding teachings and contemplating them as a whole. And longing for the meaning is the longing mind, seeking to grasp its intent. Having thus given rise to these six minds, next eleven kinds of attention arise.
偈曰：
有求亦有觀， 一味將止道，
觀道及二俱， 拔沈并抑掉，
正住與無間， 於中亦尊重，
置心一切緣， 作意有十一。
釋曰：十一種作意者，一有覺有觀作意、二無覺有觀作意、三無覺無觀作意、四奢摩他作意、五毘鉢舍那作意、六二相應作意、七起相作意、八攝相作意、九捨相作意、十恒修作意、十一恭敬作意。有求者，謂有覺有觀作意，此作意以意言相續觀察諸法。有觀者，謂無覺有觀作意，此作意雖離於覺，亦以意言相續觀察諸法。一味者，謂無覺無觀作意，此作意離於意言而相續觀察諸法。止道者，謂奢摩他作意，此作意但緣諸法名。觀道者，謂毘鉢舍那作意，此作意但緣諸法義。二俱者，謂二相應作意，此作意能一時緣名義。拔沈者，謂起相作意，此作意若緣名心沈，即能策起。抑掉者，謂攝相作意，此作意若緣義心散，即能攝持。正住者，謂捨相作意，此作意若心平等能住捨心。無間者，謂恒修作意，此作意能依正住修習無廢。尊重者，謂恭敬作意，能於習時尊重名義。如是起十一種作意已，復應修習九種住心。
Seeking, and observing;
of a single taste, and the path of calm;
the path of insight, and both together;
uprooting sinking, and restraining agitation;
rightly abiding, and without interval;
and reverence within it;
placing the mind on every object —
attention is of eleven kinds.
The exposition: the eleven kinds of attention are: attention with both examination and analysis; without examination but with analysis; without either; the attention of calm abiding; of insight; joined with both; that arouses; that gathers; that lets go; of constant cultivation; and of reverence. Seeking is attention with both examination and analysis, which contemplates things continuously through mental discourse. Observing is attention without examination but with analysis, still contemplating things through mental discourse. Of a single taste is attention without either, contemplating things continuously free of mental discourse. The path of calm takes only the names of things as its object; the path of insight takes only their meaning; both together takes name and meaning simultaneously. Uprooting sinking arouses the mind when, taking a name as object, it sinks. Restraining agitation gathers the mind when, taking meaning as object, it scatters. Rightly abiding lets the mind abide in equanimity once it is equal. Without interval cultivates constantly, resting on right abiding, without ever ceasing. And reverence honors both name and meaning in the course of practice. Having thus given rise to these eleven kinds of attention, one should further cultivate nine kinds of abiding mind.
The six minds trace a single act of understanding a teaching from its rawest input to its final, motivated grasp, and the sequence is worth reading as a map of what actually happens between hearing words and being changed by them: first bare names are conceived of (想名), then their phrasing is distinguished (了句), then their meaning is reflected on (思義) and truly known (義知), then the whole is gathered into one view (法總), and only at the very end does longing arise (義求) — the wish to actually attain what has been understood. Desire for the teaching's fruit is placed last in this sequence, not first, which runs against a common assumption that motivation must precede comprehension; here, comprehension is what makes genuine longing possible in the first place.
The eleven kinds of attention are built from a small number of primitives combined in different ways — examination and analysis present or absent, name or meaning as object, and then five functional attentions (arousing, gathering, letting go, sustaining, revering) layered on top once the basic orientation is set. This compositional structure is worth noticing because it differs from the treatise's usual style of listing coordinate items; here, later items in the list explicitly presuppose and correct the earlier ones — the attention that gathers exists specifically to catch what the attention of insight lets scatter — so the eleven read less as eleven separate techniques than as one technique's error-correction loop, spelled out step by step.
2. Nine Kinds of Mental Abiding, Refined Concentration, and Five Merits the Buddhas Praise
偈曰：
繫緣將速攝， 內略及樂住，
調厭與息亂， 或起滅亦爾，
所作心自流， 爾時得無作，
菩薩復應習， 如此九住心。
釋曰：九種住心者，一安住心、二攝住心、三解住心、四轉住心、五伏住心、六息住心、七滅住心、八性住心、九持住心。此九住，教授方便應知。繫緣者，謂安住心，安心所緣不令離故。速攝者，謂攝住心，若覺心亂速攝持故。內略者，謂解住心，覺心外廣更內略故。樂住者，謂轉住心，見定功德轉樂住故。調厭者，謂伏住心，心若不樂應折伏故。息亂者，謂息住心，見亂過失令止息故。或起滅亦爾者，謂滅住心，貪憂等起即令滅故。所作心自流者，謂性住心，所作任運成自性故。爾時得無作者，謂持住心，不由作意得總持故。如是修習得住心已，次令此心得最上柔軟。
偈曰：
下倚修令進， 為進習本定，
淨禪為通故， 當成勝軟心。
釋曰：下倚修令進為進習本定者，菩薩得住心時，應知已得下品身倚心倚。為增進此倚，更修根本禪定。問：更修本定為何功德？答：淨禪為通故當成勝軟心。諸菩薩為起諸神通故、為欲成就最勝柔軟心故，是故進修本定。問：起諸神通欲何所作？勝柔軟心復云何成？
偈曰：
起通遊諸界， 歷事諸世尊，
最上軟心得， 供養諸佛故。
釋曰：起通遊諸界歷事諸世尊者，諸菩薩欲往無量世界、欲經無量劫數、欲歷無量諸佛，欲承事供養及聞正法，為此事故起諸神通。問：何故作此事？答：最上軟心得供養諸佛故。由供養諸佛為因故，更得成就第一勝柔軟心。如是得勝心已，便得諸佛之所稱揚。
Binding to the object, and swiftly gathering;
inward contraction, and abiding with delight;
taming aversion, and stilling agitation;
and likewise extinguishing whatever arises;
what is done flowing of itself;
and, at that time, attaining effortlessness —
the bodhisattva should further cultivate
these nine abidings of mind.
The exposition: the nine kinds of abiding mind are: the settled mind, the gathered mind, the loosened mind, the turned mind, the tamed mind, the stilled mind, the extinguished mind, the mind of nature, and the sustained mind. Binding to the object settles the mind on its object without letting it depart. Swiftly gathering gathers the mind in as soon as one notices it has scattered. Inward contraction contracts the mind inward once one notices it has spread too far outward. Abiding with delight turns to abide in concentration once its merits are seen. Taming aversion subdues the mind when it is displeased. Stilling agitation brings agitation to rest once its fault is seen. And likewise extinguishing whatever arises extinguishes craving and distress as soon as they arise. What is done flowing of itself is the mind of nature, in which what is done proceeds spontaneously. And, at that time, attaining effortlessness is the sustained mind, attaining the mnemonic formulas without needing to exert attention. Having thus cultivated the abiding mind, next this mind is made supple in the highest degree.
Advancing from the lower ease,
one cultivates further to enter the fundamental absorptions,
purifying meditative absorption for the sake of the supernormal powers,
thereby accomplishing the supreme, supple mind.
The exposition: when the bodhisattva attains the abiding mind, he has attained the lower grade of ease of body and mind; to advance this further, he cultivates the fundamental absorptions further still. Question: what merit comes from this? Answer: purifying absorption for the supernormal powers, thereby accomplishing the supreme, supple mind — bodhisattvas advance in cultivating the fundamental absorptions in order to give rise to the supernormal powers, and to accomplish the most supreme, supple mind. Question: what do they wish to accomplish by the supernormal powers, and how is the supreme, supple mind then accomplished?
Giving rise to the supernormal powers, one travels through the realms,
passing through them to serve the buddhas, the Bhagavats;
the supreme, supple mind is attained
through making offerings to the buddhas.
The exposition: bodhisattvas wish to go to measureless worlds, pass through measureless eons, and pass before measureless buddhas, in order to serve them, make offerings, and hear the true Dharma — for this they give rise to the supernormal powers. Question: why? Answer: the supreme, supple mind is attained through making offerings to the buddhas — through this cause, they accomplish the foremost, supreme, supple mind. Having attained this, they are then praised by the buddhas.
偈曰：
未入淨心前， 五種稱揚得，
器體成淨故， 堪進無上乘。
釋曰：未入淨心前五種稱揚得者，謂此菩薩於淨心地前，先得如來稱揚其五種功德。問：此稱揚於菩薩有何利益？答：器體成淨故堪進無上乘。此菩薩得如來稱揚已，便成就清淨器體，於無上乘則堪進入。問：如來稱揚彼菩薩何等五功德？
偈曰：
念念融諸習， 身倚及心倚，
圓明與見相， 滿淨諸法身。
釋曰：五功德者，一者融習、二者身倚、三者心倚、四者圓明、五者見相。融習者，一一剎那消融一切習氣聚故。身倚者，修習輕安遍滿身故。心倚亦爾。圓明者，圓解一切種空，離分數故。見相者，見無分別相，為後清淨因故。滿淨諸法身者，為滿為淨一切種法身，常作如是五因故。問：何時滿？何時淨？答：十地時滿，佛地時淨。此中應知五種功德，前三是奢摩他分，後二是毘鉢舍那分，菩薩於此時中於世間法皆得具足。如是得稱揚已，次起通達分善根。
Before entering the pure-minded ground,
one attains five kinds of praise;
one's own substance, as a vessel, becomes pure,
fit to advance into the unsurpassed vehicle.
The exposition: before reaching the ground of the pure mind, this bodhisattva first receives the Tathāgata's praise for five kinds of merit. Question: what benefit does this praise bring? Answer: his own substance, as a vessel, becomes pure, fit to advance into the unsurpassed vehicle. Question: for what five merits does the Tathāgata praise this bodhisattva?
Moment by moment, dissolving every habituated tendency;
ease of body, and ease of mind;
perfect clarity, and seeing the mark —
these fulfill and purify the Dharma-body in every mode.
The exposition: the five merits are: dissolving habituated tendencies, moment by moment; ease of body, cultivating pliancy pervading the whole body; ease of mind, the same; perfect clarity, fully understanding emptiness in every mode, free of division into parts; and seeing the mark, seeing the non-discriminating mark, the cause of later purity. These constantly enact the five causes that fulfill and purify the Dharma-body in every mode. Question: when is it fulfilled, and when purified? Answer: fulfilled through the ten grounds, purified at the ground of buddhahood. The first three of these five merits belong to the portion of calm abiding, and the last two to insight; the bodhisattva, at this time, is fully complete with regard to worldly dharmas. Having thus received this praise, next he gives rise to the wholesome roots of the portion of penetration.
The nine abidings of mind are the standard classical sequence for developing concentration found throughout this site's meditation literature, and it is worth noting how little this treatise slows down for it — a scheme other texts treat at great length is compressed here into a single verse and a short gloss, then immediately subordinated to a further goal, the supernormal powers, which are in turn subordinated to yet another goal, making offerings to buddhas throughout measureless worlds. The nine abidings are never treated as an end in this passage; they are one rung on a ladder whose purpose only becomes clear several rungs further up.
The five merits the buddhas themselves praise are notably modest by this treatise's usual standard of description — dissolving habituation, bodily and mental ease, clarity, and a first glimpse of the non-discriminating mark — and the text is explicit that even this is not yet complete: fulfilled only at the tenth ground, purified only at buddhahood. Praise arriving this early, for something this incomplete, is itself informative about how this treatise conceives of encouragement along the path: not reserved for the summit, but distributed generously well before the practitioner is anywhere near the ground of seeing.
3. The Four Factors Conducive to Penetration: Warmth, Summit, Forbearance, and the Supreme Worldly Dharma
偈曰：
爾時此菩薩， 次第得定心，
唯見意言故， 不見一切義。
釋曰：此菩薩初得定心離於意言，不見自相總相一切諸義，唯見意言。此見即是菩薩煖位，此位名明。如佛《灰河經》中所說明。此明名見法忍。
偈曰：
為長法明故， 堅固精進起，
法明增長已， 通達唯心住。
釋曰：此中菩薩為增長法明故起堅固精進，住是法明通達唯心。此通達即是菩薩頂位。
偈曰：
諸義悉是光， 由見唯心故，
得斷所執亂， 是則住於忍。
釋曰：此中菩薩若見諸義悉是心光，非心光外別有異見，爾時得所執亂滅。此見即是菩薩忍位。
偈曰：
所執亂雖斷， 尚餘能執故，
斷此復速證， 無間三摩提。
釋曰：此中菩薩為斷能執亂故，復速證無間三摩提。問：有何義故此三摩提名無間？答：由能執亂滅時爾時入無間，故受此名。此入無間即是菩薩世間第一法位。隨其次第說煖等諸位已，次說見道起。
At that time this bodhisattva,
attaining a concentrated mind in due order,
sees only mental discourse,
and sees no meaning apart from it.
The exposition: this bodhisattva, having first attained a concentrated mind free of mental discourse, does not see the particular or general characteristics of any meaning whatsoever, but sees only mental discourse. This seeing is the bodhisattva's stage of warmth, called illumination, as the Buddha teaches in the Sūtra of the River of Ashes. This illumination is called the forbearance of seeing the Dharma.
In order to increase this illumination of the Dharma,
firm diligence arises;
once this illumination has increased,
one abides, penetrating that there is only mind.
The exposition: here the bodhisattva, in order to increase this illumination, gives rise to firm diligence, and, abiding in it, penetrates that there is only mind. This penetration is the bodhisattva's stage of summit.
All meanings are entirely light,
seen through seeing that there is only mind;
thereby the confusion of what is grasped is cut off —
this is called abiding in forbearance.
The exposition: here, when the bodhisattva sees that all meanings are entirely the light of mind, and that there is no other view apart from this light, at that time the confusion of what is grasped is extinguished. This seeing is the bodhisattva's stage of forbearance.
Though the confusion of what is grasped is cut off,
the confusion of the grasper still remains;
to cut this off as well, one swiftly realizes
the uninterrupted absorption.
The exposition: here, in order to cut off the confusion of the grasper as well, the bodhisattva swiftly realizes the uninterrupted absorption. Question: why is this absorption called uninterrupted? Answer: because, at the very moment the confusion of the grasper is extinguished, one enters the uninterrupted — hence the name. This entry is the bodhisattva's stage of the supreme worldly dharma. The stages of warmth and the rest having been explained in order, next the arising of the path of seeing is explained.
This treatise's own account of the four factors conducive to penetration is organized around a single progressive narrowing worth tracking explicitly, since the terse verses can obscure it: warmth sees only mental discourse, rather than any external meaning; summit penetrates that there is only mind, generalizing that insight; forbearance sees that even the meaning taken as an object is itself nothing but the light of mind, cutting off the confusion of what is grasped; and the supreme worldly dharma cuts off the remaining confusion of the grasper itself. Each stage does not add a new object of knowledge — it removes one further layer of the subject-object structure that the previous stage had left standing. By the fourth stage, nothing is left to be confused about on either side of the relation.
能執亂 and 所執亂, the confusion of the grasper and the confusion of the grasped, are treated here as genuinely sequential rather than simultaneous problems, and the order is worth noting: the object-side confusion (what is grasped) is resolved first, at forbearance, while the subject-side confusion (the grasper itself) persists one stage longer, requiring the uninterrupted absorption to finish it off. It is apparently easier, on this treatise's own account, to stop mistaking an object for something outside the mind than it is to stop mistaking the mind itself for a substantial grasper — the last illusion to fall is the sense of a subject doing the grasping, not the sense of an object being grasped.
4. The Path of Seeing: The Fivefold Equality and the Three Gates of Liberation
偈曰：
遠離彼二執， 出世間無上，
無分別離垢， 此智此時得。
釋曰：遠離彼二執者，所執能執不和合故。出世間無上者，得無上乘故。無分別者，即彼二執分別無故。離垢者，見道所斷煩惱滅故。菩薩爾時名遠塵離垢得法眼淨。
偈曰：
此即是轉依， 以得初地故，
後經無量劫， 依淨方圓滿。
釋曰：此即是轉依以得初地故者，此離垢即是菩薩轉依位。何以故？得初地故。問：依極淨耶？答：後經無量劫依淨方圓滿。非於此初即得極清淨，由後經無量阿僧祇劫，此依方得清淨圓滿故。
偈曰：
爾時通法界， 他自心平等，
平等有五種， 五無差別故。
釋曰：爾時通法界他自心平等者，菩薩於初地即得通達平等法界。由此通達故，能觀他身即是自身，亦得心平等。問：此時得幾種心平等？答：平等有五種，五無差別故。何謂為五？一者無我平等，謂於自他相續不見有我，無差別故。二者有苦平等，謂於自他相續所有諸苦，無差別故。三者所作平等，謂於自他相續欲作斷苦，無差別故。四者不求平等，謂於自他所作不求反報，無差別故。五者同得平等，如餘菩薩所得我得亦爾，無差別故。
Far removed from these two graspings,
transcendent and unsurpassed,
non-discriminating, and free of taint —
this wisdom is attained at this time.
The exposition: far removed from these two graspings means the grasped and the grasper no longer combine. Transcendent and unsurpassed means attaining the unsurpassed vehicle. Non-discriminating means the discrimination of these two is absent. Free of taint means the afflictions cut off by the path of seeing are extinguished. At this time the bodhisattva is called one far from dust and free of taint, having attained the pure Dharma-eye.
This is itself the transformation of the basis,
by reason of attaining the first ground;
only after passing through measureless eons
does this basis attain purity and fulfillment.
The exposition: this freedom from taint is itself the bodhisattva's transformation of the basis, since he has attained the first ground. Question: is the basis thereby utterly pure? Answer: only after passing through measureless eons does it attain purity and fulfillment — not at this very first stage, but only after measureless incalculable eons.
At that time, penetrating the dharma-realm,
one attains equality of mind toward self and other;
this equality is of five kinds,
each of the five being without difference.
The exposition: the bodhisattva, at the first ground, penetrates the equal dharma-realm, and thereby is able to see another's body as his own, attaining equality of mind. Question: how many kinds of this equality are attained at this time? Answer: five kinds, each without difference. First, the equality of selflessness — seeing no self in the continuum of either self or other. Second, the equality of suffering — the suffering present in both, without difference. Third, the equality of what is to be done — wishing to end the suffering of both, without difference. Fourth, the equality of seeking nothing in return — not seeking repayment for what is done for either, without difference. And fifth, the equality of attaining together — what other bodhisattvas attain, I too attain in just the same way.
偈曰：
諸行虛分別， 淨智了無二，
解脫見所滅， 如是說見道。
釋曰：諸行虛分別淨智了無二者，此中菩薩於三界諸行唯見不真分別，以極淨智了彼無二。淨智者，出世間故。無二者，二執無故。彼無二體，即法界也。解脫見所滅如是說見道者，謂解脫見道所滅煩惱。法界即是解脫。若見解脫滅煩惱時，說名菩薩初得見道。
偈曰：
無體及似體， 自性合三空，
於此三空解， 此說名解空。
釋曰：三空者，一無體空，謂分別性，彼相無體故。二似體空，謂依他性，此相如分別性無體故。三自性空，謂真實性，自體空自體故。此偈顯菩薩得空解脫門。
偈曰：
應知緣無相， 悉盡諸分別，
此中無願緣， 不真分別盡。
釋曰：此偈上半顯得無相解脫門，下半顯得無願解脫門，應知此中菩薩具得三解脫門。
偈曰：
此時所得法， 一切菩提分，
應知彼菩薩， 同得如見道。
釋曰：一切菩提分者，謂四念處等，彼菩薩得見道時亦得此法。
The formations are false discrimination;
pure wisdom understands their non-duality;
liberation is the cessation of what the path of seeing cuts off —
this is called the path of seeing.
The exposition: here the bodhisattva sees the formations throughout the three realms as nothing but false discrimination, and, with the utmost pure wisdom, understands their non-duality. Pure, since transcendent; non-dual, since the two graspings are absent. This non-dual substance is itself the dharma-realm. Liberation is the cessation of what the path of seeing cuts off — the dharma-realm is itself liberation. When one sees the extinguishing of the afflictions that is liberation, this is called the bodhisattva's first attainment of the path of seeing.
Without substance, and substance-resembling;
own-nature — together, three emptinesses;
understanding these three emptinesses
is what is called the understanding of emptiness.
The exposition: the three emptinesses are: the emptiness of no substance, the discriminated nature, whose mark has no substance; the emptiness resembling substance, the dependent nature, without substance in the same way; and the emptiness of own-nature, the true nature, whose own substance is empty of its own substance. This verse displays the bodhisattva's attainment of the gate of liberation that is emptiness.
Know that, taking signlessness as object,
every discrimination is entirely exhausted;
and here, taking wishlessness as object,
false discrimination is exhausted.
The exposition: the first half of this verse displays the gate of liberation that is signlessness, and the second half the gate of liberation that is wishlessness; here it should be understood that the bodhisattva is fully endowed with all three gates of liberation.
The dharmas attained at this time
are all the factors of enlightenment;
know that this bodhisattva
attains them together, just as with the path of seeing.
The exposition: all the factors of enlightenment are the four foundations of mindfulness and the rest; this bodhisattva, at the time of attaining the path of seeing, attains these dharmas as well.
The fivefold equality is worth reading as a chain in which each item depends on the one before, rather than five independent observations. Equality of selflessness comes first because it removes the very category — a substantial self — that would otherwise make self and other two fundamentally different kinds of thing; only once that barrier is down does it make sense to speak of their suffering as equal, their needed remedy as equal, the absence of any expectation of repayment as equal, and finally the attainment itself as shared without difference. Take away the first link and the other four would have nothing to rest on.
不求平等, the equality of seeking nothing in return, is the pivot on which this whole passage's ethics turns, and it is worth connecting to fascicle 3's earlier discussion of the bodhisattva's love not being greed: there, the argument was that the bodhisattva's attachment to beings is blameless because it constantly produces their benefit; here, the equality of not seeking repayment adds the further claim that this benefit-producing love makes no distinction between the return it might get from a self and the return it might get from an other — because, at this stage, the underlying discrimination between self and other that repayment would even need to track has already been dissolved by the first equality in the list.
5. The Great Self, the Great Meaning, and Enduring What Others Cannot
偈曰：
覺世唯諸行， 無我唯苦著，
無義自我滅， 大義依大我。
釋曰：覺世唯諸行無我唯苦著者，此菩薩覺諸世間但是諸行實無有我，眾生計著唯著苦耳。無義自我滅者，謂染污身見滅故。大義者，利益一切眾生故。大我者，以一切眾生為自己故。此中菩薩滅自我見，依大我見作眾生利益事，是謂大義依大我。
偈曰：
無我復我見， 無苦亦極苦，
益彼不求報， 以利自我故。
釋曰：此中諸菩薩無我者，謂無自身無義我見。復我見者，謂有他身大義我見。無苦者，謂無自身所起諸苦。亦極苦者，謂有他身所起諸苦。益彼不求報者，無悕望故。何以故？以利自我故。諸菩薩利益眾生時，即是利益自我，是故無外希望。
偈曰：
自脫心最上， 他縛即堅廣，
苦邊不可盡， 如是應勤作。
釋曰：自脫心者，謂滅自見道所斷煩惱故。最上者，此解脫由無上乘故。他縛即堅廣者，由一切眾生相續所起煩惱故。苦邊不可盡者，眾生界無邊如虛空故。如是應勤作者，眾生如是苦，菩薩應為眾生斷苦，作邊作已復作，不應休息故。
偈曰：
自苦不自忍， 豈忍他諸苦？
此生及窮生， 翻彼謂菩薩。
釋曰：眾生於一期生苦及窮生死際不可思議苦無能忍受者，此菩薩翻彼不能忍受，悉能為之忍受故，言翻彼謂菩薩。
偈曰：
於他行等愛， 利彼不退轉，
希有非希有， 他利自利故。
釋曰：於他行等愛利彼不退轉者，菩薩於一切眾生行平等愛心無有差別，若求樂利益、若行樂利益。若求行時，利益之心無有退轉。希有非希有他利自利故者，此不退轉事於諸世間希有最上。然此希有亦非希有。何以故？他得益時即是菩薩自得益故。
Awakening that the world is only the formations,
selfless, with only suffering to cling to;
the meaningless self is extinguished,
and great meaning rests on the great self.
The exposition: the bodhisattva awakens that the whole world is nothing but the formations, truly without a self, and that what sentient beings cling to is only suffering. The meaningless self is extinguished means the defiled view of a substantial body is extinguished. Great meaning is benefiting all sentient beings; the great self is taking all sentient beings as oneself. Here, the bodhisattva extinguishes the view of a self, and, resting on the view of the great self, carries out the benefit of sentient beings — this is great meaning resting on the great self.
Selfless, and yet with a view of self;
without suffering, and yet with the utmost suffering;
benefiting others without seeking reward,
since this is the benefit of the great self.
The exposition: here, selfless for the bodhisattva means without the view of a meaningless self of his own body. And yet with a view of self means with the view of the great self, that of another's body. Without suffering means without the suffering that arises for his own body; and yet with the utmost suffering means with the suffering that arises for another's. Benefiting others without seeking reward, since this has no expectation — why? because it is the benefit of the great self. When bodhisattvas benefit sentient beings, this is itself benefiting the great self, and so there is no expectation of anything external.
Freeing oneself, the mind attains the highest;
the bondage of others is firm and vast;
the limit of their suffering cannot be exhausted —
and so one should diligently act.
The exposition: freeing oneself is extinguishing the afflictions cut off by one's own path of seeing. The highest is that this liberation belongs to the unsurpassed vehicle. The bondage of others is firm and vast, owing to the afflictions constantly arising in the continua of all sentient beings. The limit of their suffering cannot be exhausted, since the realm of sentient beings is boundless, like space. And so one should diligently act, doing so to the very limit and, having done so, doing so again, without ever resting.
One who cannot bear even his own suffering —
how could he bear the suffering of others?
In this present life, and to the very limit of lives to come,
the bodhisattva is the reverse of this.
The exposition: sentient beings are unable to bear even the suffering of a single lifetime, let alone the inconceivable suffering to the very limit of birth and death; the bodhisattva is the reverse of this — unable to bear as they are, he is able to bear all of it on their behalf.
Toward others he practices equal love,
benefiting them without ever retrogressing;
this is rare, and yet not rare,
since benefiting others is itself benefiting himself.
The exposition: the bodhisattva practices an equal mind of love toward all sentient beings without any difference, whether seeking or acting for their benefit, and this mind never retrogresses. This never-retrogressing constancy is the rarest, most supreme thing in the world — and yet this rarity is also not rare, since when another attains benefit, this is itself the bodhisattva's own attainment of benefit.
無我復我見, selfless, and yet with a view of self, is one of the sharpest paradox-formulas in this treatise, and its resolution depends entirely on tracking which self each half of the sentence denies and affirms. The bodhisattva has extinguished the meaningless view of self applied to his own body — 無義自我滅 — but has not thereby become a mind without any first-person orientation at all; he has instead relocated that orientation onto the great self, 大我, which takes all sentient beings as itself. This is not two contradictory claims but one claim about where the boundary of "self" has been redrawn: outward to include everyone, rather than erased.
This section's closing move — that benefiting others is genuinely not a sacrifice, since the bodhisattva's own benefit and another's benefit have become numerically identical rather than merely correlated — completes an argument that has been building since fascicle 1's discussion of why self and other are equal yet other-benefit is called supreme. There, the resolution turned on an asymmetry of love within an underlying equality; here, with the great self fully established, the asymmetry itself dissolves, since there is no longer a distinct "other" whose benefit could be weighed against the bodhisattva's own.
6. The Path of Cultivation, the Vajra-Like Absorption, and Three Similes for the Benefit of Teaching
偈曰：
餘地說修道， 二智勤修習，
無分別建立， 淨法及眾生。
釋曰：餘地者，謂後九地。問：餘地何所修？答：二智勤修習。二智者，一無分別智、二如所建立智。無分別智謂出世智，如所建立智謂後得世智。問：此二智有何功能？答：淨法及眾生。此中無分別智成熟佛法是其功能，如所建立智成熟眾生是其功能。
偈曰：
修位二僧祇， 最後得受職，
入彼金剛定， 破諸分別盡。
釋曰。修位二僧祇最後得受職者，二僧祇謂第二及第三大劫阿僧祇，最後謂究竟修，於此修位方得受職。問：受職已更何所作？答：入彼金剛定破諸分別盡。問：因何義故名金剛定？答：分別隨眠此能破故，是故此定名金剛喻。
偈曰：
轉依究竟淨， 成就一切種，
住此所作事， 但為利群生。
釋曰：轉依究竟淨者，謂永離一切煩惱障及智障故。成就一切種者，謂得一切種智，由無上故。住此所作事者，謂住此位中乃至窮眾生生死際，示現成道及現涅槃故。問：此事何所為？答：但為利群生。如此等事一向但為利益一切眾生故。自下次明因大教授得大義利。
On the remaining grounds, the path of cultivation is taught:
diligently cultivating two wisdoms,
non-discriminating and establishing wisdom,
to purify the Dharma and mature sentient beings.
The exposition: the remaining grounds are the latter nine. Question: what is cultivated there? Answer: two wisdoms — non-discriminating wisdom, which is transcendent, and the wisdom that establishes things as they are, the subsequently attained worldly wisdom. Question: what is their function? Answer: purifying the Dharma, and maturing sentient beings — non-discriminating wisdom maturing the buddha-dharmas, and the wisdom that establishes things maturing sentient beings.
The stage of cultivation spans two incalculable eons,
and, at its very end, one receives investiture;
entering that vajra-like absorption,
every discrimination is entirely broken.
The exposition: the two incalculable eons are the second and third great incalculable eons; at the very end, the culmination of cultivation, investiture is received. Question: what remains to be done after investiture? Answer: entering the vajra-like absorption, every discrimination is entirely broken. Question: why is this absorption called vajra-like? Answer: because it is able to break the latent tendencies of discrimination, and so is likened to a vajra.
The transformation of the basis, ultimately pure,
accomplishes every mode of knowing;
abiding in this, whatever is done
is only for the benefit of the multitude of beings.
The exposition: the transformation of the basis, ultimately pure means forever departing from every afflictive and cognitive obstruction. Accomplishing every mode of knowing means attaining omniscience. Abiding in this, whatever is done means that, to the very limit of sentient beings' saṃsāra, one displays both the accomplishment of the path and the display of nirvāṇa — all such deeds undertaken solely for the benefit of all sentient beings. From here, the great benefit obtained through the great instruction is next clarified.
偈曰：
牟尼尊難見， 常見得大義，
以聞無等法， 淨信資養心。
釋曰：此偈明菩薩因大教授，常得現前見佛、常聞無等正法、常起極深淨信遍滿於心。此明初時得大義利。
偈曰：
若於教授中， 法門如欲住，
如人拔險難， 佛勸亦如是。
釋曰：若於教授中法門如欲住者，有諸菩薩於教授時中，或於如來法門心欲樂住也。如人拔險難佛勸亦如是者，譬如有人墮在深坑，有能捉髮懸擲高岸。佛勸亦爾，若彼菩薩樂住寂滅深坑，諸佛如來強能置之佛果高岸。此明次時得大義利。
偈曰：
世間極淨眼， 勝覺無分別，
譬如大日出， 除幽朗世間。
釋曰：若諸菩薩成佛時，永退一切世間法故，眼得最極清淨，爾時名得無分別勝覺。譬如日輪大出，能除幽暗照朗世間。此明畢竟時得大義利。如是廣說已，次以一偈總結前義。
偈曰：
佛子善集滿， 成就極廣定，
恒受尊教授， 能窮功德海。
釋曰：此偈義如文顯現。教授品究竟。
The honored sage is hard to see;
constantly seeing him is a great benefit;
hearing the unequaled Dharma,
pure faith nourishes the mind.
The exposition: this verse clarifies that, through the great instruction, the bodhisattva constantly sees the Buddha directly before him, constantly hears the unequaled true Dharma, and constantly gives rise to the deepest, purest faith, filling his mind entirely. This clarifies the great benefit obtained at the first stage.
If, within this instruction,
one wishes to dwell in the gate of the Dharma,
it is like a person pulled from a perilous place —
the Buddha's urging is just the same.
The exposition: there are bodhisattvas who, during instruction, wish to dwell contentedly in the gate of the Tathāgata's Dharma. It is like a person fallen into a deep pit, whom someone seizes by the hair and flings up onto the high bank; the Buddha's urging is just the same — should that bodhisattva delight in dwelling in the deep pit of quiescence, the tathāgatas are forcefully able to place him instead on the high bank of buddhahood. This clarifies the great benefit obtained at the next stage.
The world's utmost pure eye,
the supreme, non-discriminating awakening,
is like the great sun rising,
dispelling darkness and brightening the world.
The exposition: when bodhisattvas attain buddhahood, forever leaving behind every worldly dharma, their eye attains the utmost purity — the attainment of supreme, non-discriminating awakening — like the great disk of the sun rising, dispelling darkness and brightening the world. This clarifies the great benefit obtained at the final stage. Having thus explained this at length, one verse now summarizes the preceding meaning.
The child of the Buddha, well gathering to fulfillment,
accomplishing the most vast absorption,
constantly receiving the honored instruction,
is able to reach the very depths of the ocean of merit.
The exposition: this verse's meaning is evident from its wording. The chapter on instruction is complete.
The vajra's aptness as a simile for this final absorption rests on a specific property worth stating plainly: a vajra breaks everything it strikes while nothing breaks it in turn. Applied to 分別隨眠, the latent tendencies of discrimination, the image claims that this absorption is not merely stronger than the obstructions it removes but categorically different from them — the last trace of discrimination is not gradually worn down the way earlier stages of practice wore down coarser afflictions, but shattered outright, in a single stroke that itself admits no discrimination to be shattered by anything in return.
The pit-and-hair simile is startlingly rough treatment for what the passage calls the Buddha's own urging, and the roughness is deliberate: a bodhisattva content to dwell in the "deep pit of quiescence" is not gently invited onward but seized and flung. This matches the treatise's consistent stance, stated most sharply in fascicle 6, that retreating into a lesser vehicle's peace is treated as a more severe fault than any suffering endured while still moving forward — here that stance becomes an image of the Buddha's compassion taking a form indistinguishable, in the moment, from violence toward the very contentment it interrupts.
7. Four Kinds of Karmic Companion Practice
釋曰：已說如來大教授，菩薩起業以方便為伴，今當說。
偈曰：
譬如大地種， 任持四種物，
如是三種業， 建立一切善。
釋曰：此偈顯示菩薩集起業方便。譬如大地種任持四種物者，何謂四物？一者大海、二者諸山、三者草木、四者眾生，是謂四物。如是三種業建立一切善者，海等四物譬一切善法，如是菩薩三業能聚集一切諸善，所謂檀等諸波羅蜜及一切菩提分法。
偈曰：
難行業能行， 應形無量劫，
身口心自性， 拔彼不退轉。
釋曰：此偈顯示菩薩救他業方便。難行業能行應形無量劫者，何謂難行業？謂眾生欲得小乘出離，菩薩於彼極生大苦，欲令彼轉異乘心故，變種種形，於無量世界經無量劫數而能久受勤苦作種種難行業。身口心自性拔彼不退轉者，謂菩薩為拔彼故，雖復處處久受勤苦，三業自性終無退屈。
偈曰：
如人怖四害， 深防為自身；
菩薩畏二乘， 護業亦如是。
釋曰：此偈顯示菩薩自護業方便。如人怖四害深防為自身者，何謂四害？一者毒物、二者兵仗、三者惡食、四者怨仇，是謂四害。深防者，為利益自身故。菩薩畏二乘護業亦如是者，毒等四害譬二乘人諸業方便，菩薩怖畏此故，深自防護起二乘心。何以故？由斷大乘種故、大乘善根未起令不起故、已起復令滅故，及與佛果作障礙故。
偈曰：
作者業所作， 三輪不分別，
得度淨業海， 功德無有邊。
釋曰：此偈顯示菩薩清淨業方便。作者業所作三輪不分別者，何謂三輪？一者作者、二者業、三者所作，是謂三輪。不分別者，此三不可得故。由此故三輪得清淨，三輪清淨故業清淨。得度淨業海功德無有邊者，到業彼岸故。功德無邊者，由無盡故。業伴品究竟。
The exposition: the Tathāgata's great instruction having been explained, next the bodhisattva's arising of karmic activity accompanied by skillful means is explained.
It is like the seed-nature of the great earth,
which sustains and bears four kinds of things;
just so, the three kinds of deeds
establish every wholesome thing.
The exposition: this verse displays the bodhisattva's skillful means of gathering activity. It is like the seed-nature of the great earth, sustaining and bearing four kinds of things — the great ocean, the mountains, plants and trees, and sentient beings. Just so, the three kinds of deeds establish every wholesome thing: these four things are similes for every wholesome dharma, and the bodhisattva's three kinds of deeds gather every wholesome thing in just this way — generosity and the other perfections, and every factor of enlightenment.
Difficult deeds he is able to carry out,
manifesting forms through measureless eons;
the very own-nature of his deeds of body, speech, and mind
never retrogresses in drawing beings out.
The exposition: this verse displays the bodhisattva's skillful means of the deeds that rescue others. What are these difficult deeds? When sentient beings wish only for the release of the Lesser Vehicle, the bodhisattva feels the utmost sorrow on their behalf, and, wishing to turn their minds from that other vehicle, transforms himself into various forms, and, throughout measureless worlds and eons, endures prolonged, diligent suffering, carrying out every kind of difficult deed. In order to draw these beings out, though he endures this suffering in place after place, he never retrogresses in the very own-nature of his three deeds.
As a person, fearing four kinds of harm,
guards himself deeply against them,
the bodhisattva fears the two lesser vehicles,
and guards his deeds in just this way.
The exposition: this verse displays the bodhisattva's skillful means of guarding his own deeds. What are these four kinds of harm? Poison, weapons, bad food, and enemies. Guarding deeply is for the benefit of one's own person. Poison and the other three harms are similes for the skillful means and deeds of those of the two lesser vehicles; the bodhisattva, fearing these, deeply guards himself against giving rise to the mind of the two lesser vehicles — since it cuts off the seed of the Mahāyāna, prevents wholesome roots not yet arisen from arising, extinguishes those already arisen, and obstructs the fruit of buddhahood.
The doer, the deed, and what is done —
the three wheels are not discriminated;
thereby one crosses the ocean of pure deeds,
and its merit is without bound.
The exposition: this verse displays the bodhisattva's skillful means of purifying his deeds. What are the three wheels? The doer, the deed, and what is done. Not discriminated, since these three cannot ultimately be found; through this, the three wheels attain purity, and the deed is thereby pure. Thereby one crosses the ocean of pure deeds, its merit without bound, since it is inexhaustible. The chapter on karmic companionship is complete.
The four kinds of skillful-means activity move through a clear progression from outward to inward: gathering good (building up wholesome dharmas the way the earth bears the ocean and mountains), rescuing others (active intervention in the world), guarding oneself (a defensive turn inward against the specific danger of the two lesser vehicles), and finally purifying the deed itself at the level of its own three wheels. The four-harms simile in the third is worth noting for its specificity — poison, weapons, bad food, and enemies are all things one actively avoids rather than merely endures, and applying this avoidance-vocabulary to the two lesser vehicles is a stronger claim than saying they are simply inferior: it says a bodhisattva should relate to the pull toward personal liberation the way an ordinary person relates to a genuine physical threat, with active vigilance rather than passive disapproval.
8. Why the Perfections Are Six: Four Proofs from Counting
釋曰：已說起業方便，業所聚集諸波羅蜜今當說。此中先說憂陀那偈。
偈曰：
數相次第名， 修習差別攝，
治障德互顯， 度十義應知。
釋曰：此中六波羅蜜，應知有十種義：一制數、二顯相、三次第、四釋名、五修習、六差別、七攝行、八治障、九功德、十互顯。此中有六偈制立六波羅蜜數唯有六。
偈曰：
資生身眷屬， 發起初四成，
第五惑不染， 第六業不倒。
釋曰：此偈顯示為攝自利三事故，立波羅蜜數唯有六，一者增進、二者不染、三者不倒。彼初四波羅蜜，如其次第能令四事增進。一資生成就，由布施故。二自身成就，由持戒故。三眷屬成就，由於忍辱，行忍辱者多人愛故。四發起成就，由於精進，一切事業因此成故。第五禪波羅蜜，能令煩惱不染，折伏煩惱由此力故。第六般若波羅蜜，令業不顛倒，一切所作如實知故。
偈曰：
施彼及不惱， 忍惱是利他，
有因及心住， 解脫是自利。
釋曰：此偈顯示為攝二利六事故，立波羅蜜數唯有六。初為攝利他三事故，立前三波羅蜜，令起正勤。如其次第，一者施彼、二者不惱、三者忍彼惱。後為攝自利三事故，須立後三波羅蜜，令起正勤。如其次第，一者有因，由依精進故。二者心住，由心不定令定故。三者解脫，由心已定令解脫故。
偈曰：
不乏亦不惱， 忍惱及不退，
歸向與善說， 利他即自成。
釋曰：此偈顯示為攝利他六事故，立波羅蜜數唯有六。菩薩行六波羅蜜時，如其次第，於彼受用令不乏故、不惱彼故、忍彼惱故、助彼所作令不退故、以神通力令歸向故、以善說法斷彼疑故。菩薩如是利他即是自利，為他所作即自所作，由此因緣得大菩提故。
The exposition: the skillful means of arising activity having been explained, next the perfections gathered by that activity are explained. Here, an introductory summary verse is given first.
Number, characteristic, order, and name;
cultivation, distinction, and inclusion of practice;
remedying obstruction, merit, and mutual display —
these ten meanings of the perfections should be known.
The exposition: the six perfections have ten meanings: fixing their number, displaying their characteristic, order, explaining their names, their cultivation, their distinctions, the practices they include, remedying obstruction, their merit, and mutual display. Here, six verses establish that their number is fixed at exactly six.
Resources, the body, and companions,
and initiation — the first four are accomplished;
the fifth is that the afflictions do not taint;
the sixth is that action is not distorted.
The exposition: this verse displays that, in order to gather three matters of self-benefit — advancement, non-taint, and non-distortion — the number is fixed at exactly six. The first four perfections, in order, cause four matters to advance: resources, through generosity; one's own body, through morality; companions, through patience, since one who practices patience is loved by many; and initiation, through diligence, since every undertaking is accomplished through it. The fifth, meditative concentration, causes the afflictions not to taint. And the sixth, wisdom, causes action not to be distorted, knowing everything one does as it really is.
Giving to others, and not vexing them,
and bearing vexation — this is benefiting others;
having a cause, and settling the mind,
and liberation — this is benefiting oneself.
The exposition: this verse displays that, in order to gather six matters of the twofold benefit, the number is fixed at exactly six. First, to gather three matters of benefiting others, the first three perfections give rise to right diligence: giving to others, not vexing them, and bearing their vexation. Then, to gather three matters of benefiting oneself, the last three give rise to right diligence: having a cause, resting on diligence; settling the mind, bringing it from unsettled to settled; and liberation, bringing a settled mind to liberation.
Not depriving, and not vexing;
bearing vexation, and not retrogressing;
turning others toward it, and teaching it well —
benefiting others is itself self-accomplishment.
The exposition: this verse displays that, in order to gather six matters of benefiting others, the number is fixed at exactly six. As the bodhisattva practices the six perfections, in order, he does not deprive others of what they enjoy; does not vex them; bears their vexation; helps their undertakings so they do not retrogress; by supernormal ability, causes them to turn toward it; and by well teaching the Dharma, cuts off their doubt. In this way, benefiting others is itself self-benefit — what is done for others is itself what is done for himself, since through this very cause great enlightenment is attained.
偈曰：
不染及極敬， 不退有二種，
亦二無分別， 具攝大乘因。
釋曰：此偈顯示為攝大乘四因故，立波羅蜜數唯有六。一者不染、二者極敬、三者不退、四者無分別。菩薩修行施時於財不染，無顧戀故。受持戒時於諸學處起極敬故。行忍辱精進時，此二不退，忍於眾生非眾生所作苦得不退故。精進於修行善時得不退故。行禪定般若時，此二無分別，奢摩他毘鉢舍那平等所攝故。如此四因，攝一切大乘因盡。
偈曰：
不著及不亂， 不捨亦增進，
淨惑及智障， 是道皆悉攝。
釋曰：此偈顯示為攝大乘六道故，立波羅蜜數唯有六。問：道者何義？答：有方便者為道。此中檀波羅蜜，於諸資財不著為道，由施時於境離染著故。尸波羅蜜，於諸境界不亂為道，由求受戒時一切心亂攝令住故。及比丘住護者求境界時，一切業亂不能轉故。羼提波羅蜜，於諸眾生不捨為道，由一切不饒益事不生厭故。毘梨耶波羅蜜，於修諸善增長為道，由精進發起令增上故。禪波羅蜜，於煩惱障令清淨為道。般若波羅蜜，於智慧障令清淨為道。如是六種道，攝一切大乘道盡。
偈曰：
為攝三學故， 說度有六種，
初三二初一， 後二二一三。
釋曰：此偈顯示為攝三種增上學故，立波羅蜜數唯有六。此中立初三波羅蜜，為攝初一戒增上學。戒有二種，謂聚及眷屬。尸羅為聚，檀及羼提為眷屬。何以故？施於求受時資財不悋故，忍於護持時打罵不報故。此中立後二波羅蜜，如其次第，為攝心慧二增上學。此中立第四一波羅蜜，應知具攝三增上學，由一切三學精進為伴故。已制六波羅蜜數，次顯六波羅蜜相。
Non-attachment, and the utmost reverence;
non-retrogression, of two kinds;
and two more, without discrimination —
these together comprise the causes of the Mahāyāna.
The exposition: this verse displays that, in order to gather four causes of the Mahāyāna, the number is fixed at exactly six. Non-attachment, the utmost reverence, non-retrogression, and non-discrimination. In generosity, the bodhisattva is not attached to his wealth. In morality, he gives rise to the utmost reverence toward the precepts. In patience and diligence, these two do not retrogress. In meditative concentration and wisdom, these two are without discrimination, calm abiding and insight being equally gathered. These four causes comprise every cause of the Mahāyāna entirely.
Non-attachment, and non-distraction;
not forsaking, and advancing;
purifying the afflictive and the cognitive obstruction —
these paths comprise it entirely.
The exposition: this verse displays that, in order to gather six paths of the Mahāyāna, the number is fixed at exactly six. Question: what is the sense of "path"? Answer: that which has skillful means is a path. Generosity is the path of non-attachment toward one's resources; morality, the path of non-distraction toward one's objects; patience, the path of not forsaking sentient beings; diligence, the path of increasing every wholesome cultivation; meditative concentration, the path of purifying the afflictive obstruction; and wisdom, the path of purifying the cognitive obstruction. These six paths comprise every path of the Mahāyāna entirely.
The first three, in two, for the first one;
the last two, in two; the one, in three;
in order to gather the three trainings,
the perfections are thus taught as six.
The exposition: this verse displays that, in order to gather the three higher trainings, the number is fixed at exactly six. The first three perfections gather the first training, the higher training in morality. Morality is of two kinds: the core, and its retinue. Moral discipline itself is the core; generosity and patience are its retinue — since, through generosity, one is not stingy with resources when seeking to receive the precepts, and, through patience, one does not retaliate against being struck or reviled while guarding them. The last two perfections, in order, gather the two higher trainings of mind and of wisdom. And the fourth perfection alone gathers all three higher trainings together, since diligence accompanies all three. The number of the perfections having been fixed, next their characteristic is displayed.
Six separate proofs, each independently arriving at the number six, is a stronger form of argument than any single derivation could provide, and it is worth naming what makes it stronger: if the perfections' number depended on only one classification — say, the three higher trainings alone — a critic could simply propose a different classification and get a different number. By deriving six from self-benefit and the benefit of others taken separately, from the twofold benefit taken together, from the four causes of the Mahāyāna, from the six paths, and from the three trainings, the treatise shows that six is not an artifact of any one particular way of slicing the material; it falls out no matter which of five independent schemes is used to count it.
The distinction between a training's 聚, core, and its 眷屬, retinue, quietly resolves a puzzle a careful reader might have about why generosity and patience — which look, on the surface, like their own independent virtues — get folded into the training in morality rather than counted as separate trainings in their own right. The treatise's answer is structural rather than reductive: generosity and patience are not morality in disguise, but they function as morality's supporting cast, enabling the taking and keeping of precepts respectively, without which the core discipline could not actually operate in practice.
9. The Order and Names of the Six Perfections, and Their Four Marks
偈曰：
分別六度體， 一一有四相，
治障及合智， 滿願亦成生。
釋曰：諸菩薩修諸波羅蜜，一一皆有四相：一治障、二合智、三滿願、四成生。治障者，檀等六行，如其次第，對治慳貪、破戒、瞋恚、懈怠、亂心、愚癡故。合智者，悉與無分別智共行，由通達法無我故。滿願者，施於求財者隨其所欲而給與之，戒於求戒者隨其所欲以身口意護而教授之，忍於悔過者與之歡喜，精進於作業者隨欲助之，定於學定者隨欲授法，智於有疑者隨欲決斷。成生者，先以施攝，後以三乘法隨其所應而成熟之。先安立於戒等中，後以三乘成熟亦爾。已顯六波羅蜜相，次說六波羅蜜次第。
偈曰：
前後及下上， 麁細次第起，
如是說六度， 不亂有三因。
釋曰：六波羅蜜次第有三因緣，一前後、二下上、三麁細。前後者，謂依前，後得起。何以故？由不顧資財故受持戒，行持戒已能起忍辱，忍辱已能起精進，精進已能起禪定，禪定已能解真法。下上者，前者為下、後者為上。下者施、上者戒，乃至下者定、上者智。麁細者，前者為麁、後者為細。麁者施、細者戒，乃至麁者定、細者智。何故？麁易入易作故。何故？細難入難作故。已說六波羅蜜次第，次釋六波羅蜜名。
偈曰：
除貧亦令凉， 破瞋與建善，
心持及真解， 是說六行義。
釋曰：能除貧窮故名施。能令清凉故名戒，由具戒者於境界相中煩惱熱息故。能破瞋恚故名忍，忍破瞋恚能令盡故。能建善故名進，建立善法由此力故。能持心故名定，攝持內意故。能解真法故名慧，曉了第一義諦故。已釋六波羅蜜名，次說修習六波羅蜜。
Distinguishing the substance of the six perfections,
each one has four marks:
remedying obstruction, and joining with wisdom,
fulfilling wishes, and maturing beings.
The exposition: bodhisattvas' cultivation of the perfections, each and every one, has four marks: remedying obstruction, joining with wisdom, fulfilling wishes, and maturing beings. Remedying obstruction: the six practices, in order, remedy stinginess, breaking the precepts, hatred, laziness, distraction of mind, and delusion. Joining with wisdom: all are practiced together with non-discriminating wisdom, penetrating the selflessness of things. Fulfilling wishes: generosity gives to those who seek wealth whatever they wish; morality guards and instructs those who seek the precepts, through body, speech, and mind; patience brings joy to one who has repented; diligence helps those engaged in an undertaking; concentration bestows the teaching on those who train in it; and wisdom resolves the doubts of those who are uncertain. Maturing beings: first gathering them through generosity, and afterward maturing them through the Dharma of the three vehicles; likewise, first establishing them in morality, and afterward maturing them through the three vehicles. The marks of the six perfections having been displayed, next their order is explained.
Earlier and later; lower and higher;
coarse and fine — in this order they arise;
thus are the six perfections taught,
their unconfused order resting on three causes.
The exposition: the order of the six perfections rests on three causes: earlier and later, lower and higher, and coarse and fine. Earlier and later: the later rests on the earlier and thereby arises — not attached to one's resources, one upholds morality; having morality, one gives rise to patience; having patience, diligence; having diligence, meditative concentration; and having concentration, one is able to understand the true Dharma. Lower and higher: the earlier is lower, the later higher — generosity lower, morality higher, and so on up to concentration lower, wisdom higher. Coarse and fine: the earlier is coarse, the later fine — generosity coarse, morality fine, and so on up to concentration coarse, wisdom fine, since the coarse is easy to enter and easy to practice, while the fine is difficult to enter and difficult to practice. The order of the six perfections having been explained, next their names are explained.
Removing poverty, and bringing coolness;
breaking hatred, and establishing the good;
upholding the mind, and truly understanding —
this is the meaning of the six practices.
The exposition: able to remove poverty, it is called generosity. Able to bring coolness, it is called morality, since one complete in morality has the heat of the afflictions stilled amid the marks of every domain. Able to break hatred, it is called patience, since patience breaks and exhausts hatred. Able to establish the good, it is called diligence, since wholesome dharmas are established through its power. Able to uphold the mind, it is called concentration, since it gathers and holds the inward mind. And able to truly understand, it is called wisdom, since it comprehends the ultimate truth. The names of the six perfections having been explained, next their cultivation is explained.
The three causes for the perfections' order — earlier-and-later (a genuine causal dependency), lower-and-higher (a value ranking), and coarse-and-fine (a difficulty ranking) — are worth distinguishing carefully, since the treatise offers three different kinds of justification for what looks, on the surface, like a single sequence. The causal claim is the strongest and most specific: one cannot skip from generosity straight to wisdom, because each perfection actually produces the conditions the next one requires (freedom from attachment to resources makes morality possible; morality makes patience possible; and so on). The other two orderings — value and difficulty — are consistent with this causal chain but do not by themselves explain it; they describe the sequence without accounting for why it must run in only one direction.
10. The Five Supports for Cultivating the Perfections
偈曰：
物與思及心， 方便并勢力，
當知修六行， 說有五依止。
釋曰：諸菩薩修習諸波羅蜜有五依止，一者物依止、二者思惟依止、三者心依止、四者方便依止、五者勢力依止。物依止修諸波羅蜜有四種：一者依止因，依種性力而修習故。二者依止報，依自身成就力而修習故。三者依止願，依昔願力而修習故。四者依止數，依智慧力而修習故。思惟依止修諸波羅蜜亦有四種：一者信思惟，於諸波羅蜜相應教而生信心故。二者味思惟，於諸波羅蜜中見功德味故。三者隨喜思惟，於一切世界一切眾生所有諸波羅蜜皆生隨喜故。四者悕望思惟，於自身及他未來所有勝波羅蜜起悕望故。心依止修諸波羅蜜有六種：一者無厭心、二者廣大心、三者勝喜心、四者勝利心、五者不染心、六者善淨心。何謂修檀六種心？若菩薩以滿恒河沙數世界七寶及以身命，於一剎那施一眾生，如是乃至盡眾生界。所願成熟無上菩提者，以此門施心無厭足，如是相心是名修檀無厭心。若菩薩如是相施，從初相續乃至成佛，無剎那頃有絕有減，如是相心是名修檀廣大心。若菩薩以施攝他時生極重歡喜，過於受者得財時生喜，如是相心是名修檀勝喜心。若菩薩以施攝他時，見他受物極饒益我，非我自用為極饒益。何以故？由施攝他，令我成就無上菩提因故，如是相心是名修檀勝利心。若菩薩如是廣施，不求報恩及以果報，如是相心是名修檀不染心。若菩薩如是廣施，所生福聚所得果報，願施一切眾生非為自受，又與一切眾生共之，迴向無上菩提，如是相心是名修檀善淨心。
The object, and reflection, and mind;
skillful means, and power —
know that the cultivation of the six practices
is taught to rest on five supports.
The exposition: bodhisattvas' cultivation of the perfections rests on five supports: the object, reflection, mind, skillful means, and power. The support of the object is of four kinds: the support of cause, cultivating in reliance on the power of the lineage; of ripening, in reliance on one's own accomplishment; of the vow, in reliance on a former vow; and of measure, in reliance on wisdom. The support of reflection is likewise of four kinds: the reflection of faith, giving rise to faith in the teachings corresponding to the perfections; of relish, seeing the savor of merit within them; of sympathetic joy, rejoicing in all the perfections possessed by every sentient being throughout every world; and of longing, longing for the surpassing perfections yet to come, for oneself and for others. The support of mind is of six kinds: the mind without satiety, the vast mind, the mind of surpassing joy, the mind of surpassing benefit, the mind free of taint, and the mind of good purity.
What are the six kinds of mind in cultivating generosity? If a bodhisattva, possessing the seven jewels filling worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, together with his own body and life, gives to a single being in a single instant, and continues until he has given to the entire realm of beings, wishing thereby to bring unsurpassed enlightenment to fulfillment — giving with a mind never sated — such a mind is the mind without satiety. If he gives in this way continuously, from the first moment until buddhahood, without a single instant of interruption or decrease — such a mind is the vast mind. If, in gathering others through generosity, he gives rise to joy greater than the joy the recipient feels upon receiving the wealth — such a mind is the mind of surpassing joy. If, in gathering others through generosity, he sees another's receiving the gift as of the utmost benefit to himself, rather than regarding his own use of it as the benefit — since gathering others through generosity is the cause of his own unsurpassed enlightenment — such a mind is the mind of surpassing benefit. If he gives so extensively while seeking neither repayment nor any resulting reward — such a mind is the mind free of taint. And if he gives so extensively while vowing that the merit and fruit thereby produced be given to all sentient beings rather than received by himself, sharing it with all and dedicating it to unsurpassed enlightenment — such a mind is the mind of good purity.
何謂修戒等六種心？若菩薩有恒河沙數自身，一一身復有恒河沙數劫壽，一一壽中復乏一切資生，於此乏中復有火聚遍滿三千大千世界。菩薩以此多身經此多壽在此火聚起四威儀，於一剎那但修一戒。如是乃至盡諸戒聚，乃至盡諸智聚，能得無上菩提者，菩薩修之心無厭足，如是相心是名修戒等無厭心。若菩薩從初修戒乃至修智，極坐道場無有間斷，如是相心是名修戒等廣大心。若菩薩修戒等攝他時，生極重歡喜，過於受攝者得利益時生喜，如是相心是名修戒等勝喜心。若菩薩修戒等攝他時，見他得利極饒益我，非我自利為極饒益，如是相心是名修戒等勝利心。若菩薩修戒等時，不求報恩及以果報，如是相心是名修戒等不染心。若菩薩廣修戒等所生福聚所得果報，願施一切眾生非為自受，又與一切眾生共之，迴向無上菩提，如是相心是名修戒等善淨心。方便依止修諸波羅蜜有三種，三種者即是三輪清淨，此清淨由無分別智為方便故。以此方便，一切作意悉得成就。勢力依止修諸波羅蜜亦有三種，一者身勢力、二者行勢力、三者說勢力。身勢力者，應知是佛自性身及受用身。行勢力者，應知是佛化身，以此化身於一切相為一切眾生示現一切善行故。說勢力者，謂演說六波羅蜜一切種時無滯礙故。
What are the six kinds of mind in cultivating morality and the rest? If a bodhisattva has bodies as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, each with a lifespan of eons as numerous again, and within each lifespan lacks every requisite of life, and amid this deprivation there is, further, a mass of fire filling the entire three-thousandfold world-system — and, throughout these many bodies and lifespans, standing within this fire in the four postures, he cultivates but a single precept in a single instant, continuing until he has exhausted every accumulation of morality and of wisdom, in order to attain unsurpassed enlightenment — cultivating this with a mind never sated — such a mind is the mind without satiety in cultivating morality and the rest. If, from first cultivating morality up through wisdom, he sits without interruption to the very seat of enlightenment — such a mind is the vast mind. If, in gathering others through this cultivation, he gives rise to joy greater than the joy those he gathers feel upon receiving benefit — such a mind is the mind of surpassing joy. If he sees another's attaining benefit as of the utmost benefit to himself, rather than regarding his own benefit as the benefit — such a mind is the mind of surpassing benefit. If he cultivates while seeking neither repayment nor reward — such a mind is the mind free of taint. And if he cultivates extensively while vowing the resulting merit be given to all sentient beings and dedicated to unsurpassed enlightenment — such a mind is the mind of good purity.
The support of skillful means, in cultivating the perfections, is of three kinds — the purity of the three wheels, resting on non-discriminating wisdom as its skillful means; through this, every attention is accomplished. The support of power is likewise of three kinds: the power of the body, of conduct, and of teaching. The power of the body is the buddha's intrinsic-nature body and enjoyment body. The power of conduct is the buddha's transformation body, through which, in every guise, he displays every kind of wholesome conduct for all sentient beings. And the power of teaching is expounding every mode of the six perfections without any hindrance.
The identical six-fold mind, worked out in full for generosity and then repeated, item for item, for "morality and the rest," is the treatise's clearest demonstration that these six qualities of mind are genuinely orthogonal to which perfection they attach to — the same mind without satiety, the same vast mind, the same reversal that finds another's benefit more rewarding than one's own, apply whether the practice in question is giving away wealth or enduring fire for a single precept. What differs between generosity and morality is only the object being cultivated; the six-fold structure of the mind cultivating it is portable across all six perfections without alteration.
The scale of the two illustrative scenarios is worth pausing on rather than skimming past as rhetorical excess. Giving to every being in a realm as vast as the sands of the Ganges, or maintaining a single precept while standing in fire that fills an entire universe for an equally vast succession of lifetimes, are not meant as literal instructions; they are thought experiments designed to strip away every practical limit on the mind's testing. By imagining a scenario where sheer scale could plausibly exhaust even a sincere practitioner's patience, the passage isolates exactly the quality — 無厭, without satiety — that the six-fold scheme is trying to name: not merely willingness to give or endure once, but a mind for which no conceivable quantity of giving or endurance would ever produce fatigue.
Fascicle 7 Complete
Three chapters, the treatise's most procedurally detailed stretch. Instruction traced the path from a first incalculable eon of nurtured faith through six minds and eleven kinds of attention in approaching a teaching, nine kinds of mental abiding refined into the supple mind that draws the buddhas' own praise, the four factors conducive to penetration redefined as a progressive dissolving of grasper and grasped, the path of seeing with its fivefold equality of self and other and its three gates of liberation, and the path of cultivation through nine further grounds to the vajra-like absorption that shatters the last latent tendency of discrimination outright. Karmic companionship gathered this into four kinds of skillful activity — building up the good, rescuing others, guarding against the pull of lesser vehicles, and purifying the deed's own three wheels. And the opening of gathering beings established, through five independent proofs, why the perfections number exactly six, in what order and under what names, and on what five supports — object, reflection, mind, skillful means, and power — they are actually cultivated, worked out to the specific six-fold catalogue of mind a bodhisattva brings to even a single act of giving. Fascicle 8 continues 度攝品之二, the second part of this same chapter.
Continue to Fascicle 8 — Gathering Beings, Continued →