The Jewel of Saṅgha
The third and final Jewel is the Saṅgha — but what actually makes a saṅgha "unsurpassed," this chapter argues, is not any external community, but true and pervasive practice: seeing that every being, oneself included, is pure by nature and only ever falsely stained. The chapter grounds this claim by quoting the Śrīmālā Sūtra's own hardest paradox directly.
The Root Verse: Seeing That Every Being Is Pure
論曰：依大乘法寶，有不退轉菩薩僧寶。以是義故，次法寶後示現僧寶。依彼僧寶故，說四偈：
正覺正知者， 見一切眾生，
清淨無有我， 寂靜真實際。
以能知於彼， 自性清淨心，
見煩惱無實， 故離諸煩惱。
無障淨智者， 如實見眾生，
自性清淨性， 佛法僧境界。
無閡淨智眼， 見諸眾生性，
遍無量境界， 故我今敬禮。
此偈示現何義？偈言：
如實知內身， 以智見清淨，
故名無上僧， 諸佛如來說。
此偈明何義？偈言。
如實見眾生， 寂靜真法身，
以見性本淨， 煩惱本來無。
The treatise states: In dependence on the Mahāyāna Jewel of Dharma, there is the irreversible Jewel of the Bodhisattva Saṅgha. It is for this reason that, following the Jewel of Dharma, the Jewel of Saṅgha is now revealed. In dependence on this Jewel of Saṅgha, four verses are spoken:
Those who are rightly awakened and rightly knowing
see that every being is pure, without a self,
quiescent, and at the true, real limit.
Because they are able to know that mind's own nature is pure,
and see that affliction has no reality,
they are therefore free of every affliction.
Those of unobstructed, pure wisdom
truly see beings' own pure nature —
the domain of Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha.
The unhindered, pure wisdom-eye
sees the nature of every being,
pervading every immeasurable realm —
for this I now bow in reverence.
What meaning does this verse reveal? A verse says:
Truly knowing one's own inward body,
and seeing purity through wisdom —
this is why it is called the unsurpassed Saṅgha,
as every buddha, every tathāgata, has taught.
What meaning does this verse make clear? A verse says:
Truly seeing that beings are the quiescent, true dharmakāya,
by seeing that their nature is originally pure,
and that affliction was, from the very beginning, without any reality.
The Jewel of Saṅgha is defined here in a way easy to miss on a first pass: it is not a community distinguished by its members, but a specific kind of seeing — seeing that every being, without exception, is already the quiescent dharmakāya, and that whatever affliction appears to cover this was never, from the very beginning, real in the first place. "The unsurpassed Saṅgha" is a description of an accomplishment, truly knowing one's own inward body and seeing purity through wisdom, not a description of a group of people who happen to hold that view.
The Śrīmālā Sūtra, Quoted Directly: A Pure Mind, Nonetheless Stained
此偈明何義？以如實見本際以來，我空法空應知。偈言：正覺正知者，見一切眾生清淨無有我，寂靜真實際故。又彼如實知無始世來本際寂靜無我無法，非滅煩惱證時始有。此明何義？此見自性清淨法身。略說有二種法。何等為二？一者見性本來自性清淨、二者見諸煩惱本來寂滅。偈言：以能知於彼自性清淨心，見煩惱無實故、離諸煩惱故。又自性清淨心本來清淨，又本來常為煩惱所染，此二種法於彼無漏真如法界中善心不善心俱，更無第三心。如是義者，難可覺知。是故《聖者勝鬘經》言：世尊！剎尼迦善心，非煩惱所染；剎尼迦不善心，亦非煩惱所染。煩惱不觸心，心不觸煩惱。云何不觸法而能得染心？世尊！然有煩惱、有煩惱染心。自性清淨心而有染者，難可了知。如是等《聖者勝鬘經》中廣說，自性清淨心及煩惱所染應知。
What meaning does this verse make clear? It should be known through truly seeing, from the very original limit onward, the emptiness of self and the emptiness of dharmas. The verse says: those who are rightly awakened and rightly knowing see that every being is pure, without a self, quiescent, and at the true, real limit. Furthermore, they truly know that, from beginningless time, the original limit has been quiescent, without self, without dharmas — not something that only comes to exist once affliction is extinguished and realization occurs. What does this clarify? This is seeing the dharmakāya of pure own-nature. Briefly stated, there are two kinds of seeing here. What are the two? First, seeing that this nature has, from the very beginning, been pure by its own nature; second, seeing that every affliction has, from the very beginning, been quiescent. The verse says: because they are able to know that mind's own nature is pure, and see that affliction has no reality, they are therefore free of every affliction. Furthermore, the mind pure by its own nature is, from the very beginning, pure — and yet, from the very beginning, is also constantly stained by affliction. These two dharmas, within that same uncontaminated dharma-realm of suchness, are both a wholesome mind and an unwholesome mind, with no third mind besides. A meaning such as this is difficult to awaken to and know.
Hence the Noble Śrīmālā Sūtra says: "World-Honored One! The wholesome mind, moment by moment, is not stained by affliction; the unwholesome mind, moment by moment, is likewise not stained by affliction. Affliction does not touch mind, and mind does not touch affliction. How, then, without any contact at all, can the mind come to be stained? World-Honored One! And yet there is affliction, and there is a mind stained by affliction. That the mind pure by its own nature should nonetheless be stained is difficult to understand." The Noble Śrīmālā Sūtra explains, at such length as this, the mind pure by its own nature and its being stained by affliction, and this should be understood accordingly.
This is the identical passage this site's own Śrīmālādevī Sūtra translation calls, in its own reading notes, "the sūtra's most quoted line in later Chinese Buddhist history" — quoted here nearly word for word as this treatise's own proof-text for why the paradox is genuinely "difficult to awaken to and know." The treatise's own gloss adds something the sūtra states more compactly: there is no third mind standing between the wholesome and unwholesome moments where contact between purity and affliction could occur — "these two dharmas... are both a wholesome mind and an unwholesome mind, with no third mind besides." This restates, in the treatise's own more schematic register, exactly the logic this site's Śrīmālā reading notes trace back through Jizang's own commentary and the rope-and-snake simile: no single mind-moment is ever both pure and defiled at once, and yet the defilement is not denied as a fact.
True Practice and Pervasive Practice
又有二種修行，謂如實修行及遍修行，難證知義。如實修行者，謂見眾生自性清淨，佛性境界故。偈言：無障淨智者，如實見眾生，自性清淨性，佛法身境界故。遍修行者，謂遍十地一切境界故、見一切眾生有一切智故。又遍一切境界者，以遍一切境界，依出世間慧，見一切眾生乃至畜生有如來藏應知。彼見一切眾生有真如佛性，初地菩薩摩訶薩以遍證一切真如法界故。偈言：無閡淨智眼，見諸眾生性，遍無量境界故。如是內身自覺知彼無漏法界無障無閡，依於二法：一者如實修行、二者遍修行。此明何義？謂出世間如實內證真如法智，不共二乘凡夫人等應知。此明何義？菩薩摩訶薩出世間清淨證智，略說有二種，勝聲聞辟支佛證智。何等為二？一者無障、二者無礙。無障者，謂如實修行，見諸眾生自性清淨境界，故名無障。無閡者，謂遍修行，以如實知無邊境界，故名無閡。此明何義？偈言：
如實知見道， 見清淨佛智，
故不退聖人， 能作眾生依。
此偈明何義？又依初地菩薩摩訶薩證智清淨見道不退地乘，能作見彼無上菩提清淨勝因應知。偈言：如實知見道，見清淨佛智故。此初地證智勝餘菩薩摩訶薩布施持戒等波羅蜜功德，以是義故，菩薩摩訶薩依如實見真如證智，是故能與一切眾生、天龍八部、聲聞、辟支佛等作歸依處。偈言：不退聖人能作眾生依故。
Furthermore, there are two kinds of practice — true practice and pervasive practice — through which this difficult-to-realize meaning is known. True practice means seeing beings' own pure nature, the domain of buddha-nature. The verse says: those of unobstructed, pure wisdom truly see beings' own pure nature — the domain of the buddha's dharmakāya. Pervasive practice means pervading every realm across all ten grounds, and seeing that every being possesses all-knowing wisdom. And pervading every realm means that, through supramundane wisdom pervading every realm, one should know that every being, down to even animals, possesses the tathāgatagarbha. Seeing that every being possesses the true, buddha-nature of suchness is accomplished by a bodhisattva-mahāsattva of the first ground, through pervasively realizing the entire dharma-realm of suchness. The verse says: the unhindered, pure wisdom-eye sees the nature of every being, pervading every immeasurable realm. Just so, this inward, self-awakened knowing of that uncontaminated dharma-realm, unobstructed and unhindered, rests on two dharmas: first, true practice; second, pervasive practice. What does this clarify? It should be known that this is the supramundane wisdom of truly, inwardly realizing suchness — not shared with the two lesser vehicles or with ordinary beings. What does this clarify? A bodhisattva-mahāsattva's supramundane, pure realized wisdom is, briefly stated, of two kinds, each surpassing the realized wisdom of a śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha. What are the two? First, unobstructed; second, unhindered. "Unobstructed" refers to true practice, seeing every being's own pure domain — hence it is called unobstructed. "Unhindered" refers to pervasive practice, truly knowing the boundless realm — hence it is called unhindered. What does this clarify? A verse says:
Truly knowing and seeing the path, seeing the pure wisdom of a buddha —
this is why the irreversible noble ones are able to become a refuge for beings.
What meaning does this verse make clear? It should be known that a bodhisattva-mahāsattva's pure realized wisdom on the first ground, on the irreversible path of seeing, is able to serve as the pure, supreme cause for seeing unsurpassed bodhi. The verse says: truly knowing and seeing the path, seeing the pure wisdom of a buddha. This realized wisdom of the first ground surpasses even the virtue of the other pāramitās a bodhisattva-mahāsattva cultivates, such as giving and keeping the precepts — and for this reason, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, in dependence on this truly seen, realized wisdom of suchness, is thereby able to become a refuge for every being — the eight kinds of gods and nāgas, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, and the rest. The verse says: the irreversible noble ones are able to become a refuge for beings.
The distinction between "true practice" and "pervasive practice" maps a difference in scope onto a difference in depth: true practice sees one's own pure nature directly, while pervasive practice extends that same seeing outward across every being without exception, "down to even animals" possessing the tathāgatagarbha. The treatise is explicit that pervasive practice belongs specifically to a bodhisattva who has reached the first ground — this is not a claim available to ordinary reflection, but the fruit of "supramundane wisdom... not shared with the two lesser vehicles or with ordinary beings." The chapter's closing claim in this section is worth noting for how far it reaches: the wisdom realized on the very first of the ten bodhisattva grounds already surpasses the accumulated virtue of every pāramitā a bodhisattva might otherwise cultivate — giving, precepts, and the rest — because this particular realization is what makes a bodhisattva capable of serving as a genuine refuge for other beings at all, gods and nāgas, śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas included.
Part 4 Continues
The Jewel of Saṅgha continues in Part 5, with ten specific ways a bodhisattva surpasses a śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha — illustrated by the simile of the crescent moon, revered above even the full moon, since every buddha is born from a bodhisattva.
Continue to Part 5 — Ten Ways a Bodhisattva Surpasses an Arhat →