The Four Pāramitās: Permanence, Bliss, Self, and Purity
The chapter's third point is fruit: the four pāramitās a buddha attains, each the specific antidote to one of the four obstructions already named — purity countering the icchantika, self countering the outsider's false self, bliss countering the śrāvaka's fear, and permanence countering the pratyekabuddha's withdrawal.
Four Inversions, and Their Antidotes
又依果業故，說一偈：
淨我樂常等， 彼岸功德果，
厭苦求涅槃， 欲願等諸業。
此初半偈示現何義？偈言：
略說四句義， 四種顛倒法，
於法身中倒， 修行對治法。
此偈明何義？彼信等四法，如來法身因此能清淨。彼向說四種法，彼次第略說對治四顛倒，如來法身四種功德波羅蜜果應知。偈言：略說四句義故。此明何義？謂於色等無常事中起於常想、於苦法中起於樂想、於無我中起於我想、於不淨中起於淨想，是等名為四種顛倒應知。偈言：四種顛倒法故。為對治此四種顛倒故，有四種非顛倒法應知。何等為四？謂於色等無常事中生無常想、苦想、無我想、不淨想等，是名四種不顛倒對治應知。偈言：修行對治法故。如是四種顛倒對治，依如來法身，復是顛倒應知。偈言：於法身中倒故。對治此倒，說有四種如來法身功德波羅蜜果。何等為四？所謂常波羅蜜、樂波羅蜜、我波羅蜜淨、波羅蜜應知。偈言：修行對治法故。
Furthermore, in dependence on fruit and function, a verse is spoken:
Purity, self, bliss, permanence, and the rest — the virtues and fruit of the far shore;
wearying of suffering, seeking nirvāṇa, wishing and vowing — these are the various functions.
What meaning does the first half of this verse reveal? A verse says:
Briefly stated, four lines of meaning, the four kinds of inverted dharma;
inverted with respect to the dharmakāya; the dharma that is practiced as their antidote.
What meaning does this verse make clear? Those four dharmas — faith and the rest — are the cause by which the Tathāgata's dharmakāya is thereby purified. Those four dharmas stated before should be known, in order, briefly, as the antidotes to the four inversions, and as the four virtuous pāramitā-fruits of the Tathāgata's dharmakāya. What does this clarify? Giving rise to a notion of permanence with respect to form and the rest, which are impermanent; giving rise to a notion of bliss with respect to what is suffering; giving rise to a notion of self with respect to what is without self; giving rise to a notion of purity with respect to what is impure — these should be known as the four kinds of inversion. In order to counteract these four kinds of inversion, there are four kinds of non-inverted dharma that should be known. What are the four? Giving rise to a notion of impermanence, a notion of suffering, a notion of no-self, and a notion of impurity with respect to form and the rest, which are impermanent — these should be known as the four antidotes, free of inversion. Just so, these four antidotes to the four inversions, when applied to the Tathāgata's dharmakāya, should themselves be known as a further inversion. As an antidote to this further inversion, four virtuous pāramitā-fruits of the Tathāgata's dharmakāya are spoken of. What are the four? The pāramitā of permanence, the pāramitā of bliss, the pāramitā of self, and the pāramitā of purity, it should be known.
This passage's structure is worth tracking closely, since it moves through three distinct levels rather than two: ordinary beings hold four inverted views (seeing permanence, bliss, self, and purity where there is none); the standard antidote is to see impermanence, suffering, no-self, and impurity instead; but applying that very antidote to the Tathāgata's own dharmakāya is, itself, "a further inversion" — treating the dharmakāya as though it were subject to the same impermanence and selflessness that governs ordinary conditioned things. The four pāramitās that follow are the antidote to this second, subtler inversion, not a return to the first, naive one. The structure matters: this is not the treatise reinstating ordinary permanence, bliss, self, and purity after all, but naming a third position that the standard Buddhist antidote itself was never equipped to reach.
The Śrīmālā Sūtra, Quoted at Length: Right View and the True Child of the Buddha
是故《聖者勝鬘經》言：世尊！凡夫眾生於五陰法起顛倒想，謂無常常想、苦有樂想、無我我想、不淨淨想。世尊！一切阿羅漢辟支佛空智者，於一切智境界及如來法身本所不見。若有眾生信佛語故，於如來法身起常想樂想我想淨想，世尊！彼諸眾生非顛倒見，是名正見。何以故？唯如來法身是常波羅蜜、樂波羅蜜、我波羅蜜、淨波羅蜜。世尊！若有眾生於佛法身作是見者，是名正見。世尊！正見者是佛真子，從佛口生、從正法生、從法化生，得法餘財，如是等故。
Hence the Noble Śrīmālā Sūtra says: "World-Honored One! Ordinary beings give rise to an inverted notion with respect to the dharma of the five aggregates — a notion of permanence where there is impermanence, a notion of bliss where there is suffering, a notion of self where there is no self, a notion of purity where there is impurity. World-Honored One! All arhats and pratyekabuddhas, with their wisdom of emptiness, have never once seen the domain of all-knowing wisdom, nor the Tathāgata's dharmakāya. If there are beings who, through faith in the Buddha's own word, give rise to a notion of permanence, of bliss, of self, and of purity with respect to the Tathāgata's dharmakāya, World-Honored One, these beings do not hold an inverted view — this is called right view. Why is this? Because only the Tathāgata's dharmakāya is the pāramitā of permanence, the pāramitā of bliss, the pāramitā of self, and the pāramitā of purity. World-Honored One, if there are beings who hold this view with respect to the Buddha's dharmakāya, this is called right view. World-Honored One, one of right view is a true child of the Buddha, born from the Buddha's own mouth, born from the true Dharma, born through the transformation of the Dharma, one who has obtained the Dharma's own remaining wealth."
This is the exact passage this site's Treatise on Buddha Nature already quotes at length — "true child at the Tathāgata's own breast" — and the phrase "born from the Buddha's own mouth, born from the true Dharma" gives the "true child" theme this treatise has been building since Part 8 its most explicit sūtra-level grounding yet. Note the passage's own careful qualification: arhats and pratyekabuddhas are said to have "never once seen" the dharmakāya not because it is hidden from them out of malice, but because their own wisdom of emptiness, genuine as far as it goes, simply never reaches that domain — the same distinction this site's Śrīmālādevī Sūtra draws at length between a "fraction of nirvāṇa" and the complete, "one-flavor" nirvāṇa reserved for a buddha alone.
The Self That Is No-Self, and Why the Tathāgata Declines to Answer
又此四種如來法身功德波羅蜜，從因向果次第而說淨我樂常應知。云何次第從因向果？謂誹謗大乘一闡提障，實無有淨而心樂著取世間淨。此障對治，謂諸菩薩摩訶薩信大乘修行證得第一淨波羅蜜果應知。於五陰中見有神我諸外道障，實無神我而樂著取我。此障對治，謂諸菩薩摩訶薩修行般若波羅蜜，證得第一我波羅蜜果應知。此明何義？一切外道執著色等非真實事以為有我，而彼外道取著我相，無如是我相虛妄顛倒，一切時無我。以是義故，說言如來如實智知一切法無我到第一彼岸。而如來無彼我無我相。何以故？以一切時如實見知不虛妄故、非顛倒故。此以何義？以即無我名為有我。即無我者，無彼外道虛妄神我。名有我者，如來有彼得自在我。是故偈言：
如清淨真空， 得第一無我，
諸佛得淨體， 是名得大身。
此偈明何義？得大身者，謂如來得第一清淨真如法身。彼是諸佛如來實我，以得自在體、以得第一清淨身。偈言：諸佛得淨體故。以是義故，諸佛名得清淨自在。偈言：是名得大身故。以是義故，依於此義，諸佛如來於無漏界中得為第一最自在我。又復即依如是義故，如來法身不名為有，以無我相、無法相故，以是義故不得言有，以如彼相如是無故。又復即依如是義故，如來法身不名為無，以唯有彼真如我體，是故不得言無法身，以如彼相如是有故。依此義故，諸外道問：如來死後為有身耶、為無身耶？有如是等，是故如來不記不答。
Furthermore, these four virtuous pāramitās of the Tathāgata's dharmakāya, spoken in order from cause toward fruit, should be known as purity, self, bliss, and permanence, in that order. How is this order from cause toward fruit? The icchantika's obstruction of slandering the Mahāyāna consists in delighting in and grasping at a worldly purity where there is, in reality, no purity at all. The antidote to this obstruction is that bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, through faith in and practice of the Mahāyāna, realize the foremost fruit of the pāramitā of purity. The outsiders' obstruction of seeing a divine self within the five aggregates consists in delighting in and grasping at a self where there is, in reality, no divine self at all. The antidote to this obstruction is that bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, through practicing prajñāpāramitā, realize the foremost fruit of the pāramitā of self. What does this clarify? Every outsider clings to form and the rest, which are not real things, taking them for a self — and this mark of self that the outsiders cling to is false and inverted, since there is no self at all times. For this reason, it is said that the Tathāgata's true wisdom knows that all dharmas are without self, reaching the foremost far shore. Yet the Tathāgata is without that mark of self, and without that mark of no-self either. Why is this? Because he truly sees and knows this at all times, without falsity, without inversion. What does this mean? It means that precisely this absence of self is what is called "having a self." What is meant by "absence of self" is being without the outsiders' own false, divine self; what is meant by "having a self" is the Tathāgata's own possession of that self which has attained sovereign mastery. Hence the verse says:
Just as pure, true emptiness attains the foremost no-self,
the buddhas attain the pure essence — this is called attaining the great body.
What meaning does this verse make clear? "Attaining the great body" means that the Tathāgata attains the foremost, pure dharmakāya of suchness. That is the real self of every buddha, every tathāgata, in that they have attained a sovereign essence, having attained the foremost, pure body. For this reason, the buddhas are said to have attained pure sovereignty. For this reason, on this basis, the buddhas, the tathāgatas, attain, within the uncontaminated realm, the foremost, most sovereign self. And further, on this very basis, the Tathāgata's dharmakāya is not called "existent," since it has no mark of self and no mark of dharma — for this reason it cannot be said to exist, since it is without such marks, just so. And further, on this very basis, the Tathāgata's dharmakāya is not called "non-existent" either, since it alone possesses that essence of the true self of suchness — for this reason it cannot be said that there is no dharmakāya, since it possesses this in just such a way. It is on this basis that, when outsiders ask whether the Tathāgata, after death, has a body or has no body, and other such questions, the Tathāgata does not record or answer them.
The formula "precisely this absence of self is what is called having a self" (即無我名為有我) resolves what looks, on first reading, like a flat contradiction with the pāramitā of self just named a few lines earlier. The resolution is careful rather than merely clever: "having a self" never affirms the outsiders' own divine, substantial self — that remains false at every point — but instead names the Tathāgata's own sovereign mastery, itself grounded in the identical selflessness the outsiders' view got wrong. This is the same structure that lets the treatise decline to say the dharmakāya either "exists" or "does not exist": it has no self-mark and no dharma-mark, so it cannot be said to exist in the ordinary sense, and yet it genuinely possesses "the essence of the true self of suchness," so it cannot be said not to exist either. This double refusal is offered as the reason the Tathāgata famously declines to answer the outsiders' classic questions about whether he exists after death — not evasion, on this treatise's reading, but the only honest response available once both "yes" and "no" have been shown to rest on a false premise.
Bliss and Permanence: A Fourfold Practice, and a Dharmakāya Vast as Space
諸聲聞人畏世間苦，為對治彼畏世間苦，諸菩薩摩訶薩修行一切世間出世間諸三昧故，證得第一樂波羅蜜果應知。辟支佛人棄捨利益一切眾生樂住寂靜，為對治彼棄捨眾生，諸菩薩摩訶薩修行大悲，住無限齊世間常利益眾生，證得第一常波羅蜜果應知。是名諸菩薩摩訶薩信及般若、三昧、大悲四種修行，如是次第得如來身淨我樂常四種功德波羅蜜果應知。又復有義，依此四種如來法身名為廣大如法界、究竟如虛空，盡未來際。此明何義？信修行大乘，是故諸佛如來常得清淨法界到第一彼岸，是故說言廣大如法界；修行般若波羅蜜，是故諸佛如來成就虛空法身。以器世間究竟無我、以修行虛空藏等無量三昧，以是義故，於一切處一切法中皆得自在，是故說言究竟如虛空。以修行大悲，於一切眾生無限齊時得慈悲心平等，是故說言盡未來際。
Śrāvakas fear the suffering of the world; as an antidote to this fear of the world's suffering, bodhisattva-mahāsattvas practice every mundane and supramundane samādhi, and thereby realize the foremost fruit of the pāramitā of bliss. Pratyekabuddhas abandon the benefiting of all beings, delighting instead in dwelling in quiescence; as an antidote to this abandonment of beings, bodhisattva-mahāsattvas practice great compassion, dwelling in the world without limit, constantly benefiting beings, and thereby realize the foremost fruit of the pāramitā of permanence. This is how, through the four practices of faith, prajñā, samādhi, and great compassion, bodhisattva-mahāsattvas attain, in this order, the four virtuous pāramitā-fruits of the Tathāgata's body — purity, self, bliss, and permanence. There is a further meaning: in dependence on these four aspects, the Tathāgata's dharmakāya is said to be vast as the dharma-realm, ultimate as empty space, extending to the very limit of the future. What does this clarify? Through faith in and practice of the Mahāyāna, the buddhas, the tathāgatas, constantly attain the pure dharma-realm, reaching the foremost far shore — hence it is said to be vast as the dharma-realm. Through practicing prajñāpāramitā, the buddhas, the tathāgatas, accomplish the dharmakāya that is like empty space — since the container-world is ultimately without self, and since they practice the Ākāśagarbha and other immeasurable samādhis, for this reason they attain sovereign mastery in every place, in every dharma — hence it is said to be ultimate as empty space. Through practicing great compassion, toward every being, without limit, at all times, they attain a mind of compassion equal to all — hence it is said to extend to the very limit of the future.
The same four practices — faith, prajñā, samādhi, great compassion — that supplied the four causes back in Part 8 now supply the four fruits as well, producing an elegant closed loop: the practice that counteracts a given obstruction is identical to the practice that yields the corresponding pāramitā once the obstruction is removed. The three closing descriptions of the dharmakāya — vast as the dharma-realm, ultimate as empty space, extending to the limit of the future — are each traced back to a specific one of the four practices rather than offered as loose poetic flourishes: faith yields spatial vastness, prajñā yields the emptiness that makes universal mastery possible, and compassion yields temporal endlessness. Nothing in this fourfold structure is decorative; every image is load-bearing, tied to one specific practice and one specific obstruction it overcomes.
Part 9 Complete
This closes the treatise's account of fruit. Part 10 takes up a difficult excursus on the mechanics of how the ignorance-dwelling-ground conditions the three kinds of mind-made body, quoting the Śrīmālā Sūtra directly, before returning to why even a great-power bodhisattva still falls short of the four pāramitās a buddha alone possesses.
Continue to Part 10 — Why Even a Great Bodhisattva Falls Short →