The One Dharma-Phrase
The treatise's philosophical center: the twenty-nine adornments already covered — seventeen of the land, eight of the Buddha, four of the bodhisattvas — are said to fold into a single phrase, "true and real wisdom, the uncreated Dharma-body." From there the treatise turns practical again, naming the three things a bodhisattva must leave behind, and the three he must take up, to enter the gate of bodhi at all — the same three-and-three already met, word for word, in this site's Ten Doubts treatise.
Twenty-Nine Adornments, One Phrase
又向說佛國土功德莊嚴成就、佛功德莊嚴成就、菩薩功德成就，此三種成就願心莊嚴，略說入一法句故。一法句者，謂清淨句。清淨句者，謂真實智慧無為法身故。
此清淨有二種應知。何等二種？一者器世間清淨；二者眾生世間清淨。器世間清淨者，向說十七種佛國土功德莊嚴成就，是名器世間清淨。眾生世間清淨者，如向說八種佛功德莊嚴成就、四種菩薩功德莊嚴成就，是名眾生世間清淨。如是一法句，攝二種清淨應知。
如是菩薩奢摩他、毘婆舍那廣略修行，成就柔軟心，如實知廣略諸法，如是成就巧方便迴向。何者菩薩巧方便迴向？菩薩巧方便迴向者，謂說禮拜等五種修行所集一切功德善根，不求自身住持之樂，欲拔一切眾生苦故，作願攝取一切眾生，共同生彼安樂佛國。是名菩薩巧方便迴向成就。
菩薩如是善知迴向成就，遠離三種菩提門相違法。何等三種？一者依智慧門不求自樂，遠離我心貪著自身故；二者依慈悲門，拔一切眾生苦，遠離無安眾生心故；三者依方便門，憐愍一切眾生心，遠離供養恭敬自身心故。是名遠離三種菩提門相違法故。
菩薩遠離如是三種菩提門相違法，得三種隨順菩提門法滿足故。何等三種？一者無染清淨心，不以為自身求諸樂故；二者安清淨心，以拔一切眾生苦故；三者樂清淨心，以令一切眾生得大菩提故。以攝取眾生生彼國土故，是名三種隨順菩提門法滿足應知。
向說智慧、慈悲、方便三種門攝取般若，般若攝取方便應知。
向說遠離我心不貪著自身、遠離無安眾生心、遠離供養恭敬自身心，此三種法遠離障菩提心應知。
向說無染清淨心、安清淨心、樂清淨心，此三種心略一處成就妙樂勝真心應知。
Furthermore, as for what was said above — the accomplishment of the adornment and merit of the buddha's land, the accomplishment of the Buddha's own merit and adornment, and the accomplishment of the bodhisattvas' merit — these three accomplishments, adorning the aspiring mind, may be said, in brief, to enter into a single Dharma-phrase. This single Dharma-phrase is what is called the phrase of purity. The phrase of purity is what is called true and real wisdom, the uncreated Dharma-body.
This purity is of two kinds, which should be known. What are the two? First, the purity of the receptacle-world; and second, the purity of the sentient-being world. The purity of the receptacle-world is what was said above, the seventeen kinds of accomplished adornment and merit of the buddha's land — this is called the purity of the receptacle-world. The purity of the sentient-being world is what was said above, the eight kinds of the Buddha and the four kinds of the bodhisattvas — this is called the purity of the sentient-being world. In this way, this single Dharma-phrase should be understood as encompassing both of these two kinds of purity.
A bodhisattva who, in this way, practices śamatha and vipaśyanā in both their expanded and their condensed forms thereby accomplishes a pliant mind, truly knowing every dharma in both its expanded and its condensed form — and in this way accomplishes skillful dedication. What is a bodhisattva's own skillful dedication? A bodhisattva's skillful dedication is this: taking every merit and wholesome root gathered through the five practices of worship and the rest, not seeking for himself the joy of sustained abiding, but wishing instead to draw out the suffering of every sentient being — he makes the vow to gather in every sentient being, that all may together be born in that buddha's land of Peace and Bliss. This is called the accomplishment of a bodhisattva's own skillful dedication.
A bodhisattva who thus rightly understands the accomplishment of dedication thereby keeps far apart from three things that run contrary to the gate of bodhi. What are the three? First, relying on the gate of wisdom, not seeking his own pleasure — keeping far from the mind of self, which clings to and is attached to one's own body; second, relying on the gate of compassion, drawing out the suffering of every sentient being — keeping far from a mind that leaves sentient beings unsettled; and third, relying on the gate of skillful means, holding every sentient being in pity and compassion — keeping far from a mind that seeks reverence and offerings for himself. These are what is meant by keeping far apart from the three things that run contrary to the gate of bodhi.
A bodhisattva who keeps far apart from these three things that run contrary to the gate of bodhi thereby attains the complete fulfillment of three things that accord with the gate of bodhi. What are the three? First, a mind of undefiled purity, because he does not seek every kind of pleasure for himself; second, a mind of settled purity, because he draws out the suffering of every sentient being; and third, a mind of joyful purity, because he brings every sentient being to attain great bodhi. And it is by gathering sentient beings in, bringing them to birth in that land, that these three things which accord with the gate of bodhi are, in this way, understood to be entirely fulfilled.
As for the three gates of wisdom, compassion, and skillful means spoken of above: wisdom and compassion together gather in prajñā, and prajñā, in turn, gathers in skillful means — this should be understood.
As for what was said above — keeping far from the mind of self that clings to one's own body, keeping far from a mind that leaves sentient beings unsettled, and keeping far from a mind that seeks reverence and offerings for oneself — these three things should be understood as keeping far apart from what obstructs the mind of bodhi.
As for what was said above — a mind of undefiled purity, a mind of settled purity, and a mind of joyful purity — these three minds should be understood as together accomplishing, in a single place, a wondrously blissful mind of supreme truth.
Tanluan explains why this section moves from twenty-nine detailed adornments to a single phrase by invoking a distinction between two kinds of Dharma-body: "the Dharma-nature Dharma-body, and the skillful-means Dharma-body. The skillful-means Dharma-body is born from the Dharma-nature Dharma-body, and the Dharma-nature Dharma-body issues forth from the skillful-means Dharma-body — these two Dharma-bodies are different, yet cannot be divided from each other; they are one, yet cannot be treated as identical. This is exactly why the detailed and the condensed are said to fold into each other." The twenty-nine adornments are the skillful-means Dharma-body in its full elaboration; the single phrase of purity is the Dharma-nature Dharma-body from which that elaboration springs — neither one is more real than the other.
On the phrase itself — "true and real wisdom, the uncreated Dharma-body" — Tanluan works through its logic in a chain of double negations reminiscent of Madhyamaka argument: true wisdom is called "true" precisely because it is neither an act of construction nor a mere absence of one; the Dharma-body is called "uncreated" precisely because it is neither colored form nor the mere absence of colored form. "To call something neither this nor its negation — is this not itself already a kind of affirmation? What has no negation at all may be called simply 'is.' But this 'is,' already free of anything to be negated, has nothing further to be denied either — neither an 'is' nor a 'this-is-not' — a hundred rounds of negation could never quite pin it down. This is why it is called the phrase of purity." Purity, on this reading, is not one more predicate to add to the list of what the Pure Land possesses; it is what remains once every possible predicate, and its opposite, has been tried and found insufficient.
On why purity must cover both the land and its inhabitants together, Tanluan reaches for a plain domestic image: "it is like pure food served in an impure vessel — because the vessel is impure, the food becomes impure too. Or impure food served in a pure vessel — because the food is impure, the vessel becomes impure as well. Only when both are clean together can the whole be called pure." Sentient being and land, he adds, are "not one, and not different" — different enough that the phrase of purity must be said to cover two things rather than one, yet not so different that either could be pure while the other remained defiled. He also takes up the awkward case of the ordinary gods and humans reborn there, not yet buddhas or bodhisattvas themselves: are they really "pure" in this sense? "In name, yes; in actual fact, not yet," he answers — comparing them to a newly consecrated crown prince, who already carries the title "wheel-turning king" and is already surrounded by the seven treasures of that office, though he has not yet performed a single act of a king. He is called this because he is certain, in the end, to become one — and it is this same certainty, not any completed attainment, that lets ordinary beings reborn in the Pure Land already be called pure.
On why the bodhisattva's dedication is called "skillful," Tanluan reaches for an image of paradox rather than resolution: a bodhisattva vows that if even a single being fails to attain buddhahood, he himself will not become a buddha — and yet, before that vow could ever be completely fulfilled, the bodhisattva has already become a buddha. "It is like a wildfire meant to burn every last blade of grass and tree — the grass and trees are not yet all consumed, and yet the fire itself has already burned through and gone out. Putting himself last, he arrives first — this is what is meant by 'skillful.'" The apparent contradiction is the whole point: a vow that could only be fulfilled by waiting for every being's liberation turns out, in practice, to be exactly what liberates the one who makes it soonest.
The passage on the three things that obstruct bodhi and the three that accord with it will already be familiar to readers of this site's Ten Doubts treatise, whose own tenth and final doubt quotes this exact passage from this very treatise, nearly word for word, as part of its own closing instruction on the practice of aspiration. Tanluan adds one gloss the Ten Doubts treatise does not dwell on: he calls wisdom and skillful means "a bodhisattva's own father and mother," neither dispensable — "without wisdom, acting for the sake of sentient beings falls into confusion and error; without skillful means, contemplating the true nature of reality collapses into the narrower goal of personal liberation alone." Compassion needs wisdom to keep from becoming merely sentimental, and wisdom needs skillful means to keep from settling for an exit that leaves everyone else behind.
Part 6 Complete
This closes Part 6: twenty-nine adornments folded into one phrase, and the three obstructions and three accordances that structure a bodhisattva's own dedication — the same teaching the Ten Doubts treatise draws on directly. Part 7 closes the treatise itself: five gates of approach, four leading a practitioner in and one leading back out, and Vasubandhu's own final claim about why this particular path moves faster than any other.
Continue to Part 7 — The Five Approach-Gates →