The Last Determinations
The treatise ends where a treatise of this kind should: on how to tell a good argument from a bad one. But it takes a long route there. Persons and fruits are dispatched quickly, and then the qualities of a buddha are established under seventeen headings, each named by what it is dominant for. A long stretch on how to reflect on the perfection of wisdom follows, full of threefold distinctions about apprehension and non-apprehension. Then twelve things a bodhisattva finds genuinely hard, which is the most candid list in the book, and five marks by which a real one is recognized. Then the controversial material: five reasons the spiritual lineages really do differ and some beings will not reach nirvāṇa, and ten reasons the Great Vehicle is the Buddha's own word. Then the three baskets. And last, the four principles of reasoning, with five marks of a proof that is clean and seven of one that is not — the treatise closing on the question of what makes anything it has said believable.
Where This Fascicle Picks Up
Fascicle 19 completed the determinations on the defilements, the truths, the supports, and the factors of enlightenment. What remains of the inventory is persons, fruits, and qualities — and under qualities the treatise finds room for everything it still wants to say, including the questions about lineage and scriptural authority that a Yogācāra treatise of the fourth century could not leave alone. The final section is on the three baskets and on reasoning, and the treatise ends there without a colophon or a dedication.
Collating against T1603 gives twenty-three verse lines here, of which twenty match line for line. The other three are the six-line gāthā quoted from the Sūtra to Sujāta, marked in the source with quotation marks and correctly absent from the verse text. One variant falls here, and it is the most consequential in the treatise: T1603 reads 多佛與二乘 where T1602 reads 多佛與一乘. It is noted where it occurs.
Classical text is set in the left-hand column, our English in the right. See also this site's note on translation method.
1. Persons, and Three Fulfillments
如是已說覺分決擇。補特伽羅勝決擇今當說。頌曰：
由根等差別， 建立五唯二，
假設五應知， 三事成圓滿。
論曰：當知由根等差別故，建立五種唯二。如經中說：由緣唯二根故，唯二作意可知；緣唯二作意故，唯二修可知；緣唯二修故，唯二行可知；緣唯二行故，唯二補特伽羅可知。行者，謂修所引習氣。又假設補特伽羅應知由五種因：一由種性故，謂可救不可救。
二由趣入故，謂聲聞乘等。三由學故，謂學無學。四由得故，謂住四果及三向。五由過失功德故，謂有障無障、具縛不具縛。又由三事故建立三滿：一根滿，謂不動法；二定滿，謂得滅定；三果滿，謂阿羅漢。
The determination regarding the factors of enlightenment having thus been stated, the superior determination regarding persons shall now be stated.
By the differences of faculties and the rest,
five sets of only two are established;
five ways of designating are to be known,
and three matters make up fulfillment.
The exposition: know that by the differences of faculties and the rest, five sets of only two are established. As the scripture says: because one takes only two faculties as condition, only two attentions can be known; because one takes only two attentions as condition, only two cultivations can be known; because one takes only two cultivations as condition, only two practices can be known; because one takes only two practices as condition, only two persons can be known. Practice means the habitual tendencies drawn forth by cultivation. Further, know that persons are designated for five reasons. First, by lineage, namely those who can be rescued and those who cannot.
Second, by entering, namely the śrāvaka vehicle and the rest. Third, by training, namely learners and adepts. Fourth, by attainment, namely those abiding in the four fruits and the three approaches to them. Fifth, by faults and qualities, namely those with obstructions and without, those wholly bound and not wholly bound. Further, by three matters three fulfillments are established: fulfillment of faculties, namely the unshakable; fulfillment of concentration, namely obtaining the attainment of cessation; and fulfillment of fruit, namely the arhat.
The chain of "only twos" is the treatise's tersest statement of how a person is constituted. Two faculties give two attentions; two attentions give two cultivations; two cultivations give two practices; two practices give two persons. At no point does a person appear as anything other than the terminus of the chain — you get the kind of person you get because of what was cultivated, which was because of how attention went, which was because of the faculties. And the gloss on 行 makes it explicit: practice means 修所引習氣, the habitual tendencies drawn forth by cultivation. A person, on this account, is a deposit.
The three fulfillments are worth noting because they are not the same achievement. Fulfillment of faculties is 不動法, the unshakable — the arhat who cannot fall back, which the ways of losing a concentration in fascicle 19 gave good reason to want. Fulfillment of concentration is the attainment of cessation. Fulfillment of fruit is arhatship itself. One can have the third without the first two, which is why they are listed separately.
2. Fruits: Why Cessation Is Permanent
如是已說補特伽羅決擇。果事決擇今當說。頌曰：
證轉依不起， 二因果無退，
三因故斷常， 三果三因記。
論曰：由證轉依故諸煩惱不起，當知轉依說名為斷。又由二種因故果無有退，謂若未永害煩惱種子證阿羅漢，不應道理故。若已永害煩惱種子，即應煩惱必定不生，種因無故。又三因緣故斷是常性；一無戲論故，現見戲論是無常性；二清淨真如之所顯故，猶如真金調柔之性；三煩惱不生性，前後無別故。又三種果，由三因故如來記別：一證淨記別，謂預流果，由得見道四證淨故。二喜處記別，謂一來果，將得根本定已受少喜故。三隨念記別，謂不還果，已得根本定，現見諸天眾與梵眾等共興言論，隨念所求自乘功德未圓滿故。
The determination regarding persons having thus been stated, the determination regarding the matter of fruits shall now be stated.
Realizing the transformation of the basis, they do not arise;
for two reasons the fruit does not fall back;
for three reasons abandoning is permanent;
and three fruits are declared for three reasons.
The exposition: because one realizes the transformation of the basis the afflictions do not arise, and know that the transformation of the basis is what is called abandoning. Further, for two reasons the fruit does not fall back: because it does not stand to reason that one should realize arhatship without having permanently destroyed the seeds of the afflictions; and because, if the seeds of the afflictions have been permanently destroyed, then the afflictions certainly cannot arise, since the cause that is the seed is absent. Further, for three reasons abandoning is of a permanent nature: because it is without discursive elaboration, and elaboration is manifestly of an impermanent nature; because it is displayed by pure suchness, like the pliant nature of true gold; and because it is a nature in which afflictions do not arise, with no difference between before and after. Further, the Tathāgata declares three fruits for three reasons. First, declaring by confirmed faith, namely the fruit of stream-entry, since one obtains the four confirmed faiths on the path of seeing. Second, declaring by a place of joy, namely the fruit of once-returning, since one is about to obtain the fundamental concentration and has already undergone a little joy. Third, declaring by recollection, namely the fruit of non-returning, since one has already obtained the fundamental concentration and, seeing the assemblies of gods and of Brahmā raising discussion together, recollects that the qualities of one's own vehicle which one seeks are not yet fulfilled.
The argument that the fruit cannot be lost is short and it turns entirely on the seed doctrine. Either the seeds of the afflictions were destroyed or they were not. If not, this was never arhatship. If so, the afflictions cannot come back, 種因無故, because the cause is gone. There is no third possibility on which someone could be an arhat and then stop being one. Whatever one thinks of the premise, the argument is clean, and it is the seed doctrine of fascicle 17 being cashed out at the end of the path.
The simile in the second reason is nicely chosen: 猶如真金調柔之性, like the pliant nature of true gold. Gold's workability is not something added to gold; it is what gold is, and it does not wear off. Abandoning is permanent in that sense — not because a new permanent thing has been produced, but because what is displayed when elaboration stops was never the kind of thing that could alter. Note that this keeps the treatise's rule from fascicle 18 intact: nothing permanent is being made to produce anything.
3. Seventeen Dominances That Establish the Qualities
如是已說果事決擇，功德決擇今當說。頌曰：
建立諸功德， 由十七增上，
彼差別無邊， 治所治障故。
論曰：當知由十七種增上力故建立功德。一由愍有情增上故，謂四無量。二由六障淨增上故，謂解脫、勝處、遍處。此中解脫為方便，由餘故成滿。六障淨者，一變化障清淨，由前二解脫；二最極現法樂住障清淨，由第三解脫淨與不淨皆清淨顯現故；三往還障清淨，由第四解脫；四引無諍等聖功德障清淨，由第五解脫；五諸漏及有障清淨，由第六第七解脫；六寂靜最極住障清淨，當知由第八解脫。三由知時往增上故，謂無諍功德。四由觀察所知增上故，謂願智。五由言教增上故，謂無礙解。六由六處善巧增上故，謂六神通。六處善巧者，一引攝善巧；二審聽語言善巧，由此善巧以彼語言論難折伏為說正法；三欲解隨眠善巧；四來善巧；五往善巧；六解脫善巧。七由他信增上故，謂諸相好。八由三障清淨增上故，謂四種遍清淨。三障者，謂所依障、所緣障、心智障。九由一切問記增上故，謂諸力。十由摧伏一切他論增上故，謂諸無畏。十一由於所攝眾無偏黨增上故，謂諸不護。十二由能攝化徒眾增上故，謂諸念住。十三由於一切時顯現一切智者所作增上故，謂永拔習氣。十四由於所應化不過時增上故，謂無忘失法。十五由日夜六反觀察世間增上故，謂大悲。十六由超過聲聞獨覺增上故，謂諸不共佛法。
十七由成諸如來所作事增上故，謂一切種妙智。又此諸功德對治所治障差別故，當知無邊差別。
The determination regarding the matter of fruits having thus been stated, the determination regarding qualities shall now be stated.
The qualities are established
by seventeen dominances;
their distinctions are boundless,
by antidote and the obstruction counteracted.
The exposition: know that the qualities are established by seventeen dominant forces. First, by dominance in pity for beings: the four measureless minds. Second, by dominance in purifying six obstructions: the liberations, the bases of mastery, and the totalities. Here the liberations are the means, and the rest bring it to fulfillment. The purification of six obstructions: purity from the obstruction to transformation, by the first two liberations; purity from the obstruction to the most excellent dwelling at ease in the present life, by the third liberation, since both the pure and the impure appear as pure; purity from the obstruction to going and returning, by the fourth liberation; purity from the obstruction to eliciting non-contention and the other noble qualities, by the fifth liberation; purity from the contaminants and from the obstruction of existence, by the sixth and seventh liberations; and purity from the obstruction to the most excellent still dwelling, to be known by the eighth liberation. Third, by dominance in knowing the time to go: the quality of non-contention. Fourth, by dominance in examining the knowable: the knowledge of vows. Fifth, by dominance in instruction in words: the analytic knowledges. Sixth, by dominance in skill in six places: the six supernormal powers. Skill in six places: skill in drawing in; skill in listening carefully to speech, by which skill one subdues those who challenge with speech, in order to teach the true Dharma; skill in aspirations and latent tendencies; skill in coming; skill in going; and skill in liberation. Seventh, by dominance in others' faith: the marks and minor marks. Eighth, by dominance in purifying three obstructions: the four kinds of universal purity. The three obstructions are the obstruction of the support, the obstruction of the object, and the obstruction of mind and knowledge. Ninth, by dominance in answering all questions: the powers. Tenth, by dominance in overcoming all the doctrines of others: the fearlessnesses. Eleventh, by dominance in having no partiality among the assembly one has gathered: the states requiring no concealment. Twelfth, by dominance in being able to gather and train a following: the establishments of mindfulness. Thirteenth, by dominance in displaying at all times what an omniscient one does: the permanent uprooting of habitual tendencies. Fourteenth, by dominance in not missing the time for those who are to be trained: the quality of never being forgetful. Fifteenth, by dominance in surveying the world six times by day and night: great compassion. Sixteenth, by dominance in surpassing the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas: the qualities not held in common with them.
Seventeenth, by dominance in accomplishing what the Tathāgatas have to do: the excellent knowledge of all modes. And because these qualities differ by the antidote and the obstruction counteracted, know that their distinctions are boundless.
The whole inventory of buddha-qualities that fascicle 4 listed under the ninth topic is here re-derived by asking, of each one, what it is for. The four measureless minds exist because pity for beings is dominant. The thirty-two marks exist because other people's faith is dominant. Great compassion is glossed by the daily survey of the world. And the eleventh is the sharpest: 不護, the states requiring no concealment, are established because 於所攝眾無偏黨, having no partiality among one's own following is dominant. A buddha has nothing to hide because a buddha has no favorites — the quality is derived from the absence of a very ordinary failing.
The second dominance carries the fullest thing in the section, a one-to-one assignment of the eight liberations to six obstructions they purify. The scheme is compressed, and note the odd man out: the third liberation purifies the obstruction to dwelling at ease in the present life, 由淨與不淨皆清淨顯現故, because both the pure and the impure appear as pure. The third liberation is the one where the practitioner who has been contemplating foulness turns and contemplates beauty, and what it removes is the residue of aversion — which is why it and not the others is tied to being at ease.
4. How to Reflect on the Qualities: The Meaning
復次頌曰：
思惟義、樂、苦， 作意及安住，
艱難與相貌、 殊特非殊特。
論曰。彼諸功德，若所對治、若能對治，皆應思惟。云何思惟？所謂若義、若樂、若苦、若作意、若安住、若艱難、若相貌、若殊特非殊特。
此中思惟義者，謂慧到彼岸義所攝諸句。有五種所為義，一為於說者起恭敬義、二為攝眾義、三為於言教起尊重義、四為敘述事義、五為於真實義教起多所作義。
又一切法有三種義，謂能增益義、所增益義及法性義。如色有三種，能增益色、所增益色及色法性。如是一切處應知。
復有三輪理趣義宣說諸法，謂依世俗諦理趣，宣說作者、宣說作具、宣說作業。如施者、施行、受施物者，謂能行施者，由此行施，及施物受者。如是一切處應知。
Furthermore:
Reflect on the meaning, on pleasure, on pain,
on attention and on abiding,
on what is hard and on the appearances,
on what is outstanding and what is not.
The exposition: as to those qualities, both what is counteracted and what counteracts should be reflected on. How does one reflect? Namely on the meaning, on pleasure, on pain, on attention, on abiding, on what is hard, on the appearances, and on what is outstanding and what is not.
Here, reflecting on the meaning means the phrases comprised within the meaning of the perfection of wisdom. There are five purposes for which it is spoken: to give rise to reverence toward the one who speaks; to gather an assembly; to give rise to esteem for the instruction; to set out the matter; and to make much use of the teaching of the real meaning.
Again, all things have three senses: the sense of what superimposes, the sense of what is superimposed upon, and the sense of the nature of things. As form is of three kinds — form that superimposes, form that is superimposed upon, and the nature of form — so it should be known in every case.
Again, things are taught by way of the three wheels: in dependence on the approach of the conventional truth, one speaks of an agent, of an instrument, and of an act. As with a giver, the act of giving, and the recipient of the gift — namely the one who can give, the giving done by him, and the one who receives the thing given. So it should be known in every case.
The five purposes for speaking the perfection of wisdom are unusually frank about what a text does socially. Two of the five are about the audience's attitude — reverence for the speaker and esteem for the instruction — and one is about gathering an assembly at all. Only the fourth and fifth are about content. This is not cynicism; it is an accurate account of what any teaching has to accomplish before it can accomplish anything, and it is placed at the head of a section on how to reflect, where the student is being told what to expect from the material.
The three wheels appear here in their original form — agent, instrument, act, illustrated by giver, giving, and recipient — after having been given in their cognitive form in fascicle 17 as knower, knowledge, and known. Note the qualification attached: 依世俗諦理趣, in dependence on the approach of the conventional truth. The three wheels are how things are talked about conventionally, which is precisely why their purification is what the perfection of giving requires.
5. Four Approaches of Instruction
復有四種理趣言教義，一差別理趣言教、二建立理趣言教、三無異理趣言教、四無作用理趣言教。此中差別理趣者，謂色乃至一切種智性差別。建立理趣者，謂五種建立：一趣入建立、二教授建立、三學建立、四證得建立、五過失功德建立。無異理趣者，有六種：一有非有無異，謂色與色空性，如是一切處應知；二更互無異，謂諸蘊更互相望，如是一切處應知；三世無異，謂於前際觀中後際，如是一切處應知；四補特伽羅無異，謂諸有情展轉相望；五障治無異，謂常無常乃至流轉寂滅；六文字無異，謂名身等。無作用理趣者，謂三輪清淨，隨於諸處無有作者真實可得，無有作具亦無作業；無有補特伽羅能說、無法可說。無補特伽羅能學、無法可學。
無補特伽羅能證、無法可證。無補特伽羅能住過失及與功德，亦無所住、無取、無法。如是一切。
復有二種無量義，一發起問論無量、二迴向無所得無量。
Again, there are four approaches by which instruction has its meaning: instruction by the approach of difference; by the approach of establishing; by the approach of no difference; and by the approach of no function. Here the approach of difference means the differences from form on up to the nature of the knowledge of all modes. The approach of establishing means five establishings: the establishing of entering; of instruction; of training; of realization; and of faults and qualities. The approach of no difference is of six kinds. First, no difference between being and non-being — namely form and the emptiness of form, and so it should be known in every case. Second, no difference among one another — namely the aggregates regarded in relation to each other, and so it should be known in every case. Third, no difference of time — namely contemplating the middle and the later period within the earlier, and so it should be known in every case. Fourth, no difference of persons — namely beings regarded in relation to one another. Fifth, no difference between obstruction and antidote — namely permanent and impermanent, on down to flowing on and stillness. Sixth, no difference of letters — namely word-groups and the rest. The approach of no function means that the three wheels are pure: wherever one looks, no agent can really be found, and there is no instrument and no act; there is no person who can speak and no teaching that can be spoken; no person who can train and no teaching that can be trained in.
There is no person who can realize and no teaching that can be realized. There is no person who abides in faults or in qualities, and nothing abided in, nothing taken up, and no thing. So with all of it.
Again, there are two senses of the measureless: the measureless of raising questions for discussion, and the measureless of dedicating toward non-apprehension.
The four approaches are a taxonomy of registers rather than of doctrines, and read as such they resolve a good deal of apparent contradiction in Mahāyāna literature. Some passages differentiate — form is not the knowledge of all modes. Some establish — here are five things to do. Some deny difference — form and the emptiness of form are not two. And some deny function altogether: no speaker, nothing spoken, no trainer, nothing trained in. The fourth register is the one that alarms readers, and its place in the list is the answer to the alarm. It is one approach among four, not a correction of the other three.
The fifth kind of no-difference is the one worth stopping on: 障治無異, no difference between obstruction and antidote, glossed as permanent and impermanent, on down to flowing on and stillness. Saṃsāra and nirvāṇa are named as a case of the same non-difference that holds between form and its emptiness. This is stated in one clause, without emphasis, in the middle of a list — which is characteristic of this treatise, and is why it repays reading slowly.
6. Not Abiding, and Three Kinds of Signlessness
又為對治三種處所故，說不應住色義，乃至不應住一切法義。三種處所者，一執著處所、二隨轉處所、三戲論慧行處所。
復有三種無相義，一無體無相、二非彼體無相、三不顯現無相。如無相，如是無性、無自體、不生不滅、無所執著、無所為作、無所攝受，應知亦爾。
復有三種有所得義，一事有所得、二有所得有所得、三無所得有所得。如有所得，如是有執著、為作、戲論、取見計執，應知亦爾。
復有三種有所得義，一自體有所得、二不遠離有所得、三不推析有所得。復有三種無所得義，一自體無所得、二遠離無所得、三推析無所得。如無所得，如是空、無執著、無為作、無戲論、無取無見無計執，應知亦爾。復有三種無所得義，一有性無所得、二彼體無所得、三不顯現無所得。無所得者，推求諸法不見自性，非一切種都無所得，然於遍計所執自性無所得時，亦不觀彼依他自相。
Again, in order to counteract three positions it is said that one should not abide in form, on down to that one should not abide in anything at all. The three positions are the position of grasping, the position of following along, and the position where the working of wisdom is discursive elaboration.
Again, there are three senses of signlessness: signlessness as having no substance; signlessness as not being that substance; and signlessness as not appearing. As with signlessness, so it should be known with naturelessness, having no own-substance, neither arising nor ceasing, having nothing grasped at, having nothing done, and having nothing taken in.
Again, there are three senses of apprehension: apprehension of a matter; apprehension of an apprehending; and apprehension of a non-apprehending. As with apprehension, so it should be known with grasping, doing, elaboration, taking up, view, and supposing.
Again, there are three senses of apprehension: apprehension of an own-substance; apprehension by not keeping far away; and apprehension by not analyzing. And there are three senses of non-apprehension: non-apprehension of an own-substance; non-apprehension by keeping far away; and non-apprehension by analyzing. As with non-apprehension, so it should be known with emptiness, non-grasping, non-doing, non-elaboration, and being without taking up, view, or supposing. And there are three further senses of non-apprehension: non-apprehension of an existing nature; non-apprehension of that substance; and non-apprehension as not appearing. Non-apprehension means that in searching out things one does not see an own-nature; it is not that in every mode there is nothing apprehended at all — rather, when the imagined own-nature is not apprehended, one also does not observe the particular mark of the dependent.
The last sentence is the doctrinal control on everything in this section and it is placed exactly where it is needed. 非一切種都無所得 — it is not that in every mode there is nothing apprehended at all. Non-apprehension is the failure to find an own-nature when one searches for it, together with the consequence that one then stops observing the dependent's particular mark either. That is a specific epistemic result, not a blanket assertion that nothing is there. The clause exists because the language of the perfection of wisdom, taken at face value, reads like the latter, and the treatise has spent four chapters insisting that the denial version is one of the five wrong graspings.
The three positions counteracted by "do not abide in form" are worth noting because the third is aimed at the learned. One may cling; one may drift along with things; or 戲論慧行, one's wisdom may operate as discursive elaboration — becoming very good at the analysis and staying inside it. The formula of non-abiding is directed against all three, and the third is the failure mode of anyone who has studied a treatise like this one.
7. Non-apprehension and Association, and What the Perfection of Wisdom Is
又復經言無所得相應故者，若無所得，彼相應耶？應作四句。或無所得非相應者，謂如有一，於廣大事都無所得。或有相應非無所得者，謂由世間道修諸善法。或無所得亦相應者，謂由出世間道修諸善法。或非無所得亦非相應者，謂染污及無記法現在前。
復有五種不正取義，謂補特伽羅不正取、法不正取、變異不正取、損減不正取、差別不正取。
復有四種言教義，一言定意不定、二意定言不定、三言意俱定、四言意俱不定。
復有二種所對治義：一解脫門所對治，謂分別相願；二到彼岸所對治，謂慳悋、犯戒、忿恚、懈怠、散亂、惡慧。
復有二種空所對治義，謂十六種邪想現行及十四種相縛。
復有二種到彼岸行義，謂世間有所得行，及出世間無所得行。又復世間到彼岸行，但是相似非真實。如相似，如是有毒、有障、無方便，應知亦爾。當知出世間到彼岸行，與此相違。
復次若略說慧到彼岸自體義，當知由三種相：一所依相、二所緣相、三行相。所依相者，謂菩提心。所緣相者，謂色等法。行相有二種，謂世間、出世間。世間行者，謂無常、苦、空、無我、如病、如癰等行。出世間行者，謂無所得相應行。復有三種波羅蜜多善積集修義：一以一切智性相應作意，與一切有情同共迴向阿耨多羅三藐三菩提；二以諸波羅蜜多安住實際；三於實際而不作證。
Again, as to the scripture's words "because it is associated with non-apprehension": if there is non-apprehension, is it associated? Four alternatives should be made. Some have non-apprehension without association: as when someone apprehends nothing at all with respect to a vast matter. Some have association without non-apprehension: as when one cultivates wholesome things by a worldly path. Some have non-apprehension and association both: as when one cultivates wholesome things by a transcendent path. And some have neither non-apprehension nor association: as when defiled and indeterminate things are present.
Again, there are five senses of taking up wrongly: taking up persons wrongly; taking up things wrongly; taking up alteration wrongly; taking up by denial wrongly; and taking up difference wrongly.
Again, there are four senses of instruction: where the words are fixed and the intent is not; where the intent is fixed and the words are not; where both words and intent are fixed; and where neither words nor intent are fixed.
Again, there are two senses of what is counteracted: what is counteracted by the doors of liberation, namely discrimination, marks, and wishing; and what is counteracted by the perfections, namely stinginess, breaking the precepts, rage and anger, laziness, distraction, and bad wisdom.
Again, there are two senses of what emptiness counteracts, namely the sixteen wrong notions in operation and the fourteen bonds of marks.
Again, there are two senses of the practice of the perfections: the worldly practice with apprehension, and the transcendent practice without apprehension. And the worldly practice of the perfections is merely a semblance and not the real thing. As with being a semblance, so it should be known as poisoned, obstructed, and without skillful means. Know that the transcendent practice of the perfections is the contrary of this.
Further, if the substance of the perfection of wisdom is stated in brief, know it by three marks: the mark of what it rests on, the mark of what it takes as object, and the mark of its practice. The mark of what it rests on is the mind of enlightenment. The mark of what it takes as object is form and the other things. The mark of its practice is of two kinds, worldly and transcendent. The worldly practice is the practice of impermanence, suffering, emptiness, selflessness, being like a disease, being like a boil, and the like. The transcendent practice is the practice associated with non-apprehension. Again, there are three senses of the well-accumulated cultivation of the perfections: with attention associated with the nature of omniscience, dedicating together with all beings toward unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment; abiding by the perfections in the true limit; and yet not realizing the true limit.
The four alternatives on non-apprehension are the most practically useful thing in this stretch, because the first one is a warning. Someone may apprehend nothing at all with respect to a vast matter — 於廣大事都無所得 — and this is non-apprehension without association, which is to say, a blank. Simply failing to find anything is not the perfection of wisdom; it is being at a loss. What makes non-apprehension valuable is what it is joined to, and only the third alternative, non-apprehension arrived at on a transcendent path, is the real thing.
The three marks of the perfection of wisdom are as compact a definition as the tradition offers. It rests on the mind of enlightenment; it takes ordinary things as its object; and its practice is either the standard contemplations — impermanent, painful, empty, selfless, like a disease, like a boil — or else practice associated with non-apprehension. Note that the worldly version is not discarded. It is one of the two practices, and the earlier sentence calls the worldly practice of the perfections 相似, a semblance, and 有毒, poisoned, which recalls the poisoned and unpoisoned cultivations of fascicle 16.
The third of the well-accumulated cultivations is the bodhisattva's whole position in eleven characters: 以諸波羅蜜多安住實際；於實際而不作證 — abiding by the perfections in the true limit, and yet not realizing the true limit. 實際 is the term for the final reality that an arhat enters. The bodhisattva stands in it and declines to make it final. This is the non-abiding nirvāṇa again, stated as a discipline rather than as a metaphysical position, and it explains why the twelve difficulties in the next section are difficulties at all.
8. Why the Mind Is Inconceivable, and Four Kinds of Discrimination
復次如說此心不可思議故者，何因緣故不可思議？謂由此所依、由此所緣令心安住，此俱無性故。若是無性，即是清淨亦不可思議。
此不可思議若有性、若無性，及與彼心若是異性、若不異性故。
又復一切戲論行相，三因緣故令心流轉，一由親近故、二由所緣故、三由建立故。親近故者，謂得報時執持所依。所緣故者，謂領受種種境界，及起作種種加行。建立故者，謂無始時來妄想熏習。
復有四種分別義，一、有分別；二、無分別；三、二分別；四、不二分別。
復有四種無分別義，一愚癡無分別、二非情無分別、三無作用無分別、四法性無分別。
復有二種言教義，謂世俗言教、勝義言教。世俗言教者，謂差別建立二種理趣。勝義言教者，謂無異無作用二種理趣。
復次於勝義諦中不可宣說，於言說中當知有三種相：一相相、二雜染相、三清淨相。
又由三種遍知相現觀諸法。三種相者，一假立、二了別、三彼唯量。諸菩薩等以何為樂？謂眾生攝益為樂。以何為苦？謂眾生損惱為苦。以何為作意？謂思惟一切眾生利益事為作意。以何為住？謂以無所分別為住。
Further, as to the statement that this mind is inconceivable: for what reason is it inconceivable? Because that on which it rests and that which it takes as object, by which the mind is settled, are both without nature. And if it is without nature, it is pure, and that too is inconceivable.
This inconceivability holds whether it has a nature or has none, and whether it is other than that mind or not other.
Again, all the modes of discursive elaboration cause the mind to flow on for three reasons: by nearness, by object, and by establishment. By nearness means that at the time of receiving recompense one appropriates and holds a support. By object means that one undergoes objects of various kinds and sets various applications in motion. By establishment means the perfuming of false imagining from beginningless time.
Again, there are four senses of discrimination: with discrimination; without discrimination; both; and neither.
Again, there are four senses of non-discrimination: the non-discrimination of stupidity; the non-discrimination of what is not sentient; the non-discrimination of what has no function; and the non-discrimination of the nature of things.
Again, there are two senses of instruction, conventional instruction and ultimate instruction. Conventional instruction means the two approaches of difference and of establishing. Ultimate instruction means the two approaches of no difference and of no function.
Further, within the ultimate truth nothing can be declared; and within what is spoken, know that there are three marks: the mark of marks, the mark of defilement, and the mark of purity.
Again, one directly realizes things by three marks of full knowledge. The three marks are: the provisionally established; the cognized; and that these are measure alone. What do bodhisattvas take as their pleasure? Taking in and benefiting beings as their pleasure. What as their pain? The harm and distress of beings as their pain. What as their attention? Reflecting on what benefits all beings as their attention. What as their abiding? Abiding by not discriminating at all.
The four kinds of non-discrimination are a necessary piece of hygiene and the most useful short list in the fascicle. Not all absences of discrimination are the same: there is the non-discrimination of stupidity; of what is not sentient, a stone; of what has no function; and of the nature of things. Only the last is what the perfection of wisdom means. A tradition that praises non-discrimination as highly as this one does needs exactly this list, and it is characteristic of Asaṅga to supply it in one line and move on. The first item in particular — 愚癡無分別 — is a caution that a mind that has simply stopped working looks, from outside, a good deal like the goal.
The four questions at the end are the closest the treatise comes to a portrait. What is a bodhisattva's pleasure? Beings being benefited. His pain? Beings being harmed. His attention? Thinking about what would help. His abiding? Not discriminating at all. The first three are entirely outward-facing and affective; the fourth is the metaphysical position of the whole school. That they are set down together, in that order, as answers to the same four questions, is the treatise's way of saying they are not in tension.
9. Twelve Things a Bodhisattva Finds Hard
復次菩薩摩訶薩有十二種艱難之事，聰叡菩薩應當了知。一者於違越法式眾生若罰若捨，是諸菩薩艱難之事。二者方便現行苦逼惱事，防護自心令不起煩惱，是諸菩薩艱難之事。三者無量眾生現前求索現在所有非法財物，是諸菩薩艱難之事。四者菩薩唯有一身，無量眾生諸所作事同時現前請為助伴，是諸菩薩艱難之事。五者處放逸處，若處世間可愛妙定、若生天上令心調順，是諸菩薩艱難之事。六者常求遍作利眾生事，而於此事無力無能，是諸菩薩艱難之事。七者愚鈍諂詐剛強眾生，若為說法若復棄捨，是諸菩薩艱難之事。八者常於生死見大過失，為利眾生而不應捨，是諸菩薩艱難之事。九者未證增上清淨意樂，多分失念命終，是諸菩薩艱難之事。
十者未證增上清淨意樂，他來求索最極第一所珍愛事，是諸菩薩艱難之事。十一者種種意見、種種樂欲眾生現前，若教示、若棄捨，是諸菩薩艱難之事。十二者常行最極不放逸行，而不盡斷一切煩惱，是諸菩薩艱難之事。
若諸菩薩遭遇如是艱難之事，或應觀其輕重如其所應建立方便，或應簡擇補特伽羅，或應勵力攝受隨因緣轉。若發正願，或復制心令不縱逸，或應住心猛利觀察，不生厭倦而自安忍。或慈悲故心生放捨，或應發起熾然精進，或復思惟善權方便。如是正對治善巧，菩薩摩訶薩雖遇如是諸艱難事正現在前而無怯怖，自正能免。
Further, bodhisattva-mahāsattvas have twelve hard things, which a discerning bodhisattva should understand. First, whether to punish or to let go beings who transgress the rule of law is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Second, when as a skillful means one performs what oppresses and distresses, to guard one's own mind so that afflictions do not arise is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Third, when measureless beings come before one seeking wealth that one presently has but that is not rightly theirs, this is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Fourth, a bodhisattva has only one body, and measureless beings present themselves all at once asking him to assist in all the things they are doing; this is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Fifth, being in a place of heedlessness — whether in a lovely and excellent worldly concentration, or born in the heavens, where the mind is made tractable — is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Sixth, constantly seeking to do everything that would benefit beings, and having no strength or ability for the task, is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Seventh, whether to teach the Dharma to dull, deceitful, and obstinate beings or else to give them up is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Eighth, constantly seeing the great faults of birth and death, and yet not being permitted to abandon it for the sake of benefiting beings, is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Ninth, not yet having realized the dominant and pure intention, and in most cases dying with mindfulness lost, is a hard thing for bodhisattvas.
Tenth, not yet having realized the dominant and pure intention, and having someone come and ask for the very thing one holds most precious of all, is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Eleventh, when beings of various views and various desires present themselves, whether to instruct them or to give them up is a hard thing for bodhisattvas. Twelfth, constantly practicing the utmost heedfulness and yet not cutting off all the afflictions is a hard thing for bodhisattvas.
If bodhisattvas meet with such hard things, they should either weigh their gravity and set up skillful means accordingly; or discern the persons involved; or apply themselves strenuously to take them in, following as causes and conditions turn. They may make right vows; or restrain the mind so that it is not let loose; or settle the mind in keen examination, not giving rise to weariness but bearing it patiently; or, out of loving-kindness and compassion, let it go with an untroubled mind; or arouse blazing diligence; or reflect on skillful expedients. With such skill in right counteraction, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva, though such hard things present themselves before him, is not timid or afraid, and can rightly free himself from them.
This is the most candid passage in the treatise and it should be read as what it is: a list of situations in which a bodhisattva does not know what to do. Four of the twelve are explicit dilemmas of the form "whether to X or to Y" — punish the offender or let him go; teach the obstinate or give them up; instruct people of every conflicting opinion or give them up. The treatise does not resolve them. It says they are hard, gives eight kinds of response, and moves on. Nothing in the list is a temptation to do wrong; every item is a situation where two obligations conflict.
The fourth is the one that will be recognized by anyone who has tried to be useful: 菩薩唯有一身 — a bodhisattva has only one body, and everybody needs him at once. The vow is unlimited and the person taking it is not. And the sixth says the same thing from inside: constantly wanting to do everything that would help, and having 無力無能, no strength and no ability for it. Neither is presented as a failure of resolve. They are structural features of the undertaking.
Three of the twelve turn on 未證增上清淨意樂, not yet having realized the dominant and pure intention — the stage from which a bodhisattva's conduct becomes reliable. Before that, the hard things include dying with one's mindfulness gone, and being asked for the thing one most treasures. The treatise's implication is that these stop being hard later, which is a real consolation and an honest one: it does not claim they are easy now.
The eighth and twelfth make a matched pair that describes the whole bodhisattva predicament. The eighth: one sees perfectly well how bad saṃsāra is and is not allowed to leave. The twelfth: one practices the utmost heedfulness and deliberately does not cut off all the afflictions — since afflictions are what keep one in birth and death, where the beings are. Both are the non-abiding nirvāṇa of fascicle 16 reported from the inside, where it is not a doctrinal elegance but something one has to do every day.
10. Five Marks of a Real Bodhisattva
復次有五種真實菩薩相，由成就此故入菩薩數。云何為五？謂哀愍眾生、常說愛語、所作勇決、舒手惠施、能善剖析甚深義節。哀愍者，有二種性，一者樂欲、二者正行。言樂欲者，所謂菩薩於諸眾生起利益意及安樂意。言正行者，謂諸菩薩於眾生所如其欲樂，隨力隨能以身語業而行攝化。是名哀愍。愛語者，歡喜慰喻宣布恩德，是名菩薩於諸眾生常說愛語。所作勇決者，謂威猛無怯成就勝力，是名菩薩所作勇決。舒手惠施者，若諸菩薩行廣大施、行無染施，是名菩薩舒手惠施。若諸菩薩善能發起四無礙解正方便智，是名菩薩能善剖析甚深義節自體。
復有五種殊特五種非殊特菩薩相，如前攝淨義品中說。
Further, there are five marks of a real bodhisattva, and by accomplishing these one enters the number of the bodhisattvas. What five? Pity for beings; always speaking kindly; being resolute and courageous in what one does; giving with an open hand; and being able to analyze well the joints of the profound meaning. As for pity, it is of two natures, aspiration and right practice. Aspiration means that a bodhisattva gives rise to the intention to benefit beings and the intention that they be at ease. Right practice means that a bodhisattva, according to what beings wish and delight in, and according to his strength and ability, takes them in and trains them by actions of body and speech. This is called pity. Speaking kindly means gladdening, comforting, and making known what is kind, and this is called a bodhisattva always speaking kindly to beings. Being resolute and courageous in what one does means being awe-inspiring and unafraid, accomplished in surpassing strength, and this is called a bodhisattva being resolute and courageous in what he does. Giving with an open hand means that a bodhisattva gives vastly and gives without stain, and this is called a bodhisattva giving with an open hand. And if a bodhisattva can well arouse the four analytic knowledges and the wisdom of right skillful means, this is called a bodhisattva's being able to analyze well the joints of the profound meaning in their own substance.
There are also five marks of an outstanding bodhisattva and five of one who is not outstanding, as stated above in the chapter on Gathering the Pure Meaning.
The five marks are a portrait made entirely of things that can be observed, which is what makes them a test rather than a description. Pity — and the gloss immediately splits it into wanting and doing, so that wanting alone will not qualify. Kind speech. Nerve. An open hand. And the ability to take a difficult meaning apart at the joints. Only the last is intellectual, and it is placed last. Four of the five would be visible to anyone who spent a week in the person's company.
The metaphor in the fifth is worth preserving in English: 剖析甚深義節, cutting the profound meaning at its joints. The image is butchery — finding where a thing naturally comes apart rather than hacking through it — and it is the same image Zhuangzi's cook uses. What the treatise asks of a bodhisattva's intellect is not force but knowing where the seams are, which is a fair description of what the whole of this fascicle's four approaches and threefold distinctions have been for.
11. Lineage: Five Reasons the Differences Are Real
又於功德事中依止大乘勝決擇，今當說。頌曰：
種性、如來說、 多佛與一乘，
五種及十種、 六、六種道理。
論曰：種性差別、大乘言教是如來說、於一時間多佛出世及一乘性，如其次第，五種、十種、六種、六種道理應知。
問：云何種性差別五種道理？答：謂一切界差別可得故、無根有情不應理故、同類譬喻不應理故、異類譬喻不應理故、唯現在世非般涅槃法不應理故。
云何一切界差別可得故？謂佛所說諸有情界有種種，非一有情界，有下劣勝妙有情界，有聲聞乘等般涅槃種性有情界，有不般涅槃種性有情界。
云何無根有情不應理故？謂不可說由此道理亦應得有無根有情。何以故？以無根者如外地等非有情故。
云何同類譬喻不應理故？謂不應言如剎帝利非剎帝利等種類可轉，及那落迦非那落迦等趣性可轉，如是般涅槃不般涅槃種性亦應可轉。何以故？剎帝利等及那落迦等，具足一切種類界性及諸趣界性故，般涅槃不般涅槃二種種性更互相違故。彼若無有諸界性者，彼應畢竟不可迴轉，是故同類譬喻不應道理。
云何異類譬喻不應理故？謂不可說如於彼彼地方所，或先有彼彼金銀銅鐵鹽等物類種性，後便無有；或先無後有。如是般涅槃法種性，亦應先有後無、先無後有。何以故？若有此理，順解脫分應空無果，是故異類譬喻亦不應理。
云何唯現在世非般涅槃法不應理故？謂不應言於現在生雖非般涅槃法，於餘生中復可轉為般涅槃法。何以故？無般涅槃種性法故。又若於此生先已積集順解脫分善根，何故不名般涅槃法？若於此生都未積集順解脫分善根，云何後生能般涅槃？是故定有非般涅槃種性有情。
Further, within the matter of qualities, the superior determination that rests on the Great Vehicle shall now be stated.
Lineage; that the Tathāgata spoke it;
many buddhas, and the one vehicle:
five, and ten,
and six, and six principles.
The exposition: the differences of lineage; that the teaching of the Great Vehicle is the Tathāgata's word; that many buddhas appear in the world at one time; and the nature of the one vehicle — these should be known by five, ten, six, and six principles respectively.
Question: what are the five principles regarding the differences of lineage? Answer: because differences among all the realms are found; because it does not stand to reason that there should be beings without faculties; because a comparison with the same class does not stand to reason; because a comparison with a different class does not stand to reason; and because it does not stand to reason that one lacks the quality of parinirvāṇa in the present life only.
How, because differences among all the realms are found? The Buddha taught that the realms of beings are of various kinds and not a single realm of beings: there are realms of beings inferior and superior; there are realms of beings with a lineage for parinirvāṇa, such as the śrāvaka vehicle and the rest; and there are realms of beings with a lineage that does not reach parinirvāṇa.
How, because it does not stand to reason that there should be beings without faculties? It cannot be said that by this reasoning there should also be beings with no faculties. Why? Because what has no faculties, like the earth outside and the rest, is not a being at all.
How, because a comparison with the same class does not stand to reason? One should not say that, just as the class of being a kṣatriya or not being a kṣatriya and the rest can change, and the destiny of being a hell-being or not being a hell-being and the rest can change, so too the lineage of reaching or not reaching parinirvāṇa should be able to change. Why? Because kṣatriyas and the rest, and hell-beings and the rest, possess the natures of all classes and all destinies; whereas the two lineages, of reaching and of not reaching parinirvāṇa, are contrary to each other. If they did not possess those natures, they would be finally unable to turn about. Therefore the comparison with the same class does not stand to reason.
How, because a comparison with a different class does not stand to reason? It cannot be said that, just as in a given region a given kind of gold, silver, copper, iron, salt, and the like may first be present and afterward be absent, or first absent and afterward present, so too the lineage having the quality of parinirvāṇa should be first present and afterward absent, or first absent and afterward present. Why? Because if this were so, the wholesome roots conducive to liberation would be empty and without fruit. Therefore the comparison with a different class also does not stand to reason.
How, because it does not stand to reason that one lacks the quality of parinirvāṇa in the present life only? One should not say that, although one lacks the quality of parinirvāṇa in the present life, in some other life one may turn and come to have it. Why? Because there is no such thing as having the lineage for parinirvāṇa. And if one has already accumulated the wholesome roots conducive to liberation in this life, why would one not be called one having the quality of parinirvāṇa? And if one has not accumulated the wholesome roots conducive to liberation at all in this life, how could one reach parinirvāṇa in a later life? Therefore there certainly are beings whose lineage does not reach parinirvāṇa.
The verse here carries the most consequential variant in the treatise, and T1602's reading is the one the prose supports. T1603 reads 多佛與二乘, many buddhas and the two vehicles; T1602 reads 多佛與一乘, many buddhas and the one vehicle. Three lines later the prose says 於一時間多佛出世及一乘性 — many buddhas appearing at one time, and the nature of the one vehicle — and the fourth question below asks 何故如來宣說一乘, why the Tathāgata taught one vehicle. The prose settles it twice. We have translated 一乘, and note that a reader working only from T1603 would find a topic here that the treatise does not in fact discuss.
This is the treatise's defense of the five-lineage doctrine, and it should be read as an argument rather than as a pronouncement, because that is how it is offered. The strongest of the five is the fourth. If the capacity for liberation could simply appear where it was not, like an ore deposit forming, then 順解脫分應空無果 — the wholesome roots conducive to liberation would be empty and yield nothing. The argument is that a capacity which can arrive from nowhere makes cultivation pointless, since what one accumulates would not be what determines the outcome. Whether one accepts the conclusion, the worry is real and it is about the coherence of practice.
The doctrine argued for here — that some beings have no lineage for nirvāṇa at all — is the position on which the Yogācāra school and the tathāgatagarbha traditions parted, and it is worth being clear that this passage takes the hard side of it without hedging: 是故定有非般涅槃種性有情, therefore there certainly are beings whose lineage does not reach parinirvāṇa. Xuánzàng transmitted this position to East Asia and it was contested there almost at once; the Lotus and the tathāgatagarbha literature were read against it, and most later East Asian schools sided against Asaṅga on this point.
What is worth noticing, whichever side one takes, is the shape of the third argument. The opponent says: castes change, destinies change, so lineage can change. Asaṅga answers that castes and destinies change because every being already contains the natures of all of them; and the two lineages here are 更互相違, mutually contrary, so containing both is not available. The reply concedes the general principle and denies that this case falls under it. That is a real answer to a real objection, not an appeal to authority, and it deserves to be met on the same ground.
12. Ten Reasons the Great Vehicle Is the Buddha's Word
問：云何應知大乘言教是佛所說？答：由十種因故，一先不記別故；二今不可知故；三多有所作故；四極重障故；五非尋伺境界故，若不先聞，不能如是尋思計度，是故若言是餘所說，不應道理；六證大覺故，若未成佛能說佛教，不應道理；七無第三乘過失故；八此若無有，應無一切智者，成過失故；九緣此為境如理思惟，對治一切諸煩惱故；十不應如言取彼意故。
Question: how is one to know that the teaching of the Great Vehicle is spoken by the Buddha? Answer: for ten reasons. First, because it was not foretold beforehand. Second, because it could not be known now. Third, because it accomplishes much. Fourth, because it is an extremely grave obstruction to reject it. Fifth, because it is not the range of discursive thought — if one had not first heard it, one could not so think it over and reckon it out, and therefore to say that it was spoken by someone else does not stand to reason. Sixth, because it realizes the great awakening: it does not stand to reason that one who has not become a buddha could speak the Buddha's teaching. Seventh, because there is no fault of a third vehicle. Eighth, because if this did not exist there would be no omniscient one, which would be a fault. Ninth, because taking this as object and reflecting in accordance with reason counteracts all the afflictions. Tenth, because one should not take its intent as the words have it.
This is a compressed version of the argument Asaṅga makes at length in the Mahāyānasaṃgraha, and it is a genuine piece of apologetics — an answer to the charge that the Mahāyāna sūtras are not the Buddha's word. The first two reasons are the cleverest and they work as a pair. If the Mahāyāna were a later invention, the Buddha would have foretold it as he foretold other declines and corruptions; he did not. And its origin cannot be traced now, which is what one would expect of something old and not of something recent.
The strongest is the fifth, and it is an argument from unteachability: 若不先聞，不能如是尋思計度 — if one had not first heard it, one could not have thought it out. The claim is that this teaching is not the kind of thing anyone arrives at by reasoning from what was already available, so it must have been transmitted rather than composed. Modern historians of Buddhism will not accept the conclusion, but it is worth seeing that the argument is empirical in form. The tenth is the most self-aware: 不應如言取彼意, one should not take its intent as the words have it — an admission, at the end of a defense of its authenticity, that the literature in question cannot be read literally.
13. Many Buddhas at Once, and Why One Vehicle Is Taught
問：云何應知於一時間有多如來出現於世？答：由六因故，一無量有情同於一時發大覺願，現可得故；二無量有情同修方便菩提資糧，現可得故；三更相障礙，不應理故；四菩提資糧同時圓滿俱出世間，應道理故；五次第出現，不應理故；六畢竟不成，不應理故。
問：何故如來宣說一乘？答：由六因故，一即彼諸法約無差別相說故；二約無分別行相說故；三眾生無我及法無我平等故；四解脫平等故，謂差別求者有事虛妄分別煩惱對治所緣法性不相違故；五善能變化住故；六行究竟故。
Question: how is one to know that many Tathāgatas appear in the world at one time? Answer: for six reasons. First, because measureless beings are found presently making the vow for great awakening at one and the same time. Second, because measureless beings are found presently cultivating the skillful provisions for enlightenment together. Third, because it does not stand to reason that they should obstruct one another. Fourth, because it does stand to reason that when the provisions for enlightenment are fulfilled at the same time they should appear in the world together. Fifth, because appearing one after another does not stand to reason. Sixth, because their never being accomplished at all does not stand to reason.
Question: why did the Tathāgata declare one vehicle? Answer: for six reasons. First, because those very things are spoken of under the aspect of having no difference. Second, because they are spoken of under the aspect of practice without discrimination. Third, because the selflessness of beings and the selflessness of things are equal. Fourth, because liberation is equal — that is, because for those who seek differently, the nature of things that is the object of the antidote to the false discrimination of a real matter and to the afflictions is not at variance. Fifth, because one is well able to abide by transformation. Sixth, because the practice is final.
The argument for many simultaneous buddhas is the most straightforwardly empirical passage in the treatise, and its first two premises are stated as observations: 現可得故, it is presently found — measureless beings are right now making the vow, and right now cultivating the provisions. From that, the rest follows by elimination. They cannot all be blocking each other; they cannot be arriving in a queue; and they cannot all fail. So there must be many at once. The older position that only one buddha appears per world-age is being answered by pointing at the number of people currently practicing.
The six reasons for the one vehicle are the treatise's reconciliation of that famous teaching with the five lineages it has just defended, and the mechanism is visible in the first four. The vehicles are one under a certain aspect — under the aspect of no difference, of undiscriminating practice, of the two selflessnesses being equal, and of liberation being equal. What all practitioners are aimed at is the same suchness, and in that respect there is one vehicle. This does not concede that everyone will get there, which is what the previous section denied. Whether the reconciliation works is one of the long questions of East Asian Buddhism; that Asaṅga offers one, rather than ignoring the difficulty, is worth recording.
14. The Buddhas Are Equal, and Their Work Is Effortless
復次頌曰：
諸佛妙功能， 彼果土清淨，
解脫與法身， 等不思無上。
論曰：一切如來於一切所作事功能平等。又彼功能果，佛國土清淨、解脫身及法身，一切諸佛皆平等、皆不可思議、皆無有上應知。復次頌曰：
雖不用加行， 先願力所引，
依無為發起， 所作無二相。
論曰：依止無為法身，雖無加行功用，由本願力之所引故，任運發起一切如來所作佛事，譬如行者從滅定起。又此所起佛事，當知是無盡相，非生死相亦非涅槃相。
Furthermore:
The excellent capacity of the buddhas,
and its fruit — the purity of the land,
the body of liberation and the Dharma body —
equal, inconceivable, unsurpassed.
The exposition: all Tathāgatas are equal in capacity for everything that is to be done. And the fruit of that capacity — the purity of a buddha land, the body of liberation, and the Dharma body — should be known to be, in all buddhas alike, equal, inconceivable, and unsurpassed.
Though no application is used,
drawn forth by the force of former vows,
it arises in dependence on the unconditioned,
and what is done has no dual mark.
The exposition: in dependence on the unconditioned Dharma body, although there is no applied effort, yet because it is drawn forth by the force of the original vows, all the buddha-work that the Tathāgatas do arises spontaneously — just as a practitioner rises from the attainment of cessation. And this buddha-work that arises should be known to be of an inexhaustible mark, neither the mark of birth and death nor the mark of nirvāṇa.
The problem this section solves is a real one for the system. The Dharma body is unconditioned and permanent, and fascicle 18 laid down that nothing permanent can be a cause of anything. So how does a buddha do anything? The answer is that the activity is 任運, spontaneous, requiring no 加行, no applied effort, and that what draws it forth is 本願力, the force of the original vows made long ago while the buddha was still a bodhisattva doing conditioned things. The permanent is not producing; something already set in motion continues to unfold.
The comparison is exact and worth unpacking: 譬如行者從滅定起, just as a practitioner rises from the attainment of cessation. In that attainment there is no mind at all, so nothing decides to get up; what brings the practitioner out is the resolve formed before going in. The buddha's activity is described as having that structure permanently. And the last line places it where the whole treatise has been placing this vehicle's goal: 非生死相亦非涅槃相, neither the mark of birth and death nor the mark of nirvāṇa.
15. The Sūtra Basket: Four, Nine, and Twenty-Nine Matters
云何素怛纜藏？云何毘奈耶藏？云何摩怛履迦藏？頌曰：
宣說諸事法， 別解脫分別，
諸法相十一， 是經律本藏。
論曰：諸佛世尊唯依攝事顯了諸法，是名素怛纜藏。問：何等名攝事？答：謂四事、九事、二十九事。何等四事？謂聞事、歸趣事、學事、菩提事。九種事者，一假立有情事、二彼所受用事、三彼生起事、四彼生已住事、五彼染污清淨事、六彼種種差別事、七能說者事、八所說法事、九眾會事。二十九種事者，謂於《遍攝九事經》中依雜染品說有四事，一攝諸行事、二即於此中次第轉事、三即於此中立眾生想後轉因事、四即於此中建立法想後轉因事。又依清淨品說有二十五事，一於所緣境安住事；二即於此中劬勞事；三心安住事；四現法樂住事；五出一切苦所緣方便事；六彼遍知事，此有三種，謂顛倒依處遍知故、依有情想於外有情邪行依處遍知故、內離增上慢依處遍知故；七修依處事；八作證事；九修習事；十彼堅固事；十一彼行相事；十二彼所緣事；十三觀斷未斷善巧事；十四彼散亂事；十五彼不散亂事；十六不散亂依處事；十七修習無倦方便不遠離事；十八修習勝利事；十九彼堅固事；二十攝賢聖品事；二十一攝賢聖品所遠離事；二十二真實通達事；二十三證涅槃事；二十四於善說法律中所得世間正見超過一切外正見事；二十五不修習此退減事。此由於善說法律中不修習故名為退減，不由邪見過失故。
What is the Sūtra basket? What is the Vinaya basket? What is the Mātṛkā basket?
Declaring things by the matters,
the analysis of the code of liberation,
eleven marks of things —
these are the baskets of sūtra, discipline, and the root text.
The exposition: the buddhas, the blessed ones, display things in dependence on the gathered matters alone, and this is called the Sūtra basket. Question: what are called the gathered matters? Answer: four matters, nine matters, and twenty-nine matters. What four matters? The matter of hearing; the matter of taking refuge; the matter of training; and the matter of enlightenment. The nine matters: the matter of beings provisionally established; the matter of what they enjoy; the matter of their arising; the matter of their abiding once arisen; the matter of their defilement and purity; the matter of their manifold differences; the matter of the one who can speak; the matter of the teaching spoken; and the matter of the assembly. The twenty-nine matters: in the Sūtra Comprising the Nine Matters, four matters are stated in dependence on the class of defilement — the matter of gathering the formations; the matter of their turning in sequence therein; the matter of the cause of their turning afterward, once the notion of a being has been set up therein; and the matter of the cause of their turning afterward, once the notion of things has been established therein. And in dependence on the class of purity, twenty-five matters are stated. First, the matter of settling on the object taken. Second, the matter of exertion therein. Third, the matter of the mind settling. Fourth, the matter of dwelling at ease in the present life. Fifth, the matter of the means, taken as object, for getting out of all suffering. Sixth, the matter of fully knowing that, which is of three kinds — fully knowing the basis of distortion; fully knowing the basis of wrong conduct toward beings outside, resting on the notion of beings; and fully knowing the basis of being inwardly free of overweening pride. Seventh, the matter of the basis of cultivation. Eighth, the matter of realizing. Ninth, the matter of cultivating. Tenth, the matter of its firmness. Eleventh, the matter of its modes. Twelfth, the matter of its object. Thirteenth, the matter of skill in observing what is cut off and not yet cut off. Fourteenth, the matter of distraction therein. Fifteenth, the matter of non-distraction therein. Sixteenth, the matter of the basis of non-distraction. Seventeenth, the matter of not keeping far from the means of cultivating without weariness. Eighteenth, the matter of the benefits of cultivating. Nineteenth, the matter of its firmness. Twentieth, the matter of the class of the worthy and noble ones gathered. Twenty-first, the matter of what the class of the worthy and noble ones keeps far from. Twenty-second, the matter of true penetration. Twenty-third, the matter of realizing nirvāṇa. Twenty-fourth, the matter of the worldly right view obtained within the well-spoken teaching and discipline, which surpasses all right views outside. Twenty-fifth, the matter of the decline that comes of not cultivating this. This is called decline because one does not cultivate within the well-spoken teaching and discipline, and not by reason of the fault of wrong views.
The nine matters are the treatise's account of what a sūtra is about, and their arrangement is worth noticing: beings, what they enjoy, how they arise, how they persist, how they are defiled and purified, how they differ — and then three that are not about the world at all, but about the text. 能說者, the one who can speak; 所說法, the teaching spoken; 眾會, the assembly. Speaker, content, and audience are counted among the matters a sūtra treats, on the same list as birth and defilement. The frame narrative of a discourse is not preamble; it is subject matter.
The last of the twenty-five carries a careful correction. Decline comes of not cultivating within the well-spoken teaching, 不由邪見過失故, and not by reason of the fault of wrong views. This is worth stating because the natural assumption is the other way round — that people fall away because they came to believe something false. Asaṅga says the mechanism is simpler and less dramatic: they stopped practicing. The distinction matters for how one responds to someone who is drifting.
16. The Vinaya Basket, and the Mātṛkā in Eleven Marks
復次佛世尊為諸聲聞及諸菩薩說別解脫及廣分別別解脫相應法，是名毘奈耶藏。此中由七種相略攝菩薩別解脫應知，一者宣說受持軌則、二者宣說波羅闍已迦處事、三者宣說毀犯處事、四者宣說毀犯體性、五者宣說無犯體性、六者宣說出所毀犯、七者宣說捨律儀事。
復次佛世尊以十一種相顯了分別開示諸法，是名摩怛履迦藏。云何名為十一種相？一世俗諦相、二勝義諦相、三菩提分法所緣相、四此行相、五此自體相、六得此果相、七此領受顯了相、八此障礙法相、九此隨順法相、十此過患相、十一此稱讚相。
世俗相者，當知宣說補特伽羅、宣說遍計所執自性、宣說諸法作用業具等相。勝義相者，當知宣說七種真如相菩提分法。所緣相者，當知宣說一切種所知事。
此行相者，當知宣說八觀察行。何等為八？一觀察諦行、二觀察建立行、三觀察過失行、四觀察功德行、五觀察理趣行、六觀察流轉行、七觀察道理行、八觀察廣略行。諦者，謂真如。建立者，謂若建立補特伽羅、若建立遍計所執自性、若建立一向分別反問置記論、若建立隱密顯了記論。過失者，謂佛所說諸雜染法非一種種差別過失。功德者，如佛所說諸清淨法非一種種差別勝利。理趣者，有六種理趣，如攝事品已說。流轉者，謂三世三有為相及與四緣。
Further, the Buddha, the Blessed One, taught the code of individual liberation to the śrāvakas and to the bodhisattvas, and analyzed at length the teachings associated with it; this is called the Vinaya basket. Here the bodhisattva's code of individual liberation should be known as gathered in brief under seven marks: declaring the rules for receiving and keeping it; declaring the matters that are grounds of defeat; declaring the matters that are grounds of transgression; declaring the substance of a transgression; declaring the substance of what is not a transgression; declaring how one emerges from a transgression committed; and declaring the matter of relinquishing the restraint.
Further, the Buddha, the Blessed One, displayed, analyzed, and set forth things by eleven marks, and this is called the Mātṛkā basket. What are the eleven marks? The mark of the conventional truth; the mark of the ultimate truth; the mark of the object of the factors of enlightenment; the mark of their practice; the mark of their own substance; the mark of obtaining their fruit; the mark of undergoing and displaying this; the mark of the things that obstruct this; the mark of the things that conform to this; the mark of the danger in this; and the mark of the praise of this.
The conventional mark: know it as declaring persons, declaring the imagined own-nature, and declaring the marks of the functions, acts, and instruments of things. The ultimate mark: know it as declaring the seven marks of suchness and the factors of enlightenment. The mark of the object: know it as declaring the knowable matters in all their modes.
The mark of their practice: know it as declaring eight observing practices. What eight? Observing the truth; observing establishment; observing faults; observing qualities; observing the approaches; observing the flowing on; observing the principles; and observing the extensive and the brief. Truth means suchness. Establishment means establishing persons, establishing the imagined own-nature, establishing declarations that are categorical, analytical, counter-questioning, or set aside, and establishing declarations that are hidden or manifest. Faults means the manifold and various faults of the defiled things the Buddha taught. Qualities means the manifold and various benefits of the pure things the Buddha taught. Approaches means the six approaches, as stated in the chapter on Gathering the Topics. Flowing on means the three times, the three marks of the conditioned, and the four conditions.
The seven marks of the bodhisattva's code are a complete specification of what a body of disciplinary law has to contain, and the last five are all about failure: what counts as a transgression, what does not, how one gets out of one, and how the restraint is given up. Only the first two are about what to do. A code that specified offenses without specifying non-offenses and remedies would not be usable, and it is characteristic of this treatise to notice that and say so in a list.
Under establishment, note the four kinds of declaration: 一向, categorical; 分別, analytical; 反問, counter-questioning; and 置, set aside. These are the four ways of answering a question that run through the canon, and the fourth is the one that produced the fourteen unanswerable matters of fascicle 17. Setting a question aside is here classified as a form of establishing — a positive move in exposition, not a refusal to play.
17. Four Principles, and What Makes a Proof Clean
道理者，謂四種道理，一觀待道理、二作用道理、三證成道理、四法爾道理。若由諸因諸緣故，諸行生起及隨顯說，是名觀待道理。
若由諸因諸緣故，諸法若證得、若成滿，若彼已生能起業用，是名作用道理。若由諸因諸緣故，所立所說所摽舉義，得成立、得正解，是名證成道理。此復略有二種，一清淨、二不清淨。清淨者，由五種相。不清淨者，由七種相。五種清淨相者，一現量所得相、二依止現量所得相、三引自類譬喻相、四成就相、五善清淨言教相。此中一切行無常性、一切行苦性、一切法無我性，是諸世間現量所得。如是等類，是名現量所得相。若一切行剎那性、後世有性、淨不淨業不失壞性，此依麁無常現量所得、依有情種種差別業現量所得，及依苦樂有情淨不淨業現量所得。由此現量所得故，比類所不現見法，是名依止現量所得相。若於內外諸行中引一切世間共知共得生滅相、引一切世間共知共得生等苦相、引一切世間共知共得不自在相，及於外事中引一切世間共知共得興盛衰壞相，如是等類是名引自類譬喻相。即現量所得相及引自類譬喻相，此二於所成立一向決定故，當知即名成就相。若諸言教是一切智者所說，如言涅槃寂靜如是等類，是名善清淨言教相。此中有五種相，能表真實一切智者。何等為五？一者若有出現世間一切智者，正實聲名流布世界；二者具三十二大丈夫相；三者成就十力斷諸有情所有疑網；四者自稱具足四無所畏，不為一切他論難屈，又能摧伏一切外論；五者於其法律八支聖道及四沙門果等可得。如是出現故、妙相故、斷疑故、立破故、道果故，由此五相表是真實一切智者。如是於證成道理中，由現量故、由比量故、譬喻故、成就故、至教量故，由此五相名為清淨。
Principles means the four principles: the principle of dependence; the principle of function; the principle of proof; and the principle of the way things are. If by reason of causes and conditions the formations arise and are accordingly displayed and spoken of, this is called the principle of dependence.
If by reason of causes and conditions things are realized or brought to fulfillment, or, having arisen, are able to exercise their function, this is called the principle of function. If by reason of causes and conditions the meaning set up, stated, and put forward is established and rightly understood, this is called the principle of proof. And this is in brief of two kinds, clean and unclean. The clean is by five marks; the unclean is by seven marks. The five marks of the clean: the mark of what is obtained by direct perception; the mark of what rests on what is obtained by direct perception; the mark of adducing a comparison of the same class; the mark of being accomplished; and the mark of well-purified instruction. Here, that all formations are impermanent, that all formations are suffering, and that all things are selfless — these are obtained by the direct perception of everyone in the world. Such cases are called the mark of what is obtained by direct perception. That all formations are momentary, that a later life exists, and that pure and impure karma does not perish — these rest on the coarse impermanence obtained by direct perception, on the various differences in beings' karma obtained by direct perception, and on the pure and impure karma of beings who suffer and are happy, obtained by direct perception. Because these are obtained by direct perception, one infers by comparison to things not presently seen; this is called the mark of what rests on what is obtained by direct perception. If, among the formations inner and outer, one adduces the mark of arising and ceasing that all the world knows and obtains in common, the mark of the suffering of birth and the rest that all the world knows and obtains in common, and the mark of not being under one's own control that all the world knows and obtains in common; and if among outer matters one adduces the mark of flourishing and decay that all the world knows and obtains in common — such cases are called the mark of adducing a comparison of the same class. And the mark of what is obtained by direct perception together with the mark of adducing a comparison of the same class — because these two are wholly decisive with respect to what is to be established — know these to be called the mark of being accomplished. If instruction is spoken by an omniscient one, as when it is said that nirvāṇa is peace and the like, this is called the mark of well-purified instruction. Here there are five marks that can indicate a true omniscient one. What five? First, that if an omniscient one has appeared in the world, a true and real report of him spreads through the world. Second, that he possesses the thirty-two marks of a great man. Third, that he is accomplished in the ten powers and cuts through the net of doubts that beings have. Fourth, that he declares himself endowed with the four fearlessnesses, is not overcome by the challenges of any other doctrine, and is able to overthrow all outside doctrines. Fifth, that within his teaching and discipline the eightfold noble path and the four fruits of the renunciant and the rest are to be found. Thus by appearing, by the excellent marks, by cutting doubt, by establishing and refuting, and by the path and its fruits — by these five marks a true omniscient one is indicated. Thus within the principle of proof, by direct perception, by inference, by comparison, by accomplishment, and by authoritative testimony — by these five marks it is called clean.
This is where the treatise ends up, and it is worth appreciating what has just happened. Asaṅga has laid out an epistemology and then applied it to his own most basic claims. The three marks — impermanence, suffering, selflessness — are classified as 現量所得, obtained by direct perception, available to everybody. Momentariness, future lives, and the persistence of karma are classified differently: they rest on direct perception and are reached by inference from it. That is a genuine and unusual concession. The treatise's most contested doctrines are not claimed as observations; they are claimed as inferences, and their observational base is named.
The five marks of a true omniscient one are the most surprising item, because four of the five are public and checkable, and one of them is argumentative. He is widely and truly reported. He has the marks of a great man. He resolves people's doubts. He is not defeated in debate and defeats others. And within his teaching the eightfold path and the four fruits are actually to be found — which is to say, his method produces the results it advertises. Authoritative testimony, the fifth means of proof, is here made to depend on a test of the authority, and the test is not itself a matter of testimony.
18. Seven Marks of an Unclean Proof, and the Way Things Are
七種不清淨相者，一餘分同類所得相、二餘分異類所得相、三一切同類所得相、四一切異類所得相、五引異類譬喻相、六不成就相、七不清淨言教相。若一切法意識所識性，是名一切同類所得相。若相貌若自體、若業若法、若因若果等同異之相，或隨一分更互同異之相，是名餘分同異類所得相。或決定更互異相，是名一切異類所得相。若并譬喻有餘分同類所得相，及有一切異類所得相，由此相於所成立義不決定故，說名不成就相。若并譬喻有餘分異類所得相，及有一切同類所得相，由此相於所成立義不決定故，亦名不成就相。由不成就故，名不清淨道理觀。此觀不清淨故，不應修習。不清淨言教相者，謂諸言教自性不清淨應知。法爾道理者，謂若如來出世若不出世，法性法界安住無變，是名法爾道理。略廣者，謂先說一句法，後後以無量句展轉分別顯了究竟。
此自體相者，所謂能取若行若緣菩提分法四念住等，是名此自體相。得此果相者，謂若世間出世間煩惱斷果，及所引發世間出世間功德，是名得此果相。
此領受顯了相者，謂由解脫智故，即領受此所得果相，及廣為他顯說其相，是名此領受顯了相。
此障礙法相者，謂若修菩提分法時，能為障礙染污之法，是名此障礙法相。此隨順法相者，謂即於此菩提分法能為隨順多所作法，是名此隨順法相。
此過患相者，謂能障礙所有過失，是名此過患相。
此稱讚相者，謂隨順法所有功德，是名此稱讚相。隨所有處，諸佛世尊以如是等十一種相，顯了分別開示諸法，是名摩怛履迦。
The seven marks of the unclean: the mark of what is obtained as of the same class in a remaining portion; the mark of what is obtained as of a different class in a remaining portion; the mark of what is obtained as of the same class in every case; the mark of what is obtained as of a different class in every case; the mark of adducing a comparison from a different class; the mark of not being accomplished; and the mark of unclean instruction. If all things are of the nature of being cognized by mind consciousness, this is called the mark of what is obtained as of the same class in every case. If marks of sameness and difference in appearance, in own-substance, in act, in quality, in cause, in fruit, and the like — or mutual marks of sameness and difference in some one portion — this is called the mark of what is obtained as of the same or a different class in a remaining portion. Or if the marks are decisively different from one another, this is called the mark of what is obtained as of a different class in every case. If, along with the comparison, there is the mark obtained as of the same class in a remaining portion and also the mark obtained as of a different class in every case, then because by this mark the meaning to be established is not decided, it is called the mark of not being accomplished. If, along with the comparison, there is the mark obtained as of a different class in a remaining portion and also the mark obtained as of the same class in every case, then because by this mark the meaning to be established is not decided, this too is called the mark of not being accomplished. Because it is not accomplished, it is called an unclean examination by principle; and because this examination is unclean, it should not be cultivated. The mark of unclean instruction means instruction that should be known to be unclean in its own nature. The principle of the way things are means that whether a Tathāgata appears in the world or does not, the nature of things and the realm of things abide without alteration; this is called the principle of the way things are. As for the brief and the extensive: one first states a teaching in a single sentence, and afterward, sentence upon sentence, one analyzes and displays it in measureless phrases to the very end.
The mark of their own substance: what can take up, whether as practice or as object, the factors of enlightenment, the four establishments of mindfulness, and the rest — this is called the mark of their own substance. The mark of obtaining their fruit: the fruit of the cutting off of affliction, worldly and transcendent, and the qualities elicited thereby, worldly and transcendent — this is called the mark of obtaining their fruit.
The mark of undergoing and displaying this: by the knowledge of liberation one undergoes the mark of the fruit obtained, and displays and expounds that mark at length to others — this is called the mark of undergoing and displaying this.
The mark of the things that obstruct this: the defiled things that can obstruct while one is cultivating the factors of enlightenment — this is called the mark of the things that obstruct this. The mark of the things that conform to this: the things that can conform to these factors of enlightenment and be of much use — this is called the mark of the things that conform to this.
The mark of the danger in this: the faults that can obstruct — this is called the mark of the danger in this. The mark of the praise of this: the qualities of the things that conform — this is called the mark of the praise of this. Wherever they may be, the buddhas, the blessed ones, display, analyze, and set forth things by these eleven marks; and this is called the Mātṛkā.
The seven marks of an unclean proof are a doctrine of the fallacious middle term, and the example given for the third is beautifully chosen: 一切法意識所識性 — that all things are of the nature of being cognized by mind consciousness. This is true. It is also useless as a reason, because it applies to absolutely everything and so distinguishes nothing. A property shared by every case cannot prove that this case is one kind rather than another. That Asaṅga picks a thesis his own school would endorse as his example of a term too wide to prove anything is worth noticing.
The diagnosis given twice is the same in both directions: a reason that shares a partial similarity with one class while differing wholly from the other leaves 於所成立義不決定, the thesis undecided. Undecided, not false. The verdict on such reasoning is procedural rather than substantive — 此觀不清淨故，不應修習, this examination is unclean and should not be cultivated. One is told to stop using the argument, not to believe its opposite.
The fourth principle is stated in the canonical words and is the shortest thing in the section: 若如來出世若不出世，法性法界安住無變 — whether a Tathāgata appears in the world or does not, the nature of things and the realm of things abide without alteration. It is the last of the four principles because it is where explanation stops. The first three ask why something arose, what it does, and how we know; the fourth says that at some point the answer is that this is how things are. Placed at the end of a treatise that has explained everything it could, it functions as a boundary marker rather than an evasion — the same role 法爾 played among the inconceivable topics in fascicle 17.
19. The Meaning of All the Sūtras, in Five
復次頌曰：
諸相與斷滅、 無失壞方便、
彼二果、差別， 是諸經略義。
論曰：當知諸經義略說有五種，一相、二斷滅、三無失壞方便、四彼二果、五相等差別。此五略說，如《善生經》。佛告善生：族姓子！有二種事俱為美妙者，是美妙相。斷滅有二種，謂欲取斷滅及依事取斷滅者。此言兼顯二種無失壞方便。二種無失壞方便者，謂若落鬚髮乃至趣於非家，若盡諸漏乃至覺受我生已盡，乃至廣說。
彼二果者，謂無失壞方便果。寂靜性差別者，謂五種寂靜差別，一諸纏寂靜、二世間離欲寂靜、三順下分寂靜、四順上分寂靜、五依事寂靜。為顯此故，於彼經中說伽他曰：
「諸比丘美妙， 寂靜離諸漏，
離欲離繫縛， 無執受涅槃，
任持最後身， 摧伏魔所使。」
Furthermore:
The marks, and cessation,
the means that do not fail,
the fruit of those two, and the distinctions —
this is the meaning of all the sūtras in brief.
The exposition: know that the meaning of the sūtras, stated in brief, is of five kinds: the marks; cessation; the means that do not fail; the fruit of those two; and the distinctions among the marks and the rest. These five in brief are as in the Sūtra to Sujāta. The Buddha told Sujāta: son of good family, there are two matters that are both lovely; this is the mark of the lovely. Cessation is of two kinds, namely the cessation of appropriation through desire and the cessation of appropriation resting on a matter. These words display as well the two means that do not fail. The two means that do not fail are: shaving off hair and beard, on down to going forth into homelessness; and exhausting the contaminants, on down to knowing and feeling that birth is exhausted for me, and so on at length.
The fruit of those two means the fruit of the means that do not fail. As for the distinctions in the nature of stillness, there are five distinctions of stillness: the stillness of the entanglements; the stillness of worldly freedom from craving; the stillness that accords with the lower part; the stillness that accords with the upper part; and the stillness resting on a matter. In order to display this, in that sūtra a gāthā is spoken:
"The monks are lovely,
still, freed of the contaminants,
free of craving, free of bonds,
nirvāṇa without appropriation;
bearing the last body,
they crush what Māra sends."
The six-line gāthā here is the second and last citation of someone else's verse in the treatise, and the collation confirms it as such: it does not appear in T1603. Together with the uddāna in fascicle 19, it accounts for the entire discrepancy between the two texts' verse counts in the concluding chapter — ninety-six root lines in T1603 against a hundred and one in T1602, with five of the difference being these two quotations. That the arithmetic closes exactly is the best confirmation available that T1603 is what it claims to be: Asaṅga's own verses, extracted whole, with nothing added and nothing else admitted.
The reduction of all the sūtras to five headings is the treatise's last piece of hermeneutics and it is offered with a worked example rather than an assertion. Marks, cessation, the means, the fruit, the distinctions. And the means that do not fail are given in the two canonical phrases — shaving off hair and beard and going forth, and exhausting the contaminants and knowing that birth is done. The going out and the arriving. Whatever a sūtra says, it is somewhere on that scheme, and the Sūtra to Sujāta is taken apart to prove it.
20. The Path of Yoga, and the End of the Treatise
復次頌曰：
略說瑜伽道， 緣所聞正法，
奢摩他與觀， 依影像成就。
論曰：若略說瑜伽道，當知多聞所攝：正法為境界，奢摩他毘鉢舍那為自體，依止影像及依止事成就。如薄伽梵說：有五種法能攝一切瑜伽行者諸瑜伽地，謂持住明鏡及與轉依。當知聞正法是持，所緣是住，止觀是明，影像是鏡事，成就是轉依。
Furthermore:
The path of yoga, in brief:
taking the true Dharma one has heard as object,
calm abiding and insight,
accomplished in dependence on an image.
The exposition: if the path of yoga is stated in brief, know that it is comprised within much hearing; the true Dharma is its object; calm abiding and insight are its own substance; and it is accomplished resting on an image and resting on the matter. As the Blessed One said: there are five things that comprise all the stages of yoga of all yoga practitioners — holding, abiding, clarity, the mirror, and the transformation of the basis. Know that hearing the true Dharma is the holding; the object taken is the abiding; calm abiding and insight are the clarity; the image is the mirror and the matter; and the accomplishment is the transformation of the basis.
The treatise closes on a five-word formula and a gloss, and the formula is a good one to end on because it starts where the treatise started. 持 is 聞正法 — the holding is hearing the true Dharma. Twenty fascicles of exposition are classified, at the last, as the first of five stages, and the one on which everything else rests. Then an object to settle on, then calm and insight for clarity, then the image as the mirror in which what is known appears, and then the transformation of the basis. Hearing, settling, clearing, reflecting, turning.
There is no colophon, no verse of dedication, and no closing address to the reader. Asaṅga glosses the last term of the formula and stops. That is characteristic of the whole work, which has explained the inconceivable in a list of four principles, filed non-abiding nirvāṇa as the twenty-seventh of twenty-seven skillful means, and treated the buddha's activity and the fruit of farming under the same theory of causation. The Illuminating the Sacred Teaching ends the way it has proceeded throughout: having said what it had to say, it does not say anything else.
Fascicle 20 Complete — and the Treatise Complete
The last determinations run through persons, fruits, and the seventeen dominances that establish a buddha's qualities; then the long reflection on the perfection of wisdom, with its four approaches of instruction and its careful refusal to let non-apprehension become a denial; then the twelve hard things and the five marks of a real bodhisattva; then the contested doctrines, argued rather than asserted — five reasons the lineages differ, ten that the Great Vehicle is the Buddha's word, six that many buddhas appear at once, and six why one vehicle is nonetheless taught. The three baskets follow, and with them the four principles of reasoning: dependence, function, proof, and the way things are. The treatise's final substantive passage is a theory of evidence — what direct perception gives us, what must be inferred from it, what makes an authority worth citing, and which arguments are too wide to prove anything — and its last words gloss a five-term formula for the whole path, beginning with hearing.
This completes Asaṅga's Illuminating the Sacred Teaching in twenty fascicles and eleven chapters, as translated by Xuánzàng. All twenty fascicles are now available on this site; the collection index gives the chapter divisions and where each begins.
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