Analysis of "The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom
in Eighteen Thousand Lines (18k)" - 300.1
Daśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā
(Teaching the signs of irreversibility)
– Chapter 00.1 - Part I - Summary and Introduction –
Source: https://read.84000.co/translation/toh10.html
More Analysis of Mahayana Sutras : https://www.gilehtblog.com/2022/07/toc-400.html
For the Summary and the Introduction 00 – See Part I
For the résumés of chapters 01-42 – See Part II
For the résumés of chapters 41-87 – See Part III
Chapter 01 – Chapter 02 – Chapter 03 – Chapter 04 – Chapter 05 – Chapter 06 – Chapter 07 – Chapter 08 – Chapter 09 – Chapter 10 – Chapter 11 – Chapter 12 – Chapter 13 – Chapter 14 – Chapter 15 – Chapter 16 – Chapter 17 – Chapter 18 – Chapter 19 – Chapter 20 – Chapter 21 – Chapter 22 – Chapter 23 – Chapter 24 – Chapter 25 – Chapter 26 – Chapter 27 – Chapter 28 – Chapter 29 – Chapter 30 – Chapter 31 – Chapter 32 – Chapter 33 – Chapter 34 – Chapter 35 – Chapter 36 – Chapter 37 – Chapter 38 – Chapter 39 – Chapter 40 – Chapter 41 – Chapter 42 – Chapter 43 – Chapter 44 – Chapter 45 – Chapter 46 – Chapter 47 – Chapter 48 – Chapter 49 – Chapter 50 – Chapter 51 – Chapter 52 – Chapter 53 – Chapter 54 – Chapter 55 – Chapter 56 – Chapter 57 – Chapter 58 – Chapter 59 – Chapter 60 – Chapter 61 – Chapter 62 – Chapter 63 – Chapter 64 – Chapter 65 – Chapter 66 – Chapter 67 – Chapter 68 – Chapter 69 – Chapter 70 – Chapter 71 – Chapter 72 – Chapter 73 – Chapter 74 – Chapter 75 – Chapter 76 – Chapter 77 – Chapter 78 – Chapter 79 – Chapter 80 – Chapter 81 – Chapter 82 – Chapter 83 – Chapter 84 – Chapter 85 – Chapter 86 – Chapter 87
Second summary of chapters 1-21 - 388
Table of Content of Chapter 00 - Summary and Introduction
SUMMARY – Included in Part I / this page –
00. INTRODUCTION
I. Introduction
II. Brief Exegesis
V. Summaries
SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTERS – See Part I & Part II –
(Note: To access all chapters on the Blog (one chapter per page), see at the links at end of this page.
Work in progress. Blank pages means the chapters are not ready yet. Thanks for your patience.)Chapter 1 – Introduction – The Assembly – See PART II –
Chapter 2 – Production of the Thought
Chapters 3–5 – Designation, Equal to the Unequal, Tongue
Chapter 6 – Subhūti
Chapter 7 – Entry into flawlessness
Chapter 8 – The Religious Mendicant Śreṇika
Chapter 9 – Causal Signs
Chapter 10 – Illusion-like
Chapters 11-13 – Embarrassment; Elimination of Views; The Six Perfections
Chapter 14 – Neither Bound nor Freed
Chapters 15-16 – Meditative Stabilization; Dhāraṇī Gateway
Chapter 17 – Level Purifications
Chapter 18 – The Exposition of Going Forth in the Great Vehicle
Chapter 19 – Surpassing
Chapter 20 – Not Two
Chapter 21 – Subhūti
Chapters 22-24 – Śatakratu; Hard to Understand; Unlimited
Chapter 25 – Second Śatakratu
Chapters 26-30 – Getting Old; Reliquary, Declaration of the Good Qualities of the Thought of Awakening; Different Tīrthika Religious Mendicants; The Benefits of Taking Up and Adoration
Chapters 31-32 – Physical Remains; The Superiority of Merit
Chapter 33 – Dedication
Chapter 34 – Perfect Praise of the Quality of Accomplishment
Chapter 35 – Hells
Chapter 36 – Teaching The Purity of all Dharmas
Chapter 37 – Nobody
Chapters 38-39 – Cannot Be Apprehended; The Northern Region
Chapters 40-41 – The Work of Māra; Not Complete Because of Māra
Chapter 42 – Revealing the World – See PART III –
Chapter 43 – Inconceivable
Chapter 44 – Made Up
Chapter 45 – A Boat
Chapter 46 – Teaching the Intrinsic Nature of All Dharmas
Chapter 47 – Taming Greed
Chapter 48 – A Presentation of the Bodhisattvas' Training
Chapters 49-50 - Irreversibility; Teaching the Signs of Irreversibility
Chapter 51 – Skillful means
Chapter 52 – Completion of the Means
Chapter 53 – The Prophecy about Gaṅgadevī
Chapter 54 – Teaching the Cultivation of Skillful Means
Chapter 55 – Teaching the Stopping of Thought Construction [in absolute terms]
Chapter 56 – Equal Training
Chapter 57 – Practice
Chapter 58 – Exposition of the Absence of Thought Construction [in absolute terms]
Chapter 59 – Non-attachment
Chapter 60 – Entrusting
Chapters 61-62 – Inexhaustible; Leaping Above Absorption
Chapter 63 – Many Inquiries about the Two Dharmas
Chapters 64-72 – Perfectly Displayed; Worshiping, Serving; and Attending on Spiritual Friends as Skillful Means; A Demonstration of Skillful Means; Morality; Growing and Flourishing; An Explanation of Meditation on The Path; An Explanation of Serial Action, Training, and Practice; The True Nature of Dharmas That Cannot Be Apprehended; Teaching the Absence of Marks
Chapter 73 – Exposition of the Major Marks and Minor Signs and the Completion of Letters
Chapter 74 – Exposition of the Sameness of Dharmas
Chapter 75 –Exposition of Non-complication –
Chapter 76 – The Armor for Bringing Beings to Maturity
Chapter 77 – Teaching the Purification of a Buddhafield
Chapter 78 – Teaching the Skillful Means for the Purification of a Buddhafield
Chapter 79 – Teaching the Non Existence of an Intrinsic Nature
Chapter 80 – Teaching that there is No Defilement or Purification
Chapter 81 – Yogic Practice of the Ultimate
Chapter 82 – The Unchanging True Nature of Dharmas
Chapter 83 – Categorization of a Bodhisattva's Training
Chapter 84 – Collection / Summary in verses
Chapters 85-86 – Sadāprarudita; Dharmodgata
Chapter 87 – Entrusting
01-87. All eighty-seven chapters of this Sutra (one per page)
(see the links at the bottom of this present page)
[Introductory notes:
All Buddhist teachings, including the Prajnaparamita Sutras, are about
awakening from the illusions of our indirect (dualistic, conceptual) knowledge,
from our mistaken motivations and actions based on this indirect knowledge,
from the limitless & centerless self-conditioning / karmic cycle based on our ignorance.
-
All Buddhist teachings, including the Prajnaparamita Sutras, are about
awakening to the inconceivable true nature & dynamic of Reality as it is here & now (direct knowledge),
and to choose & act more and more in accord with it.
-
So it is not about improving our capacity for discrimination / differentiation;
it is not about 'accepting / affirming / seeking / doing this'
while 'rejecting / negating / abandoning / eliminating / stopping / not-doing that'
as if things were inherently existing,
and having inherently existing characteristics / properties / attributes / qualities / relations / oppositions / processes / activities.
-
It is more about personally spontaneously non-dualistically non-conceptually
directly perceiving / realising / experiencing the inconceivable true nature & dynamic of all dharmas [U2T].
-
It is this inconceivable 'non-dualistic non-conceptual non-conditioned pure direct knowledge / wisdom' that is the liberating factor.
That is the perfection of wisdom (Prajnaparamita).This true nature of Reality as it is here & now, true nature & dynamic of all dharmas,
is indescribable / inconceivable for our flawed dualistic conceptual conditioned ordinary mind(s).
It is beyond all extremes & middle, beyond all dualistic conceptual proliferations, beyond all defining limitations,
beyond all conditioning / karma. It is beyond all conditioned indirect knowledge and activities based on them.
It is beyond all description / conceptualisation, discrimination / differentiation / dualities,
causality / production / laws, form / matter-energy, space & time.
-
And 'beyond / free-from / transcending' does not mean that we need to
reject / negate / abandon / eliminate / stop / not-do those,
but just to directly realise their inconceivable true nature & dynamic as it is here & now [U2T],
-
[U2T] We need to directly realise that all dharmas are more like a Union of being empty of inherent existence [T2], not really existent / caused / functional <==> and being conventionally dependently co-arisen relatively functional ever-changing impermanent appearances / tools / adapted skillful means [T1], merely labeled / imputed by the mind in dependence of its conditioning / karma [U3S], not completely non-existent / non-caused / non-functional / useless / meaningless. And that one aspect / truth implies / proves / enables the other (<==>) [U2T / U2T-3S / U2T-opp / U2T-2T].
To understand and then directly realise the exact nature of the inter-relation between those two aspects / truths (dependent origination and emptiness) is the ultimate realisation of a Buddha.
-
[U3S] We need to directly realise that all perceived objects / phenomena are co-dependent / co-emergent / co-evolving with the subject / mind perceiving / fabricating / imagining / merely labeling them [U3S] in dependence of its already accumulated conditioning / karma. The perceived world is not purely objective (objects-only), not purely subjective (subject/mind-only), not purely processes / actions (processes/actions-only), not a combination of them, not none of them. And vice versa for the subject / mind, and relation / action. [U3S / U3S-2T / U3S-opp]
The non-duality subject / observer and object / observed / world and their inter-relation / action is an important aspect to gain omniscience, liberation from all cognitive obscurations.
-
[Uopp] We need to directly realise that apparent opposites of any duality / triad / quad / etc. are not really different / separate / in opposition, but are more like inseparable, interdependent, co-defined, co-relative, co-dependent, co-emergent, co-evolving, co-ceasing / co-transcended, in harmony [T1] <==> thus all empty of inherent existence [T2] <==> merely labeled / imputed by the mind [U3S] in dependence of its past / conditioning / karma [Uopp / Uopp-2T / Uopp-3S].
The non-duality of all dharmas is an important concept / tool; the Union of the three spheres [U3S], and the Union of the Two Truths [U2T] are specific cases of the Union of opposites [Uopp]; and vice versa.
-
[U2T-2T] We need to directly realise that even the two truths are like that : they are themselves empty of inherent existence <==> because themselves conventionally dependently co-arisen (interdependent) relatively functional ever-changing impermanent appearances / tools / adapted skillful means [U2T-2T], themselves merely labeled / imputed by the mind [U3S-2T]; themselves two inseparable apparent opposites [Uopp-2T].
The two truths and their relation:
T1: The first truth, relative truth, covers the multiplicity of conventionally dependently co-arisen (interdependent) relatively functional ever-changing impermanent appearances / tools / adapted skillful means, merely labeled / imputed / imagined / co-created by the mind in dependence of its conditioning / karma (in a limitless and centerless cycle [U3S]), not completely non-existence / non-causality / non-functionality.
Note: Something could be co-dependent with its parts and wholes (when applicable), with its causes & conditions and effects (when applicable), with its conceptual opposite(s) (always), and especially co-dependent with the subject / mind merely labeling / imputing it (always).
The conventional / relative truth covers everything physical / body, conceptual / speech, mental / mind; all subjects / beings, relations / actions, objects / phenomena; all apparent opposites; even the two truths themselves. It covers all tools, adapted skillful means, words, symbols, images, concepts, ideas, truths, views, methods, practices, milestones, goals, teachings, all dharmas of the Buddha-dharma, even the Ground / Basis / Source / Suchness / Buddha-nature / Genuine-emptiness / Union of the Two Truths. It covers everything in both samsara & nirvana, pure & impure, enlightened or unenlightened.T2: The second truth covers the unicity of the emptiness of inherent existence of all dharmas, not real existence / causality / functionality.
U2T: These two truths, like any other pair of apparent opposites, are not really separate and in opposition, but are more like: inseparable, interdependent, co-defined, co-relative, co-dependent, co-emergent, co-evolving, co-ceasing / co-transcended, in harmony [T1] <==> thus themselves empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T-2T]. We call their inconceivable inter-relation 'the Union of the Two Truths'; but it is not like the coming together of two previously separate / independent things. They are more like: primordially not different / separate / multiple / dual, not identical / united / one / non-dual, not both together, not neither, and there is no fifth. Meaning indescribable / inconceivable, beyond all extremes & middle, beyond all dualistic conceptual proliferations, beyond all defining limitations, beyond all conditioning / karma.
The two truths (dependent origination and emptiness) are mere temporary imperfect tools, a raft,
to help us to get to the 'inconceivable' by refuting what 'Reality as it is' is not;
by refuting all conditioned extreme views, like:
– existence / dharma, non-existence / non-dharma, both together, neither;
– having characteristics / properties / attributes / qualities / features / relations / oppositions / processes / activities / changes, not having characteristics / properties / attributes / qualities / features / relations / oppositions / processes / activities / changes, both together, neither;
– being joined, being disjoined, both together, neither;
– being limited / spatially / timely, unlimited / spaceless / timeless, both together, neither;
– difference / manyness / diversity / duality, identity / oneness / sameness / non-duality, both together, neither;
– permanence / continuity / eternity, impermanence / discontinuity / annihilation, both together, neither;
– dependence / causality / production / functionality, independence / acausality / non-production / non-functionality, both together, neither;
– emptiness, non-emptiness, both together, neither;
– conventional / relative / illusory / unreal / false, absolute / universal / non-illusory / real / true, both together, neither;
– dependent origination [T1 - 1st truth only], emptiness of inherent existence [T2 - 2nd truth only],
both truths together [2T - as if different and in opposition], neither of the two truths [1T - as if identical and one];
– subject / mind, relation / action / process, object / phenomena, a combination of those, none of those;
– past, present, future, a combination of those, none of those;
– individuality, collectivity, universality, a combination of those, none of those;
– being equal / pure / perfect / divine / complete / free / enlightened,
being unequal / impure / imperfect / ordinary / incomplete / unenlightened, both together, neither;
– originated/born / existent / changing / ceasing/dying, unarisen / non-existent / unchanging / unceasing, both together, neither;
– describable / conceivable / comparable, indescribable / inconceivable / incomparable, both together, neither;
– with name & sign / existent / wishful, signlessness / emptiness / wishfulness, both together, neither;
– 'this', 'not-this', both together, neither – for whatever 'this' is.So, in a sense, all dharmas – physical / body, conceptual / speech, mental / mind; subject / beings, relation / action, object / phenomena; of samsara or nirvana – are like illusions / reflections / mirages / dreams / echos / magical tricks: 'There, but not there.' Not really existent / caused / functional, not completely non-existent / non-caused / non-functional, not both together, not neither, and there is no fifth. Meaning indescribable / inconceivable for our flawed dualistic conceptual ordinary mind(s). They are like illusions … but not exactly the same. Ex. Dreaming that a bus is running toward you cannot permanently injure you; the same for a monster on TV.
'The inconceivable Union of the Two Truths [U2T]' is the inconceivable unique all-encompassing timeless unborn unconditioned unchanging unceasing true nature & dynamic of Reality as it is here & now, true nature & dynamic of all dharmas in both samsara & nirvana. It is the only thing that is like that: unborn unconditioned unchanging unceasing. It is also called the Ground / Basis / Source / Genuine-emptiness / Buddha-nature / Suchness / Dharmata / Dharmadhatu / Primordial awareness / the very limit of reality / Dharma-constituent … It looks like an 'ultimate' but nobody should grasp at it, get attached to it either. It is just like a finger pointing at the moon, not the moon itself, which is indescribable / inconceivable, and has to be directly perceived / realised / experienced in the here & now. It is what meditators are trying to directly perceive / realise / experience, their true nature as it is here & now, the true nature of their mind / subject inseparable from all phenomena / object: not one, not two, not both together, not neither. But this Ground is inseparable from its manifestations [UGM]; so it is not by rejecting appearances / thinking / concepts / the world that one will directly perceive his/her true nature as it is here & now. It is by directly realising that everything, all manifestations inseparable from the Ground, partake its primordial qualities: timelessness, spacelessness, equality, purity, perfection, divinity, completeness, freedom, enlightenment – in the non-dual sense of these words: not this, not non-this, not both together, not neither. Everything is this Ground / Union of the Two Truths [U2T].
The two truths in terms of activities:
T1: The first truth covers acting more and more in accord with valid useful conventional / relative / inter-subjective truths, views, methods, practices, milestones, goals, teachings … It is using valid useful conventional / relative / inter-subjective tools, adapted skillful means, words, symbols, images, concepts, ideas, truths, views, methods, practices, milestones, goals, teachings; thus acting more and more in accord with the first truth: dependent origination, relativity, causality, not complete non-existence / non-causality / non-functionality.
T2: The second truth covers acting without acting in absolute terms, without any grasping / attachment / apprehension / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes about anything involved – subject, relation / action, objects –; without falling into any extreme or middle (ex. non-existence / nothingness / mere-emptiness / nihilism); not accepting / affirming / seeking / adding / improving / doing in absolute terms, not rejecting / negating / abandoning / eliminating / subtracting / stopping / not-doing anything in absolute terms, just conventionally / relatively / inter-subjectively; without any di-vision between the three spheres; thus more and more the second truth: the emptiness of inherent existence of all dharmas.
U2T: Acting more and more in accord with the inconceivable Union of the Two Truths [U2T] is acting more and more in accord with valid useful conventional truths, methods, goals … but without grasping at anything (ex. subject / cause, relation / action / causality / production, object / effect) as if inherently existing and with inherently existing characteristics / properties / attributes / qualities / relations / opposition / actions, without any attachment / fixation / absolutes.
Examples:
existing without existing, being without being, having without having,
acting without acting without any attachment / fixation / absolutes, acquiring without acquiring,
arising without arising, changing without changing, moving / relaxing / resting without moving / relaxing / resting, ceasing without ceasing,
seeing / perceiving without seeing / perceiving,
apprehending without apprehending,
constructing without constructing thoughts,
hoping without hoping, desiring without desiring, fearing without fearing, ignoring without ignoring,
understanding without understanding,
knowing without knowing, finding without finding,
paying attention to without paying attention to, standing in without standing in, settling down on without settling down on,
entertaining without entertain the notion of the three spheres,
producing / causing / making / occasioning without producing / causing / making / occasioning,
generating without generating the motivations of bodhicitta,
practicing without practicing the six paramitas,
giving without giving, guarding without guarding morality, cultivating without cultivating patience, making without making effort,
meditating / contemplating without meditating / contemplating, cultivating without cultivating wisdom,
perfecting without perfecting, completing without completing,
mastering without mastering, being skilled in without being skilled in,
training without training, teaching without teaching, leading / guiding without leading / guiding, establishing without establishing,
purifying / defiling without purifying / defiling the five aggregates, accomplishing without accomplishing,
incorporating without incorporating, reaching without reaching, realising without realising,
experiencing without experiencing, actualising without actualising, illuminating without illuminating,
awakening without awakening, unifying without unifying,
thinking without thinking, conceptualising without conceptualising, differentiating without differentiating,
labeling without labeling, designating without designating, characterising without characterising, defining without defining,
separating without separating, joining without joining, unifying without unifying,
comparing without comparing, ranking without ranking, accumulating without accumulating,
accepting / affirming / seeking / adding / doing without accepting / affirming / seeking / adding / doing,
rejecting / negating / abandoning / eliminating / stopping / subtracting / not-doing without rejecting / negating / abandoning / eliminating / stopping / not-doing,
composing without composing, liberating without liberating.The important point is that in Reality as it is, in awakening / enlightenment, there are still valid useful conventional tools / adapted skillful means / qualities / virtues / words / symbols / images / concepts / thoughts / feelings / ideas / truths / views / methods / practices / goals / three spheres – subject / beings / relations / activities, objects / phenomena – / body, speech & mind … that can be used without being used to help all sentient beings still stuck in samsara because of their ignorance of the inconceivable true nature & dynamic of Reality as it is here & now [U2T / U3S / Uopp / U2T-2T / Middle Way free from all extremes & middle]. Emptiness does not deny conventional truths & activities; on the contrary the two truths are primordially inseparable / interdependent / in harmony. The same for samsara & nirvana.
The three spheres: ex.
i. The subject / actor / goer / perceiver / knower / acquirer / owner / characteristic,
ii. The relation / action / going / perceiving / knowing / acquiring / having / characterisation,
iii. The object / result / destination / perceived / known / acquired / possessions / karma / 5 aggregates / body & speech & mind / characterised.
Generalisations:
Whenever it is possible the comments of each section are expressed into a more global context.
So they always cover more than just what is said in the various translations.
The goal is to make the Big Picture more visible.
Note: All comments within (i.e. …) or [...] are from the commentator (me), not the translators.)
Summary – To understand this Sutra, one has to analyze it with the eye of the Union of the Two Truths [U2T]: the Inseparability / Interdependence / Harmony / Union of appearances / tools / adapted skillful means (concepts, views, methods, practices, activities, milestones, goals) [T1] <==> and emptiness of inherent existence [T2]. All Prajnaparamita Sutras are about perceiving / knowing and acting in accord with this.
(i.e. Résumé: Bodhisattvas study without studying the various Buddhist teachings, use without using virtuous adapted skillful means, teach without teaching [T1], but always without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions [T2] [U2T], without falling for any extreme or middle, without any duality / di-vision between subject & object & action, cause & effect & causality, right & wrong, movement & rest, samsara & nirvana; without accepting / affirming / seeking / adding / doing anything in absolute terms, without rejecting / negating / abandoning / eliminating / subtracting / not-doing anything in absolute terms, just conventionally / relatively / inter-subjectively – as possible temporary adapted skillful means [T1]; thus more and more in accord with the Union of the inconceivable Two Truths [U2T].
"They view all dharmas as emptiness [T2] and they do not give up on all beings [T1] [U2T]."
Thus in accord with the inconceivable Union of the Two Truths [U2T]:
Union of valid conventional relative appearances / tools [T1] and emptiness of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
(i.e. From the introduction – The Structure of the Eighteen Thousand:
According to that structure, there are five major divisions [I–V] and eleven sections [(1)–(11)].
-
I. Introduction: Chapter 1 ⇐ You are here!
-
-
II. Brief Exegesis: Chapter 2
Following the introduction there is the single statement by the Lord at the beginning of chapter 2.:
"Here, Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all dharmas in all forms
should make an effort at the perfection of wisdom."
This says it all in brief.
The reader should understand that the Lord remains silent after saying this.
-
-
III. Intermediate Exegesis: Chapters 2-21
Then, beginning the intermediate exegesis there is Śāriputra's question (2.2),
"How then, Lord, should bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all dharmas in all forms
make an effort at the Perfection of Wisdom?"
followed by the Lord's response.
-
Śāriputra's inquiry raises the following questions:
- What is a bodhisattva and a great being?
- What is it to want fully to awaken to all dharmas in all forms?
- What is "making an effort"?
- And, what is the Perfection of Wisdom?
-
Śāriputra's inquiry thus introduces the reader to
(i) bodhisattva great beings,
(ii) all dharmas,
(iii) the Perfection of Wisdom,
(iv) full awakening, and
(v) making an effort — that is, actually putting the Perfection of Wisdom into practice.
These five provide the outline of the intermediate exegesis.”
-
Informing both the Lord's statement and Śāriputra's question is the important word want — a word that signals a bodhisattva's compassionate aspiration because it references a bodhisattva's motivation. Hence, what truly informs the statement is bodhicitta ("the thought of awakening"), a technical term for a special altruism.
-
This section has two parts:
(1) the explanation for and by Śāriputra that goes from chapter 2 through chapter 5 and
(2) the explanation for and by Subhūti, from chapter 6 through chapter 21.
This two-part section corresponds to the first chapter of the Eight Thousand (8k).”
-
-
IV. The detailed exegesis of the opening statement goes from chapters 22 to 82.”
-
It comprises an explanation of the conceptual and non-conceptual Perfection of Wisdom in
a detailed exposition based on relative [T1] and ultimate truth [T2] [U2T]
for the sake of those who understand from a longer explanation.
-
The explanation is subdivided into
(3) an explanation for the head god Śatakratu (chapter 22) and
(4) an explanation by Subhūti (chapters 23–32).
(5) Then there is an explanation that includes an exchange with Maitreya (chapter 33) and
(6–9) three more sections associated with Subhūti
and one with Śatakratu.
(10) A second explanation for Maitreya is chapter 83, titled "The Categorization of a Bodhisattva's Training."
-
-
V. Summaries
– Chapter 84 is the summary in verse for Subhūti that circulates separately as The Verse Summary of the Jewel Qualities. In the Eighteen Thousand it is not divided into chapters.
(11) Chapters 85 and 86 are a summary of the earlier chapters in the form of a story about Sadāprarudita's quest to find his teacher Dharmodgata and learn the Perfection of Wisdom, and the final chapter is a short one in which the Lord entrusts the Perfection of Wisdom to Ānanda and the retinue rejoices.)
s.1
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (18k) is one version of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras that developed in South and South-Central Asia in tandem with the Eight Thousand version (8k), probably during the first five hundred years of the Common Era. It contains many of the passages in the oldest extant Long Perfection of Wisdom text (the Gilgit manuscript in Sanskrit), and is similar in structure to the other versions of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras (the One Hundred Thousand (100k) and Twenty-Five Thousand (25k)) in Tibetan in the Kangyur.
While setting forth the sacred fundamental doctrines of Buddhist practice with veneration [T1 - useful dependently arisen appearances / tools / adapted skillful means], it simultaneously exhorts the reader to reject them as an object of attachment (to not grasp at them as if absolutes) [T2 - emptiness of inherent existence] [U2T],
its recurring message being that all dharmas without exception lack any intrinsic nature [T2 - emptiness] [even if they are conventionally dependently co-arisen and relatively functional / useful] [T1] [U2T].
(i.e. Bodhisattvas adopt the Middle Way free from all extremes & middle in everything – not accepting not rejecting anything in absolute terms –: Ex. While not rejecting useful traditional Buddhist concepts, truths / views, methods / practices, milestones / goals, Bodhisattvas do not accept them as absolutes either. They learn them, use them, teach them, conventionally / relatively, but never as independent / universal / absolute / inherently existing.)
s.2
The sūtra can be divided loosely into three parts:
an introductory section that sets the scene,
a long central section,
and three concluding chapters that consist of two important summaries of the long central section.
The first of these (chapter 84) is in verse and also circulates as a separate work called The Verse Summary of the Jewel Qualities (Toh 13).
The second summary is in the form of the story of Sadāprarudita and his guru Dharmodgata (chapters 85 and 86),
after which the text concludes with the Buddha entrusting the work to his close companion Ānanda.
00. Introduction
In the introduction to his translation of The Transcendent Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Lines (10k), 1 Gyurme Dorje has given a clear account of the Tibetan tradition's explanation
(1) of the origin of the Perfection of Wisdom in the words of the Buddha on Gṛdhrākūṭa Hill in Rājagṛha some 2,500 years ago,
(2) of the way the Perfection of Wisdom became extant in our world through the efforts of Nāgārjuna, and
(3) of the Perfection of Wisdom's place in the vast corpus of the Buddha's words as "the middle turning of the wheel of the Dharma."
(i.e. All three turnings of the Wheel of Dharma cover the inseparability / interdependence / harmony / Union of the Two Truths [U2T] – conventionally dependently co-arisen relatively functional appearances [T1] merely labeled / imputed by the mind and emptiness of inherent existence [T2] – but each turning of the wheel insists on one truth or the other. The first turning insists on dependent origination / causality / karma [T1]; the second turning insists on the emptiness of all dharmas [T2]; the third turning on the Buddha-nature and the inherent qualities [T1]. All turnings consider all dharmas to be like illusions, reflections, mirages, dreams, echos, magical tricks: 'There, but not there.' Meaning not really existent, not completely non-existent, not both together, not neither. Appearing but empty, empty but still conventionally dependently co-appearing and relatively functional. Meaning indescribable / inconceivable.)
He has also given a brief account of the conclusions arrived at by the Western research tradition, which suggest that the Perfection of Wisdom may have originated in the south of the Indian subcontinent, perhaps the Andhra region, but more likely first began circulating in the far northwest of the Indian subcontinent. A prophecy in the text translated into English here provides some support for this conclusion. In chapter 39 the Buddha says to Śāriputra, "with the passing away of the Tathāgata this Perfection of Wisdom will circulate in the southern region," and "from the country Vartani [the east] this deep Perfection of Wisdom will circulate into the northern region." A comparison of early fragments of a Perfection of Wisdom in the Gāndhārī language, written in Kharoṣṭhī script and dated ca. 75 ᴄᴇ, with an early translation of a Perfection of Wisdom text into Chinese by Lokakṣema in the middle of the second century ᴄᴇ has led the Western research tradition to the tentative conclusion that the Perfection of Wisdom first circulated in written form in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent some 2,000 years ago.
About the Perfection of Wisdom Manuscripts
i.2
The text translated here into English is the one found in the Degé Kangyur with reference to the other Kangyur editions contained in the Comparative Edition (Tib dpe bsdur ma). Both the original handwritten Indic manuscript (or manuscripts) on which the Tibetan translation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (18k) was based and the original handwritten manuscript of the earliest Tibetan translation are lost. There is, however, a large, nearly complete birch bark manuscript of a Perfection of Wisdom text written in Sanskrit in a Gilgit-Bāmiyān type alphabet that shows surprising similarities to the alphabet later used for the translation of Indian Buddhist texts into Tibetan. Stefano Zacchetti 2 calls the birch bark manuscript, unearthed in northwest India in Gilgit in 1931, the "[Larger] Prajñāpāramitā from Gilgit," and he dates it to "between [the] 6th and the beginning of the 7th century." It is not misleading to say it is similar in the main to the Tibetan translation that is the basis of the English translation presented here. It is not, however, exactly the same, and it certainly was not the Indic manuscript on which the Tibetan translation of the Eighteen Thousand (18k) was based.
i.3
Besides the Gilgit manuscript there are the Śatasāhasrikā (Hundred Thousand) (100k) and Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā (Twenty-Five Thousand) (25k) groups of Indic manuscripts, mainly originating from collections in Nepal that are similar in many respects to the Tibetan text that is the basis of the English translation presented here. There are a considerable number of these relatively recent manuscripts, dating at the earliest to the seventeenth century. Pratāpacandra Ghoṣa published a heroic Sanskrit edition (1902–13) of the first section (khaṇḍa) of the Hundred Thousand (100k) that runs to 1,676 pages! Takayasu Kimura (2009–14) has published the Sanskrit of the Hundred Thousand (100k) equivalent up to about chapter 32 of the 87 chapters translated here (up to halfway through the sixth of the twelve volumes of the Tibetan translation of the Hundred Thousand in the Kangyur). The Hundred Thousand (100k) is obviously much longer than the Eighteen Thousand (100k) but is similar in many respects.
i.4
Kimura has also published a complete Sanskrit edition of Haribhadra's version of the Twenty-Five Thousand (25k) (1986–2009). This version is one of the two bases (together with the Gilgit manuscript) for Edward Conze's (1984) magisterial translation called The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom. Kimura's Sanskrit edition of the Twenty-Five Thousand (25k) is also similar in many respects to the Tibetan translation of the Eighteen Thousand (18k) that is the basis of the English translation presented here.
The Title: Eighteen Thousand (18k)
i.5
According to Stefano Zacchetti, Bodhiruci (fl. beginning of the sixth century), a translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese, is the first to explicitly mention an Eighteen Thousand (18k). 3 Bodhiruci lists it, among other texts, as one of the three sizes of what he calls the Larger Perfection of Wisdom. We have not determined with certainty if Bodhiruci meant Eighteen Thousand (18k) as an actual title of a Perfection of Wisdom text or simply as a description of the length of a text.
i.6
In A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka, 4 the first entry is Xuanzang's huge Dabanruoboluomi jing (Long Perfection of Wisdom, finished ca. 659). A text in fifty-nine fascicles and thirty-one chapters is included as part of it. Based on the K'yuen-lu (Nañjio's transliteration) written in 1287, which compares Perfection of Wisdom works in the Tibetan canon and the Chinese canon, says it "agrees with the Tibetan Pragñāpāramitā in 18,000 ślokas (18k)." 5
i.7
We have not been able to read Xuanzang's translation, so we cannot say with certainty whether or not the name Eighteen Thousand is found there, but speaking generally, in Chinese Buddhism bibliographical material is organized based on the person (the translator and so on) rather than genre or title, certainly after Fei Changfang's Lidai sanbao ji (Record of the Three Treasures throughout Successive Dynasties, published in 597). It therefore remains to be conclusively determined whether the name Eighteen Thousand is actually used by Xuanzang to identify this part of his long translation or whether it is, again, just a description of the length of part of a longer book.
i.8
In the Denkarma, the catalog of Buddhist works translated into Tibetan compiled in the early years of the ninth century by the translators Paltsek (dpal brtsegs) and Lui Wangpo (klu'i dbang po), the Eighteen Thousand (18k) comes third in the first subdivision of Mahāyāna sūtras. Later the two translators include in their list of commentaries on Mahāyāna sūtras The Long Explanation of the One Hundred (100k), Twenty-Five (25k), and Eighteen Thousand (18k) (Toh 3808). So, we can say with certainty that a Perfection of Wisdom text in Tibetan identified by the name Eighteen Thousand (18k) existed by about the year 820.
i.9
Edward Conze gives the name Aṣṭādaśaprajñāpāramitā (The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines (18k)) to the later part of the Gilgit manuscript (starting from folio 188). 6 Other scholars have followed him, describing fragments of Perfection of Wisdom texts that correspond to parts of the Gilgit manuscript as fragments of the Eighteen Thousand. But Zacchetti persuasively argues that Conze has made a mistake. He says Conze takes the early part of the Gilgit manuscript to reflect the text of the Twenty-Five Thousand and the later part the Eighteen Thousand because of an inconsequential mistake on the part of the Gilgit scribe. Zacchetti says the scribe accidentally wrote chapter 48 instead of 38 at the end of the chapter following chapter 37. Not all the chapters in the Gilgit manuscript have both titles and numbers. Conze noticed that the next chapter in the Gilgit manuscript after the chapter mistakenly numbered 48 that has both a title and number is chapter 50, with the title Avinivartanīyaliṅganirdeśa (Teaching the signs of irreversibility). Conze also noticed that it corresponded to chapter 50 in the Tibetan translation of the Eighteen Thousand, which has the same title (Teaching the signs of irreversibility). This is the reason, Zacchetti argues, that Conze mistakenly said that the scribe "calmly chang[ed] from the version in 25.000 Lines to the version in 18.000 Lines (at f. 187/188) without telling anybody about it." 7 Zacchetti concludes that the Gilgit manuscript in fact reflects "a single version of the Larger PP" and says that trying to decide if it is a version of the Twenty-Five Thousand (25k) or Eighteen Thousand (18k) is "a futile question." 8
i.10
The research of Zacchetti and other modern scholars 9 presupposes that the Eighteen Thousand (8k) begins with an original compiler and undergoes changes over time. The shorter Eight Thousand (8k) represents an earlier (more original) version, and the different longer texts, including the Eighteen Thousand (18k), reflect later changes. Heuristically, given that an origin is being investigated, this is a helpful presupposition. The research, however, has not identified an original, and one suspects never will. If it finally proves to be the case that no original can be identified it will corroborate the view set forth in the Eighteen Thousand itself, that a sacred book or tradition, when sought for in reality, is nowhere to be found.
The Structure of the Eighteen Thousand
(i.e. From the introduction – The Structure of the Eighteen Thousand: ⇐ You are here!
According to that structure, there are five major divisions [I–V] and eleven sections [(1)–(11)].
-
I. Introduction: Chapter 1
-
-
II. Brief Exegesis: Chapter 2
Following the introduction there is the single statement by the Lord at the beginning of chapter 2.:
"Here, Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all dharmas in all forms
should make an effort at the perfection of wisdom."
This says it all in brief.
The reader should understand that the Lord remains silent after saying this.
-
-
III. Intermediate Exegesis: Chapters 2-21
Then, beginning the intermediate exegesis there is Śāriputra's question (2.2),
"How then, Lord, should bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all dharmas in all forms
make an effort at the Perfection of Wisdom?"
followed by the Lord's response.
-
Śāriputra's inquiry raises the following questions:
- What is a bodhisattva and a great being?
- What is it to want fully to awaken to all dharmas in all forms?
- What is "making an effort"?
- And, what is the Perfection of Wisdom?
-
Śāriputra's inquiry thus introduces the reader to
(i) bodhisattva great beings,
(ii) all dharmas,
(iii) the Perfection of Wisdom,
(iv) full awakening, and
(v) making an effort — that is, actually putting the Perfection of Wisdom into practice.
These five provide the outline of the intermediate exegesis.”
-
Informing both the Lord's statement and Śāriputra's question is the important word want — a word that signals a bodhisattva's compassionate aspiration because it references a bodhisattva's motivation. Hence, what truly informs the statement is bodhicitta ("the thought of awakening"), a technical term for a special altruism.
-
This section has two parts:
(1) the explanation for and by Śāriputra that goes from chapter 2 through chapter 5 and
(2) the explanation for and by Subhūti, from chapter 6 through chapter 21.
This two-part section corresponds to the first chapter of the Eight Thousand (8k).”
-
-
IV. The detailed exegesis of the opening statement goes from chapters 22 to 82.”
-
It comprises an explanation of the conceptual and non-conceptual Perfection of Wisdom in
a detailed exposition based on relative [T1] and ultimate truth [T2] [U2T]
for the sake of those who understand from a longer explanation.
-
The explanation is subdivided into
(3) an explanation for the head god Śatakratu (chapter 22) and
(4) an explanation by Subhūti (chapters 23–32).
(5) Then there is an explanation that includes an exchange with Maitreya (chapter 33) and
(6–9) three more sections associated with Subhūti and one with Śatakratu.
(10) A second explanation for Maitreya is chapter 83, titled "The Categorization of a Bodhisattva's Training."
-
-
V. Summaries
– Chapter 84 is the summary in verse for Subhūti that circulates separately as The Verse Summary of the Jewel Qualities. In the Eighteen Thousand it is not divided into chapters.
(11) Chapters 85 and 86 are a summary of the earlier chapters in the form of a story about Sadāprarudita's quest to find his teacher Dharmodgata and learn the Perfection of Wisdom, and the final chapter is a short one in which the Lord entrusts the Perfection of Wisdom to Ānanda and the retinue rejoices.)
i.11
Gyurme Dorje has already set forth the structure of a Perfection of Wisdom text based on the Tibetan tradition that privileges The Ornament for the Clear Realizations (Abhisamayālaṃkāra). According to that tradition the Eighteen Thousand (18k), like the Ten Thousand (10k), is one of the six major texts, which is to say the Eighteen Thousand makes a presentation of all eight clear realizations (abhisamaya) set forth in the Ornament for the Clear Realizations.
The Eighteen Thousand (18k) also includes as its eighty-fourth chapter another of the six major texts, the verse summary of the entire Perfection of Wisdom that circulates as a separate text called The Verse Summary of the Jewel Qualities (Ratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā).
It also includes as its eighty-third chapter the Categorization of a Bodhisattva's Training, one of the important eleven minor Perfection of Wisdom texts that circulates separately under the name The Maitreya Chapter or The Questions of Maitreya.
i.12
By contrast, what follows is the structure based on Vasubandhu's or Daṃṣṭrāsena's Long Explanation of the One Hundred (100k), Twenty-Five (25k), and Eighteen Thousand (18k). Butön Rinchen Drup (1290–1364), the famous scholar and editor of the Kangyur, characterizes this as one of the four accepted ways to approach the Perfection of Wisdom corpus, and for the fourteenth century writer Dölpopa Sherap Gyaltsen it is the only way.
i.13
According to that structure, there are five major divisions [I–V]
and eleven sections [(1)–(11)].
I. Introduction
i.14
[Chapter 1] After the statement of the place and time ("Thus did I hear at one time. The Lord dwelt at Rājagṛha on Gṛdhrākūṭa Hill . . .") and the list of śrāvakas and bodhisattvas in the retinue and their excellent qualities, the Lord Buddha, the Blessed One, sets up his seat and sits in meditation. He displays miraculous powers — emitting light that goes to the ends of the cosmos, shaking the cosmos, and creating a magical canopy of flowers above his head. The light illuminates buddhas and their retinues in different worlds in the ten directions, prompting bodhisattva students to come to attend the discourse, thereby completing the huge retinue.
II. Brief Exegesis
i.15
Following the introduction there is the single statement by the Lord at the beginning of chapter 2:
"Here, Śāriputra, (i.e. the single, all-encompassing statement – the 'single thought'.)
_
bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all dharmas in all forms
should make an effort at the perfection of wisdom [U2T]."
(i.e. Pure perception / cognition & pure actions: Bodhisattvas should always combined conventional relative virtuous activities (all actions of the body, speech & mind) / perceptions / feelings / concepts / symbols / images / ideas / thoughts / views / methods / practices / goals / tools / adapted skillful means <==> with more and more wisdom / genuine-emptiness [U2T]; thus acting more and more in accord with the inconceivable true & dynamic nature of Reality as it is, with the inconceivable Union of the Two Truths about all dharmas [U2T / U2T-3S / U2T-opp / U2T-2T].
Why?
Because, in Reality as it is, everything is like an inconceivable Union of being empty of inherent existence [T2], not really existent / caused / functional <==> because of being conventionally dependently co-arisen (interdependent) relatively functional ever-changing impermanent appearances / tools / adapted skillful means [T1], merely labeled / imputed by the mind in dependence of its conditioning / karma, not completely non-existent / non-caused / non-functional. And vice versa; one aspect / truth implies / proves / enables the other (<==>) [U2T]. Everything is like illusions, reflections, mirages, dreams, magical tricks: 'There, but not there.' [U2T]. Not really existent / caused / functional, not completely non-existent / non-caused / non-functional, not both together, not neither, and there is no fifth; not 'this', not 'non-this', not both together, not neither, and there is no fifth – for whatever 'this' is. Meaning that everything is indescribable / inconceivable for our flawed dualistic conceptual conditioned ordinary mind(s); it has to be personally spontaneously non-dualistically non-conceptually non-conditionally perceived / realised / experience in the here & now. Meaning there is no independent / universal / absolute / inherently existing basis for any discrimination / differentiation / ranking / judgment / acceptation / rejection in absolute terms, just conventionally / relatively / inter-subjectively if it helps someone to get closer to the inconceivable liberating Truth [U2T]. In that sense everything is primordially equal, pure, perfect, divine, complete, free, enlightened, the inseparable three pure kayas, the true Buddha.)
This says it all in brief.
The reader should understand that the Lord remains silent after saying this.
III. Intermediate Exegesis
i.16
Then, beginning the intermediate exegesis there is Śāriputra's question (2.2),
"How then, Lord, should bodhisattva great beings who want to fully awaken to all dharmas in all forms
make an effort at the Perfection of Wisdom?"
followed by the Lord's response.
Śāriputra's inquiry raises the following questions:
What is a bodhisattva and a great being?
What is it to want fully to awaken to all dharmas in all forms?
What is "making an effort"?
And, what is the Perfection of Wisdom?
Śāriputra's inquiry thus introduces the reader to
(i) bodhisattva great beings,
(ii) all dharmas,
(iii) the Perfection of Wisdom,
(iv) full awakening, and
(v) making an effort — that is, actually putting the Perfection of Wisdom into practice.
These five provide the outline of the intermediate exegesis.
i.17
Informing both the Lord's statement and Śāriputra's question is the important word want — a word that signals a bodhisattva's compassionate aspiration because it references a bodhisattva's motivation. Hence, what truly informs the statement is bodhicitta ("the thought of awakening"), a technical term for a special altruism.
This section has two parts:
(1) the explanation for and by Śāriputra that goes from chapter 2 through chapter 5 and
(2) the explanation for and by Subhūti, from chapter 6 through chapter 21.
This two-part section corresponds to the first chapter of the Eight Thousand (8k).
IV. Detailed Exegesis
i.18
The detailed exegesis of the opening statement goes from chapters 22 to 82.
It comprises an explanation of the conceptual and non-conceptual Perfection of Wisdom in
—————————————————————————————————
a detailed exposition based on relative [T1] and ultimate truth [T2] [U2T]
—————————————————————————————————
(i.e. To understand this Sutra, one has to analyze it with the eye of the Union of the Two Truths [U2T]: the Inseparability / Interdependence / Harmony / Union of appearances / tools / adapted skillful means [T1] <==> and emptiness of inherent existence [T2]. All Prajnaparamita Sutras are about perceiving and acting in accord with this.)
for the sake of those who understand from a longer explanation.
The explanation is subdivided into
(3) an explanation for the head god Śatakratu (chapter 22) and
(4) an explanation by Subhūti (chapters 23–32).
(5) Then there is an explanation that includes an exchange with Maitreya (chapter 33) and
(6–9) three more sections associated with Subhūti and one with Śatakratu.
(10) A second explanation for Maitreya is chapter 83, titled "The Categorization of a Bodhisattva's Training."
Conze and Iida (1968) call it Maitreya's Questions.
It is included in the Twenty-Five Thousand and the Lhasa edition of the Hundred Thousand but not the Degé edition of the Hundred Thousand.
V. Summaries
i.19
Chapter 84 is the summary in verse for Subhūti that circulates separately as The Verse Summary of the Jewel Qualities. In the Eighteen Thousand it is not divided into chapters.
(11) Chapters 85 and 86 are a summary of the earlier chapters in the form of a story about Sadāprarudita's quest to find his teacher Dharmodgata and learn the Perfection of Wisdom, and the final chapter is a short one in which the Lord entrusts the Perfection of Wisdom to Ānanda and the retinue rejoices.
What Does the Eighteen Thousand Say?
i.20
In essence, the Eighteen Thousand (18k) says that
attachment to sacred texts and sacred traditions
is the greatest impediment to awakening.
(i.e. Bodhisattvas should use [T1] without using sacred texts and sacred traditions, but without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
For a modern reader the major difficulty when reading the Eighteen Thousand (18k) is therefore the lack of knowledge of the specific sacred texts and traditions the Eighteen Thousand (18k) references.
i.21
We have seen that the opening chapter of the Eighteen Thousand (18k) sets the scene and describes the retinue, in which, we are told, are many worthy ones as well as bodhisattvas. Worthy ones are those who, by definition, have reached the final goal explained in the fundamental texts that record the Buddha Śākyamuni's teachings for those who seek their own liberation. Bodhisattvas are those who privilege the teachings given by him to and for bodhisattvas in Mahāyāna texts like the Eighteen Thousand (18k).
i.22
[Chapter 2] Both the fundamental texts and the Mahāyāna texts like the Eighteen Thousand (18k) make a presentation of the dharmas [T1]. In the English translation we have sometimes left the word dharma untranslated, sometimes when appropriate rendered it "phenomenon," and sometimes when appropriate "attribute" 10 or "quality." When it is capitalized, Dharma means the doctrine, as in "turn the wheel of the Dharma." The doctrine can be either the books (words) or the meanings, in particular the meanings as they are found in the mindstreams of those who have a proper understanding.
i.23
The dharmas set forth in the fundamental texts are basic to an understanding of the tradition that the author of the Eighteen Thousand (18k) treats as sacred. In the fundamental texts these dharmas are in two categories:
the dharmas of defilement (saṃkleśa) and
the dharmas of purification (vyavadāna).
Included in the former are the first two of the four noble truths, which comprise, among others, the aggregates, sense fields, constituents, contacts, feelings arising from contacts, and the twelve links of dependent origination. All describe the ordinary practitioner (the so-called "suffering" being).
i.24
Included in the purification dharmas that are covered by the last two noble truths are the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening (ending with the eightfold noble path), the three gateways to liberation (emptiness and so on), and the eight results of the practice (beginning with the stream enterer and ending with the worthy one). They describe the state of the practitioner progressing toward the goal and when the goal is reached. Worthy ones, the first part of the intended audience of the Eighteen Thousand (18k), do not need to be taught these dharmas. Just the word rūpa ("form"), the material reality that locates a particular individual, at the beginning of a list is enough for a worthy one to know what is intended. Thus, the Heart Sūtra says "no form . . . no eyes . . . no truth of suffering," 11 and so on.
i.25
Modern readers unfamiliar with the sacred tradition set forth in the fundamental texts can read, for example, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi's In the Buddha's Words. Alternatively, the fundamental texts can be learned from the Eighteen Thousand (18k), which presents them in a very clear and accessible manner.
But a modern reader unfamiliar with the dharmas set forth in the fundamental texts can get confused, because
at the same time that the Eighteen Thousand (18k) is setting them (the traditional dharmas) forth
with veneration [T1 - valid useful conventional / relative tools],
it is exhorting the reader to reject them as an object of attachment [T2 - emptiness of inherent existence] [U2T].
(i.e. Bodhisattvas should use [T1] without using conventional dharmas, without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
i.26
Thus, chapter 3 of the Eighteen Thousand (18k) begins with the monk Śāriputra asking,
"How then should bodhisattva great beings practice the Perfection of Wisdom?"
(i.e. Bodhisattvas should learn / practice / teach [T1] without learning / practicing / teaching, without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
to which the Lord responds,
"They do not see [inherently existing] form.
Similarly, they do not see [inherently existing] feeling, perception, volitional factors, or consciousness either [just conventional / relative / inter-subjective ones]."
(i.e. Bodhisattvas should perceive / know [T1] without perceiving / knowing, without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
"They do not see" means that they reject it as an object of attachment.
It does not mean that the aggregates, and so on, are not there (i.e. Those dharmas are not completely non-existent / non-caused / non-functional. That would be falling into the extreme of non-existence / non-functionality / nothingness / nihilism.)
or are not something they should know. (i.e. Bodhisattvas should act / perceive / know [T1] without acting / perceiving / knowing, without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
Worthy ones obviously know the aggregates and so on, because it is the basic teaching of the truth of suffering, the first words the Buddha Śākyamuni uttered to the five companions when he returned to the Deer Park outside Vārāṇasī after reaching awakening.
i.27
The Eighteen Thousand (18k) does not only focus on the fundamental Buddhist teachings and caution the reader to avoid taking them as objects of attachment [T2], but it also references the sacred teachings of the Eighteen Thousand (18k) and other Mahāyāna texts and stresses that bodhisattvas, the second part of the retinue described in the Introduction chapter, should avoid attachment toward them [T2]. It does this first by expanding the list of basic purification dharmas to include all the possible qualities of bodhisattvas, among which are "the four detailed and thorough knowledges, the four fearlessnesses, the five undiminished clairvoyances, the six perfections, the six principles of being liked, the seven riches, the eight ways great persons think, the nine places beings live, the ten tathāgata powers, the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha, great love, and great compassion."
i.28
The second way the Eighteen Thousand (18k) says that
the sacred Mahāyāna tradition [T1] must be rejected as an object of attachment [T2] [U2T]
(i.e. Bodhisattvas should use [T1] without using sacred texts and sacred traditions, without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
is by negating the mental representations (the ideas or names) of the defilement and purification dharmas.
The recurring message of the Eighteen Thousand (18k) is that
all dharmas without exception lack any intrinsic nature (svabhāva) [T2]
[but are still conventionally dependently co-appearing relatively functional valid useful appearances / tools / adapted skillful means [T1] [U2T].
(i.e. Bodhisattvas should use [T1] without using those dharmas, without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
A Mahāyāna practitioner — a worthy one or an advanced bodhisattva — who has learned this lesson sees dharmas as they are supposed to appear, as lacking any intrinsic nature [T2] and with only a nominal or conventional reality [T1] [U2T]. This, and the sacred tradition that teaches it, can become an object of attachment as much as anything else. To "settle down on" (abhiniviś) something is to be negatively attached to it.
i.29
Even though the texts, practices, and results of the fundamental and the Mahāyāna traditions [T1]
are equally rejected as objects of attachment [T2] [U2T],
the Eighteen Thousand (18k) extols the Mahāyāna tradition as most excellent for its wide range and concomitant benefits [T1],
(i.e. Bodhisattvas should use [T1] without using sacred texts and sacred traditions, without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
and for undercutting itself, as it were, by extending the analysis of the person (the selflessness of a person understood by those who know the basic dharmas taught in the fundamental texts) to all phenomena.
The Eighteen Thousand says that reliquaries, statues, books, practices, knowledge,
and anything wholesome and beneficial are good [T1],
but only to the extent that they do not become objects of attachment [T2] [U2T].
(i.e. Bodhisattvas should use [T1] without using reliquaries, statues, books, practices, knowledge, and anything wholesome and beneficial, without any grasping / attachment / obsession / fixation / reification / reference points / absolutes & oppositions. Without any attachment / fixation because they are all empty of inherent existence [T2] [U2T].)
It also preaches the value of skillful means for benefiting others in whatever way is helpful to them. The Eighteen Thousand (18k) says of itself that it is special, as a book, to the extent that the knowledge it conveys is the source of all that is beneficial. But if, as a book, or even as the knowledge the book conveys, it becomes an object of attachment, it results in the exact opposite of what, in its own terms, it preaches. When the Eighteen Thousand (18k) praises itself and says that even writing out one word of it is more beneficial by far than the words of the fundamental texts or the wisdom of the worthy ones, it is not setting forth some new tradition that transcends the problem of attachment.
SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTERS – SEE PART II and III –
For the Summary and the Introduction 00 – See Part I
For the résumés of chapters 01-42 – See Part II
For the résumés of chapters 41-87 – See Part III
To access all chapters on the blog – See at the end of this page.
Access to other chapters on the Blog:
(Work in progress. Empty files means they are not done yet.)
Chapter 1 – Introduction — Everything teaches the Perfection of Wisdom.
Chapter 2 – Production of the Thought — Bodhisattvas should train in the perfection of wisdom, in Reality as it is.
Chapter 3 – Designation — How to train in the perfection of wisdom?
Chapter 4 – Equal to the Unequal — This perfection of wisdom is the perfection equal to the unequaled.
Chapter 5 – Tongue — Gaining forbearance for dharmas that are not produced.
Chapter 6 – Subhūti — Perceiving / acting / practicing / teaching the perfection of wisdom without apprehending anything.
Chapter 7 – Entry into flawlessness — Flawlessly practicing the perfection of wisdom (R)
Chapter 8 – The Religious Mendicant Śreṇika — Practicing the perfection of wisdom by way of no causal sign.
Chapter 9 – Causal Signs — Apprehending neither dharma nor non-dharma, neither appearance nor emptiness.
Chapter 10 – Illusion-like — Practicing using skillful means.
Chapter 11 – Embarrassment — Training without training in the inconceivable basis of Reality.
Chapter 12 – Elimination of Views — Transcending all thoughts, conceptualisation, ideas, views.
Chapter 13 – The Six Perfections — Why are bodhisattvas called 'great beings'?
Chapter 14 – Neither Bound nor Freed — Neither Bound nor Freed. (R)
Chapter 15 – Meditative Stabilization — The Great Vehicle: 6 perfections, 18 emptinesses, 108 meditative stabilizations.
Chapter 16 – Dhāraṇī Gateway — More dharmas of the Great Vehicle.
Chapter 17 – Level Purification — The ten stages.
Chapter 18 – The Exposition of Going Forth in the Great Vehicle — Beyond movement / change and rest / standing.
Chapter 19 – Surpassing the World — The Great Vehicle surpasses the apparent world.
Chapter 20 – Not Two — All dharmas – including the two truths – are non-dual: not two, not one, not both together, not neither.
Chapter 21 – Subhūti — Perfecting the Six Perfections, without any attachment / fixation / absolutes about the three spheres.
Chapter 22 – Śatakratu — Standing without standing in the inconceivable – the Buddha-dharma, the perfection of wisdom, the true nature & dynamic of Reality as it is.
Chapter 23 – Hard to Understand – Teaching without teaching the inconceivable, without any attachment / fixation / absolutes – by way of not apprehending anything.
Chapter 24 – Unlimited – Training without training in the inconceivable, great, immeasurable, infinite, limitless – by way of not contradicting the inconceivable true nature of Reality as it is here & now.
Chapter 25 – Second Śatakratu – Showing respect, demonstrating reverence for, showing honor to, worshiping, arranging for the guarding, protection, and safekeeping of Bodhisattvas.
Chapter 26 – Getting Old – The good qualities and benefits Bodhisattvas will get hold of if they practice with skillful means, without apprehending anything.
Chapter 27 – Reliquary – Which of them makes the greater merit?
Chapter 28 – Declaration of the Good Qualities of the Thought of Awakening – Good Qualities II
Chapter 29 – Different Tīrthika Religious Mendicants – Protection against Hindrances.
Chapter 30 – The Benefits of Taking Up and Adoration – Benefits.
Chapter 31 – Physical Remains – Worshiping without Worshiping: I would choose the perfection of wisdom over anything else, but without establishing anything.
Chapter 32 – The Superiority of Merit – Teaching without teaching the perfection of wisdom.
Chapter 33 – Dedication – Bodhisattvas should dedicate their wholesome roots like this by way of not apprehending anything.
Chapter 34 – Perfect Praise of the Quality of Accomplishment – This perfection of wisdom of bodhisattva great beings is a huge perfection.
Chapter 35 – Hells – It is hard to believe in this perfection of wisdom.
Chapter 36 – Teaching The Purity of all Dharmas – The perfection of wisdom is deep, hard to realise, inconceivable.
Chapter 37 – Nobody – Nobody is really teaching without teaching this perfection of wisdom that is perfectly pure.
Chapter 38 – Cannot Be Apprehended – Apprehending / finding without apprehending / finding, without any attachment / fixation / absolutes.
Chapter 39 – The Northern Region – Deep, hard to understand, inconceivable but still a heap of pure jewels.
Chapter 40 – The Work of Māra – Hindrances like grasping at this or that, getting attached to this or that, falling into one extreme or another.
Chapter 41 – Not Complete Because of Māra – Completing despite possible Hindrances.
======================================================================
Chapter 42 – Revealing the World – Revealing the unique suchness of all dharmas.
Chapter 43 – Inconceivable – All dharmas are deep, inconceivable, incomparable, immeasurable, uncountable, and equal to the unequaled.
Chapter 44 – Made Up – This perfection of wisdom is deep, inconceivable, incomparable, immeasurable, uncountable, and equal to the unequaled.
Chapter 45 – A Boat – Assisted by the perfection of wisdom and skillful means.
Chapter 46 – Teaching the Intrinsic Nature of All Dharmas – Pursuing, worshiping, attending on a spiritual friend that could teach without teaching the six perfections, the perfection of wisdom, the intrinsic nature of all dharma.
Chapter 47 – Taming Greed – Thinking carefully about this deep perfection of wisdom.
Chapter 48 – A Presentation of the Bodhisattvas' Training – Reality is deep, hard to behold, hard to understand.
Chapter 49 – Irreversibility – Irreversible Bodhisattvas have entered Reality as it is without apprehending anything.
Chapter 50 – Teaching the Signs of Irreversibility – Irreversible Bodhisattvas have entered Reality as it is without apprehending anything, or rejecting everything.
Chapter 51 – Skillful means – Expressing the unique true dharmic nature of all dharmas [U2T], even though the true nature of dharmas is inexpressible. Using tools / adapted skillful means without apprehending anything.
Chapter 52 – Completion of the Means – Life is like a dream; inconceivable causality / karma formation / defilement & purification; completing the six perfections, and purifying buddhafields.
Chapter 53 – The Prophecy about sister Gaṅgadevī – This sister has laid the groundwork for unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.
Chapter 54 – Teaching the Cultivation of Skillful Means – Cultivating the perfection of wisdom with skillful means, without actualising the very limit of reality (until an inconceivable unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening), without apprehending any absolute, without any attachment / fixation / absolutes.
Chapter 55 – Teaching the Stopping of Thought Construction [in absolute terms] – The perfection of wisdom is beyond all conditioning / karma, all activities, all thought construction.
Chapter 56 – Equal Training – Respecting / supporting our brothers in arms in the Bodhisattva vehicle - whatever levels they are in – all training for the same thing.
Chapter 57 – Practice – Training without training in the perfection of wisdom is training in the highest state of all beings, in a continuous direct awakeness of the indescribable / inconceivable true nature & dynamic of Reality as it is here & now [U2T], of the three spheres, while doing any activity – for the benefits of all beings.
Chapter 58 – Exposition of the Absence of Thought Construction – Not with nor without activities of the body speech & mind: ex. fabrication, perception, cognition, feeling, thought construction, conceptualisation, differentiation, possession, accumulation.
Chapter 59 – Non-attachment – The difficult part is acting / practicing / thinking / realising / teaching [T1] without acting / practicing / thinking / realising / teaching [T2] [U2T], without apprehending anything, without any attachment / fixation / absolutes, without falling into any extreme or middle, without accepting or rejecting anything in absolute terms, without any di-vision between the three spheres – subject, relation / action, object –, or between apparent opposites, or between the two truths.
Chapter 60 – Entrusting – Entrusting this perfection of Wisdom [U2T] to Ānanda.
Chapter 61 – Inexhaustible – Bodhisattvas practice without practicing the perfection of wisdom by getting insight into the true meaning of dependent origination & emptiness [U2T] and accomplishment through the space-like inexhaustible accomplishment [U2T]. Bodhisattvas practice without practicing the perfection of wisdom, the six perfections…, by way of not apprehending any phenomena, without any attachment / fixation / absolutes, thus in accord with the true nature & dynamic of Reality as it is here & now [U2T].
Chapter 62 – Leaping Above Absorption – Practicing without practicing one perfection is practicing all six perfections.
Chapter 63 – Many Inquiries about the Two Dharmas: the Great Vehicle and the knowledge of all aspects.
Chapter 64 – Perfectly Displayed – Suchness / Union of the Two Truths.
Chapter 65 – Worshiping, Serving, and Attending on Spiritual Friends as Skillful Means
Chapter 66 – A Demonstration of Skillful Means – All bodhisattva practices should be done while being aware of the Union of the Two Truths about the three spheres – ex. subject / actor / giver / cause, relation / action / generosity / causality, object result / gift / recipient / effect – [U2T-3S]; otherwise they turn into poisons. All practices should be done with a bodhicitta motivation.
Chapter 67 – Morality – Practicing without practicing morality …
Chapter 68 – Growing and Flourishing – Practicing without practicing the other perfections.
Chapter 69 – An Explanation of Meditation on The Path – Practicing without practicing …
Chapter 70 – An Explanation of Serial Action, Training, and Practice – Transcending both extremes of inherent existence and complete non-existence. The inconceivable Union of the Two Truths [U2T], or the Union of existence and non-existence [Uopp].
Chapter 71 – The True Nature of Dharmas That Cannot Be Apprehended – Signlessness, non-apprehension and non-duality: Just directly realising the absence [T2] of an apprehended object [T1] [U2T] is attainment. All virtuous methods / practices should be combined with more and more wisdom / Union of the Two Truths [U2T], without any attachment / fixation / absolutes.
Chapter 72 – Teaching the Absence of Marks – Completing without completing the other perfections… by combining them with the perfection of wisdom, by way of not apprehending anything, by way of the absence of any absolute marks. Not accepting, not rejecting, not changing anything in absolute terms.
Chapter 73 – Exposition of the Major Marks and Minor Signs and the Completion of Letters – Acting / practicing / teaching in accord with the Union of the Two Truths.
Chapter 74 – Exposition of the Sameness of Dharmas – The inconceivable unique true nature & dynamic of all dharmas: the Union of the Two Truths, Union of the three spheres, Union of opposites.
Chapter 75 – Exposition of Non-complication – Not complicating things by grasping at any extreme or middle
Chapter 76 – The Armor for Bringing Beings to Maturity – How do bodhisattvas bring beings to maturity?
Chapter 77 – Teaching the Purification of a Buddhafield – Purifying the world by realising the true nature & dynamic of all dharmas – physical, conceptual, mental –: the Union of the Two Truths.
Chapter 78 – Teaching the Skillful Means for the Purification of a Buddhafield – Awakening is the completion / purification / perfection of all wholesome dharmas with wisdom & skillful means.
Chapter 79 – Teaching the Non Existence of an Intrinsic Nature – Not grasping at any ultimate reality either.
Chapter 80 – Teaching that there is No Defilement or Purification – There is no real basis, defilement or purification.
Chapter 81 – Yogic Practice of the Ultimate – Practicing in accord with Reality.
Chapter 82 – The Unchanging True Nature of Dharmas – The inconceivable unborn unchanging unceasing true nature & dynamic as it is of all dharmas – including dependent origination and emptiness –.
Chapter 83 – Categorization of a Bodhisattva's Training – The inconceivable true nature & dynamic as it is of name / label and referent / basis.
Chapter 84 – Collection – Summary in verses.
Chapter 85 – Sadāprarudita – Spiritual yearning – Desperately seeking the Perfection of Wisdom above all else.
Chapter 86 – Dharmodgata – The explanation of tathāgatas not coming or going.
Chapter 87 – Entrusting – The Buddha entrusted this perfection of wisdom to Ānanda. Ensuring the continuation of the Buddha-dharmas.
.
