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Source: pramana-mt · Machine translation by Gemini 3.8 Flash (2026-10-21) of in.bauddha.taisho.1695 · Machine output without human authorship: no copyright is claimed (CC0 1.0). The original text keeps its own…

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Text

1.1

Composed by the Śramaṇa Ji of the Great Cien Monastery.

I bow my head to [the Dharma], free from intrinsic nature and characteristics, originally empty and tranquil beyond mind and speech, / to the ever-abiding true Three Jewels, and to my own preceptor. / The profound Dharma of the guiding principle is beyond my ability to praise; / yet now, relying on the power of the venerable one's wisdom, compassion, and empowerment, I expound it.

1.3

Fascicle eighty-two of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra states: "When Dharma masters wish to explain and elucidate, they should first praise the Buddha, either briefly or extensively." Praising the Buddha briefly is through five aspects: first, wondrous physical form, possessing the thirty-two marks of a great man in full adornment, with eighty secondary signs decorating the limbs, radiant with light like a great golden mountain; second, tranquility, dignified and exceptionally wondrous with all faculties serene, his mind placid, having well attained the culmination of supreme subduing and tranquil cessation, having well reached the further shore of foremost subduing and tranquil cessation, skillfully and covertly guarding and subduing the faculties—a nāga among men because of being without error, a bull-king among men because of guiding the great multitude, a fine horse among men because of his mind being well-tamed; pure and undisturbed like a clear spring pool, having forever uprooted defilements and latent impressions; third, supreme wisdom, meaning unhindered and non-attached regarding the three times and non-temporal phenomena; fourth, correct practice, fully perfecting the practices benefiting self and others through the six pāramitās and the four means of embracing; fifth, majestic power, meaning the Tathāgatas' sovereign sports of supernatural faculties of blazing majestic power. Furthermore, there are six praises: because of perfection of merits, because of freedom from defilement, because of absence of turbidity, because of being without equal, because of having only the benefiting of sentient beings as one's activity, and because of having capability regarding this activity and function. The extensive, boundless praises are all as stated there. Having praised the Buddha, one must fulfill ten dharmas to be named a Dharma master. As for the ten dharmas: first, being skilled in the teachings and meanings, meaning skillfully understanding the six dharmas and ten meanings; second, being able to expound extensively, meaning having much learning, retaining what is heard, and accumulating that learning; third, possessing fearlessness, expounding the true Dharma in the midst of a superior assembly without any timidity, the voice neither hoarse nor trembling, the armpits not sweating, mindfulness not lost; fourth, skill in phrasing, speech being fully accomplished with the eight factors, phrasing complete when expounding the Dharma in the assembly; fifth, preaching with skillful means, meaning expounding the true Dharma with twenty kinds of skillful means, such as being timely and earnest; sixth, fully accomplishing practice in accordance with the Dharma, not taking mere listening as the culmination, but practicing precisely as one has spoken; seventh, fully possessing deportment, meaning when expounding the Dharma, hands and feet do not fidget, the head does not sway, the face does not change expression, the nose does not twitch, advancing and halting, coming and going with orderly and composed deportment; eighth, heroic vigor, constantly delighting in hearing dharmas not yet heard, making dharmas already heard ever clearer and purer, not abandoning yoga, not abandoning attention, the mind not abandoning inner śamatha; ninth, being free from weariness, meaning expounding the wondrous Dharma for the fourfold assembly without bodily or mental fatigue; tenth, possessing the power of patience, meaning never retaliating when reviled, ridiculed, or rebuked, and not giving rise to resentment when disparaged, and so on extensively. As for the listeners to the Dharma: when the Dharma master expounds the true Dharma, he should establish the others in reverent, non-erroneous listening, based on one cause or up to ten. First, listening to the Dharma with reverence enables one to realize benefit and peace right in the present. This has four lines, as spoken in the section on the sphere of phenomena in the Bodhisattvabhūmi. Second: (1) skillfully establishing all phenomena, because it is free of faults and possesses great meaning; (2) the exertion put forth by the speaker and listener yields supreme fruit. Third: (1) enabling sentient beings to abandon unfortunate destinies; (2) obtaining good destinies; (3) swiftly leading to the causes of nirvāṇa. These three matters can only be obtained through reverent listening. Fourth: (1) skillfully and thoroughly understanding sūtras and the like; (2) this true Dharma enables sentient beings to abandon all non-virtue and embrace all virtue, since a good listener is able to accept and abandon; (3) by this abandoning and accepting, abandoning the subsequent suffering incurred by evil causes; (4) swiftly realizing nirvāṇa. Fifth: (1) thinking, "I shall now hear what has not yet been heard"; (2) "Having heard it, I shall investigate it"; (3) "I shall sever the net of doubt"; (4) "I shall turn away from all views"; (5) "I shall penetrate all profound words and meanings with wisdom." This clarifies the three wisdoms: the first two clarify hearing, the next two clarify reflection, and the last one clarifies cultivation. Sixth: (1) desiring to respectfully repay the great teacher's kindness, thinking, "The Buddha practiced countless difficult and painful austerities for my sake to seek and attain this Dharma; how could I not listen now?"; (2) observing one's own welfare; (3) ultimately being able to depart from all feverish anguish; (4) skillfully according with correct deportment; (5) easy to discern; (6) known through the inner realization of the wise. Seventh, thinking, "I shall gather the seven kinds of true Dharma, knowing the teaching, knowing the meaning, and so on extensively to the distinction between the noble and the lowly." Eighth: (1) the Buddha-Dharma is easily obtained, being revealed even to caṇḍālas and the like; (2) easy to practice, cultivable while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down; (3) able to give rise to the fruits of higher rebirth and the fruit of definite excellence; (4) good in the beginning; (5) good in the middle; (6) good in the end; (7) bringing about present pleasant fruits; (8) leading to future happiness. Ninth, being able to be liberated from nine kinds of worldly oppressions: (1) able to emerge from the great prison of birth and death; (2) forever severing the firm bonds of greed and the like; (3) abandoning the poverty of lacking the seven riches and establishing the wealth of the seven riches; (4) crossing beyond the famine of good conduct and hearing the true Dharma, and establishing an abundance of good conduct and hearing the true Dharma; (5) extinguishing the darkness of ignorance and giving rise to the light of wisdom; (6) crossing the four floods and ascending to the shore of nirvāṇa; (7) ultimately able to cure the illness of defilement; (8) becoming liberated from all snares of craving; (9) able to cross the vast wilderness and dense forest of beginningless birth and death. Tenth: (1) by reverently listening to the Dharma one attains the power of reflection, thereby receiving the supreme benefits of hearing the Dharma, seeking wealth according to the Dharma and not contrary to the Dharma, deeply seeing faults and yet enjoying it—and so on up to the tenth, being able to induce all worldly and supramundane dhyānas, liberations, samādhis, and samāpattis, extensively as stated there. The speaker and listener must first abide in the above dharmas before speaking and listening; if they do not abide in these, exertion is spent in vain and ultimately yields no great fruit.

1.4

Being about to praise the sūtra text, I briefly explain it through four sections: first, recounting the essential purport of the sūtra; second, revealing the essential nature of the sūtra; third, displaying the supreme virtues of the sūtra; fourth, explaining the primary text of the sūtra.

1.5

Regarding recounting the essential purport of the sūtra: Within the nine hundred years after the Buddha's nirvāṇa, there was an arhat, a great master named Bhaviveka. His appearance accorded with the conduct of the Sāṃkhyas, demonstrating freedom from partisan grasping; his mind rested in the principles of Śākya, his doctrine free of one-sided fixation. People of his time called him Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva; his miraculous and noble virtues are detailed extensively in separate records. His Karatalaratna states: "Objects of knowledge are generally of two kinds: first, conditioned; second, unconditioned. Because ordinary fools do not correctly understand the non-erroneous nature of the conditioned and unconditioned in ultimate truth, they falsely cling to intrinsic nature and differences among phenomena, augmenting various snares of wrong views. Like an unwise painter in the world who paints a terrifying image of a yakṣa with blades or the image of a woman, his eyes dazed and his mind confused, thinking them truly real—because of clinging to them as real, he himself gives rise to terror or generates lustful attachment, making numerous reckonings regarding those objects and multiplying the snaring nets of conceptual discrimination and various views. If one correctly understands the non-erroneous nature of the conditioned and unconditioned in ultimate truth, at that time, like a wise painter in the world, one does not cling to them as real intrinsic nature; one is not entangled by the differences among conditioned and unconditioned objects as previously described, like a silkworm in its cocoon. Because those do not exist, the practice of entering through nonconceptual insight is accomplished. Yet to realize supramundane nonconceptual wisdom, one must accumulate the collyrium medicine of non-erroneous contemplation of emptiness that can destroy all cataracts of wrong views. To thus accumulate the non-erroneous contemplation of emptiness requires the wisdom born of hearing that can dispel all intrinsic natures of objective referents; therefore one should listen to this profound Prajñā Sūtra. Relying on this explanation to establish the essential purport: in true nature, the conditioned is empty, arisen from conditions like an illusion; the unconditioned lacks reality, not arising, like a sky-flower. Here, the conventional admits of slight existence; according to the ultimate, all is empty. Here, the simile of the painter, wise or unwise, terrified or lustful, illustrates the Buddhas and bodhisattvas versus all ordinary beings: incurring their own karma, they conversely produce hatred and love; the wise one knows it is a painting, remaining in sameness toward both, producing neither fear nor lust." Maitreya's Madhyāntavibhāga verse states: "Unreal discrimination exists; duality does not exist in it. Emptiness alone exists here; and in that, this also exists. Therefore all dharmas are said to be neither empty nor non-empty: because of existence, non-existence, and existence; this accords with the middle way." This takes having no clinging to existence, non-existence, conditioned, and unconditioned as the essential purport, as is widely explained.

1.6

Second, regarding revealing the essential nature of the sūtra: Prajñā is of five kinds: first, the real mark; second, contemplative illumination; third, words and letters; fourth, objective sphere, referring to the two truths of ultimate and conventional; fifth, retinue, referring to all merits and wisdom. This has been briefly shown in the introductory remarks. The essence of the sūtra is twofold: first, the text; second, the meaning. Words and letters are the text; the other four kinds are the meaning. The real mark is the intrinsic nature of prajñā; contemplative illumination is the characteristic of prajñā; words and letters are the cause of prajñā; the objective sphere is the object of prajñā; and the retinue is the companion of prajñā. Hence all five kinds are named prajñā. Nāgārjuna explained: "With respect to ultimate truth, all is empty; as the teaching is neither teaching nor non-teaching, its essence is neither essence nor non-essence. Within conventional truth, one may also say that sounds of phrases, words, chapters, and treatises constitute the essence of the teaching." This is extensive as explained in Bhaviveka's Prajñāpradīpa. Dharmapāla explained that the essence of the teaching has four aspects. First, the essence that subsumes characteristics into intrinsic nature. The Prajñā treatise says: "Nirmāṇakāya is not the true Buddha, nor is it the expounder of the Dharma; expounding the Dharma does not grasp dualities, and has no preaching, being free from the marks of words." Later this sūtra states: "All sentient beings and dharmas are just tathatā; therefore profound Prajñāpāramitā is also just tathatā." The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa states: "The nature of letters is detached; the absence of letters is liberation. The mark of liberation is precisely all dharmas," and "All dharmas are also suchness." Therefore we know that the essence of the teaching is intrinsically tathatā. Second, the essence that subsumes the rest into consciousness. The Daśabhūmika states: "The three realms are mind-only." The Viṃśikā states: "Because of the distinctions in the consciousness of other continuities, distinct consciousnesses arise in other continuities, functioning mutually as predominant conditions; therefore the minds of the speaker and listener constitute the essence of the teaching." Third, the essence that subsumes the provisional into the real. The Abhidharmasamuccaya states: "Sound generated by realization refers to that spoken by the noble ones"; therefore we know that sound alone is taken as the essence of the teaching, subsuming nominal and other provisional dharmas under real sound as expounded. Fourth, the essence that treats characteristics and functions separately. The sounds, names, phrases, and letters appearing upon the consciousness of the one able to expound the Dharma constitute the essence of the teaching, because provisional and real together constitute the essence of the teaching. The Daśabhūmikabhāṣya states: "Both the speaker and listener attain culmination through two things: first, sound; second, good syllables. Due to the force of perfuming and the transforming power of consciousness-only, they gather and manifest upon the conscious mind of the speaker of Dharma." As stated in a separate chapter, I need not cite them redundantly.

1.7

Third, in making manifest the scripture's supreme virtues: this scripture's general title is the Guiding Principle of Prajñā, and following its meaning it has fourteen distinct names. First is this profound, subtle, and pure dharma gate of all phenomena. If one hears it and receives it with faith, one attains eight supreme fruits: first, up until one sits upon the sublime seat of awakening, none of the obscurations and hindrances will be able to defile one, which means that although the afflictive obscurations, karmic obscurations, and obscurations of phenomena may accumulate abundantly, they cannot defile one; second, even if one commits various extremely grave evil deeds, they are easily extinguished; third, one does not fall into unfortunate destinies; fourth, if one can uphold, daily chant and recite, energetically and without interruption, and reflect on it in accordance with reality, in this very life one will definitely attain the vajra samādhi of the sameness of all phenomena; fifth, one attains mastery over all phenomena; sixth, one constantly experiences all supreme and sublime joy; seventh, after passing through sixteen lives as a great bodhisattva, one will definitely attain the nature of the Tathāgata's Vajrapāṇi; eighth, one swiftly realizes unsurpassed complete awakening. Second is the gate of manifest complete awakening to the tranquil nature of phenomena. If someone hears, understands with faith, upholds, recites, and cultivates it, they attain two supreme fruits: first, up until they sit upon the sublime seat of awakening, even if they have committed all extremely grave evil deeds, they are able to transcend all unfortunate destinies; second, they swiftly realize unsurpassed complete awakening. Third is the universally supreme dharma gate that tames all evils. If someone hears, understands with faith, upholds, recites, and cultivates it, they attain four supreme fruits: first, even if they were to kill all sentient beings in the three realms, they would not on that account fall into the hells, animal realms, or ghost realms, because they are able to tame all defilements, secondary defilements, evil karmas, and the like; second, they will always be born in fortunate destinies and experience supreme, sublime pleasure; third, they cultivate the practices of bodhisattva mahāsattvas; fourth, they swiftly realize unsurpassed complete awakening. Fourth is the pure dharma gate of the wisdom-seal of sameness. If someone hears, understands with faith, upholds, recites, and cultivates it, they attain three supreme fruits: first, even though they dwell among the gathering of all adventitious defilements and pollutions such as greed, hatred, and delusion, they are like a lotus flower, undefiled by the faults of any adventitious pollutions; second, they are always able to cultivate the supreme practices of a bodhisattva; third, they swiftly realize unsurpassed complete awakening. Fifth is the consecration dharma gate, through which two supreme fruits are attained. Sixth is the vajra dharma gate of the Tathāgata's wisdom-seal, through which five supreme fruits are attained. Seventh is the syllable-wheel dharma gate free from all conceptual proliferation, through which two supreme fruits are attained. Eighth is the dharma gate of entering the sameness of the vast wheel, through which two supreme fruits are attained. Ninth is the unsurpassed dharma gate of truly pure offering, through which two supreme fruits are attained. Tenth is the treasury of wisdom dharma gate capable of skillful taming, through which six kinds of fruits are attained. Eleventh is the most supreme dharma gate of the sameness of nature, through which three supreme fruits are attained. Twelfth is the supreme treasury dharma gate of the upholding and pervading of all sentient beings, through which two supreme fruits are attained. Thirteenth is the ultimate guiding principle vajra dharma gate without boundary or limit, through which three supreme fruits are attained. Fourteenth is the most supreme dharma gate of the profound guiding principle. Those who are able to uphold it have eighteen supreme virtues: first, the extinction of all obscurations; second, whatever is wished in the mind is unfailingly accomplished; third, it is the mother of all Buddhas; fourth, for those who can chant and uphold it, all sins are extinguished; fifth, constantly seeing all Buddhas; sixth, attaining knowledge of past lives; seventh, if sentient beings have not planted all wholesome roots before many Buddhas and made great vows long ago, they will not be able to hear, copy, recite, make offerings to, revere, reflect upon, or cultivate this most supreme dharma gate of the profound guiding principle of the Prajñāpāramitā—only by having planted all wholesome roots before many Buddhas and having made great vows long ago can one hear even a single phrase or single character of this most supreme dharma gate of the profound guiding principle, let alone fully recite and uphold it; eighth, only if sentient beings have made offerings, revered, respected, and praised Buddhas as numerous as eighty Ganges sands of koṭis of nayutas, are they able to hear this profound guiding principle of the Prajñāpāramitā in full; up to thirteenth, all devas constantly follow and protect them; fourteenth, one never meets an untimely death; fifteenth, one does not unjustly suffer decline and distress; sixteenth, all Buddhas and bodhisattvas constantly protect them together, causing wholesomeness to increase and unwholesomeness to diminish at all times; seventeenth, one is reborn in any Buddha land according to one's wish; eighteenth, up until awakening, one does not fall into unfortunate destinies. Sentient beings who uphold this scripture definitely obtain boundless benefits and merits; I have now briefly stated a small portion like this.

1.8

Fourth, in explaining the main text of the scripture:

1.9

The scripture states: Thus have I heard.

1.10

The commentary states: In this sūtra there are, in brief, three sections: First, from “Thus [have I heard]” down to “complete and pure brahma-conduct,” is the introductory section. “At that time the World-Honoured One spoke for the bodhisattvas on all dharmas, profound and subtle,” down to “briefly spoke this minor portion,” is the main section. “At that time the Bhagavat,” down to “upheld and practiced it,” is the dissemination section. The Buddhabhūmi[-śāstra]'s threefold heading differs from the ancient traditions, as explained in that treatise. Here three distinctions are interpreted: 1. the section presenting the reasons prior to the text; 2. the section explaining extensively in response to the capacities [of beings]; 3. the section on awakening and practice. These three rubrics should be understood in their modern and ancient names according to their meanings. Regarding the first section, according to the verses of the Lamp Treatise (*Pradīpa-śāstra) by Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, it is divided into six: It says, “The first three clarify the disciple, and the latter three verify the master’s teaching. First: ‘Thus’ is the faith of the disciple. The word ‘thus’ [indicates that] what is now spoken is not false. Second: ‘I have heard’ reveals it is not second-hand transmission. Third: ‘At one time’ means there was a time for hearing the Dharma.” The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says, “The time, place, and persons are stated in order to engender faith.” Fourth is the host, fifth is the location, and sixth is the audience. Now, relying on the Buddhabhūmi-śāstra, the first section has five parts: 1. generally revealing what was personally heard: “Thus have I heard”; 2. the time; 3. the host; 4. the place; 5. the audience. Here, following this sūtra, it is expanded into six: the first five are as in the Buddhabhūmi[-śāstra], and the sixth is praising the Dharma as having ten supreme virtues, proclaiming that the true Dharma is good in the beginning, middle, and end, and so forth. However, this preface records what was established by the Buddha's instruction, and thus is also the Buddha's word. The Sūtra on the Compilation of the Dharma states: “Ānanda asked four matters: ‘Whom shall we take as teacher? Upon what dharma shall we dwell? How shall we discipline those of bad character? What words should be placed at the beginning of the sūtras?’ The Buddha said: ‘Precepts can instruct and admonish, and may serve as the teacher. The foundations of mindfulness destroy inverted views; dwell relying on them. The Brahmadaṇḍa means silence, to subdue those bad persons. At the beginning of all sūtras, always set down the six matters.’” The first is right practice, the second is right understanding, and the latter determines the conditions for overcoming obstacles and cultivating understanding and practice. Yet these three gates must rely on the noble teaching; therefore, there were only four questions, neither decreased nor increased. The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says that Aniruddha instructed Ānanda to ask these four matters; the Mahākaruṇā-sūtra says that Upāli gave the instruction; here we say that both instructed him together. Furthermore, the conditions of the compilation are explained at length as in the separate notes. Paramārtha said: “The Subtle Vinaya explains: When Ānanda ascended the seat to bring forth the Dharma treasury, his body was like all the Buddhas, complete with all major marks and secondary characteristics.” Now, checking the account of the compilation of the canon, it also makes this statement. When he stepped down from the seat, he resumed his original form. The assembly had three doubts: 1. They doubted that the Buddha, out of compassion, had arisen from nirvāṇa to speak the wonderful Dharma again. 2. They doubted that a Buddha had come from another direction and remained here to speak the Dharma. 3. They doubted that Ānanda had transformed his body to become a Buddha and speak the Dharma for the assembly. Therefore, at the beginning of the sūtra it says “Thus have I heard,” in order to engender faith. Regarding the word “Thus” (evaṃ): The Lotus Sūtra Commentary says, “Thus is the auspicious sign of sympathetic resonance. ‘Thus’ (ru) derives its name from according with the capacity, and ‘so’ (shi) establishes its designation from being free from error. Sentient beings take freedom from error as the sympathetic appeal, and the Tathāgata takes according with capacity as the resonance. Because the compiler of the sūtras took the nominal teaching as issuing from sympathetic resonance, he says ‘Thus’.” This should be Master Sengzhao's interpretation. Furthermore, the Commentary on the Amitārtha-sūtra says, “The ultimate person preaches the Dharma solely to reveal suchness. Only suchness is correct (shi); therefore it says ‘Thus’ (rushi).” Master Sengyao said: “Because it is free from the five slanders, it is called ‘Thus’. The first four phrases are free from the slander of overestimation and so forth; the fifth ‘thus’—that the causes and fruits of this sūtra are neither non-existent nor non-non-existent—is called the slander of conceptual proliferation, and the fourth phrase is called the slander of ignorance.” Master Guangzhai said: “ ‘Thus’ is about to transmit what was heard, first raising the entire work in advance. ‘Such is the meaning of the entire sūtra, which I personally heard from the Buddha’; thus it serves as an overarching call for ‘I have heard’.” Emperor Wu of Liang said: “Words like ‘thus’ and ‘such’ are what the Buddha spoke; therefore it says ‘Thus’.” The above five interpretations are all cited by Master Jizang. Both Paramārtha and Chang'er said: “ ‘Thus’ has three aspects: 1. In terms of the Buddha: what the Buddhas of the three periods speak together without difference is called ‘as such’ (ru); because they speak identically, it is called ‘so’ (shi). By this it is trustworthy, because they speak identically. 2. In terms of the principle: it clarifies that the true mark of all dharmas is unchanging from past to present, and hence is called ‘as such’ (ru). Speaking in accordance with suchness, it is called ‘so’ (shi). Since the words accord with principle, without increase or decrease, they are definitively trustworthy; hence called ‘Thus’ (rushi). 3. In terms of persons: because Ānanda's transmission of the Buddha's teaching was without divergence, it is called ‘as such’ (ru); being without error, it is called ‘so’ (shi).” These three interpretations above are cited by Master Jing and others. Another explanation: The word “Thus” designates the profound tenet of the entire work, namely the two truths, conventional and ultimate. The ultimate is ‘as such’ (ru) and the conventional is ‘so’ (shi), wishing to reveal that what is explained does not differ from the two. Furthermore, what is spoken according with principle is ‘as such’ (ru), and warding off unreal error is ‘so’ (shi). Furthermore, it reveals that the teaching explaining the two wisdoms is the cause of the two wisdoms: the nature of things as they are (yathāvad-bhāvikatā) is ‘as such’ (ru), and the nature of things in their full extent (yāvad-bhāvikatā) is ‘so’ (shi). Therefore it says below: “Omniscience, knowledge of the aspects of the path, and knowledge of all aspects are this.” Furthermore, it designates merit and wisdom, revealing that this is the cause of the two adornments: merit is ‘as such’ (ru), and wisdom is ‘so’ (shi). Furthermore, the teaching according with principle is ‘as such’ (ru), and practicing in accordance with the teaching is ‘so’ (shi). Furthermore, the cognitive object is ‘as such’ (ru), and wisdom is ‘so’ (shi); the vehicle to be mounted and the mounting subject, the true mark and contemplative illumination, are indicated at the outset. Furthermore, “Thus” is an auspicious expression. Wishing to reveal that all sūtras place this phrase at their beginning, it differs from the non-Buddhists who place the two syllables *a* and *oṃ* at the beginning of all their texts. Furthermore, “Thus” is a deictic expression, pointing directly to what is explained in the entire text below. The above eight interpretations are all transmitted and explained by previous virtuous masters of this land. Furthermore, the word “Thus” operates according to four meanings: 1. Based on simile: as when someone says, “Wealth and honour like this, like Vaiśravaṇa.” The Dharma thus transmitted and heard is just as the Buddha spoke, definitively the cause of the expedient means of benefit and bliss. Or: the phrases thus to be spoken are just as I heard formerly. 2. Based on instruction: as when someone says, “You should read and recite the sūtras and treatises like this.” Here, “like this” remotely refers to the Buddha's instruction, and immediately refers to the instruction of the transmitter of the Dharma. Or telling the assembly of that time: “Listen thus to what I heard formerly.” 3. Based on question and answer: “Thus have I heard, thus I expound.” That is, someone asks: “Did you certainly hear what you are about to speak in the past?” Hence one answers: “Thus have I heard.” 4. Based on assent: as when someone says, “I shall think for you like this, act like this, and speak like this.” That is, at the time of compilation, the assembly of bodhisattvas all requested together: “Just as you heard, so should you speak.” The bodhisattva transmitting the Dharma then assented: “I shall speak thus, just as I heard.” Or it is an affirmation of trust: “This matter is thus.” That is, “Such a Dharma I once heard in the past. This matter is thus; I shall speak up to this point, definitively without divergence.” The above four explanations are all interpretations by Bodhisattva Śīlabhadra and others in the Buddhabhūmi-śāstra. Furthermore, “Thus” is an expression of faith and compliance. Thus the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: “ ‘Thus have I heard’ engenders faith. ‘Faithfully accepting and practicing’ engenders wisdom. Faith is the ability to enter; wisdom is the ability to cross over. Faith is the initial foundation for entering the Dharma; wisdom is the ultimate profound technique. Faith means the principle of what is said is accorded with; according means the way of master and disciple is accomplished. Because of faith, the Dharma spoken can all be complied with. Because of compliance, the two groups of speaker and listener, master and disciple, are established.” Concerning this faith, there are briefly ten explanations of why faith must first be engendered: 1. The Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi says, “Faith is like a water-clearing jewel that can clear turbid water,” being able to remedy the turbid intrinsic nature of unbelief. Therefore, of the three—military, food, and faith—faith cannot be abandoned. 2. The Yogācārabhūmi says: “Faith is the basis for aspiration, and aspiration is the basis for diligence; therefore, for entering all dharmas, aspiration is the root. It is produced by attention, gathered by contact, drawn and gathered by feeling, with concentration as the predominance, insight as the supreme, liberation as the firm, and renunciation as the culmination.” Since faith is the basis for aspiration, it is spoken first. 3. One who trains in the Buddha's Dharma is like a great nāga-elephant, using faith as its trunk, relinquishment as its tusks, mindfulness as its neck, and insight as its head, carrying and amassing wholesome dharmas upon its two shoulders. This is spoken in the Mahāvibhāṣā. 4. The Dharma is the hand of the Buddhas, and faith is the hand of sentient beings. Thus the Abhidharmakośa says, “pulling sentient beings out of the mire of birth and death.” Since the main section is the Buddha's hand, engendering faith in the introductory section is the sentient beings' hand; the two hands clasping together, they ascend to the other shore and emerge from the mire of birth and death. The next two interpretations follow the sense of the *Jayamati-rāja-sūtra. 5. In floating upon the great ocean, one relies on hands to steer the boat; in crossing the river of birth and death, one must have faith to generate insight. 6. In wandering the great wilderness, one holds a staff with the hand to ward off bands of thieves; in wandering the plains of birth and death, one uses the hand of faith to hold the sword of insight and ward off the thieves of defilement. 7. Seeing rare wealth and jewels, one uses hands to gather them; hearing the Dharma jewel, one obtains it only by relying on faith. 8. Faith is the foremost of the noble wealths, and therefore it is first caused to arise. The Prakaraṇāryavācā says: “The seven noble wealths are faith, precepts, learning, relinquishment, insight, shame, and remorse”; therefore faith is first caused to arise. 9. Faith is the ladder leading to the noble stages; therefore, among the forty minds, faith is the first, having the faculty of faith and the power of faith. Because of the faculty of faith, the myriad good deeds arise from it; because of the power of faith, the four māras cannot subdue it. 10. Various treatises state: Faith can transcend the evil paths and depart from the causes of poverty and lowliness; therefore there are the four unwavering confidences. For these reasons, at the beginning of all sūtras the word “Thus” is placed, in order to engender faith. Regarding the words “have I heard”: The bodhisattva transmitting the Dharma refers to himself, saying that such a Dharma was personally heard from the Buddha, hence called “have I heard”. “I” refers to the conventional designation based on the aggregates. However, there are three kinds of “I”: 1. The falsely grasped self: the self arbitrarily conceptualised by non-Buddhists and ordinary beings, as either identical with space or like a mustard seed. 2. The provisionally established self: namely, the permanent, blissful, self, and pure, provisionally established as a “self” amidst selflessness according with the guidance of the two vehicles, causing them to abandon the fruit of the small vehicle of selflessness. As a sūtra says: “The Buddhas sometimes speak of self, sometimes speak of selflessness. In the true mark of all dharmas, there is neither self nor non-self.” That is, for śrāvakas they speak of impermanence and so forth, removing the four inversions conceptualised when they were ordinary mortals, and speak of the absence of a sentient-being self; yet because dharmas have causes, they later speak of permanence, bliss, and so forth for bodhisattvas, removing the four faults arisen during the stage of the two vehicles. Because the intrinsic nature of all dharmas is fundamentally free from self, selflessness, and so forth, it is spoken of as the permanent self, and thus provisionally established. 3. The conventionally current self: the socially circulating self commonly passed down in the world, such as the surnames Zhang and Wang, or names such as Devadatta. Now, the transmitter of the Dharma accords with the world in referring to himself, designating it as “I”; it is not like the former two, because it is not a false grasping, nor a provisional establishment, yet its essence is the self of selflessness.

1.11

Question: When the Buddhas teach the Dharma, their root purpose is to eliminate grasping to a self. Why did Ānanda not state his personal name, but instead referred to himself as 'I'?
Answer: Reasoning holds that he could also have stated his personal name, but for three brief reasons he simply stated 'I' in a collective sense. First, to show non-contradiction with convention. Although the core tenet reveals ultimate truth, speech does not contradict convention. Even though there is no self, the name 'self' is still posited, because one wishes to show that ultimate truth is not separate from convention. Second, 'I' has the meaning of being master and sovereign. Ānanda had heard much and retained what he heard; his hearing had accumulated, he was fully equipped with the three insights, and he held both text and meaning simultaneously, possessing comprehensive sovereignty within the noble teachings. If he had stated, 'Ānanda heard such a Dharma,' although this would point to his own person, it would lack the meaning of having attained sovereignty within the Dharma. Because he wished to show that the meaning of sovereignty in the Dharma was established, he declared 'I heard' and did not declare '[Ānanda] Joy-delight'. Third, 'I' has the meaning of direct personal presence. In worldly parlance, when people say 'I saw or heard this,' they consider it direct personal witness. If he had merely stated generally, 'Ānanda heard,' it might have been not directly heard, but received by transmission from another. Now, to show that he directly heard what the World-Honoured One spoke and did not hear it transmitted from another, he declared 'I'. Due to these three reasons, he did not declare 'Joy-delight,' but simply said 'I heard'.
As for 'heard', it means that based on the ear faculty, consciousness arises and listens to and receives what was spoken. Now, setting aside the particular ear faculty and speaking collectively of the 'I', it is therefore called 'I heard'.
The various schools posit hearing with differing explanations. Now, relying on the Mahāyāna, only when the faculty, consciousness, mental factors, and object come together in harmony is it called 'hearing'. However, in five respects the faculty is superior to consciousness and the rest, and therefore it is called 'hearing'. Both Abhidharma and Nāgārjuna state this explanation. If one merely hears sound, that resides only in the ear; but universally taking names and the like as objective referents also resides in the mind. Because of this, the mind alone should uniquely be called 'hearing'. Hence the *Yogācāra* says: 'Hearing is inference.' The ear is called 'hearing' because directly hearing sound serves as the gate for the mind. And as for one who hears the teaching, because it is heard by the ear, whatever is accomplished by hearing is collectively called 'hearing'; because it is obtained by relying on the ear, the ear is called 'hearing'. However, the ear cannot directly grasp the distinct names and the like of phenomena. As the 'Stage of Cultivation Arising from Hearing' states in terms of skillful means, phenomena accomplished through hearing are all called 'ear hearing', just as seeing a second moon or seeing a whirling firebrand, or when King Virūḍhaka set out to slaughter the Śākya clan, the words all belong exclusively to the mental consciousness, because one's own ear does not take them as objective referents.

1.12

Question: At that time, Ānanda directly saw the Buddha teach and also directly perceived and knew the Buddha's teaching. Why did he not say, 'Thus have I seen, I perceived, I knew,' but only said, 'I heard'?
Answer: There are three reasons. First, if one wishes to realize the profound principle and awaken to what is explained, one must rely on hearing the teaching. Seeing, perceiving, knowing, and the like are not the initial arrival at the principle; although he did indeed genuinely see and so forth, he could only say 'I heard'. Second, in the Sahā World, the Buddha's work is carried out through sound. Because he wished to show the difference from other Buddha lands, he only said 'heard'. In other Buddha lands, where light, marvelous fragrances, and the like may perform the Buddha's work, the opening of a sūtra may also say 'I saw, perceived, knew,' and so forth; here, to show the difference from those, he only said 'heard'. Third, he wished to show that wisdom, awakening, and bodhi must be obtained through perfuming. If one does not hear the true Dharma, there is no way for the three insights to arise. Therefore, stating 'heard' at the head of the sūtra causes perfuming to increase, both with effluents and without effluents, mutually augmenting each other so as to be able to generate supramundane and mundane fruits, and so on. Therefore he only said 'heard'.

1.13

Question: In the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā* and other scriptures, the Buddha himself declared: 'From my attaining the Way until my nirvāṇa, between these I did not speak a single word.' Why did Joy-delight slander the Buddha by saying he taught the Dharma, and himself declare 'I heard'? Furthermore, the *Siṃsapā-leaf Sūtra* states: 'The Dharma I have taught is like the leaves in my hand; the Dharma I have not taught is like the leaves in the forest,' clearly showing that the Buddha taught the Dharma. Now stating 'I heard' while also stating that he 'did not speak'—how can these not be completely contradictory?
Answer: The *Buddhabhūmi-śāstra* says: 'One position holds that by the power of the Tathāgata's compassion and fundamental vow acting as the dominant condition, representations of the text and meaning arise upon the consciousness of the hearer. Although these representations of text and meaning directly arise depending on the power of one's own wholesome roots, yet in reference to the dominant condition, they are called the "Buddha's teaching". Because of the power of the ear faculty manifesting from one's own mind, it is therefore called "I heard".' What this master means to say is: The Buddha possesses three dharmas—namely, meditative stabilization, wisdom, and compassion; with these three dharmas as his essence, he does not in reality teach the Dharma. Because in his fundamental causal stage he vowed to benefit sentient beings, his great compassion constantly arises; and when the wholesome karma of sentient beings, cultivated over a long time to encounter the Buddha, now ripens, upon their own cognitive consciousness the hearing of the Buddha teaching the Dharma manifests as if a teaching had arisen, whereas in reality he did not speak. It is like Zeng Shen's mother biting her finger, whereupon Zeng Shen's heart pained him, and knowing his mother was calling him, he returned. The mother in reality spoke no words, but merely had the thought of longing for her son; through mutual resonance like wind and clouds, her son's heart pained, manifesting the semblance of the mother calling him, and he rushed home, finding it just as assumed. Now, the Buddha is like the mother, and sentient beings are compared to Zeng Shen; whether speaking or not speaking, the two cases are similar. It is also like a woman inviting a monk to teach the Dharma, but the monk secretly left, not truly teaching for her. The woman attained the Way and said it was through the grace of the monk. Taking the monk as the dominant condition, her mind grew weary of saṃsāra and she thereupon realized the fruit. Sentient beings take the Buddha as the dominant condition, and their own minds manifest the semblance of the teachings of the three vehicles arising; judged from the dominant condition, it is called the Buddha's teaching, while the Buddha in reality spoke no words. When this text says 'I heard', its meaning is also like this.
Another position holds: By the power of the hearer's wholesome roots and fundamental vows acting as the dominant condition, representations of text and meaning arise upon the Tathāgata's consciousness. These representations of text and meaning arise from the Buddha's wholesome roots of benefiting others, and are called the 'Buddha's teaching'. Although the hearer's conscious mind does not directly receive them, yet resembling those representations, it distinctly hears the teaching; hence it is called 'I heard'. What this master means to say is: The Buddha possesses the five aggregates, eighteen elements, and so forth, and genuinely carries out the activity of teaching the Dharma to benefit others. Although he is without conceptual discrimination and does not arouse cognitive grasping, he effortlessly and constantly teaches the Dharma in accordance with faculties to perform great benefit and joy. It is like the maṇi jewel and the drum of the Heavenly Sovereign [Indra]: although having no mind, it rains down numerous jewels; and for the Heavenly Sovereign it speaks or does not speak. Because the Heavenly Sovereign's wholesome karma induces that power, the drum effortlessly sounds, and upon hearing it the Heavenly Sovereign becomes vigilant. The Buddha now is also like this: without the conceptual discrimination of mind whether to speak or not to speak, when the causes for sentient beings' wholesome karma to hear the Dharma ripen, the Tathāgata effortlessly manifests the matter of teaching the Dharma.
Teaching the Dharma here is, for example, like an illusory person teaching the Dharma to an illusory person: the nature of names is divorced [from real entities], and being free of letters is itself liberation. It is not like the deluded grasping that names definitively belong to phenomena, and that there are real agents of speaking, listening, and what is spoken; therefore the Buddha said that he did not speak a single word. One who teaches the Dharma has nothing to speak and nothing to show; yet if it is like an illusory man teaching an illusory person, then it is not non-existent. Therefore the sūtra states: 'Teaching the Dharma is neither existent nor non-existent; because phenomena depend upon causes and conditions, they are established.' Since the Buddha indeed taught the Dharma and Joy-delight directly heard it, it is called 'I heard'.
Of these two explanations, the first is the explanation of a group of masters such as Śāntirakṣita and Asvabhāva; the second is the meaning of masters Dharmapāla and Śīlabhadra.
It should be known that stating 'Thus have I heard' is intended to avoid the faults of addition, subtraction, or discrepancy. That is: such a Dharma I heard from the Buddha and not through successive transmission from another, showing that the hearer possessed competence, and all that was heard was free from the faults of addition, subtraction, or discrepancy. It is not like a foolish commoner who has no competence, such that what he hears cannot avoid addition, subtraction, or discrepancy. At the time of the compilation of the Dharma, when those transmitting the Buddha's teaching first spoke these words in accordance with the Tathāgata's instructions, it was to cause sentient beings to reverently believe and accept them, saying: 'Such a Dharma I heard from the Buddha; its text and meaning are definitive, without addition or subtraction.' Therefore, hearers, having properly heard it, should contemplate it according to the principle and constantly practice with diligence.

1.14

The sūtra states: At one time.

1.15

The commentary states: Second, explaining the time period of teaching the doctrine, which is the occasion of conversion. It is the day when the Dharma King initiated conversion, the time of the great assembly's splendid gathering; in terms of the moment-to-moment continuity without interruption, when the speaking and listening reached completion, according to that status it is collectively called 'at one time'. Otherwise, since words and so on differ in the time of speaking and listening, how could it be called 'one'?
Here, it is not definitively fixed according to a single moment (kṣaṇa), nor definitively fixed according to continuity, nor definitively fixed according to the four seasons, eight periods, or twelve periods, nor according to the completion of the attainment of the Way, as to what specific amount of time is called 'at one time'. Rather, it is simply when the two groups of speaker and hearer meet together and speaking and listening are completed; this is collectively called 'at one time'. Because the speaker has attained dhāraṇī, when speaking one syllable he has completely expounded all the rest; or because the listener has attained the purified ear faculty, when understanding one syllable he is able to comprehend all the rest. Or the speaker may spend many moments or even many kalpas, while the listener may also listen for up to many kalpas. Therefore, the time duration cannot be fixed as a single thought-moment or many kalpas.
Because in a single assembly the faculties of the hearers include the sharp and the dull, by the Tathāgata's supernormal power he prolongs a short moment into a long kalpa and compresses a long kalpa into a short moment. Because of the differentiation of time, the treatises offer two explanations:
First, this time is a designation provisionally established upon the status of conditioned phenomena, called logical time. The five aggregates and conditioned formations of the persons speaking and listening arise and cease moment to moment without any fixed temporal substance. There are provisional present phenomena that requite the past and lead to the future; that is, the phenomena that are requited and led are provisionally designated as the past and present periods. When the course of affairs of the provisional phenomena of the five aggregates of both listener and speaker reaches completion, it is provisionally described as time; hence it is collectively called 'at one time'. It is like a reckoner who, using a single counting rod, passes through various positions to name it one, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, and so forth; in reality it is a single object, but through different horizontal and vertical positions it receives different names. The present five-aggregate phenomena of this speaker and listener, having previously existed, are called the past; being destined to exist, are called the future; and currently existing, are called the present—this is precisely called time, spoken of as the three times. Now, when the affairs of these three times reach completion, it is collectively called 'at one time'.
Second, upon the conscious minds of the two groups of speaker and listener, time manifests as cognitive aspects, and the substance of the three times arises, which is worldly consciousness, whether it be a single thought-moment or many kalpas; when the affairs reach completion, it is provisionally designated as 'at one time'. It is like a person in a dream who dreams of many births and deaths, taking it to be the flow of the three times, but upon awakening there is only a single deluded mind, and one knows there are no three times. Now, speaking in terms of principle, the substance of time is also like this: there is only a deluded mind manifesting the semblance of the three times; when the affairs reach completion, it is collectively called 'at one time'. Because it is spoken of in terms of meaning, it is the compositional aggregate taken as an objective referent solely by the mental faculty, subsumed under the dharma locus and dharma realm.
Why does it not specify the twelve periods and the like? Just as pure and impure places, or day and night periods, are indeterminate in different regions. Places are geographically fixed, so with regard to time it simply speaks collectively of 'one'.

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