Nagarjuna’s Treatise on the Ten Grounds Volume I

Back Matters

Notes

1 Although it is common to see the Sanskrit title of this work reconstructed in English academic articles as Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā-śāstra, this based on its Chinese title, Shizhu piposha lun (十住毘婆沙論), "Ten Grounds Vibhāṣā Treatise." Akira Hirakawa, in Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Tokyo: Reiyūkai Hatsubaimoto Innātorippusha, 1997) reconstructs this title as simply Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣā, probably because he recognized that the lun (論) or "treatise" in the Chinese title was only ever intended by Kumārajīva and other translators to notify the Chinese reader that a vibhāṣā is a kind of treatise. That is to say, he most likely did not intend it as a translation of the Sanskrit word śāstra.

2 Joseph Walser writes in his article "Nāgārjuna," in John Powers, ed., The Buddhist World (London; New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2016), p. 498: "Of two things we can be fairly certain. First, according to two sixth-century catalogues of Buddhist texts translated into Chinese, Dharmarakṣa translated a work called the Treatise Commentary on the Sutra of Ten Stages (Daśabhūmika-vibhāṣa-śāstra) in 265 C.E. that he ascribes to Nāgārjuna."

3 Although the Taishō edition of this text restarts the chapter numbering after Chapter 27 by designating Chapter 28 as "Chapter 1," I instead follow the chapter numbering of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions of the Chinese Buddhist canon, all of which number this treatise as consisting of a series of thirty-five continuously numbered chapters. The apparent rationale for the Taishō edition's restarting the numbering at Chapter 28 is to call the reader's attention to the fact that the first twenty-seven chapters are at least nominally devoted to explaining the first ground whereas the final eight chapters constitute a new section consisting of Nāgārjuna's explanation of the second ground. In any case, the reader should be aware that headings of these sorts for the most part originate with the Chinese translation team, not with the Indian text. 4 This condensed description of each chapter borrows from and expands upon a very similar Chinese-language narration found in "A Simplified Introduction to the Daśabhūmika Vibhāṣā" (十住毘婆沙論簡介) by the Chinese Buddhist monk Hou Guan of the Fuyan Buddhist Studies Institute (福嚴佛學院, 釋厚觀, 09/18/2001), http://www.fuyan.org.tw/main_edu/1521-00c.doc, accessed July 2018. 5 These "four bases of meritorious qualities" are truth, relinquishing, quiescence, and wisdom.

6 This is a reference to wojiao shan (沃焦山), "the boiling and burning mountain" also known as the wojiao shi (沃焦石), the "boiling and burning rock," a huge and intensely hot mountain of stone at the bottom of the ocean which, in traditional 307

Notes

Indian geography, is responsible for keeping the oceans from overflowing by boiling away the excess water flowing into them from all the great rivers, large and small. This mountain is sometimes held to reside at the bottom of the wojiao hai (沃焦海), "boiling and burning ocean."

7 The four inverted views (viparyāsa-catuṣka) consist of imputing permanence to the impermanent, pleasure to what cannot deliver it, self to what is devoid of any inherently existent self, and purity to what does not actually possess that quality. The standard objects of such upside-down perception are thought, the six categories of "feeling" manifested in association with the six sense faculties, dharmas (as components of the falsely imputed "self"), and the body. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, preferring to render this term "inversions," rightly points out that, per Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN) 4:49, these four viparyāsa involve not only views, but rather they infect perceptions and mind as well as view. That said, I still feel comfortable with the now rather common and standard rendering as "four inverted views," not least because, as a practical matter, perception (saṃjñā) and mind/thought (citta) are nearly always intimately intertwined with and inseparable from views (dṛṣṭī), all of which are "inverted" due to delusion. 8 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi recognized these statements about four types of people as similar to statements in the Aṅguttara Nikāya; see The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya (Teachings of the Buddha) (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2012), pp. 476-477.

9 I emend the reading of the text here to correct an apparent graphic-similarity scribal error, preferring on sensibility grounds zheng (拯), "rescue," in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions to the Taishō edition's ji (極), "extremely." 10 The bracketed verse is repeated here to facilitate immediate reference by the reader. 11 Although this could be a reference to the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra in which such statements do exist, Nāgārjuna might well intend here to cite the Avataṃsaka-sūtra (the mother sutra in which this entire ten grounds text is incorporated as the "Ten Grounds Chapter"). There are a number of such statements in the Avataṃsakasūtra, including the famous passage (quoted some three hundred and fifty times in Sino-Buddhist canonical works): "It is with the very moment of bringing forth the initial resolve that one thereby achieves the right enlightenment" (初發心時便成正覺), this from Buddhabhadra's ca. 400 C.E. translation (T.278:449c). 12

"Vajra path" is an indirect reference to the acquisition of the vajra-like samādhi (vajropama-samādhi). It is a feature of both Southern and Northern School Buddhist path schemas that refers to the point at which the practitioner destroys the last vestiges of the residual fetters and reaches, for a śrāvaka disciple practitioner, "the stage beyond the need for further training" or, for the bodhisattva path practitioner, the next to last stage of the Mahayana path known as "equal enlightenment" (samasaṃbodhi). This latter is the stage immediately prior to "sublime enlightenment" wherein the bodhisattva's level of awakening has reached the point that it is virtually the same as that of a fully enlightened buddha. As a Mahayana technical term, "vajra path" is in 308

Notes

13 14 15 16

17 18 19 no way any sort of reference to the so-called Vajrayana, a very late Hindu-influenced transformation of Buddhism characterized by the tenets and practices of Hindu tantras (Vajrayana texts are all post sixth-century in origin, i.e., more than one thousand years after Śākyamuni).

For the most part, I rely here and throughout on Étienne LaMotte's three-volume Traité de la Grande Vertu de Sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra) (Louvain-la-Neuve: Institut Orientaliste de Louvin, 1944-1980) for the parenthetically included Sanskrit equivalents for the Chinese names of the various hells. For Nāgārjuna's very graphic and nearly encyclopedic discussion of each of the hell realms and hungry ghost realms, in which he explains the causality at the root of each type of suffering therein, see my translation, Mahāprajñāpāramitā Upadeśa: Nagarjuna on the Six Perfections: An Ārya Bodhisattva Explains the Heart of the Bodhisattva Path. A Translation of Chapters 17-30 of Ārya Nāgārjuna's Exegesis on the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra (Seattle: Kalavinka Press, 2009), in particular, in his discussion of the perfection of vigor, Chapter 27: "Specific Aspects of the Perfection of Vigor," pp. 513-537 in the original bilingual edition. The inscrutably ambiguous nature of the Taishō version of the text's rendering of a number of the instruments of punishment here (鐵鏘[金疾]鏫鐵[矛贊]刀鐵臼) is such that I prefer the alternative reading employed in the Song, Yuan, and Ming editions (槍蒺[卄/梨]刀劍鐵網): "javelins, spikes, short swords, iron nets." "Bhūta ghost" is here a conjectural Sanskrit reconstruction of 浮陀鬼. According to Sir Monier-Monier Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Delhi: Sri Satguru, n.d.), one of the many meanings of bhūta is "a spirit (good or evil), the ghost of a deceased person, a demon, imp, goblin."

Again, the bracketed verse from the beginning of the chapter is repeated here to facilitate immediate reference by the reader.

Nāgārjuna is not implying here that the practitioners of the śrāvaka disciple vehicle actually possess all of these eight dharmas of the bodhisattva. (After all, although they are certainly well accomplished in the other six, they are not particularly well known for either compassion or skillful means.) Rather, he is primarily pointing out that they are secondary beneficiaries of the bodhisattvas' implementation of these eight dharmas that result in the bodhisattvas' eventual buddhahood and the resulting eternal renewal of Dharma in the world again and again throughout the course of time. This would seem to contradict Nāgārjuna's earlier statement that "all śrāvaka disciples and pratyekabuddhas come forth in direct reliance upon a buddha." Not so. Even though the pratyekabuddha may finally gain his realization when there is no buddha and no Dharma in the world, his ability to gain that realization is entirely rooted in his previous lives' exposure to a buddha's Dharma at such time as there was a buddha or his right Dharma still existing in the world. It is at least in part the fruition of the karmic seeds from such earlier learning and practice that finally allows 309

Notes

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 the pratyekabuddha at a later time to gain realizations in the absence of a buddha or of any residual Dharma after the end of a buddha's Dharma-ending age. A vibhāṣā is an extensively detailed explanatory treatise.

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that there is a canonical source for the "four bases" in Majjhima Nikāya 140, MN III 245-6, for which the Sanskrit correlates of the Pāli saccādhitthāna, cāgādhitthāna, upasamādhitthāna (= base of peace), and paññādhitthāna would be satyādhiṣṭhāna, tyāgādhiṣṭhāna, upaśamādhiṣṭhāna, and prajñādhiṣṭhāna. He also notes that there is a Chinese canonical parallel at Madhyama Āgama (MĀ) 162; T.26:692a11.

I emend the reading of the Taishō text here to correct an apparent scribal error, preferring the reading in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions (說十地義) to that of the Taishō (義說十地).

The logic of this statement may seem opaque to some. The point here is that, so long as one creates bad karma and does not purify it, one's mind can never be at peace even in conventional terms. As for entering deep states of meditative quiescence such as the dhyānas, this would be completely impossible. This is one of the reasons why moral purity is taught as one of the primary prerequisites for meditative accomplishment. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes the existence of a slightly variant parallel source in the Pāli canon: AN 3:80 (The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, p. 314). That citation makes it clear that if Ānanda had somehow died before achieving the arhatship the Buddha predicted of him, his merit would have been so abundant that he would have been reborn in those blissful heavens for such an immensely long time. The first four and a half of these five verses correspond to the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas translation of the Ten Grounds Sutra (T.286:498b27-c4). The first two of these five verses echo Vajragarbha's preliminary statements in the Ten Grounds Sutra, just before embarking on the explanation of the first ground. In this sort of context, biding (必定),"stage of certainty," is usually a translation of the Sanskrit niyata or one of its synonyms that refer to the stage of irreversibility from which one can never again fall back in one's progress on the path. I emend the reading of the Taishō text to agree with the Song, Yuan, and Ming editions by adding the qualifier shan (善), "thorough," to xing (行), "practice." Also, regarding householder practice, Nāgārjuna's implication here is that even though it is extremely difficult to carry on the life of a householder while also accessing the dhyānas, householder-level practice should not be disqualified from being referred to as "thorough practice" just because householders are usually unable to develop those meditation states.

"Resolute intentions," shenxin (深心), here and in most occurrences throughout the text, corresponds to the Sanskrit āśaya, which has a range of meanings not so easily captured in a single English translation. Hence, in its various occurrences in 310

Notes

30 31 32 33 34 35 scriptures and commentaries related to the ten grounds, it may connote "resolute," "deep-seated," or "earnest" "intentions," "aspirations," "dispositions" or "inclinations." In the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas translation (T. 286) and Śikṣānanda's translation (T. 279), āśaya is often translated into Chinese as just xin (心) where it would very easily be confused with citta. In those instances, depending on the context and especially depending on whether it is referring to bodhisattvas or simply to unenlightened worldly beings, it is probably best rendered in English as "intentions," "aspirations," "dispositions" or "inclinations."

I emend the reading of the text here in accordance with the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions by preferring on sensibility grounds wei (未), "not yet," to the Taishō edition's wei (味), "flavor," the presence of which seems to have been the result of a graphic-similarity scribal error.

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that this passage resembles a passage in the "Akṣayamati" chapter of the Mahāvaipulya-mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra (Great Compilation Sutra), T.13:187b1.

"Forest hermitage" here translates what Kumārajīva retained in transliteration as the antecedent term araṇya, a hermitage usually intended for the cultivation of deep meditation and/or various austere (dhūta) practices. Since the Sanskrit term does not carry any untranslatable nuances, from here on I for the most part translate it as "forest hermitage."

I emend the reading of the text here in accordance with the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions by preferring on sensibility grounds to eliminate the gu (故), "therefore," the inclusion of which seems to have been the result of scribal error. I emend the reading of the text here to correct an apparent scribal error in recording this statement by preferring the zhu fo fa (諸佛法), "all buddhas' Dharma," in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions to the Taishō's zhu fa (諸法), "all dharmas." Although the Chinese is slightly ambiguous (hence my translation's use of the euphemistic "quiescent cessation"), citing an analogue passage Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that the final couplet is referring to nirvana, noting the following: The verse is perhaps alluding to MN I 45: So vata, cunda, attanā palipapalipanno paraṃ palipapalipannaṃ uddharissatīti netaṃ ṭhānaṃ vijjati. So vata, cunda, attanā apalipapalipanno paraṃ palipapalipannaṃ uddharissatīti ṭhānametaṃ vijjati. So vata, cunda, attanā adanto avinīto aparinibbuto paraṃ damessati vinessati parinibbāpessatīti netaṃ ṭhānaṃ vijjati. So vata, cunda, attanā danto vinīto parinibbuto paraṃ damessati vinessati parinibbāpessatīti ṭhānametaṃ vijjati. See Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya (Teachings of the Buddha) (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995), 8, part 16. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation there of the most closely relevant part of that passage is:

311

Notes

36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 That one who is himself untamed, undisciplined, [with defilements] unextinguished, should tame another, discipline him, and help extinguish [his defilements] is impossible; that one who is himself tamed, disciplined, [with defilements] extinguished, should tame another, discipline him, and help extinguish [his defilements] is possible. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that this is a reference to Dhammapada 158, for which Acharya Buddharakkhita, in his translation The Dhammapada: The Buddha's Path of Wisdom (Onalaska, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions, 2019 reprint)), gives: "One should first establish oneself in what is proper; then only should one instruct others. Thus the wise man will not be reproached."

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi suggests comparing the version of the ten powers found in Majjhima Nikāya (MN) no. 12 ("The Greater Discourse on the Lion's Roar"); see Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans., The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya (Teachings of the Buddha) (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995), pp. 165-166.

Although Kumārajīva here uses xing (性), usually translated as "nature," the source texts indicate that he is once again translating the Sanskrit dhātu, which here refers to "realms."

This aspect along with the next five emphasize the importance of the six perfections. This aspect along with the next three emphasize the importance of the four immeasurable minds. As suggested by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, this very likely refers to the twelfth chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra, the "Akṣayamati" chapter (T.397:184a16-212c26). In particular, this resembles a passage that begins at 187a26. Nāgārjuna refers here to a line from the fourth of his five earlier stanzas on cultivating the first ground:

For the sake of gaining the ten powers,

One enters the congregation of those at the stage of certainty. Then one is born into the family of the tathāgatas

Wherein one is free of any transgressions or faults.

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that the Pāli version of this passage is found in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha 140.26, MN III 245: "For this, bhikkhu, is the supreme noble truth, namely, nibbāna, which has an undeceptive nature." The pratyutpanna samādhi is a samādhi wherein one becomes able to see the buddhas of the present and listen to them teach the Dharma. The sutra that describes this samādhi and teaches how to acquire it is preserved in the Taishō canon as the Banzhou sanmei jing 般舟三昧經 (T.418:902c23-919c5), of which Paul Harrison has produced a translation for the BDK English Tripiṭaka Series, The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra (Moraga, CA: BDK America, Inc., 1998). Other Chinese editions and translations of the same text are preserved as Taishō nos. 416, 417, and 419. 312

Notes

45 46 47 48 49 Nāgārjuna alludes here to verse number thirty-four from his Bodhisaṃbhāra-śāstra 菩提資糧論 (T.1660:528c13-14). See my translation of this treatise, Nāgārjuna's Guide to the Bodhisattva Path: Treatise on the Provisions for Enlightenment. A Translation of the Bodhisaṃbhāra Śāstra by Ārya Nāgārjuna (Seattle: Kalavinka Press, 2009), p. 33:

The solid samādhis

on the ground of all buddhas' "direct presence"

serve for the bodhisattva as his father,

whereas the great compassion and patiences serve as his mother. (諸佛現前住

牢固三摩提

此為菩薩父

大悲忍為母.)

Nāgārjuna's equating of the pratyutpanna samādhi (wherein one sees the buddhas of the present) with a samādhi experienced on the sixth bodhisattva ground associates rather well with the following passage from the discussion of the sixth ground in the translation of the Ten Grounds Sutra by Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas (T.286:515c17-21):

The bodhisattva dwelling on this Ground of Direct Presence succeeds in being able to see many hundreds of buddhas, many thousands of buddhas, and so forth on up to many hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of buddhas, making offerings to them, paying reverence to them, venerating them, praising them, and presenting them with robes, food and drink, bedding, and medicines. He draws close to the buddhas and listens to the teaching of the Dharma in the presence of the buddhas. Having heard their teachings on Dharma, he employs the light of reality-concordant wisdom to implement those teachings in practice in a manner accordant with the way they were taught, doing so in a manner that delights all buddhas.

Nāgārjuna refers again to this earlier verse on cultivating the first ground: For the sake of gaining the ten powers,

One enters the congregation of those at the stage of certainty. Then one is born into the family of the tathāgatas

Wherein one is free of any transgressions or faults. These four bases of meritorious qualities (四功德處: 諦, 捨, 滅, 慧, truth, relinquishment, cessation, and wisdom) are brought up repeatedly in this treatise and are found as well in Nāgārjuna's Bodhisaṃbhāra-sāstra and Ratnāvalī. I emend the reading of the text here by adopting the variant reading found in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions to correct the absence of a single character (出) obviously missing from the Taishō text.

Throughout this text, I translate srota-āpanna as "stream-enterer." 313

Notes

50 51 52 53 54 "Three wretched destinies" is a reference to rebirth in the realms of hungry ghosts (pretas), animals, and hells.

The point here is that since a stream-enterer is then bound to enter nirvana within seven lifetimes, whereupon he will not be reborn into any of the twenty-eight realms of rebirth (and there are only twenty-eight realms of rebirth), he need have no fear that he might somehow stray into some supposed "twenty-ninth" realm of rebirth (because no such place even exists).

I emend the reading of the text here in accordance with the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions by preferring on sensibility grounds duo (多), "for the most part," to the Taishō edition's mingwei (名為), "is known as." "Contaminants" here translates the slightly ambiguous pre-Buddhist Jain term asrava, translated into Chinese as "flows" (漏). The allusion is to the defiling influence (read "influents") of either three or four factors, as follows: (1) sensual desire (kāma); (2) [craving for] becoming (bhāva), i.e., the craving for continued existence; (3) ignorance (avidyā), i.e., delusion; (4) views (dṛṣṭi) This fourth type is not included in some listings. Often encountered alternate translations of this term include "taints," "outflows," "influxes," and "fluxes."

These forty dharmas (discussed at great length in Chapters 21-23, Vol. II) are as follows:

(1) Sovereign mastery of the ability to fly. (2) [The ability to manifest] countless transformations. (3) Boundless psychic powers of the sort possessed by āryas. (4) Sovereign mastery of the ability to hear sounds. (5) Immeasurable power of knowledge to know others' thoughts. (6) Sovereign mastery in [training and subduing] the mind. (7) Constant abiding in stable wisdom.

(8) Never forgetting.

(9) Realization of the powers of the vajra samādhi. (10) Thorough knowing of matters that are unfixed (11) Thorough knowing of matters pertaining to the formless realm's meditative absorptions.

(12) The completely penetrating knowledge of all matters associated with eternal cessation.

(13) Thorough knowing of the nonform dharmas unassociated with the mind. (14) The great powers pāramitā.

(15) The [four] unimpeded [knowledges] pāramitā. (16) The pāramitā of perfectly complete replies and predictions in response to questions.

(17) Invulnerability to harm by anyone.

(18) Their words are never spoken without a purpose. (19) Their speech is free of errors and mistakes. (20) Complete implementation of the three turnings [of the Dharma wheel] in speaking Dharma.

314

Notes

55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 (21) They are the great generals among all āryas. (22-25) They are able to remain unguarded in four ways.

(26-29) They possess the four types of fearlessness.

(30-39) They possess the ten powers.

(40) They have achieved unimpeded liberation.

I emend the reading of the Taishō text here by preferring on sensibility grounds the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' yi (已), "already," to the Taishō edition's yi (以), "by means of," "due to," etc."

Musth refers to a state of increased testosterone in a bull elephant that is characterized by increased willfulness and aggression in doing whatever he wants to do. The first five of these types of fear are brought up at this point in the Ten Grounds Sutra itself. In previewing my translation of that sutra, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi pointed out that this same fivefold list appears in the Pāli (albeit in slightly different order and with mild differences in the interpretation of two of the five points); see The Numerical Discourses, 9:5, p. 1255.

In most cases, "mind-moment" (一念 or 一念頃) translates the Sanskrit kṣaṇa or eka-kṣaṇika. As for kṣaṇa, according to Robert E. Buswell, Jr. and Donald S. Lopez, Jr., eds., The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014): "In Sanskrit, 'instant' or 'moment'; the shortest possible span of time, variously measured as either the ninth part of a thought moment or the 4,500th part of a minute."

An asaṃkhyeya is a Sanskrit term for an incalculably large number. This is a reference to the seven "treasures" (sapta ratna) of a cakravartin ("wheel-turning") king. Different from the more common list of "the seven precious things," they consist of the wheel treasure, the elephant treasure, the horse treasure, the precious pearl treasure, the female treasure, the kulapati (wealth accumulation) treasure, and the army and ministers lordship treasure.

This reconstruction of she-ti-luo (蛇提羅) as kṣatriya is conjectural. It is likely that Nāgārjuna is referring to the lesser wheel-turning kings who, unlike the wheel-turning king who is a universal monarch, do not rule over all four continents but rather over only one, two, or three continents.

I cannot find any Sanskrit equivalent for this word jiaojumo (憍瞿摩). The implication in the first foot of the śloka is that if one refrains from erroneously imputing the existence of an inherently existent self, then the concept of some event called "death" is discovered to be baseless. Similarly, the second foot of the śloka indicates that if one simply refrains from erroneously imputing the existence of some independently existing concept that one thinks of as "death," then the concept of "some entity that dies" is discovered to be baseless as well.

Kumārajīva retained the Sanskrit sarvajña, which I have chosen here to translate. 315

Notes

65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 The Taishō text inserts ming (名) here to create the clearly accidentally erroneous duo mingwen (多名聞), which means "abundant fame" instead of the "abundant learning" (多聞) referenced in the verse on which this sentence comments. For obvious reasons, I have aligned my translation here with the clearly intended meaning. Nāgārjuna uses the Sanskrit dānapati, which I prefer to translate as "benefactor" throughout the following discussion.

Nāgārjuna uses the Sanskrit niṣadana; I prefer to translate this as "sitting mat." Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi gives the Pāli canon correlate to this as Itivuttaka section 100: Tassa me tumhe puttā orasā mukhato jātā dhammajā dhammanimmitā dhammadāyādā, no āmisadāyādā.

I have been unable to associate this "Dharma of Greatly Supreme Buddha" with any extant texts in the Taishō canon.

In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version of the Ten Grounds Sutra, published as The Ten Grounds Sutra: The Daśabhūmika Sūtra. The Ten Highest Levels of Practice on the Bodhisattva's Path to Buddhahood (Seattle: Kalavinka Press, 2020), the complete text of the first vow is as follows: I vow that I shall make gifts of every sort of offering to all buddhas without exception, freely making such offerings with pure resolute faith." In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on until the end of future time, exhaustively making offerings of every sort of great gift to all buddhas. In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the second vow is as follows:

He also vows that he will uphold and preserve the scriptural Dharma proclaimed by all buddhas, that he will take on the realization of the anuttarā-samyaksaṃbodhi of all buddhas, that he will always accord with the Dharma taught by all buddhas, and that he will always be able to protect and preserve the Dharma of all buddhas. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on incessantly until the end of future time, exhaustively protecting and preserving the Dharma of all buddhas in every kalpa.

In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the third vow is as follows:

He also vows that, in all worlds, with the arrival of all buddhas, when they come down from the Tuṣita Heaven, enter the womb, abide in the womb, are first born, leave behind the home life, and then gain buddhahood, in every case he will entreat them to turn the great wheel of the Dharma, vowing too that, when they manifest entry into the great nirvana, "I will in every case go there, make offerings, and serve as a leader in the compilation of their Dharma," vowing to 316

Notes

73 74 75 do these things in order to facilitate [the Dharma wheel's] turning throughout the three periods of time. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on until the end of future time and throughout all kalpas, incessantly raising up offerings to all buddhas.

In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the fourth vow is as follows:

He also vows that he will teach all of the practices coursed in by the bodhisattvas, so vast, lofty, and far-reaching, so immeasurable, indestructible, and free of discriminations, those practices that are subsumed within the pāramitās, that are purified on the grounds, that generate the dharmas assisting realization of the path, that constitute the path of signs and the path of signlessness, teaching how they may conduce to success and how they may lead to ruination, teaching the path of the grounds coursed in by all bodhisattvas, teaching too the pāramitās' foundational practices, teaching these things to others in a manner whereby they are caused to take up their practice and bring forth increased resolve. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on until the end of future time and throughout all kalpas, incessantly employing the practices coursed in by all bodhisattvas to provide teaching in accord with Dharma for the ripening of beings. In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the fifth vow is as follows:

He also vows that he will teach all beings, whether possessed of form or formless, whether possessed of perception, free of perception, or abiding in a state of neither perception nor non-perception, whether egg-born, womb-born, moisture-born, or transformationally born, teaching them all, no matter to which of the stations in the triple world they have become connected, no matter in which of the six destinies of rebirth they have taken birth, no matter in which place they have taken rebirth, thus teaching all who are subsumed in the sphere of name-and-form, proceeding thus for the sake of teaching and ripening all beings, for the sake of influencing them to cut off their coursing through all the destinies of worldly existence, for the sake of influencing them to abide in the Dharma of the Buddha, for the sake of influencing them to accumulate all-knowledge, teaching all of them without exception. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on until the end of future time and throughout all kalpas, incessantly teaching all beings. Fawei (法位), "Dharma position," usually corresponds to "the right and fixed Dharma position" (samyaktva niyāma) that in turn involves irreversibility in one's progress on the path to the fruits of the individual liberation paths of either the pratyekabuddha or the arhat. This is usually understood (except in sutras such as the Lotus Sutra) to involve the subsequent impossibility of ever entering the universal liberation path of the bodhisattvas and buddhas.

317

Notes

76 77 78 79 80 81 82 "Reveal, instruct, benefit, and delight" (示教利喜) is a theme often encountered in Northern school texts that refers to standard teaching stratagies used to influence beings to enter the universal liberation path of bodhisattvas and buddhas. In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the sixth vow is as follows:

He also vows to directly know all of the differentiating aspects of all worlds throughout the ten directions, including all aspects of those worlds that are wide, narrow, extremely towering, of so countlessly many varieties one could never distinguish them all, including those that are immovable, and those that are indescribably coarse, subtle, upright, inverted, formed with their crowns and bases opposing each other, flat, spherical, or cubical, thus being able in this knowing to freely enter the knowledge of all such worlds, knowing them as existing in a manner comparable to appearances in the net-like canopy of Indra wherein things manifest like the phenomena in a conjuration. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on until the end of future time and throughout all kalpas, incessantly carrying on the direct and complete knowing of all such worlds. This refers to a list of six recommended reflections conducing to clarity of understanding: impermanence, suffering, non-self, impurity of food, unenjoyability of all stations of worldly existence, death (T.1528:637b).

In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the seventh vow is as follows:

He also vows to bring about the purification of all buddha lands wherein all buddha lands enter a single buddha land, a single buddha land enters all buddha lands, and each and every buddha land is adorned with measurelessly many radiant phenomena, wherein they all become filled with measurelessly many wise beings who have abandoned all defilements and perfected the path of purification, and wherein he always possesses the power of all buddhas' great superknowledges, accords with the mental dispositions of beings, and thus appears for their sakes. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on until the end of future time and throughout all kalpas, incessantly purifying lands such as these. The five categories of evil ending with this one are the same ones that were described and thoroughly explained by Nāgārjuna earlier in this text as "five types of wrong livelihood for monastics."

These last five categories of evils clearly refer directly to the five hindrances (nīvaraṇa or āvaraṇa) preventing entry into meditative absorption. I have not been able to find the Sanskrit antecedents for these three Chinese transliterations or the two transliterations that appear later in this list. 318

83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 Notes

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that this is most likely a reference to the Digambara Jains.

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that this is most likely a reference to the Śvetāmbara Jains.

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that Maskarī Gośālīputra was the "founder of the Ājīvikas. See DN 2.20. He held that everything was determined by fate." Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi suggests that Piluochizhi is Sañjaya Vairaṭīputra, a.k.a. Saṃjayin Vairaṭīputra (Pāli Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta), a skeptical ascetic teacher, a contemporary of the Buddha. See Dīgha Nikāya (DN) 2.32

Per Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Jiazhanyannizi is "Probably Pakudha Kaccāyana. See DN 2.26. He taught a kind of atomism."

Per Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Saqizhezi is "Perhaps Ajita Kesakambali, who taught a moral nihilism. See DN 2.23."

Per Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi: "On the above [various theorists on nirvana], see the five types of "final nirvana in this very life" mentioned in the Brahmajāla Sutta, DN 1.3.19."

One should understand that this does not refer to the dhūta austerities so extensively discussed and praised by Nāgārjuna in Chapter 32 (Vol. II) of this treatise, but rather only to the nonbeneficial ascetic practices (lying on a bed of nails, etc.) adopted by non-Buddhist traditions.

This is probably a reference to the ten "entangling thickets" (gahana), of which the first is indeed "afflictions." They are routinely translated as "difficulties" in the Kumārajīva and Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas translations. They are listed in the translation of the Ten Grounds Sutra (T.286:524c10-12) in the discussion of the ninth bhūmi as follows:

The entangling difficulties associated with the afflictions; The entangling difficulties associated with karmic actions; The entangling difficulties associated with the faculties; The entangling difficulties associated with resolute dispositions; The entangling difficulties associated with sense realms; The entangling difficulties associated with the mind's deep-seated intentions; The entangling difficulties associated with latent tendencies; The entangling difficulties associated with births;

The entangling difficulties associated with residual karmic propensities; And the entangling difficulties associated with the differences in the three categories of beings. Probably adbhuta (Pāli abbhuta), "wondrous, supernatural, etc.," for which the standard Chinese rendering is "rarely encountered" (希有). 319

Notes

93 Per Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi:

94 95 96 97 98 99 We have here five terms that are characteristic of the Buddha's teaching which we encounter again and again in the Nikāyas (particularly the Saṃyutta Nikāya), where they are applied to all the doctrinal items: the five aggregates (in Ch. 22), the six or twelve sense bases (Ch. 35), feelings (Ch. 36), the elements (Ch. 14), etc. The five are: samudaya, atthaṅgama, assāda, ādīnava, nissaraṇa, "arising, passing away, enjoyment, danger, and escape."

See, e.g., SN 22: 73-74, 107-109, 129-34, and many other suttas. For example SN 22:74 says, "The unlearned worldling does not correctly understand the arising (through 'escape') regarding form…consciousness. The learned noble disciple correctly understands the arising (through 'escape') regarding form…consciousness."

On the five-term template, see SN 14:38; 17:26; 22:108; 23:6; 36:28. The threefold "enjoyment" template is also common; see 14:37; 17:25; 22:107; 23:5; 36:27; 48:6, 29, 34.

With reference to the Pāli tradition, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes: "Here we have vimokṣa as eight stages of samādhi."

The Pāli meditation tradition refers to these as kasiṇas.

The earlier line (33a22) on which this comments referred instead to ligen (利根), "sharp faculties."

I emend the Taishō reading here by accepting the variant "moths" (蛾) found in four other editions. Without this emendation, "ants" (蟻) would be duplicated in this list. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi suggests that this most likely corresponds to saṃhita. In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the eighth vow is as follows:

He also vows that he will be of like mind with and pursue the same studies as all other bodhisattvas, joining together with them in the accumulation of every sort of goodness, remaining free of enmity or jealousy toward them, developing identical states of mental awareness as theirs, holding thoughts of equal regard toward them, maintaining harmonious relations with them, never becoming mutually estranged from them, being able as well to manifest buddha bodies according to what suits the needs of others, being able in one's own mind to completely understand and know the domains, spiritual powers, and powers of cognition of all buddhas, always being able to freely employ spiritual superknowledges to roam at will to all lands, manifesting the appearance of one's body in the assemblies of all buddhas, being able as well to everywhere take up births into all stations of rebirth, being possessed of all such inconceivably great wisdom, and perfecting the practices of the bodhisattvas. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on 320

Notes

until the end of future time and throughout all kalpas, incessantly carrying forth the practice of just such a great path of wisdom.

100 In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the ninth vow is as follows:

He also vows that he will take up the irreversible turning of the wheel of Dharma, that he will course in the bodhisattva path, that, of all of his physical, verbal, and mental actions, none will be such as are done in vain, that any being who merely sees him will thereby immediately become bound for definite success in the Buddha's Dharma, that, "Any being who so much as hears my voice will thereby immediately become bound for success in the path of genuine wisdom," that, "Any being who merely lays eyes on me will immediately be filled with joyous delight and abandon afflictions," that, in this, he will become like the great king of medicine trees, and that, in order to develop such resolve as this, he will course in the bodhisattva path. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on until the end of future time and throughout all kalpas, incessantly coursing along in the path of irreversibility, ensuring that none of his actions will have been done in vain.

101 In my translation of the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas version, The Ten Grounds Sutra, the complete text of the tenth vow is as follows:

He also vows that he will gain the realization of anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi in all worlds, that even in those places manifesting within the tip of a single hair, he will manifest entry into the womb, leaving behind the home life, sitting in the bodhimaṇḍa, gaining buddhahood, turning the wheel of Dharma, bringing about the liberation of beings, and manifesting the appearance of entering the great nirvana, that he will manifest the great spiritual and cognitive powers of the tathāgatas, that he will adapt to the circumstances of all individual beings and that, according to what is appropriate for their liberation, he will, even in every successive mind-moment, manifest realization of the buddha path, facilitate the liberation of beings, and bring about the extinguishing of their suffering and afflictions, that he will gain the cognition that realizes all dharmas are characterized by identity with nirvana, that, employing a single voice, he will be able to cause all beings to become established in joyfulness, that, even though he manifests entry into the great nirvana, he will nonetheless never cut off his coursing in the bodhisattva practices, that he will reveal to beings the grounds of great knowledge, that he will cause them to realize all dharmas are in every case false and deceptive, accomplishing these endeavors by resort to great wisdom, great superknowledges, and freely manifested spiritual transformations. In making such a great vow as this, his implementation of it is as vast as the Dharma realm and as extensive as empty space as he continues on until the end of future time and throughout all kalpas, incessantly persisting in accomplishing the works associated with the 321

Notes

path to buddhahood, in seeking great wisdom, and in acquiring the great spiritual powers and other such realizations.

102 We know from comparisons with Sanskrit editions that, in some of the translations attributed to Kumārajīva (such as the Daśabhūmika-sūtra), xing (性), usually translated into English as "nature" from the Sanskrit antecedent bhāva, instead often translates the Sanskrit antecedent dhātu, which most often corresponds to the English word "realm." This section of text appears to be one of those passages. Hence my repeated translation here of xing (性) as "realm" and not as "nature." 103 "Range of actions" here translates xingchu (行處), a standard translation for the Sanskrit gocara, which, per Monier Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, means "pasture ground for cattle, range, field for action, abode, dwelling place, district, etc." 104 To correct an obvious scribal error involving the dropping of a crucial character from this phrase already occurring twice in this section, I emend the reading of the Taishō text by accepting the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' retention of fo (佛), "buddhas."

105 Since it only requires one of these seven reasons for generating the resolve to actually do so, one might wonder why Nāgārjuna mentions that "it may find its origin in [one of] three reasons or else in [one of] four reasons." I suspect he is referring to two different lists of reasons prevalent in different teaching traditions. 106 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes: "I think this is alluding to the seven good dharmas. See Majjhima Nikāya 53 (also Aṅguttara Nikāya 7:67): śraddhā, hrī, avatapta [apatrāpya], bāhuśrutya, vīrya, smṛti, and prajñā" (faith, sense of shame, dread of blame, abundant learning, vigor, mindfulness, wisdom).

107 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi proposes that this may refer to "eleven benefits of lovingkindness" enumerated in the Aṅguttara Nikāya's treatment of "The Elevens," this based on his observation that Chinese translators sometimes use gongde (功德), usually "meritorious qualities," to translate ānusaṃsā, "benefits." 108 "Seventeen physical dharmas" is a provisional translation for shen shi qi (身十七). The text is opaque and a digital search of the entire Taishō canon failed to turn up any plausible analogues for this list.

109 110 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that there are five faculties here that are distributed among these four listed types.

Comparison with the Sanskrit of the occurrences of the xinle (信樂) compound in the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas translation of the Ten Grounds Sutra confirm that this is an alternate Kumārajīva translation for adhimukti, which is more commonly rendered in his translations as xinjie (信解), lit., "faithful comprehension." This refers to a strong mental inclination toward a (usually) wholesome mental object, hence the need to translate it in some contexts as "resolute belief," "resolute comprehension," etc. 322

Notes

111 To correct an apparent graphic-similarity scribal error I emend the reading of the Taishō text here, preferring the chang (常), "always," in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions to the Taishō's dang (當), "should."

112 As Nāgārjuna makes clear elsewhere (Bodhisaṃbhāra-śāstra; 菩提資糧論, T. 1660), for one who aspires to continue all the way along the bodhisattva path to ultimate realization of buddhahood, it is essential that they first genuinely and solidly generate the resolve to gain utmost, right, and perfect enlightenment, doing so prior to entering this "stage of certainty" or the "right and fixed position" (samyaktva niyāma), lest they otherwise fall irreversibly into the path to arhatship.

Nāgārjuna's rationale for warning bodhisattva path practitioners about this possibility is that, absent prior genuine generation of highest bodhi resolve, the diligent cultivator of good dharmas who gains such a realization will become irreversible on the path to arhatship, this effective with his realization of the unproduced-dharmas patience. As a consequence, he entirely eliminates the possibility of his own future buddhahood.

In that treatise, Nāgārjuna even goes so far as to equate this prospect with a tragedy far worse than falling into the hells, because the hells, unlike arhatship, do not eliminate the possibility of future buddhahood. For my complete English translation of Nāgārjuna's Bodhisaṃbhāra-śāstra and its early Indian commentary, see Nāgārjuna's Guide to the Bodhisattva Path: Treatise on the Provisions for Enlightenment. The Bodhisaṃbhāra Śāstra by Ārya Nāgārjuna (Seattle: Kalavinka Press, 2009) and The Bodhisaṃbhāra Treatise Commentary: The Early Indian Exegesis on Ārya Nāgārjuna's Treatise on the Provisions for Enlightenment (The Bodhisaṃbhāra Śāstra) (Seattle: Kalavinka Press, 2009).

113 The "stage of certainty" or "right and fixed position" referenced here is that of the bodhisattva who has by this point become invulnerable to being turned away from the path to buddhahood.

114 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes: "Velāma is the subject of AN 9.20." 115 Weishouduoluo (韋首多羅), the Chinese transliteration of this bodhisattva's name, is found only in this instance in the entire Taishō canon. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi suggests that the Pāli reconstruction might be Vessantara, the name of the marvelously generous bodhisattva celebrated in a jātaka tale of one of the Buddha's previous lives. He also suggests that a Sanskrit equivalent might be Viśvantara, as I have chosen to use here.

116 These five Sanskrit terms refer to increasingly serious levels of transgression against the monastic moral code ranging from relatively minor offenses (duṣkṛta) to offenses involving a meeting of the sangha with a probationary period (saṃghāvaśeṣa) or permanent expulsion from the monastic community (pārājika).

117 Because the Chinese of this statement is terse and vague, my translation here is somewhat tentative.

323

Notes

118 This appears to be subcommentary on this earlier statement regarding the abandonment of dharmas conducing to loss of the bodhi resolve: "By 'abandonment,' it is meant that one entirely extinguishes those dharmas that are bad and thus prevents them from entering one's mind."

119 A pārājika offense entails expulsion from the monastic sangha. A saṃghavaśeṣa offense entails a meeting of the local monastic sangha to determine the penalty and how to achieve purification of the transgression.

120 An instance of "at the time of certification" would be, for instance, during the semimonthly recitation of monastic precepts, when one is asked with respect to precepts just recited, "Are you pure in this?"

121 "Two vehicles" refers to the two non-Mahayana individual liberation paths, those of arhats and pratyekabuddhas.

122 The Taishō annotations state that the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions all format these twenty characters as a quatrain. As it is obvious that the immediately following text comments on them as if they did indeed constitute a verse, I have emended the English formatting accordingly.

123 In accordance with the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions, I emend the Taishō text here by substituting sui (雖), "although," for shui (誰), "who," to correct an obvious graphic-similarity scribal error.

124 Again, those four originally mentioned in the above verse are unawareness of the work of māras, weakness of the resolve to attain bodhi, karmic obstacles, and Dharma obstacles.

125 I translate as "monastic preceptor" and "monastic Dharma teacher" what the Kumārajīva text retains in transliteration as upādhyāya and ācārya, respectively. 126 When Kumārajīva refers to "the true character of dharmas" (諸法實相), he is typically translating the Sanskrit term dharmatā. 127 This is clearly a reference to the eight worldly dharmas. In this connection Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi offers the following citation: "See AN 8:5-6; IV 156 foll." 128 This seems to be a situation where a monk or nun wants to divert to themselves the material support of families that currently support other monastics. Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi suggests, "This is what is called in Pāli kulamacchariya, 'miserliness regarding families,'" and offers the following citation: AN 5:254-255.

129 "Five objects of desire" refers not only to the five types of "sensual" desire (forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables), but also to wealth, sex, fame, food, and leisure. 130 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that the following verses reflect ideas found in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā, in particular chapters 6, 10, and 18.

131 These four lines comprise the Buddhist tetralemma used to point to the futility of capturing the nature of ultimate reality in logical formulations. 324

Notes

132 In other words, ash has been traditionally used in making bleaching agents. So too with words, which may be used to remove the stain of wrong views from the mind but cannot ever entirely embody the truth reached through right views. Thus they are always bound to be freighted to a degree with the "stains" of dual concepts that are then bound to sully the direct perception of the truth of the emptiness of all phenomena. 133 This same verse is repeated later in the treatise in Chapter 33 (Vol. II), T.1521:118b5-26. There are eight variant characters as noted below.

134 The Chapter 33 (Vol. II) version of this verse has "and is identical with whatever is an existent dharma" (即為是有法) instead of "and is identical with whatever is possessed of signs" (即為是有相).

135 The Chapter 33 (Vol. II) version of this verse has "Were one to relinquish all strategizing and attachments" (若捨諸計著) instead of "Were one to relinquish all covetousness" (若捨諸貪著). 136 The Chapter 33 (Vol. II) version of this verse has "such seizing on this sign of having relinquished attachments" (取是捨著相) instead of "such seizing on this sign of having relinquished covetousness" (取是捨貪相).

137 The Chapter 33 (Vol. II) version of this verse has "It is the abandonment of grasping and whatever thing is grasped" (離取取何事) instead of "There is someone who grasps and something that is grasped" (誰取取何事).

138 The Chapter 33 (Vol. II) version of this verse has "whether as conjoined or separate, they are all entirely nonexistent" (共離俱無有) instead of "whether as conjoined or separate, they all do not exist" (共離俱不有).

139 The Chapter 33 (Vol. II) version of this verse has "It is precisely because it is synonymous with signlessness" (即名為無相) instead of "It is precisely because it is signless" (即為是無相).

140 These first two verse lines are referring to the four alternative propositions of the tetralemma: (1) it exists, (2) it does not exist, (3) it both exists and does not exist, and (4) it neither exists nor does not exist.

141 The Chapter 33 (Vol. II) version of this verse has a fairly inconsequential variant for one of the characters in this line, 先來非寂滅 instead of 先亦非寂滅. 142 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes the following here: "This is the first alternative among the four ways of construing a self. See SN 22:47."

143 The usual Sanskrit antecedent for this "traceless vajra-wielding Dharma protectors" is guhyapāda vajra.

144 These ślokas correspond to ślokas 24-28 of Nāgārjuna's Bodhisaṃbhāraśāstra. In my English translation of that entire text with its Indian commentary, The Bodhisaṃbhāra Treatise Commentary, they read as follows:

325

Notes

So long as he has not generated great compassion or the patiences, even though he may have gained an irreversibility, the bodhisattva is still subject to a form of "dying" which occurs through allowing negligence to arise. The grounds of the śrāvaka disciples or the pratyekabuddhas, if entered, become for him the same as dying because he would thereby sever the bodhisattva's roots of understanding and awareness. Even at the prospect of falling into the hell realms, the bodhisattva would not be struck with fright. The grounds of the śrāvaka disciples and the pratyekabuddhas, however, do provoke a great terror in him.

It is not the case that falling into the hell realms would bring about an ultimate obstacle to his bodhi. The grounds of the śrāvaka disciples and the pratyekabuddhas, however, do create just such an ultimate obstacle. Just as is said of he who loves long life, that he becomes fearful at the prospect of his own beheading, so too, the grounds of the śrāvaka disciples and pratyekabuddhas should bring about a fearfulness of just this sort. 145 The first two quatrains correspond to the Bodhisaṃbhāra-śāstra, ślokas 22-23, which read as follows:

In the bodhisattva's striving for bodhi, so long as he has not yet gained irreversibility, he acts as urgently as the person whose turban has caught fire. Thus one should take up just such intensely diligent practice. Thus it is that those bodhisattvas,

when striving for the realization of bodhi, should not rest in their practice of vigor, for they have shouldered such a heavy burden. 146 These last two quatrains correspond to the Bodhisaṃbhāra-śāstra, ślokas 91-92, which read as follows:

Even if one were to take up the vehicle of the śrāvaka disciples or the vehicle of the pratyekabuddhas, and hence practiced solely for one's own self-benefit, still, one would not relinquish the enduring practice of vigor. How much the less could it be that a great man, one committed to liberate himself and liberate others, might somehow not generate

a measure of vigor a thousand koṭis times greater? 147 I emend here the abbreviated "Three Practices Buddha" to "Three Vehicles' Practices Buddha" to accord with the explanatory text that follows at 42a2-6. 326

Notes

148 See the Sutra on the Youth Precious Moon's Questions on Dharma (大乘寶月童子 問法經), T.437:8c1-110a7. The names vary, but the ideas are the same, i.e., sincere mindfulness of ten buddhas in the ten directions can bring irreversibility with respect to one's future attainment of buddhahood.

149 Candana usually refers to sandalwood but, as noted in Monier Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, it may also be used as a term to refer to anything that is the most excellent of its kind: "mn. sandal (Sirium myrtifolium), either the tree, wood, or the unctuous preparation of the wood held in high estimation as perfumes; hence; a term for anything which is the most excellent of its kind." 150 The Chinese translation for this eightieth buddha's name, Guangming fo (光明佛), "Light Buddha," is duplicated in the name of the ninety-sixth buddha (see following paragraph). Since we do not know the Sanskrit antecedents for these two buddhas' names, I have distinguished them here with slightly variant English translations, "Light Buddha" and "Radiance Buddha."

151 The Chinese translation for this ninety-sixth buddha's name, Guangming fo (光明佛), "Radiance Buddha," is duplicated in the name of the eightieth buddha (see previous paragraph). Since we do not know the Sanskrit antecedents for these two buddhas' names, I have distinguished them here with slightly variant English translations, "Light Buddha" and "Radiance Buddha."

152 On sensibility grounds, I adopt here the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' variant, Huayuan fo (華園佛), "Floral Garden Buddha," to correct what seems to be a graphic-similarity scribal error in the Taishō edition, Huachi fo (華齒佛), "Floral Teeth Buddha."

153 I reconstruct aśoka, lit., "sorrowless," as the name of this bodhi tree as it is a tree that grows throughout India (Saraca asoca) and is in fact said to also be the same kind of tree under which the historical Buddha's mother gave birth to him. 154 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi provides the following citation: "See DN II 4: Sikhī, bhikkhave, bhagavā arahaṃ sammāsambuddho puṇḍarīkassa mūle abhisambuddho." 155 The śirīṣa tree is identified by Monier Williams, A Sanskrit English Dictionary, as Acacia sirissa.

156 An aśvattha tree is an ancient name for what is more commonly known in Buddhist texts as the bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa).

157 In the verses below (at 44b7), this buddha's name is enhanced with an additional character to "Marks of the Sovereign's Canopy" (王幢相).

158 I suspect that there should only be ten buddhas in this list and that this buddha's name, King of the Marks, may appear here only as a result of an accidental scribal redundancy, for two reasons: (1) the Chinese name is identical to that of the previously listed buddha except that the characters are in reverse order, Wangxiang 王相 versus Xiangwang 相王; and (2) although the other ten buddhas' names are mentioned in the following praise verses, this buddha's name is not mentioned there at all. 327

Notes

159 This buddha's name is only slightly different in the verses that follow, occurring there (at 44b15) as "Peacefully Established" (安立).

160 To correct an apparent graphic-similarity scribal error, I emend the reading here by preferring zi (自), "personally," in the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions to mu (目), "eyes," in the Taishō text.

161 "Three times three, nine kinds in all" appears to refer to the nine varieties of bad karma produced through physical, verbal, and mental actions under the influence of the three kinds of afflictions or "poisons," greed, hatred, and delusion. 162 One of two types of "morally indeterminate" or "neutral dharmas," yin mo wu ji (隱沒無記) or you fu wu ji (有覆無記), "obscured morally indeterminate [dharmas]" (nivṛta-avyākṛta-dharma), are those that are karmically neutral but involve a mind accompanied by subtle hindrances that impede liberation. "Subtle hindrances" refers, for example, to having the view that assumes the existence of a "self," to having a the tendency to think, "I am," to engaging in self-cherishing thoughts, words, and deeds, and to being forever under the influence of ignorance. 163 I translate here as "monastic preceptor" and "monastic Dharma teacher" what the Kumārajīva text retains in transliteration as upādhyāya and ācārya, respectively. 164 Rebirth as an asura is one of the six rebirth destinies within cyclic existence. Asuras are typically described as "titans" or "demigods" whose most emblematic characteristic aside from a deficiency of merit is a fondness for fighting, especially with the devas of the desire realm, in particular with the devas of Trāyastriṃśa Heaven ("Heaven of the Thirty-three"). The term is also used more loosely to describe beings within other realms of cyclic existence whose dominant character traits are marked by an analogous fondness for hatred, disputation, and combativeness. 165 The "three objects of reverence" are variously interpreted. In descending order of intended likelihood here, they are: the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha); those who have attained the three fruitions of valid Buddhist paths (buddhas, pratyekabuddhas, and arhats); in Pure Land contexts, Amitābha Buddha, Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, and Mahāsthāmaprāpta Bodhisattva; and, especially in Avataṃsaka-sūtra contexts, Śākyamuni Buddha, Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva, and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. 166 By "the difficulties" (諸難), Nāgārjuna most likely means specifically "the eight difficulties," which refer to rebirth in the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm, or the animal realm; in the long life heavens (where there is no motivation to cultivate the path); on the northern continent of Uttarakuru (where, again, there is no context for cultivating the path); in a body with impaired faculties (as when deaf, dumb, or blind); in a circumstance where one's mentality is exclusively focused on worldly knowledge and eloquence in debating secular issues irrelevant to the path of liberation; or in a place where the Buddha Dharma is no longer extant in that world. Referring to the above, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi offers further perspectives here: The eight in the Pāli Canon are at AN 8:29: (1-4) are the same; (5) rebirth in the outlying provinces among the uncouth foreigners (maybe Uttarakuru is one 328

Notes

example, but there must be many other 'outlying provinces,' including most of Eurasia, Africa and the Americas); (6) one holds wrong view and has a distorted perspective: 'There is nothing given, nothing sacrificed, nothing offered.…' in other words, a view that denies karma and results; (7) 'one is unwise, stupid, obtuse, unable to understand the meaning of what has been well stated and badly stated' (probably = 'rebirth with impaired faculties'); (8) 'a Tathāgata has not arisen in the world…and the Dhamma leading to peace, nibbāna, and enlightenment is not taught.'" 167 The Sanskrit for these is cakṣu, jñāna, vidyā, and āloka.

168 Nāgārjuna is referring here specifically to the life span of a buddha who, certainly more readily than an unenlightened person, is able to either extend or shorten his life span at will. Another example of this phenomenon is described in Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, in which it is noted that an arhat may either extend or shorten his life span through a corresponding diminishment or enhancement of his stock of karmic merit. 169 In most traditional Dharma community contexts, this would refer to welcoming and seeing off eminent Dharma teachers, preceptors, visiting monks or nuns, etc. 170 Although "dhyāna concentration states" usually refers primarily to the four dhyānas associated with the form realm, it also refers to the four dhyāna concentration states associated with the formless realm, namely: infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothing whatsoever, and neither perception nor nonperception.

171 By "kindness, compassion, and so forth," Nāgārjuna is very likely referring to the four immeasurable minds (apramāṇa-citta): kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

172 "Unobscured morally indeterminate (anivṛta-avyākṛta)" actions are those that are karmically neutral and involve a mind free of subtle hindrances that impede liberation. As mentioned in an earlier note, "subtle hindrances" refers, for example, to having the view that assumes the existence of a self; having a the tendency to think "I am"; engaging in self-cherishing thoughts, words, and deeds; and being forever under the influence of ignorance. In this case, none of these hindrances might impede liberation. 173 "Those in training and those beyond training" (śaikṣa-aśaikṣa) is a reference to the eight stages of realization culminating in arhatship, the eighth and final stage in the śrāvaka vehicle's individual liberation path.

174 For similar passages in the Kumārajīva translation of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra (Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in 25,000 Lines, 摩訶般若波羅蜜經), see the "Rejoicing" chapter (fascicle 11, chapter 39) beginning at T.223:297b18. 175 I could not locate the Three Branches Sutra in the Taishō edition. 176 A very long and very similar corresponding passage, beginning with precisely this statement of praise, can be found in Kumārajīva's translation of this chapter of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra, beginning at T.223:300b26.

329

Notes

177 The three clear knowledges (trividyā) are the heavenly eye, the cognition of past lives of oneself and others, and the extinguishing of the contaminants. 178 For a complete explanation of these three types of retribution, see Harivarman's Satyasiddhiśāstra, chapter 104, "The Three Types of Karmic Retribution," T.1646:297b-c. 179 The Sutra on the Wisdom Seal of the Tathāgata is extant in the Taishō canon and the cited passage is easily identifiable; see T.633:472c6-14.

180 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi recognized this passage as a quote from "A Lump of Salt" in the Aṅguttara Nikāya, 3:100 (Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, pp. 331 foll.); the Taishō canon parallel is found in the Madhyama Āgama, beginning at T.26:433a12. 181 To correct an apparent graphic-similarity scribal error, I emend the reading of the Taishō text here by preferring the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' er (二), "two," to the Taishō edition's san (三), "three."

182 The Sanskrit name for Comprehensive Giving Bodhisattva (一切施菩薩) is Sarvadāna. The Chinese transliteration (薩和檀) is used directly below in the paragraph related to Sadāprarudita.

183 This is a reference to Jātaka tale number 316 as recorded in the Pāli tradition. It describes a previous life of the Buddha when he was a rabbit who sacrificed his life as a meal for a hungry ṛṣi.

184 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi traced this passage to the "Akṣayamati" chapter in Dharmakṣema's 413 C.E. Chinese translation of the Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra in the Taishō canon (大方 等大集經卷第二十七 -無盡意菩薩品第十二之一, T.397:189a18ff), noting that

this text's version of the passage seems somewhat more elaborate than the passage found in T. 397.

185 I emend the reading of the text by following two alternate editions (Yuan and Ming) in including huijian (慧堅), "solidity in wisdom," which completes this traditional fivefold list of five categories of mastery.

186 As will become clear in due course, "emptiness and such" refers primarily to emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness (the three gates to liberation) and secondarily to a whole host of other qualities associated with the bodhisattva path. 187 Per Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, see the Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra, T.397:189b20ff. 188 I emend the reading of the text here to correct a fairly obvious scribal error by preferring on sensibility grounds the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' xinjie (信解), "resolute conviction, firm belief, etc.," to the Taishō's xinjietuo (信解脫), "liberation of faith." 189 "Field of merit" is a characterization typically but not exclusively reserved for more advanced or spiritually pure practitioners of the path, such as senior monastics. In fact, anyone truly in need is often also regarded as "a field of merit." The idea behind the metaphoric designation is that if one gives to such a person, the karmic reward to the benefactor in terms of the merit thereby accrued will be abundant in a way that 330

Notes

is analogous to the results one might expect from planting good seeds in especially fertile soil.

190 Per Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, this is probably a reference to non-Buddhist teachings such as those promoted by Maskarī Gośālīputra and Ajita Keśakambala, who denied the existence of karmic cause and effect in human affairs.

191 Lit., "no giving where the recipient is not a field of merit." This is a reference to instances of discriminating against some potential recipients because they are considered to be insufficiently virtuous or to be of only inferior monastic rank ("mere novices," etc.).

192 "Fallacious conceptual proliferation" translates xilun (戲論), lit., "frivolous discourse," a Chinese translation of the Sanskrit prapañca, a term with numerous connotations that usually refers primarily to conceptual proliferation that imputes a self where none exists and spins out all sorts of other egotistical ideation with no basis in ultimate reality.

193 For the corresponding Chinese translation, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that the passage begins at T.397:189c12.

194 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes: "On the following, see Majjhima Nikāya 142 (at the end)." The Madhyama Āgama parallel is found at T.26:722b28; see also T.84:904a23. 195 Lest this statement seem somewhat confusing, these four types each contain two entities, namely a giver and a receiver. Three of them have at least one entity that serves as a basis for purity and three of them have at least one entity that serves as a basis for impurity.

196 As Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out, in these contexts, she (捨), which otherwise most directly connotes "relinquishing," usually translates the Sanskrit tyāga, which is also often used in Indian Buddhist texts to connote "generosity," hence my use of that translation here. In support of this translation, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points to a Pāli texts classical definition at AN 4:61: Katamā ca, gahapati, cāgasampadā? Idha, gahapati, ariyasāvako vigatamala-maccherena cetasā agāraetasā agārasāvako vigatamalaion.

197 I emend the reading of the text here to correct an apparent scribal error by preferring on sensibility grounds the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' puti (菩提), "bodhi," to the Taishō edition's pusa (菩薩), "bodhisattva."

198 Kumārajīva retains the transliteration sarvajña, which I prefer to translate as "all-knowledge."

199 The brahman caste corresponds to the priestly class.

200 The kṣatriya caste corresponds to the military class.

201 The vaiśya caste corresponds to the agricultural and merchant classes. 331

Notes

202 In traditional Indian culture, the śūdra caste is considered a low class. Of course, the Buddha emphatically repudiated the caste system, stating that all classes of people flow with equality into the Dharma of the Buddha, just as all waters, when they flow into the ocean, immediately become of but a single flavor.

203 "Self-benefit" here is one of the two types of benefit to which the bodhisattva is dedicated, namely the self-benefit that brings about one's own complete awakening and the other-benefit that facilitates the complete awakening of all other beings. 204 The "erroneous" of "erroneous interpretations" here translates the Chinese yi (異), lit., "aberrant," "divergent," or "deviating."

205 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi offers this note: "The following is in the Dīgha Nikāya 16.4.7 foll. (Long Discourses of the Buddha, pp. 255-256). Also in Aṅguttara Nikāya 4:180." A Chinese parallel is at T.1:17c1.

206 Here and hereafter, I translate zhu fa xiang yi (諸法相義) as "the true character of dharmas." Although it might more literally translate as "the meaning of the character of dharmas" or as "the character and meaning of dharmas," this would seem to more probably correspond to the Sanskrit dharmatā, which, in other Kumārajīva texts is rendered into Chinese as zhu fa shi xiang (諸法實相). This seems especially likely when one notes that Hirakawa, Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary, p. 190, gives dharmatā as the Sanskrit antecedent for 諸法實相義.

207 Mātṛkās were systematic "matrices" (same etymological root) and/or lists of the technical terms, topics, and other doctrinal details contained in the sutras. They served as memorization aids in the preservation of the sutras, and the teachings contained within them, during the time after the Buddha's nirvana and before the sutras and the Abhidharma literature based on them were first systematically committed to written form, usually on palm leaves or other transcription media.

208 Although the title of such a scripture (Sutra of the Resolute King) is indeed referenced in numerous places in the Chinese Buddhist canon, I could not find this textual passage anywhere in the canon as an extant scriptural translation. Of course this does not rule out the possible presence of a slightly variant Chinese translation of these ideas in either in this so-named scripture or somewhere else in the canon. 209 Dhāraṇīs usually take the form of mantras serving to retain Dharma as dominant in one's karmic continuum from lifetime to lifetime, and to also retain very precise memories of all teachings one has learned from lifetime to lifetime. They are also commonly used to protect the practitioner of the path from negative influences arising both from without and from within his own mind. They are also regularly used to bestow benefit on other beings and to enhance one's capabilities on the bodhisattva path in numerous additional ways. Nāgārjuna writes at great length on this topic in his exegesis on the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra.

210 Although dhūtas are austerities, here they refer not to austerities in general but rather specifically to the twelve dhūtaguṇa austerities.

332

Notes

211 Baiyi (白衣), "white-robed ones," is a Sino-Buddhist translation of the Sanskrit avadāta-vasana, a term specifically referring to members of the Buddhist laity. 212 The apparent implication here is not only that a monastic will find his mind distracted by conversation with villagers, but also that his unconventional activities will become the subject of disapproving rumors that degrade the laity's respect for all members of the monastic sangha.

213 "Three poisons" is an alternate designation for the three primary psychospiritual afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion.

214 Nāgārjuna refers here to the rest of the six perfections aside from the practice of giving. 215 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes:

Nāgārjuna probably has in mind a passage that occurs in Pāli Saṃyutta Nikāya 20:10, and elsewhere: "Here some bhikkhu dresses in the morning and, taking bowl and robe, enters a village or town for alms with body, speech, and mind unguarded, without setting up mindfulness, unrestrained in his sense faculties. He sees women there lightly clad or lightly attired and lust invades his mind. With his mind invaded by lust, he meets death or deadly suffering. For this, bhikkhus, is death in the Noble One's Discipline: that one gives up the training and returns to the lower life. This is deadly suffering: that one commits a certain defiled offence of a kind that allows for rehabilitation.…" Giving up the training is "death in the Noble One's discipline, the equivalent of dying." Breaking a grave precept approaches death but does not cross the line.

216 The four bases of meritorious qualities (truth, relinquishment, quiescence, and wisdom) were introduced by Nāgārjuna in Chapter 1 (22b28-9). Their importance as defining qualities of both buddhas and bodhisattvas was emphasized repeatedly in Chapter 2.

217 Nāgārjuna's use of "Dharma position" or "right Dharma position" (samyaktva niyāma) refers in this context to a stage on the śrāvaka disciple's path that is synonymous with attainment of the path of seeing, a stage from which one cannot readily switch over to cultivation of the bodhisattva path to buddhahood. See Leo Pruden's translation, Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam of Vasubandhu (Fremont, CA: Asian Humanities Press, Jain Publishing Co., 1990), pp. 321, 944, 1055-1056n, 1243. In the Mahayana context, this "right Dharma position" connotes a stage of progress on the bodhisattva path wherein one directly perceives the emptiness of dharmas, yet nonetheless continues on with kindness and compassion in the universal-liberation path to buddhahood and remains invulnerable to retreating to the śrāvaka disciple's path to the attainment of individual liberation.

218 "Four fruitions" here is a reference to the four fruits of the śrāvaka disciples' path beginning with stream-entry and ending with arhatship.

333

Notes

219 "Three matters" refers to mindfulness of the Buddha, mindfulness of the Dharma, and mindfulness of the Sangha in a manner accordant with the ensuing discussion at the conclusion of the chapter.

220 This statement is found in Nāgārjuna's Exegesis on the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra (T.1509:442c5-7), as well as in the sutra itself (T.223:273b29-c2). 221 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi Notes: "This must be māraviṣaya or māradheyya, the realm/ domain of Māra, a metaphor for samsara."

222 This is a reference to the "eight winds" or "eight worldly dharmas" (aṣṭalokadharma) that consist of four pairs of affective mind states strongly influencing the life priorities of beings trapped in cyclic existence: gain (lābha) and loss (alābha), fame (yaśas) and disgrace (ayaśas), praise (praśaṃsā) and blame (nindā), and pleasure (sukha) and pain (duḥkha).

223 Per the Mahāsaṃgīti-sūtra (佛說大集法門經) translated into Chinese by Dānapāla in 1005, these "six kinds of equanimity" (六捨) refer to equanimity or indifference at each of the six sense gates of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind with regard to the objects of those six sense faculties, visual forms, sounds, smells, tastes, touchables, and dharmas as objects of mind (T.12:231c15-18).

224 "Two kinds of afflictions" commonly refers to latent afflictions and manifest afflictions. 225 "The five hindrances" is a reference to desire, ill will, lethargy and sleepiness, excitedness and regretfulness, and afflicted doubtfulness. These five hindrances must be overcome in order to successfully enter deep states of meditation. 226 These are explained by the Buddha in the Ekottara Āgama Sutra (T.125:738b18-c17). In summary, these refer to avoidance of being taken advantage of by māras, i.e., "demons" (this is reiterated in all seven) by not retreating from these seven practices: (1) Dwelling together in a single place with mutual respect involving mutual assistance between juniors and seniors while persisting in the cultivation of good dharmas; (2) Accordance with the teachings within a harmonious and united sangha; (3) Nonattachment to worldly responsibilities or reputation;

(4) Avoidance of the recitation of miscellaneous (non-Buddhist) texts while forever goading on one's resolve; (5) Nonindulgence in drowsiness and persistence in wakefulness; (6) Avoidance of the study or propagation of "calculations" (probably referring to astronomically based predictions and various sorts of divination, etc.); (7) Bringing forth the reflection that there is nothing in the entire world that is worthy of delight, practicing dhyāna meditation, and persevering in accordance with the teachings.

227 Assuming that Kumārajīva is using the same Sanskrit-to-Chinese correspondences that we find in the Kumārajīva and Buddhayaśas translation of the Daśabhūmikasūtra, what I translate here as "deep-seated aspirations and resolute belief" (shenxin xinle 深心信樂) would correspond to āśaya and adhimukti.

334

Notes

228 "True character of dharmas" (usually zhu fa shi xiang 諸法實相) is Kumārajīva's usual rendering for what Hirakawa, Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary, p. 1090, notes may be tattvasya-lakṣaṇam, dharmatā, dharma-svabhāva, etc. As such it is a reference to the true nature of dharmas as they really are, and thus a synonym for true suchness (tathatā).

229 I emend the reading of the Taishō text here by preferring on sensibility grounds the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' ming (名), "is what is meant by," to the Taishō edition's gu (故), "therefore."

230 This extended sutra passage has direct correspondences to a section of a fourfascicle scripture that is included in the Mahāvaipulya-mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra (大方等 大集經), otherwise known as the Akṣayamati-nirdeśa (無盡意菩薩品). The passage is in the Taishō canon at T.397:186b-c.

231 On sensibility grounds, I emend the reading of the Taishō text's xing (性), "nature," here by preferring the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' graphically similar xing (姓), "caste."

232 Jian wen jue zhi (見聞覺知), which I translate here as "seeing, hearing, sensing, or cognizing," corresponds to the Sanskrit dṛṣṭaṃ, śrutaṃ, mataṃ, vijñānam, which collectively refers to the knowing of their respective objects by the six sense faculties of eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. In this tetrad, the cognitive functions of three of the senses (olfactory, gustatory, and tactile sensation accomplished by the nose, tongue, and body) are collapsed under the single term "sensing," whereas the other three senses' functions are individually specified as "seeing" (the eye sense faculty), "hearing" (the ear sense faculty), and "cognizing" (the mind faculty). 233 The Taishō analogue text has jing jie gong de (境界功德), "qualities of the state of mind" (T.397:186b20).

234 "Joy" and "bliss" are two factors on a continuum of subtlety (joy being more coarse, bliss being more sublime) that arise and fall away in progressing through the four dhyānas. "Declining to indulge the delectable" refers to remaining unattached to delectably pleasurable meditation states (āsvādana-samādhi) encountered in one's meditation practice that would otherwise pose a danger to progress in meditation. 235 Lest the reader find this passage somewhat opaque, this paragraph is primarily referring to transcendence of the five aggregates. 236 Nāgārjuna may be referring here either to the immediately preceding "mindfulness of the true Buddha" discussion, or else to his later discussion in six chapters (Chapters 20-25 in Vol. II) of "mindfulness of the Buddha" and its associated pratyutpanna samādhi.

237 As inferred by the following discussion, this may be a reference to the layperson's option of starting out in the cultivation of moral purity by only formally obligating himself to observe whichever moral precepts he can confidently uphold. Hence it is 335

Notes

not uncommon for a layperson to start by taking just the three precepts proscribing killing, stealing, and lying, and then only later on formally taking the other two of the five precepts, which prohibit sexual misconduct and the consumption of intoxicants. 238 This is probably a reference to the seven (or eight) kinds of arrogance variously listed in the canon.

239 "The body that does endure" is probably intended to refer to the Dharma body shared by all buddhas.

240 This refers to the recognition that, wisely used, the wealth of this life may bring about a circumstance of being wealthy in the Dharma. This is accomplished through using one's material wealth to do good deeds, support the Dharma, and otherwise generate merit that brings forth success in encountering the right Dharma, a good spiritual guide, and conditions for cultivating the path to buddhahood in life after life. 241 The Chinese is more literally "impurity of the body," however, the Indian Buddhist tradition refers to it more specifically as "contemplation of the unloveliness of the body (aśubha-bhāvanā or aśubhā-saṃjñā)." This practice involves such contemplations as the contemplation of the thiry-two (or thirty-six) parts of the body, the contemplation of the nine stages of decomposition of a corpse, and the contemplation of the white-boned skeleton.

242 This statement is probably intended to apply to a socially obligatory serving of alcoholic beverages in circumstances such as when hosting a large wedding reception where many of the people in attendance will surely be drinking anyway. In this connection, however, it is perhaps useful to recall the major bodhisattva precept forbidding any purveyance of intoxicants. It is stated therein that something so apparently minor as passing a glass of wine to someone may result in being born for five hundred lifetimes with no hands. Also, if it is not already obvious, Nāgārjuna would not condone a precepted layperson's personal consumption of alcohol, even when attending the sorts of events alluded to here.

243 Many of the statements contained in this scriptural passage correlate quite closely with those recorded in the very short fourth chapter of the one-fascicle Sutra on the Questions of Ugradatta (郁迦羅越問菩薩行經, T.323:23a-30b). This edition of the Ugraparipṛcchā-sūtra, one of three translations made into Chinese, was translated by Dharmarakṣa sometime in the late third or early fourth centuries. 244 "Ideation and discursion" translates the standard Chinese rendering of vitarka and vicāra (覺觀).

245 "Foolish common person" translates the standard Chinese rendering of pṛthagjana (凡夫). Although obviously not very flattering, this English translation by Edward Conze, in Materials for a Dictionary of the Prajñāpāramitā Literature (Tokyo: Suzuki Research Foundation, 1967), is unfortunately very accurate. It basically refers to anyone who has not yet attained one of the fruits of the path by which one would become 336

Notes

an ārya. The rest of us are always running mental and spiritual software deeply encoded with ignorance that produces delusion, which in turn generates every permutation of greed, hatred, and stupidity. Hence the "foolishness" to which the term alludes. 246 The text reflects conditions in ancient India dominated by tribal customs. Occurrences such as those listed here might have easily followed from offending tribal authorities, the rich, the powerful, organized crime, ad hoc groups of bandits, local Taliban-like zealots, or invading armies.

247 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that these four causal influences of desire, hatred, delusion, and fear (chanda, doṣa, moha, and bhaya) are called "the four wrong courses" (agati) and cites AN 4:17-19 as a specific Pāli canon reference. 248 Unlike today, in ancient times actors and entertainers did not necessarily enjoy a particularly high social status.

249 The almsman provides the opportunity to practice giving and by his presence influences one to engage in giving, a necessary practice for advancement on the path because it generates merit while also diminishing miserliness. 250 Giving to an almsman generates karmic merit, which in turn brings about material abundance in the future lives of the benefactor.

251 This act of giving assists realization of bodhi for both benefactor and recipient. For the former, it contributes to an essential stock of merit without which one cannot make meaningful progress on the path. For the latter, it provides the physical sustenance without which the almsman could not continue cultivating the path. 252 All-knowledge is a quality exclusive to the buddhas. When giving to an almsman cultivating the path that culminates in attaining this utmost, right, and perfect enlightenment, one's contemplation of this goal could then serve as an inspiration to their own pursuit of this very same state of ultimately supreme liberation. 253 Although giving to an almsman is certainly productive of a rewarding karmic result, to give for the sake of a rewarding karmic result is just another form of covetousness, which does not accord with the path and also massively diminishes the quality of the positive karmic result that the act of giving might otherwise bring about. 254 Māra, the devaputras of the sixth heaven in the realm of desire, demonic ghosts, and, figuratively speaking, the demon of one's own miserliness—all of these types of "demons" may manipulate the mind state of the bodhisattva cultivator, thereby discouraging him from generating merit through the practice of giving. By resisting these, one overcomes the forces of Māra.

255 It is said to be karmically quite usual for the beneficiaries of such generosity to eventually become disciples or members of one's own familial or spiritual clan in this and/or future lives. Additionally, the almsman may indeed have been a clan member or a Dharma family relation in a previous life.

337

Notes

256 The bodhisattva employs the four means of attraction (giving, pleasing words, beneficial actions, and joint endeavors) as essential skillful means to be used in drawing forth beings into pursuing the path to liberation.

257 "Dispassion" translates a standard Chinese rendering of virāga (離欲). 258 "Dispassion" (virāga) is most likely intended here in the sense of "indifference" or "detachment" with regard to one's own possessions.

259 Dedicating the merit arising from giving to the eventual attainment anuttarāsamyaksaṃbodhi greatly elevates one's dedication to moral purity, because focusing one's resolve exclusively on attaining buddhahood necessarily entails strict adherence forever to the highest level of moral virtue. If one fails to dedicate one's merit to the attainment of buddhahood, that merit will otherwise naturally just go merely to greater personal abundance in subsequent rebirths.

260 This manner of giving is consistent with the perfection of vigor because the benefactor has moved right along with the act, maintaining zeal, resolve, and a degree of determination that remains invulnerable to any tendency to retreat from this virtuous act. 261 "Worthy" (bhadra) and ārya are technical terms with specific meanings in Mahayana doctrine. Basically, a "worthy" is one who has advanced well beyond the spiritually untutored mind of the foolish common person, but is still vulnerable to being impeded in his progress to spiritual liberation. An ārya, on the other hand, has already reached one of the stages of realization through which progression to spiritual liberation is guaranteed.

262 "It endures" reflects the realization that the gift, once given, will continue to generate merit for the benefactor even after it is no longer in his possession. 263 "It will not endure" reflects the realization that a possession, like all other phenomena, is impermanent.

264 The text actually specifies "wife" here, but I deliberately instead translate with the more neutral term "spouse." Nāgārjuna certainly would have used such a word if he had thought a woman might ever read this text which was, after all, written for a readership consisting entirely of men. This work was written at a time when only men were able to read. Thus it was never envisioned that women or prospective nuns might actually read the text, as opposed to having it orally taught in a lecture format more precisely tailored to the contemplations best suited to a woman reflecting on the suboptimal aspects and potential spiritual liabilities inherent in marriage. Obviously, in order to derive the intended salutary effect of reading this (and other similar) commentaries, a woman reading this text should simply reframe any references specifying "women" or "wives" as objects of critical contemplation to "men" or "husbands." 265 There is a total of ninety-nine negative spousal contemplations here, consisting of thirty-three sets of three, all of them intended to provoke the lay practitioner already weary of the tedium of married life to consider abandoning the householder's life in 338

Notes

favor of monastic life, a path that is described step-by-step in the ensuing chapters of this treatise.

266 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi points out that the triple contemplations that follow are taken from the Ugraparipṛcchā-sūtra. See Jan Nattier's translation of this scripture, A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path According to the Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā) (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2003), pp. 247-255.

267 "Contemplation of the body as unlovely" generally translates the Sanskrit aśubhabhāvanā or aśubhā-saṃjñā. 268 Starting here and continuing for the rest of these spousal contemplations, the Taishō text has xiang (相) as a more or less standard short-form abbreviation for xiang (想), while the other four editions (Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong) all have xiang (想) throughout. 269 The black-eared kite (Milvus lineatus) is a medium-sized Asian raptor. 270 Sakhalin sturgeon (Acipenser mikadoi).

271 Responsible spiritual teachers will generally forbid married disciples from precipitously abandoning a marriage when the family is financially dependent on their ongoing presence. They will usually instead counsel joint lay bodhisattva practice that includes the cultivation of patience, the planting of merit, the development of wisdom, and continued kindness and compassion in the context of the ongoing marriage until, by mutual agreement, husband and wife together decide that more efficient progress along the bodhisattva path is best pursued in a monastic context. Serious married lay practitioners may explore the option of celibacy by mutual agreement, beginning by formally taking on the eight precepts that include celibacy, and observing those precepts for one day and night on six days of each lunar month, usually, the eighth, fourteenth, fifteenth, twenty-third, twenty-ninth, and thirtieth days. 272 Again, as in many other places in this text, rather than retain the Sanskrit term, I translate Kumārajīva's sarvajña as "all-knowledge."

273 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes the parallels from Āgama and Nikāya sources: Śikṣānanda, T.279:861-863; EA 24.6; T. 88; T. 89; T. 87, MA 202; AN 3.37-38, 3:70, and 8.43, and points out that the full text of the eight precepts is found in AN 3:70 and 8:43. 274 "Consumption of intoxicants" here is literally "alcoholic beverages," but it also refers to any substance that, once consumed, skews normal clear consciousness. Hence the various forms and methods of ingesting mind-altering cannabis products (marijuana, hash, etc.), opiates, amphetamines, psychedelics, and other such substances would be included as well. Coffee and tea, although they can interfere with meditation, are not proscribed.

275 This scripture, the Sutra of the Resolute King, has apparently been lost, as a search of the canon does not turn up any remotely similar texts with this name. 276 Krakucchanda Buddha was the fourth of the seven buddhas of antiquity mentioned in the Nikāyas and Āgamas.

339

Notes

277 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that this statement's corresponding Pāli canon passage is found at AN 6:44. Hence, The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, p. 913, has: "Therefore, Ānanda, do not be judgmental regarding people. Do not pass judgment on people. Those who pass judgment on people harm themselves. I alone, or one like me, may pass judgment on people."

278 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes that the following passage's corresponding Pāli canon passage is found at AN 4:103 and The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, pp. 484-485.

279 Sutra on the Inaction of Dharmas (諸法無行經), Skt. Sarvadharma-apravṛttinirdeśa-sūtra (T.650:750-761). See also other translations (T. 651, T. 652). 280 Perhaps the Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā).

281 To correct an obvious graphic-similarity scribal error, I emend the reading of the Taishō text here by preferring the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' xiang (相), "sign," to the Taishō edition's xiang (想), "thought." These three successive phrases are clearly intended to refer specifically to practitioners of the three gates to liberation (emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness), of which this phrase refers to the second of the three gates.

282 "Kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity" is a direct reference to the four immeasurable minds (apramāṇa-citta).

283 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes corresponding Pāli text passages: SN 15:3, 4, and 13. 284 This statement is slightly ambiguous but most likely refers to the Indian layperson's caste origins and associated social stature, which are entirely transcended and dispensed with once one becomes a monastic in the Buddha's sangha. 285 "Elixir of immortality," lit., "sweet dew" (ganlu 甘露) corresponds to the Sanskrit amṛta, which, as with the Western analogue term, "ambrosia," means "the undying" and refers to the nectar or food of the gods that confers immortality. "Poisons" likely refers to the three poisons, greed, hatred, and delusion, along with their numerous subsidiary afflictions.

286 Although this statement is somewhat ambiguous, it likely refers to the layperson's relatively greater vulnerability to having his interests encroached upon and harmed by the power of the king, the power of thieves, the power of māras, or the power of the afflictions.

287 This is probably intended to refer to the "heat" of anger and lust. 288 Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi notes the corresponding Pāli text passage: SN 35:247; see The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya translated from the Pāli (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2000), pp. 1255-1257. 289 The "three-part robe" consists of a sarong, an upper robe, and a sanghāti robe. 340

Notes

290

"Avadāna stories" are stories of the previous lives of a buddha. 291 The Chinese text preserves a transliteration of the Sanskrit word for "sitting cloth" (niṣīdana). I have preferred to translate it.

292 To correct an apparent graphic-similarity scribal error, I emend the reading of the Taishō text here by preferring the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' yi (遺), "omitted, left out, held back, or neglected," to the Taishō edition's gui (匱). 293 "The station of the avaivartika" corresponds to irreversibility on the bodhisattva path to buddhahood.

294 "Patience" here is to be construed in the sense of "acquiescence." 295 The Chinese term that I translate here as "resolute faith" (信解) is perhaps the most standard Sino-Buddhist translation of the Sanskrit adhimukti. 296 I insert the Sanskrit term dhāraṇī here in place of its sometimes slightly opaque Chinese translation as "comprehensive retention [formulae]." Both the Chinese translation (總持) as well as the Sanskrit term itself refer to one of the most important types of dhāraṇīs, those which aid the remembrance of particular Dharma teachings even for many lifetimes. There are other types of dhāraṇīs, such as those that consist of untranslated Sanskrit syllables that serve as powerful mantra-like "mystic formulae." Nāgārjuna discusses this topic at length in his Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa. 297 These "universal bases" (kṛtsnāyatana) are ten visualization devices traditionally used as one of a number of basic techniques in early Buddhist meditation practice aimed at developing and strengthening deep meditative concentration. These are synonymous with the ten types of kasiṇas familiar to students of Southern Tradition Buddhism's meditation practice aimed at acquisition of the four dhyāna (jhāna) concentration states associated with the form realm.

The kasiṇas may be discs representing earth, water, fire, air; blue, yellow, red, white; space, consciousness (or as an alternative to consciousness, "bright light"), or empty space. Through correctly developed meditation on any one of these discs, one is able to produce a precise image of the given kasiṇa that then abides in the mind's eye or may be called forth to the mind's eye at will and independently of the original meditation object. Then one becomes able in response to one's own volition to freely develop any representational image that one wishes that incorporates the original elements, colors, etc., on which the meditation was originally focused. These representational images are then no longer limited to an exact replica of that original meditation object. For example, one is then able to transform one element into another and produce certain supernormal effects as a result. Hence the analogy here to developing the practice through "resolve" "in accordance with one's wishes." 298 "Karmic propensities" (here qi 氣 and qixing 氣性, more usually xiqi 習氣, lit., "habit energies") would usually correspond to the Sanskrit vāsanā, which refers to the habitual tendencies created in the mind through repetition of similar volitions and 341

Notes

actions that produce the likelihood one will quite readily stumble into repeating the same affliction-associated karmic errors.

299 Emendation: to correct an apparent scribal error I reversed the order of the second and third lines of this four-line śloka, to accord with the obviously correct order revealed in Nāgārjuna's subsequent discussion and in the Ming edition of the text. 300 I emend the reading of the Taishō text here by preferring on sensibility grounds the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Gong editions' dafahui (大法會), "great Dharma assemblies," to the Taishō edition's dahui (大會), "great assemblies."

301 It is not clear to which Abhidharma text Nāgārjuna is referring here. 302 The tala palm (Borassus flabellifer) is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. 303 "White hair tuft": ūrṇākeśa.

304 The nyagrodha tree (Ficus benghalensis) is the Indian banyan tree. 305 According to Monier Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, aiṇeya refers to the Indian black antelope. I suspect the intended species may be the Indian blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra).

306 I translate here as "monastic preceptor" and "monastic Dharma teacher" what the Kumārajīva text retains in transliteration as upādhyāya and ācārya, respectively. 307 Although in later period literature xiongdi (兄弟) refers exclusively to elder and younger brothers, in ancient texts it refers to elder and younger sisters as well. 308 In India, merit halls (puṇya-śālā) were a type of hostel for the lodging, sustenance, and medical care of travelers and the poor. These were usually donated by kings and the wealthy.

342