The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines
Chapter 30: The Benefits of Taking Up and Adoration

Then venerable Ānanda said to the Lord, “Lord, you do not praise425 the perfection of giving, and you do not praise the perfection of morality, perfection of patience, perfection of perseverance, or perfection of concentration. Similarly, up to you do not proclaim the names of the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha as you proclaim the name of the perfection of wisdom.”

Venerable Ānanda having said this, the Lord then said to him, “Ānanda, these‍—that is, the [F.2.a] five perfections, connect this in the same way with each, up to the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha‍—are preceded by the perfection of wisdom.

“What do you think, Ānanda, does giving that has not been dedicated to426 the knowledge of all aspects get the name ‘perfection’? What do you think, Ānanda, do morality, patience, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom that have not been dedicated to the knowledge of all aspects get the name ‘perfection’?”

“No, Lord,” answered Ānanda. “Lord, why does giving that has been dedicated to the knowledge of all aspects, and morality, patience, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom that have been dedicated to the knowledge of all aspects, get the name ‘perfection’?”

“Ānanda,” replied the Lord, “when giving, morality, patience, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom have been dedicated to the knowledge of all aspects in a nondual way, they get the name ‘perfection.’ When they have been dedicated to the knowledge of all aspects in a nonappropriating way, in a nonapprehending way, they get the name ‘perfection.’ ”

Ānanda then asked, “Lord, why does giving that has been dedicated to the knowledge of all aspects [F.2.b] in a nondual way get the name ‘perfection’? Lord, why do morality, patience, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom that have been dedicated to the knowledge of all aspects in a nondual way get the name ‘perfection’?”

“Ānanda,” replied the Lord, “it is because it has been dedicated by way of the nonduality of form, and it has been dedicated by way of the nonduality of feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness, up to awakening.”

Ānanda then asked, “Lord, why is it by way of the nonduality of form? Why is it by way of the nonduality of feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness? Up to why is it by way of the nonduality of awakening?”

“Ānanda,” replied the Lord, “it is because form is empty of form. Feeling is empty of feeling. Perception is empty of perception. Volitional factors are empty of volitional factors, and consciousness is empty of consciousness. And why? Because form, feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness and that perfection are not two and cannot be divided into two. Perfection and awakening are not two and cannot be divided into two. Therefore, Ānanda, here the five perfections, up to awakening and the knowledge of all aspects are preceded by just this perfection of wisdom.

“To illustrate, Ānanda, through the power of a collection, seeds grow when planted on this great earth. Similarly, Ānanda, all the perfections, [F.3.a] the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, up to the knowledge of all aspects grow when planted on the perfection of wisdom. And, planted on the knowledge of all aspects, all the perfections, the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, the ten powers, the fearlessnesses, the detailed and thorough knowledges, and the distinct attributes of a buddha grow. Therefore, Ānanda, just this perfection of wisdom is the leader of these perfections, up to the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha and the knowledge of all aspects.”

Śatakratu then said, “Lord, the tathāgata, worthy one, perfectly complete Buddha has not proclaimed all the good qualities of the perfection of wisdom, the good qualities that have been appropriated by a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who takes up, bears in mind, reads aloud, masters, and properly pays attention to this perfection of wisdom. It is because that son or daughter takes up and properly pays attention to this perfection of wisdom that the ten wholesome actions appear in the world; that the four concentrations, four immeasurables, and four formless absorptions appear in the world; up to that the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha appear in the world. Lord, it is because they have taken up, up to have properly paid attention to the perfection of wisdom that there are great sāla tree–like royal families in the world, there are great sāla tree–like brahmin families, and there are great sāla tree–like business families in the world; that there are the Cāturmahā­rājika gods, up to and that there are Akaniṣṭha gods in the world. [F.3.b] Lord, it is because they have taken up, up to have properly paid attention to the perfection of wisdom that there are stream enterers in the world; that there are once-returners, non-returners, and worthy ones in the world; that there are pratyekabuddhas in the world; and that there are bodhisattvas in the world. Lord, it is because they have taken up, up to have properly paid attention to the perfection of wisdom that there are tathāgatas, worthy ones, perfectly complete buddhas in the world.”

Śatakratu, head of the gods, having said this, the Lord then said to him, “Kauśika, I am not saying a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who has taken up, up to has properly paid attention to the perfection of wisdom has merely that many good qualities. And why? Kauśika, those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family who take up, bear in mind, read aloud, master, and properly pay attention to this perfection of wisdom are endowed with an immeasurable aggregate of morality and will not become separated from the thought of the knowledge of all aspects. Those who take up, bear in mind, read aloud, master, and properly pay attention to this perfection of wisdom are endowed with an immeasurable aggregate of meditative stabilization, aggregate of wisdom, aggregate of liberation, and aggregate of knowledge and seeing of liberation, and they will not become separated from the thought of the knowledge of all aspects. Kauśika, you should know that those who … up to properly pay attention [F.4.a] are like tathāgatas. They will not become separated from the thought of the knowledge of all aspects.

“Kauśika, the aggregate of morality, meditative stabilization, wisdom, liberation, and knowledge and seeing of liberation in the aggregate of morality, aggregate of meditative stabilization, aggregate of wisdom, aggregate of liberation, and aggregate of knowledge and seeing of liberation of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas does not, Kauśika, approach the aggregate of morality, up to aggregate of knowledge and seeing of liberation in the aggregate of morality, up to aggregate of knowledge and seeing of liberation of a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who stands in the perfection of wisdom even by a hundredth part, or by a thousandth part, or by a hundred thousandth part; neither does it stand up to any number, or fraction, or counting, or example, or comparison.

“And why? Because, Kauśika, those sons of a good family and daughters of a good family are freed from the thought of the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha levels without being separated from any dharma and without it having been produced at all.

“Kauśika, it is to be expected that a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who has written out this perfection of wisdom and keeps it in mind, who respects, reveres, honors, and worships it with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners, will obtain these good qualities in this life and in future lives.”

The Lord having said this, Śatakratu, head of the gods, then said to him, “I too will constantly and always guard, protect, and keep safe [F.4.b] a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who takes up this perfection of wisdom, keeps this perfection of wisdom in mind, and respects, reveres, honors, and worships it with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners. They will never be separated from the thought of the knowledge of all aspects.”

Śatakratu, head of the gods, having said this, the Lord then said to hm, “Kauśika, in order to listen to the Dharma, many hundreds of thousands of gods will come near to a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who is reciting the perfection of wisdom. Those gods will want to connect those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family with the confidence giving a readiness to speak about the perfection of wisdom. When those Dharma preachers do not wish to teach, those very gods will also, because of their respect for the Dharma, want to connect them with the confidence giving a readiness to speak.

“Kauśika, a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who takes up, bears in mind, reads aloud, masters, and properly pays attention to this perfection of wisdom and, having written it out in book form, respects, reveres, honors, and worships it with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners gets these good qualities too in this life.

“Furthermore, Kauśika, those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family who are explaining this perfection of wisdom in front of the four retinues are not cowed when somebody argues and finds fault with them. And why? [F.5.a] Because this perfection of wisdom guards, protects, and keeps safe those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family. It is also because in the perfection of wisdom ordinary and extraordinary dharmas, those with outflows and without outflows, those shared in common and not shared in common, those that are wholesome and unwholesome, those that are compounded and uncompounded, the dharmas of śrāvakas, the dharmas of pratyekabuddhas, the dharmas of bodhisattvas, the dharmas of buddhas, and all dharmas are not different.

“And why? Because that son of a good family or daughter of a good family standing in inner emptiness, up to standing in the emptiness that is the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature does not see fault finding and does not see a fault finder either. Thus no fault will be found in that son of a good family or daughter of a good family mentored by the perfection of wisdom.

“Furthermore, Kauśika, a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who takes up, up to properly pays attention to the perfection of wisdom does not feel cowed, tense up, tremble, feel frightened, or become terrified. And why? Because those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family do not see a real basis that could feel cowed, could tense up, could tremble, could feel frightened, or could become terrified.

“Kauśika, a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who takes up, bears in mind, reads aloud, masters, and properly pays attention to this perfection of wisdom, and respects, reveres, honors, and worships it with flowers, [F.5.b] perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners appropriates these good qualities too in this life.

“Furthermore, Kauśika, fathers, mothers, friends, retainers, kinsmen, blood relatives, those following a secluded religious life, and brahmins come to feel great affection for any son of a good family or daughter of a good family who takes up, bears in mind, reads aloud, masters, and properly pays attention to this perfection of wisdom and, having written it out in book form, respects, reveres, honors, and worships it with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners. Those bodhisattvas become loved by the lord buddhas standing in all the world systems in the ten directions and by bodhisattvas, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, worthy ones, all those in training, and all those for whom there is no more training; they become dear to the world with its celestial beings, with its Māras, and with its Brahmās, and to the whole populace with those following a secluded religious life and the brahmins, with its gods, humans, and asuras. They become endowed with a seamless confident readiness; endowed with a seamless perfection of giving; endowed with a seamless perfection of morality, patience, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom; endowed with seamless inner emptiness, up to emptiness that is the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature; endowed with seamless applications of mindfulness, right efforts, [F.6.a] legs of miraculous power, faculties, powers, limbs of awakening, paths, ten tathāgata powers, and four fearlessnesses; and endowed with four seamless detailed and thorough knowledges, eighteen seamless distinct attributes of a buddha, seamless dhāraṇī gateways and meditative stabilization gateways, seamless clairvoyances, bringing beings to maturity, and purification of a buddhafield; and endowed with a seamless knowledge of all aspects. They become able, because they are endowed with the Dharma, to curb all the disputes with tīrthikas that ever come up.

“Kauśika, a son of a good family or daughter of a good family who takes up, bears in mind, reads aloud, masters, and properly pays attention to this perfection of wisdom and, having written it out, respects, reveres, honors, and worships it with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners also appropriates these good qualities in this life and future lives, and they will not become separated from the thought of the knowledge of all aspects.

“Furthermore, Kauśika, the Cāturmahā­rājika gods that are in the great billionfold world system who have set out for unsurpassed awakening come to where a son of a good family or daughter of a good family, having written out this perfection of wisdom in book form, bears it in mind. They take up this perfection of wisdom, Kauśika, bear it in mind, read it aloud, and master it, and, having venerated and bowed to it, they go back. Similarly, [F.6.b] the Trāyastriṃśa, Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarati, Para­nirmita­vaśa­vartin, Brahmakāyika, Brahmapurohita, Brahmapārṣadya, Parīttābha, Apramāṇābha, Ābhāsvara, Parīttaśubha, Apramāṇaśubha, Śubhakṛtsna, Bṛhatphala, and Brahmā427 gods who have made a prayer for unsurpassed awakening come to where a son of a good family or daughter of a good family writes out this perfection of wisdom in book form and bears it in mind. They take up this perfection of wisdom, Kauśika, bear it in mind, read it aloud, and master it, and, having venerated and bowed down to it, they go back. Kauśika, also the Śuddhāvāsa gods‍—the Avṛha, Sudarśana, Sudṛśa, Atapa, and Akaniṣṭha gods‍—think to come there, take up this perfection of wisdom, Kauśika, bear it in mind, read it aloud, and master it, and, having venerated it, they go back.

“Kauśika, that son of a good family or daughter of a good family should have the following thought. They should think, ‘May the gods included in the Cāturmahā­rājika and the Bṛhatphala class of gods on down, the Śuddhāvāsa class of gods, and the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas that are in world systems in the ten directions who have set out for unsurpassed awakening come here, and may they take up this perfection of wisdom, bear it in mind, read it aloud, and master it, and, having venerated and bowed to it, go back. May I make this offering [F.7.a] of a gift of Dharma to them.’

“Those Cāturmahā­rājika gods and Bṛhatphala gods on down and the Śuddhāvāsa class of gods that are in world systems in the ten directions who have set out for unsurpassed awakening do think to come there. They take up this perfection of wisdom, bear it in mind, read it aloud, and master it, and, having venerated it, they go back.

“The Cāturmahā­rājika gods and the Akaniṣṭha gods on down that are in this great billionfold world system and the Cāturmahā­rājika gods and the Akaniṣṭha gods on down that are in world systems in the ten directions will guard, protect, and keep safe that son of a good family or daughter of a good family so that those seeking an opportunity to hurt will not get an opportunity unless it is the maturation of karma.

“Kauśika, those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family will appropriate these good qualities too in this life. And why? Because those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family have set out for unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening; they have set out to be a refuge for all beings, not to reject all beings‍—to be of benefit and bring happiness to all beings.”

Then Śatakratu, head of the gods, asked the Lord, “Lord, how will those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family know the Cāturmahā­rājika gods have come there from all around and that the Akaniṣṭha gods on down have come there [F.7.b] to take up this perfection of wisdom, bear it in mind, read it aloud, master it, respect, revere, honor, worship, venerate, and bow down to it?”

“Kauśika,” answered the Lord, “when those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family smell a celestial divine fragrance they have never smelled before they will know ‘extremely powerful gods have come here to hear, take up, bear in mind, read aloud, master, respect, revere, honor, worship, venerate, and bow down to this perfection of wisdom.’

“Furthermore, Kauśika, when those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family are habitually clean, because of their habitual cleanliness the gods will come there to hear, take up, bear in mind, read aloud, master, respect, revere, honor, worship, venerate, and bow down to this perfection of wisdom, and they will become enraptured.

“In that place the gods that are only slightly powerful are unable to bear the splendor of the extremely powerful ones and feel they have to withdraw from there.

“The belief of those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family becomes stronger and stronger in line with the arrival there of those extremely powerful gods.

“On that place on the earth one should not behave like those who are not habitually clean. That place should be adorned with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners. That place should be adorned in many ways; it should be daubed with fragrant substances and strewn with loose flowers, and a cloth canopy with tassels hanging down should be stretched out over it.

“Furthermore, Kauśika, those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family will not feel [F.8.a] physical weariness but will feel a sense of physical pleasure, a sense of physical lightness; they will do what they do physically with a sense of ease. They will also feel a sense of mental lightness, will do what they do mentally with a sense of ease, and will experience mental pleasure.

“From then on, they will conceive of everything in terms of the perfection of wisdom from the bottom of their hearts and will not have bad dreams. In their dreams they will see a tathāgata, worthy one, perfectly complete buddha adorned with the thirty-two major marks of a great person and with a body golden in color, seated and teaching the Dharma at the head of the śrāvaka saṅgha and at the head of the bodhisattva community. From those tathāgatas they hear just discourse connected with the six perfections; they hear just discourse connected with the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, up to the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha; and they hear just the meaning of those perfections, up to the meaning of the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha. They will see the Bodhi tree, they will see the bodhisattva great being approaching the site of awakening, and they will see the full awakening to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.428 They will see many hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion bodhisattvas chanting the buddha’s words in the assembly, saying, ‘Get the knowledge of all aspects, bring beings to maturity, purify a buddhafield.’ They will hear the sound of one hundred million billion buddhas from the eastern direction. Similarly, they will hear the sound of many hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion [F.8.b] buddhas from the south, west, and north, below and above, and intermediate directions. They will hear in such and such a world system such and such a tathāgata, worthy one, perfectly complete buddha visibly surrounded by his many hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion bodhisattvas, and by many hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion śrāvakas, seated teaching the Dharma. They will see many hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion buddhas in the eastern direction entering into complete nirvāṇa, and they will also see many hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion buddhas entering into complete nirvāṇa in … up to the ten directions. They will also see hundreds of thousands of one hundred million billion reliquaries, receptacles for the remaining physical constituents of those tathāgatas, made of various precious things. They will see the respecting, revering, honoring, and worshiping of them with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners. Kauśika, sons of a good family or daughters of a good family will have such good dreams as those.

“They will fall asleep happy and wake up happy, they will have the experience of their bodies being infused with energy, and they will have the experience of their bodies not being heavy but light. They will not have a powerful greediness for food, and they will not be greedy for requirements‍—robes, alms, beds and seats, and medicines for sicknesses. Kauśika, this is like a monk practitioner of yoga who has arisen from meditative stabilization with a mind satisfied by mental work. They do not have a powerful greediness for food. They have less. [F.9.a] Similarly, Kauśika, the nonhumans supply a son of a good family or daughter of a good family with energy. Those lord buddhas, and also the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas that are in the ten directions, infuse their body with energy.

“Kauśika, sons of a good family or daughters of a good family with the thought of the knowledge of all aspects who take up, bear in mind, read aloud, master, and properly pay attention to this perfection of wisdom appropriate these good qualities too in this life.

“Furthermore, Kauśika, even if sons of a good family or daughters of a good family do not take up, do not bear in mind, do not read aloud, do not master, and do not properly pay attention to this perfection of wisdom, still, if, having written it out in book form, they bear it in mind and respect, revere, honor, and worship it with flowers, perfumes, incense, garlands, creams, powders, robes, parasols, flags, and banners, based on that, Kauśika, those sons of a good family or daughters of a good family create a lot of merit. To respect, revere, honor, and worship tathāgatas, worthy ones, perfectly complete buddhas and their śrāvaka saṅghas that are in world systems all around in the ten directions with requirements‍—robes, alms, beds and seats, and medicines for sicknesses‍—and to respect, revere, honor, and worship the reliquaries of those tathāgatas, worthy ones, perfect complete buddhas when they have passed into complete nirvāṇa [F.9.b] along with their śrāvaka saṅghas with requirements‍—robes, alms, beds and seats, and medicines for sicknesses‍—is not like that.”