The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines
Chapter 57: Practice
Toh 10
Degé Kangyur, vol. 29 (shes phyin, ka), folios 1.a–300.a; vol. 30 (shes phyin, kha), folios 1.a–304.a; vol. 31 (shes phyin, ga), folios 1.a–206.a
Translated by Gareth Sparham
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2022
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines is one version of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras that developed in South and South-Central Asia in tandem with the Eight Thousand version, probably during the first five hundred years of the Common Era. It contains many of the passages in the oldest extant Long Perfection of Wisdom text (the Gilgit manuscript in Sanskrit), and is similar in structure to the other versions of the Long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras (the One Hundred Thousand and Twenty-Five Thousand) in Tibetan in the Kangyur. While setting forth the sacred fundamental doctrines of Buddhist practice with veneration, it simultaneously exhorts the reader to reject them as an object of attachment, its recurring message being that all dharmas without exception lack any intrinsic nature.
The sūtra can be divided loosely into three parts: an introductory section that sets the scene, a long central section, and three concluding chapters that consist of two important summaries of the long central section. The first of these (chapter 84) is in verse and also circulates as a separate work called The Verse Summary of the Jewel Qualities (Toh 13). The second summary is in the form of the story of Sadāprarudita and his guru Dharmodgata (chapters 85 and 86), after which the text concludes with the Buddha entrusting the work to his close companion Ānanda.
Acknowledgements
This sūtra was translated by Gareth Sparham under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The Translator’s Acknowledgments
This is a good occasion to remember and thank my friend Nicholas Ribush, who first gave me a copy of Edward Conze’s translation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines in 1973. I also thank the Tibetan teachers and students at the Riklam Lobdra in Dharamshala, India, where I began to study the Perfection of Wisdom, for their kindness and patience; Jeffrey Hopkins and Elizabeth Napper, who steered me in the direction of the Perfection of Wisdom and have been very kind to me over the years; and Ashok Aklujkar and others at the University of British Columbia in Canada, who taught me Sanskrit and Indian culture while I was writing my dissertation on Haribhadra’s Perfection of Wisdom commentary. I thank the hermits in the hills above Riklam Lobdra and the many Tibetan scholars and practitioners who encouraged me while I continued working on the Perfection of Wisdom after I graduated from the University of British Columbia. I thank all those who continued to support me as a monk and scholar after the violent death of my friend and mentor toward the end of the millennium. I thank those at the University of Michigan and then at the University of California (Berkeley), particularly Donald Lopez and Jacob Dalton, who enabled me to complete the set of four volumes of translations from Sanskrit of the Perfection of Wisdom commentaries by Haribhadra and Āryavimuktisena and four volumes of the fourteenth-century Tibetan commentary on the Perfection of Wisdom by Tsongkhapa. I thank Gene Smith, who introduced me to 84000. I thank everyone at 84000: Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and the sponsors; the scholars, translators, editors, and technicians; and all the other indispensable people whose work has made this translation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines and its accompanying commentary possible.
Around me everything I see would be part of a perfect road if I had better driving skills.Where I was born, where everything is made of concrete, it too is a perfect place.Everyone I have been with, everyone who is near me now, and even those I have forgotten—there is no one who has not helped me.So, I bow to everyone and to the world and ask for patience, and, as a boon, a smile.
Acknowledgment of Sponsors
We gratefully acknowledge the generous sponsorship of Matthew Yizhen Kong, Steven Ye Kong and family; An Zhang, Hannah Zhang, Lucas Zhang, Aiden Zhang, Jinglan Chi, Jingcan Chi, Jinghui Chi and family, Hong Zhang and family; Mao Guirong, Zhang Yikun, Chi Linlin; and Joseph Tse, Patricia Tse and family. Their support has helped make the work on this translation possible.
Chapter 57: Practice
Then venerable Subhūti asked the Lord, “Lord, what is the sameness of bodhisattva great beings, the sameness in which bodhisattva great beings have to train?”
“Subhūti,” replied the Lord, “inner emptiness . . . [F.246.a] connect this in the same way with each, up to and the emptiness that is the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature is the sameness of bodhisattva great beings. Form is empty of form. Feeling . . . , perception . . . , volitional factors . . . , and consciousness is empty of consciousness, and similarly, up to also awakening is empty of awakening. Subhūti, that is the sameness of bodhisattva great beings, and stationed in that sameness bodhisattva great beings will fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.”
Subhūti then asked, “Lord, when bodhisattva great beings train to put an end to form do they train in the knowledge of all aspects, when they train to become detached from form do they train in the knowledge of all aspects, when they train for the cessation of form do they train in the knowledge of all aspects, and when they train so that form will not be produced do they train in the knowledge of all aspects? And similarly, up to when they train to put an end to the four detailed and thorough knowledges do they train in the knowledge of all aspects, and similarly, up to and when they train so that the four detailed and thorough knowledges will not be produced do they train in the knowledge of all aspects? When they train to put an end to feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness do they train in the knowledge of all aspects, up to when they train so that they will not be produced do they train in the knowledge of all aspects? Or when they train to put an end to, become detached from, for the cessation of, up to awakening, up to600 so that they will not be produced do they train in the knowledge of all aspects?” [F.246.b] Connect this in the same way, at length, with them all.
Venerable Subhūti having inquired about this, the Lord replied to him, “Subhūti, you have said, ‘When they train to put an end to form do they train in the knowledge of all aspects, up to when they train so it will not be produced do they train in the knowledge of all aspects? When they train to put an end to feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness do they train in the knowledge of all aspects, up to601 when they train so that they will not be produced do they train in the knowledge of all aspects? When they train to put an end to, become detached from, for the cessation of, up to awakening so they will not be produced do they train in the knowledge of all aspects? Connect this in the same way, at length, with them all.’
“Subhūti, what do you think—is there an end to, a cessation of, or a diminution in that suchness that is the suchness of form, of feeling, of perception, of volitional factors, and of consciousness; connect this in the same way with each, up to that suchness that is the suchness of awakening, that is the suchness of the Tathāgata, on account of which suchness they are labeled the Tathāgata?”
“Subhūti,” continued the Lord, “bodhisattva great beings training like that, training in suchness, train in the knowledge of all aspects, and suchness neither ends, nor ceases, nor diminishes. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that, training in suchness, train in the knowledge of all aspects. [F.247.a] Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that, training in suchness, train in the six perfections. They train in the applications of mindfulness, connect this in the same way with each, up to the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha, up to the knowledge of all aspects. Subhūti, Māra or the Māra class of gods cannot break bodhisattva great beings training like that. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that reach the irreversible state extremely quickly. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that range over their own father’s, the Tathāgata’s, range. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that practice the dharmas that dispel darkness. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that practice the dharmas that purify a buddhafield. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that train in great love, train in great compassion, train in order to purify a buddhafield, and train in order to bring beings to maturity. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that train to turn the wheel of the Dharma that has twelve aspects three times. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that train with the thought ‘I will place beings in complete nirvāṇa.’ Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that train so the line of the tathāgatas [F.247.b] will be unbroken. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that train with the thought ‘I will open the gate to immortality,’ and train with the thought ‘I will perfectly reveal the uncompounded element.’
“Subhūti, inferior beings are incapable of training in this training. The bodhisattva great beings who train in this training want to extricate all beings from saṃsāra. Subhūti, the bodhisattva great beings training like that are not born in hell; are not born in the animal world, in the world of Yama, or in the border areas; and are not born in outcaste families, with a missing limb,602 crippled, deaf, with a goiter,603 or with one side of the body withered away. They will not have incomplete sense organs; their sense organs will be complete, not incomplete. They will not be involved with killing, up to have a wrong view, will not fashion a life on wrong livelihood, will not hold onto the unreal, will not be immoral, and will not hold on to immorality.
“Subhūti, the bodhisattva great beings training like that are not born among the long-lived gods. And why? Because those bodhisattva great beings have skillful means—a skillful means so that even though they become absorbed in the concentrations, become absorbed in the immeasurables, and become absorbed in the formless absorptions, still the concentrations, immeasurables, and formless absorptions do not dictate where they are born.
“Subhūti, the bodhisattva great beings training like that [F.248.a] attain the perfect purity of the power of all the buddhadharmas, which is to say, they do so because the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha levels have been perfectly purified.”
The Lord having said this, venerable Subhūti then asked him, “Lord, if all dharmas are in their basic nature perfectly pure, what dharma’s perfect purity do bodhisattva great beings attain?”
“Exactly so, Subhūti, exactly so!” replied the Lord. “It is exactly as you say, Subhūti, all dharmas are in their basic nature perfectly pure. Subhūti, when, even with all dharmas being perfectly pure, bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom do not feel cowed and do not tense up, that is the perfection of wisdom of those bodhisattva great beings. Ordinary persons do not understand and do not see that true nature of dharmas, so for the sake of those beings the bodhisattva great beings practice the perfection of giving, up to practice the perfection of wisdom, and, Subhūti, the bodhisattva great beings practicing all dharmas like that accomplish the powers and fearlessnesses. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that go beyond the continually moving thought activity of all beings.
“To illustrate, Subhūti, there are not many places on the great earth where shiny nuggets of Jambū River gold and silver crop up. Similarly, there are not many beings practicing this practice—namely, the perfection of wisdom. Far more than them are the beings standing on the śrāvaka and [F.248.b] pratyekabuddha levels.
“To illustrate further, Subhūti, there are not many beings who take up and remain at the work that transforms them into a wheel-turning emperor. Far more than them are the beings who take up and remain at the work that transforms them into local rulers. Similarly, Subhūti, there are not many beings who have set out on the path to the knowledge of all aspects. Far more than them are the beings who have set out on the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha paths. Subhūti, there are far fewer bodhisattva great beings who practice for suchness than there are bodhisattva great beings who have set out for unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and far more than them are those who will be in the state of a śrāvaka or pratyekabuddha. Subhūti, far more than the sons of a good family in the Bodhisattva Vehicle standing in the perfection of wisdom who will attain604 the irreversible level are those who will not attain the irreversible level. Therefore, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings who want to reach the irreversible level and want to be counted among those at the irreversible level should train in this deep perfection of wisdom.
“Furthermore, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom do not produce a thought associated with miserliness, do not produce a thought associated with immorality, do not produce a thought associated with disturbance, do not produce a thought associated with laziness, do not produce a thought associated with distraction, do not produce a thought associated with intellectual confusion, do not produce a thought associated with greed, do not produce a thought associated with hatred, do not produce a thought [F.249.a] associated with confusion, and do not produce a thought associated with hardheartedness. They do not produce a thought associated with form, and do not produce a thought associated with feeling, perception, volitional factors, or consciousness; similarly, connect this with each, up to they do not produce a thought associated with awakening. And why? Subhūti, it is because bodhisattva great beings practicing this deep perfection of wisdom do not apprehend any phenomenon, and while not apprehending do not produce any thought about any phenomenon. Bodhisattva great beings thus practicing this deep perfection of wisdom, Subhūti, have perfectly taken up all the perfections, have perfectly succeeded at all the perfections, and all the perfections accompany them. And why? Subhūti, it is because all the perfections are included within this deep perfection of wisdom. To illustrate, Subhūti, the sixty-two views are included in the view of the perishable collection. Similarly, Subhūti, all the perfections are included within this deep perfection of wisdom. To illustrate further, Subhūti, when a person’s time to die has come and the life faculty shuts down, all the other faculties will shut down as well. Similarly, Subhūti, all the perfections accompany bodhisattva great beings practicing this deep perfection of wisdom. Therefore, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings who want to go to the other side of all the perfections should train in this deep perfection of wisdom.
“Subhūti, bodhisattva great being practicing the perfection of wisdom train for the highest state [F.249.b] of all beings. Subhūti, what do you think, are there a lot of beings in a great billionfold world system?”
“Lord, given that just the beings of Jambudvīpa are many, what need is there to say more about beings in a great billionfold world system? There are a lot, Sugata, a lot,” he replied.
“Subhūti,” he continued, “were all the beings, as many as there are in a great billionfold world system, to have simultaneously obtained human bodies and to have fully awakened to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, and were some bodhisattva great being to have attended on each of those tathāgatas, worthy ones, perfectly complete buddhas for as long as they live with the requirements—robes, alms, beds and seats, and medicines for sicknesses—what do you think? Based on that, would that bodhisattva great being create a lot of merit?”
“Subhūti,” said the Lord, “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 deep perfection of wisdom create even more merit than that. And why? Subhūti, it is because this perfection of wisdom of the bodhisattva great beings brings about unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, serving a great purpose. Therefore, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings who want to become the best of all beings, who want to become a protector [F.250.a] of beings without a protector, who want to be a refuge of those without a refuge, who want to be a final ally of those without a final ally, who want to be a lamp for those standing in darkness, who want to reach the state of a buddha, who want to have reached the range of a buddha,605 who want to live the life of a buddha,606 who want to roar the buddha lion’s roar, who want to beat the big buddha drum, who want to blow the buddha conch, and who want to engage in buddha discourse should thus train in this deep perfection of wisdom. And why? Subhūti, it is because there is no perfect state that bodhisattva great beings training in the perfection of wisdom have to obtain that they have not obtained.”
“Do they even have to obtain a śrāvaka’s perfect state, and do they even have to obtain a pratyekabuddha’s perfect state?” asked Subhūti.
The Lord said, “Even though they even have to obtain a śrāvaka’s perfect state, and even though they even have to obtain a pratyekabuddha’s perfect state, still they do not stand there and do not stay there. With knowledge and seeing they have to look and transcend, and they have to enter into the secure state of a bodhisattva. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that get close to the knowledge of all aspects and will fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. Bodhisattva great beings training like that are worthy of the offerings of the world with its gods, humans, and asuras. Subhūti, [F.250.b] bodhisattva great beings training like that surpass those others who are worthy of the offerings—all theśrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, as many as there are—and get close to the knowledge of all aspects. Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings training like that do not give up the perfection of wisdom, practice the perfection of wisdom, and are not separated from the perfection of wisdom. Subhūti, you should know that the attribute of bodhisattva great beings practicing this deep perfection of wisdom like that is not abandoning the knowledge of all aspects.607 They distance themselves from the śrāvaka level and the pratyekabuddha level and get close to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.
“If it occurs to them to think, ‘This is the perfection of wisdom. In this perfection of wisdom, on account of this perfection of wisdom, I will accomplish the knowledge of all aspects’—if they form such a notion—they are not practicing the perfection of wisdom. But if they do not have the notion, ‘This is the perfection of wisdom. The perfection of wisdom is here’—if they do not know and do not see whose perfection of wisdom it would be, on account of what it would be a perfection of wisdom, and who, with the perfection of wisdom, would go forth and fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening—and if it also occurs to them to think, ‘The dharma-constituent, suchness, and the very limit of reality remain, so this is not the perfection of wisdom, and the perfection of wisdom is not here, and there is no dharma at all that goes forth on account of this perfection of wisdom,’ in that case, Subhūti, the bodhisattva [F.251.a] great beings practicing like that are practicing the perfection of wisdom.”
This was the fifty-seventh chapter, “Practice,” of “The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines.”