The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines
Chapter 73: Exposition of the Major Marks and Minor Signs and the Completion of Letters
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 73: Exposition of the Major Marks and Minor Signs and the Completion of Letters
The Lord having said that, venerable Subhūti then inquired of him, “Lord, how, when all dharmas are like a dream, have no basis, are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature, and are empty of their own marks, can you present these as wholesome and these as unwholesome, these as ordinary and these as extraordinary, these as with outflows and these as without outflows, these as compounded and these as uncompounded, as well as these for making manifest the result of stream enterer, these for making manifest the result of once-returner, these for making manifest the result of non-returner, these for making manifest the state of a worthy one, these for making manifest a pratyekabuddha’s awakening, and these for making manifest unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening? And similarly, up to how, when all dharmas are like an echo, like an apparition, like an illusion, like a mirage, and like [F.65.a] a magical creation; are nonexistent things; are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature; and are empty of their own marks, can you present these for making manifest unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening?”
Venerable Subhūti having thus inquired, the Lord said to him, “Subhūti, here ordinary, unlettered simple folk apprehend a dream, apprehend a dreamer of a dream, up to apprehend a magical creation, and apprehend one who sees a magical creation. On account of apprehending a dream and apprehending a dreamer of a dream, up to on account of apprehending a magical creation and apprehending one who sees a magical creation, body, speech, and mind cause unwholesome volitional factors to come into being; body, speech, and mind cause wholesome volitional factors to come into being; and body, speech, and mind also cause good, bad, and immovable716 volitional factors to come into being.
“Therefore, bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom standing in these two emptinesses—the emptiness of what transcends limits and the emptiness of no beginning and no end—teach beings that these three realms are empty. ‘Here there is no form, or feeling, or perception, or volitional factors, or consciousness, or aggregates, or constituents, or sense fields. They are a dream; they are an echo; they are an apparition; they are an illusion; they are a mirage; and they are a magical creation. Here there are no aggregates, or constituents, or sense fields. Here there is no dream and no dreamer of a dream, no echo and no hearer of an echo, no apparition and no one who sees an apparition, no mirage and no one who sees a mirage, and no magical creation and no one who sees a magical creation. [F.65.b] All these dharmas are nonexistent things and are only the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature. But still, even though there are no aggregates there is the perception of aggregates, even though there are no constituents there is the perception of constituents, and even though there are no sense fields there is the perception of sense fields. All these dharmas are dependent origination, are arisen on account of error, and are appropriated because of the maturation of karma, so why do you persist with the perception of an existent thing even though dharmas are nonexistent things?’
“Therefore, with skillful means bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom stop those beings who are stingy from being stingy and connect them with the perfection of giving. That charitable impulse of theirs makes them more and more wealthy. Having caused them to advance beyond717 that, they establish them in morality, and that morality of theirs that they have properly taken up leads them to be born in the heavens.718 Having caused them to advance even beyond that, they connect them with meditative stabilization and that meditative stabilization of theirs leads them to take birth in the Brahmaloka. Similarly, from the first concentration they connect them with the second concentration, from the second concentration with the third concentration, from the third concentration with the fourth concentration, and from the fourth concentration with the absorption in the station of endless space, with the absorption in the station of endless consciousness, with the absorption in the station of nothing-at-all, and with the absorption in the station of neither perception nor nonperception. In many ways they make them advance beyond giving and the result of giving and make them calm down and enter into the element of nirvāṇa without any aggregates left behind, establishing them in it. They also make them advance beyond morality and the result of morality and in many ways make them calm down and enter into the element of nirvāṇa without any aggregates left behind, [F.66.a] establishing them in it. They also make them advance beyond absorption and the result of absorption and in many ways make them calm down and enter into the element of nirvāṇa without any aggregates left behind, establishing them in it. Similarly, they make them calm down and enter into the four applications of mindfulness, four right efforts, four legs of miraculous power, five faculties, five powers, seven limbs of awakening, and eightfold noble path, as well as the three gateways to liberation, eight deliverances, nine serial absorptions, ten tathāgata powers, four fearlessnesses, four detailed and thorough knowledges, and eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha, establishing them in them. With the dharmas without outflows that are formless, cannot be pointed out, and do not obstruct, they establish those yearning for the result of stream enterer in the result of stream enterer, establish those yearning for the result of once-returner in the result of once-returner, establish those yearning for the result of non-returner in the result of non-returner, establish those yearning for the state of a worthy one in the state of a worthy one, establish those yearning for a pratyekabuddha’s awakening in a pratyekabuddha’s awakening, and explain to, teach, motivate, excite, and establish those yearning for unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening on the awakening path.”
The Lord having said that, venerable Subhūti said to him, “Lord, that bodhisattva great beings practicing this deep perfection of wisdom [F.66.b] should present dharmas as dharmas that are the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature, dharmas that are an emptiness of what transcends limits and an emptiness of no beginning and no end in such detail—‘These are wholesome dharmas and these are unwholesome dharmas, these are dharmas with outflows and these are dharmas without outflows, up to these are compounded dharmas and these are uncompounded dharmas’—is amazing, marvelous.”
Venerable Subhūti having said that, the Lord said to him, “Exactly so, Subhūti, exactly so! This presentation of dharmas by bodhisattva great beings practicing this deep perfection of wisdom is an amazing, marvelous dharma. Subhūti, when you understand how amazing and marvelous this dharma of bodhisattva great beings is, there is no case for it being easy for any śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas to pay back the bodhisattva great beings in kind for such help. Even all of you together would be incapable of surpassing those bodhisattva great beings with all the dharmas they have.”
The Lord having said that, venerable Subhūti asked him, “Lord, what is that amazing, marvelous dharma of bodhisattva great beings that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas do not have?”
“Well then, Subhūti, listen well and pay attention and I will explain,” said the Lord. “Here bodhisattva great beings practicing this deep perfection of wisdom, standing in the six perfections arisen from maturation, standing in the five clairvoyances, thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, dhāraṇī gateways, and four detailed and thorough knowledges, having gone to world systems in the ten directions, help with giving those beings there who can be helped [F.67.a] by giving; help those who can be helped by morality, those who can be helped by patience, those who can be helped by perseverance, and those who can be helped by meditative stabilization; help with wisdom those who can be helped by wisdom; help those who can be helped by the first concentration, those who can be helped by the second concentration, those who can be helped by the third concentration, those who can be helped by the fourth concentration, those who can be helped by the absorption in the station of endless space, up to help with absorption in the station of neither perception nor nonperception those who can be helped by the absorption in the station of neither perception nor nonperception; help those who can be helped by love, those who can be helped by compassion, those who can be helped by joy, and those who can be helped by equanimity; help those who can be helped by the four applications of mindfulness, those who can be helped by the four right efforts, those who can be helped by the four legs of miraculous power, those who can be helped by the five faculties, those who can be helped by the five powers, those who can be helped by the seven limbs of awakening, those who can be helped by the eightfold noble path, those who can be helped by the emptiness meditative stabilization, those who can be helped by the signlessness meditative stabilization, and help with the wishlessness meditative stabilization those who can be helped by the wishlessness meditative stabilization.”
“Lord, how do bodhisattva great beings practicing [F.67.b] this perfection of wisdom help beings who can be helped by giving with giving?”
“Subhūti, here bodhisattva great beings practicing this perfection of wisdom give gifts. They give food to those begging for food, and drinks to those who want drink; they give transport, flower garlands, creams, incense, clothes, beds, pillows, up to whatever human requirements are appropriate. Just as they give to the tathāgata, worthy one, perfectly complete Buddha, they also give in the same way to