“It is impossible, there is no chance, Subhūti, that bodhisattva great beings who practice the perfection of generosity, practice the perfection of ethical discipline, practice the perfection of tolerance, practice the perfection of perseverance, practice the perfection of meditative concentration, and practice the perfection of wisdom; who practice the emptiness of internal phenomena, practice the emptiness of external phenomena, practice the emptiness of external and internal phenomena, practice the emptiness of emptiness, practice the emptiness of great extent, practice the emptiness of ultimate reality, practice the emptiness of conditioned phenomena, practice the emptiness of unconditioned phenomena, practice the emptiness of the unlimited, practice the emptiness of that which has neither beginning nor end, practice the emptiness of nonexclusion, practice the emptiness of inherent nature, practice the emptiness of all phenomena, practice the emptiness of intrinsic defining characteristics, practice the emptiness of that which cannot be apprehended, practice the emptiness of nonentities, practice the emptiness of essential nature, and practice the emptiness of an essential nature of nonentities; who practice the applications of mindfulness, practice the correct exertions, practice the supports for miraculous ability, practice the faculties, practice the powers, practice the branches of enlightenment, and practice the noble eightfold path; who practice the truths of the noble ones, practice the meditative concentrations, practice the immeasurable attitudes, practice the formless absorptions, practice the liberations, practice the serial steps of meditative absorption, practice the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation, practice the extrasensory powers, practice the meditative stabilities, and practice the dhāraṇī gateways; and who practice the powers of the tathāgatas, practice the fearlessnesses, practice the kinds of exact knowledge, practice great compassion, and practice the eighteen distinct qualities of the buddhas, and habituate to them—that endowed with such transcendent knowledge and seeing they will either fall into nonconditioning, or cohabit with those who dwell in the three realms.
“Subhūti, it should be asked of those bodhisattva great beings who practice in that manner and habituate to these factors conducive to enlightenment, ‘How do bodhisattva great beings who wish to fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment, having practiced and habituated to these factors, not realize emptiness and not realize the very limit of reality—the emptiness and the very limit of reality that, were they to realize them, would cause them to attain the fruit of having entered the stream, to attain the fruit of once-returner, to attain the fruit of non-returner, to attain arhatship, and to attain individual enlightenment? How do they not realize signlessness, not realize wishlessness, not realize nonconditioning, not realize nonarising, and not realize the absence of entities, and yet will still cultivate the perfection of wisdom?’
“Subhūti, if other bodhisattva great beings ask that of those bodhisattva great beings and if they respond, saying, ‘They should pay attention to emptiness. They should pay attention to signlessness. They should pay attention to wishlessness. They should pay attention to nonconditioning. They should pay attention to nonarising. They should pay attention to noncessation. They should pay attention to the absence of entities,’ then, Subhūti, those bodhisattva great beings should know that these bodhisattva great beings have been prophesied by the lord buddhas to attain unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. If you ask why, it is because they describe, pronounce on, and distinguish those objects to which irreversible bodhisattva great beings habituate themselves.
“Subhūti, if, when they ask bodhisattva great beings that question, they pronounce on it, saying, ‘They should not habituate to emptiness. They should not habituate to signlessness. They should not habituate to wishlessness. They should not habituate to nonconditioning. They should not habituate to nonarising. They should not habituate to the absence of entities. They should not habituate to the factors conducive to enlightenment,’ then, Subhūti, those bodhisattva great beings should know that these bodhisattva great beings have not been prophesied by the lord buddhas to attain unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment. If you ask why, it is because they do not describe, do not pronounce on, and do not distinguish the objects irreversible bodhisattva great beings should habituate themselves to. Bodhisattva great beings should know that these bodhisattva great beings do not tread on the level of the attenuated refinement,1011 as do irreversible bodhisattva great beings who tread on the level of those who are irreversible after having habituated themselves to those factors of irreversible bodhisattva great beings that they did not describe, did not pronounce on, and did not distinguish.”
“Blessed Lord, might there be another way of explaining irreversibility?”1012 asked Subhūti.
“Subhūti, there is,” replied the Blessed One. “It is if the response that is given is precisely in the manner of an irreversible bodhisattva great being, whether or not the bodhisattva great beings have studied the six perfections.”
“For that reason, Blessed Lord,” said Subhūti, “there are many who practice for enlightenment, but there are few who could respond in the manner of an irreversible bodhisattva great being, whether they dwell on the refined level or the unrefined level.”
“It is so, Subhūti, it is so,” replied the Blessed One. “If you ask why, Subhūti, it is because bodhisattva great beings prophesied to attain the level of the transcendent knowledge of the irreversible ones are few in number. Those who have been prophesied will respond exactly in that manner. One should know that those who respond exactly in that manner have planted the root of virtue, Subhūti, and that the world with its gods, humans, and asuras will not captivate those bodhisattva great beings.”1013
This completes the forty-fourth chapter from “The Noble Perfection of Wisdom in One Hundred Thousand Lines.”