812. “Clearly achieve” renders mngon par sgrub (abhinirhṛ). Other possible renderings include “consummate,” “bring into being,” and “find within oneself and produce.” Kimura 2–3:147, lines 23–28. This passage and the paragraphs that immediately follow appear to suggest that the very act of perception is incompatible with the practice of the perfection of wisdom, even if the perception is accurate. The Ten Thousand inverts the interpretation here.
813. “In vain” renders gsog (tucchā).
814. “Have conviction” renders yid ches pa, Mvy pratyayita. Kimura 2–3:146, reading pratyarpitā, understands: “Because they have caused the perfection of wisdom to be attained, they do not cause physical forms to be attained.”
815. Literally, the Tib says, “Because they have conviction in the perfection of wisdom, in which phenomena do they not have conviction?”
816. “Not enhance or diminish” renders che bar myi bgyid chung bar myi bgyid (na mahatkṛ nālpīkṛ) (literally, “neither makes bigger nor makes smaller”).
817. “Not gather together or scatter apart” renders ’du bar myi bgyid yangs bar myi bgyid. Eight Thousand (vaidya 88) has na saṃkṣip na vikṣip.
818. “Does not make measurable or make immeasurable” renders tshad mchis par myi bgyid tshad ma mchis par myi bgyid.
819. “Not expand or compress” renders rgya chen por myi bgyid rgya chung ngur myi bgyid, Kimura 2–3:147, na parittīkṛ na vipulīkṛ.
820. “Not strengthen or weaken” renders mthu dang ldan par myi bgyid mthu ma mchis par myi bgyid (na balīkṛ na durbalīkṛ).
821. “As reality and as method” renders don dang tshul gyis, Kimura 2–3:149, arthataś ca nayataś ca.
822. “Incomparable” renders mtshungs par myed pa, Mvy apratisama; cf. Eighteen Thousand, kha F.59.a (35.2), “imponderable,” perhaps rendering apratisaṃdhi.
823. “Actual perfection of wisdom” renders shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa nyid.
824. “Insentient” renders sems myed pa (usually bem po), jaḍa (“material,” “inanimate”).
825. “Make an effort at” renders brtson par bgyid (yogam āpad).
826. “There is a distinction that must be explained” renders rnam par phye zhing bshad dgos pa. Edg, s.v. vibhajya-vyākaraṇa, an explanation “distinguishing aspects beyond what the question itself immediately raised.”
827. The Tibetan reads “roast” (bsreg bar ’gyur ro), whereas Kimura 2–3, p. 151, reads prakṣepsyante (“they will be cast into”).
828. “Somehow or other” renders brgya la (kathaṃcit). Kimura 2–3:151, kadācit karhicit.
829. “Reject” renders phyir spang ba.
830. “Having ruined” renders nyams par byas; Kimura 2–3:151, upahatya.
831. “Misled” renders tshul ma yin pa (anaya).
832. “Calamity” renders ’jigs pa; Kimura 2–3:152, vyasana.
833. “Measure of the body” renders lus kyi tshad; Kimura 2–3:152, ātmabhāvasya pramāṇa. It means the amount of suffering and the length of time it is experienced.
834. That is, in the hells, in the animal realms, or in the world of Yama.
835. “Carried out fully” renders tshang par byas pa.
836. “So long” renders ’di srid du (iyacciram).
837. “Terrible form of life” renders ngan song, apāya (“when things have gone badly”).
838. “Mundane right view” renders ’jig rten gyi yang dag pa’i lta ba (laukikī samyagdṛṣṭiḥ).
839. “In how many ways” renders rnam pa du zhig gis, katamair ākāraiḥ.
840. “Act out of hatred” renders zhe sdang gi spyod pa can (dveṣacarita); cp. Kimura 2–3:152, doṣacaritāś (“conduct themselves badly”).
841. “The past limit that has the essential nature of a nonentity,” or, alternatively, “the past limit, which has the essential nature of a nonentity,” renders sngon gyi mtha’ dngos po myed pa’i rang bzhin, a literal rendering of (Kimura 2–3:154) pūrvānto ’bhāvasvabhāvo. It does not make sense in English to say “the past limit, the essential nature of a nonentity, is physical forms.” “The essential nature of a nonentity” renders dngos po myed pa’i rang bzhin (abhāvasvabhāva). If you take the negative prefix a at the start of the compound as qualifying the following (a dvandva compound), it means “the absence of the essential nature of an entity.” As a bahuvrihi compound (abhāvasvabhāvo yasmin), the sentence would then mean, “The past limit in which there is the absence of the essential nature of an entity is physical forms.”
842. Here “utter purity” renders yongs su dag pa (pariśuddhi). In the previous sections “purity” rendered rnam par dag pa (viśuddhi). Among the many senses of the prefixes vi- and pari- are “individualization” and “all-encircling,” respectively.
843. Note the change here from “emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness” to “the emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness gateways to liberation.”
844. Here, and in the following, the absence of the different stages of śrāvaka attainment is noteworthy.
845. Again, it is noteworthy that all of the attainments, starting from the fruit of having entered the stream, are spelled out here in place of just knowledge of all the dharmas.
846. Again, “utter purity” here renders yongs su dag pa (pariśuddhi), as distinct from “purity” (rnam par dag pa, viśuddhi).
847. That is, linking up with a new set of aggregates in rebirth.
848. “Abiding nature of the reality of phenomena” renders chos kyi dbyings kyi gnas nyid (dharmadhātusthititā).
849. According to the Abhisamayālaṃkāra this begins the third section of the Sūtra, explaining the difference between the understanding of the foundational teachings by a śrāvaka and by a bodhisattva.
850. “Dedicated” renders yongs su bsngo ba (pariṇāmayitum); alternatively, “transformed.”
851. “Up to the establishment of the good Dharma” renders dam pa’i chos gnas pa’i bar; alternatively, “for as long as the good Dharma remains.”
852. “Speak in praise” renders legs par brjod (varṇaṃ bhāṣ); “speak disparagingly” renders ma legs par brjod (avarṇaṃ bhāṣ).
853. “Want to buttress space with the sky” renders nam mkha’ bar nang la gdegs par ’tshal ba; Kimura 2–3:174, ākāśaṃ te antarikṣam utkseptukāmāḥ.
854. “Rush” renders od ma, Mvy piṇḍaveṇu (“lump bamboo”).
855. “Without conventional designations” renders tha snyad med pa; Kimura 2–3:180, avyāhāratā.
856. These are the eighth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of the month in the lunar calendar.
857. “Positioning themselves” renders ’god pa (ṣṭhā).
858. The connection between the two—“moment” (kṣana) and “extinguished” (kṣīṇa)—is based on the root kṣị, “to destroy.”
859. Read syanda (’bab) in place of Kimura 4:2 skandha.
860. Cf. Kimura 4:2 kliṣṭasattvānupalabhitām; Twenty-Five Thousand kha 218a7 (29.24) omits “beings” (sems can) and reads “afflicted mental states” (nyon mongs pa) instead.
861. The translators evidently read prahāṇa in place of (Kimura 4:3) apramāṇa (“immeasurable”).
862. chags pa med pa’i phyir. Cf. Kimura 4:4, which reads ākāśasvabhāvasamatāṃ upādāya (Conze 1975, p. 314: “because [all dharmas] in their own-being are the same as space”).
863. “Preoccupation” renders tshol bar sbyor ba, literally “seeking for and joining up with”; Kimura 4:4 has adhyavasāya.
864. The Tibetan is myi shes pa dmyigs su myed pa’i phyir ro, but given the pattern the negation is curious.
865. “Real nature” renders tathatā.
866. K, N, and so on add “four” here; N adds “Śāradvatīputra, the perfection of wisdom is profound because the real nature of great loving kindness is profound.”
867. “Make an effort for true reality” renders de bzhin nyid du nan tan bgyid, tathatvāya pratipad.
868. “Great depths of the ocean” renders rgya mtsho mching rnams chen po. Negi links rgya mtsho mching to sāgarakukṣi and sāgaragaṃbhīra, in a sense comparable to “the vault of the sky.” Interestingly, MW, s.v. sāgarakukṣi, sāgaragaṃbhīra, says these are names for “serpent maidens.”
869. “They can infer the nearness of the great ocean” is an attempt to render the meaning of bags kyis gzhol ba ste/ ’di nas rgya mtsho chen po’i drung du da ni ring po myed do; bags kyis gzhol ba, rendered literally, suggests the gradual slope down toward the ocean.
870. “Watch over” renders dgongs, samanvāhṛ; alternatively, “direct their enlightened intention toward,” or “focus their thought on.” The idea is that buddhas want people to attain good qualities, and the practices taught in the Perfection of Wisdom cause the practitioners to do that, and not to backslide.
871. “Cultivate” renders sgom mo ’tshal, an archaic honorific (toward the person addressed) of a present tense, where the ’tshal stands for yod.
872. lnga brgya tha ma. According to traditional calculations, the duration of the Buddhist teaching promulgated by the Buddha Śākyamuni is held to be five thousand years, divided into ten periods of five hundred years each. In the first period there was a profusion of arhats, so it was called the period of arhats. The second is called the period of non-returners, and the third the period of those who have entered the stream to nirvāṇa. These three periods together are called the Age of Fruition or enlightenment. In the fourth period there is a predominance of wisdom, therefore it is so called. The fifth is called the period of meditative stability, and the sixth the period of ethical discipline. These three periods together are called the Age of Attainment. The next three periods of Abhidharma, Sūtra, and Vinaya are collectively known as the Age of Transmission. The tenth and final period is called the Age of Convention or Symbols because at that point the actual practice of the path will be lost, and only conventional tokens of going forth will remain. See also Stein and Zangpo (2013), pp. 209–15.
873. “Result” here renders rnam par smin pa, vipāka; literally “maturation.”
874. Note that there is no mention here of the bodhisattvas of the present, unlike the corresponding passage in the Twenty-Five Thousand. (30.75)
875. “Giving instructions” renders lung ’bog, *upadeśanā.
876. Bṭ1 pa, p. 210, explains “sixty-day food” as cheap rice that reaches maturity in sixty days.
877. “Courtesan” renders sprul ’tshong ma, gaṇikā.
878. “Detached” renders rab tu dben pa, pravivikta.
879. These are the twelve types of ascetic practices (dhūtaguṇa).
880. Alternatively, gzhi ji bzhin pa, yathāsaṃstarika means to use things like leaves and grass for bedding, or to accept whatever is given for bedding.
881. “Subject to malign influences” renders sdig to’i chos can.
882. “Brief statement” renders glengs, udghaṭita; cf. Edg, s.v. udghaṭita.
883. “Attract a gathering” renders tshogs yongs su sdud pa.
884. “Causing a schism” renders dbyen byed cing.
885. “Fine gold” is a translation of sa le sbram, kanaka; above, “gold” rendered gser, suvarṇa.
886. “Sustaining power” renders byin gyis brlabs pa, adhiṣṭhāna.
887. Understand “extensive” not in terms of the number of objects the thought covers, but the number of moments of earlier and later thoughts that together constitute a particular thought.
888. D omits ji ltar.
889. “Having in mind” renders zhes bya bar, iti.
890. “Being there” and “becoming something else” render gnas pa, sthiti, and gnas pa las gzhan du ’gyur ba, sthityanyatātva. Cf. Negi, s.v. gnas pa las gzhan du ’gyur ba nyid. Alternatively, if a later Yogācāra meaning is intended, gnas pa means the stable basis, like the foundation (ālaya), while gnas pa las gzhan du ’gyur ba means the transformations of it, like the six consciousnesses (vijñāna) of sights and so on.
891. “That cannot be indicated” renders bstan tu med pa, anidarśana. Bṭ1 explains the compound as a bahuvṛihi: “a thought that has what cannot be indicated as its object.”
892. “Permanent” means it goes on and on forever, and below “impermanent” means it does not go on and on forever; the continuum of it is severed, in the sense of coming to a radical stop.
893. “Underpinned” renders gnas pa.
894. The context for these statements is the silence of the Buddha when asked a series of such questions, which is to say, the fact that the Buddha did not say of the questions, as formulated by the questioners, that they were right or wrong.
895. “Living being” renders srog, jīva.
896. This is a play on words, as “real nature” renders the Sanskrit tathatā.
897. “Nondwelling” renders myi gnas pa, Gilgit 171.4 niḥśṛta, “not based on anything.”
898. “Altered” here is to be understood in the sense of being used as conventional terms in the world. The gods and the entire world are nonentities as much as the perfection of wisdom itself.
899. All the versions of the Hundred Thousand, including gser bri ma, na 95a5, omit this line, but Gilgit 510.8 and ŚsPN3 4540v6 have nālakṣaṇaṃ lakṣaṇaṃ prajānāti at this point, as the third of the four possibilities. Kimura 4:68 also has nālakṣaṇaṃ lakṣaṇaṃ prajānāti in an abbreviated version, and both Bṭ1 pa, p. 245, and Bṭ3 5.502 add a gloss to mtshan nyid myed pa mtshan nyid shes par myi byed (“The absence of defining characteristics does not cognize the defining characteristics.” / “The absence of a mark does not know a mark”).
900. This translation is based on the explanation of the three possibilities at Bṭ1 pa, p. 246. The Skt versions have only nāsti saṃbhavaḥ yena prajānīyād yo vā prajānīyāt (“something that might know or someone that might know”) but it is noteworthy that the Sanskrit version of the Eight Thousand (Wogihara 562) has “the defining characteristics are not put there by any hand” (kenāpi hastena sthāpitāni), which perhaps explains the addition of the third possibility here.
901. Cf. Hundred Thousand ga 163a–b (8.399) where the list of (intrinsic) defining characteristics occasionally differs.
902. “A particular recognition” renders so so’i bye brag shes pa, prativijñapti.
904. “Absolute definitiveness” renders shin tu gdon myi za ba, niścaya.
905. “Direct perception” renders mngon sum (pratyakṣa); alternatively, in reference to the object of knowledge, pratyakṣa means “directly appearing,” “obvious.”
906. “Only natural” renders chos dang ldan. Gilgit 172v3–4 dharmatat (read -vat?); Kimura 4:4–70 dharmatā, “the nature of those phenomena”; ŚsPN3 4542r6 omits.
907. “Signlessness” also means without a cause.
908. E.g., a body of causes. The Tibetan is lus myed pa’i phyir.
909. It has not been possible to convey the different meanings of the Skt words kṛta (“done,” “a benefit,” “created,” “enacted”), kṛtajña, kṛtavedin (“one who is grateful,” “one who is thankful”), and akṛta (the negation of those) in the English translation.
910. “Have no dwelling place and do not belong anywhere” renders myi gnas shing khongs su chud pa ma yin, aniśritā aparyāpannāḥ.
912. It is noteworthy that asaṃḳhyeyā (“uncountable,” “incalculable”) is omitted from this list.
913. “Deficiency” renders mnyam pa dang myi mnyam pa, samaviṣama.
914. Kimura 4:76 acintyā iti subhūte acintanādhivacanam etat, atulyā iti subhūte atulanādhivacanam etat, aprameyā iti subhūte apramāṇādhivacanam etat, asaṃkhyeyā iti subhūte agaṇanādhivacanam etat, asamasamā iti subhūte asamaviṣamādhivacanam etat. Gilgit 174v13–175r1 acintyā iti subhūte acintyādhivacanam etat / atulyā iti subhūte atulyādhivacanam e[ta]t / aprameyā iti subhūte apramāṇādhivacanam etat / asamasamā iti subhūte asamasamādhivacanam etat. ŚsPN3 4568v9–10 acintyā iti subhūte acintyanādhivacanam etad / atulyā iti subhūte ’tulanādhivacanam etat / aprameyā iti subhūte apramāṇādhivacanam etat / asaṃkhyā iti subhūte agaṇanādhivacanam etad / asamasamā iti subhūte asamaviṣamādhivacanam etat. Here, “incomparability” renders mnyams pas mnyam pa myed pa, probably Gilgit asamasamā; alternatively, “not equal to the one that is equal [to the unequaled].”
915. Here “unappraisable” renders gzhal du myed pa. In the previous chapter and again below, this is rendered “immeasurable.” The order here is not corroborated by Bṭ1 or the Skt editions of Gilgit and so on.
917. “Stupefied” renders rmongs pa, dhandha.
918. “Captivated” renders myi ’phrogs pa myi ’gyur, literally “it is not that [this profound perfection of wisdom] will not be stolen from them” = •na gambhīrā prajñāpāramitāsaṃhāryā bhaviṣyati (Gilgit 177v13, ŚsPN3 4583r6).
919. “They will be swayed by their mood swings” renders de ni ldam ldem gyi blo des ’phrogs, sa saṃhriyate calācalayā buddhyā, literally “it will be stolen away by their vacillating intellect.”
920. “Scooping up” renders ’chu (future bcu), literally “to scoop up,” “to ladle,” “to water.” ŚsPN3 4586r3 paribhṛ.
921. “Will himself” renders nyam rangs su, ayantrita.
922. The krośa (rgyang grags, “earshot”) is a measurement traditionally equivalent to five hundred arm spans.
923. “Stumbling’ renders rdeg ’cha’ ba.
924. That is, persons in the vehicle of the bodhisattvas who are separated from the perfection of wisdom.
925. “Far removed” renders ring du song ba, āramitā, deriving the word from ṛ (“to go”) with the prefix ā not in the sense of up to “this side,” but in the sense of up to the farthest limit; apāramitā is both “not a perfection” and “without a near side” (apa-āramitā).
926. Alternatively, “They do not know this side, and they do not know the other side.”
927. “Perfection” renders pha rol tu phyin, literally “gone to the other side.”
928. “Rely on, serve, and be devoted to” renders bsten, bsnyen, and bsnyen bkur, Kimura 4:94 sev, bhaj, and paryupās.
929. “You should not misconstrue” renders Tib rtog par ma byed cig.
930. “Let a desire arise” renders ’dod pa skyed, spṛhām utpad/kṛ.
931. “Holding a lamp” renders sgron ma ’dzin pa literally. Kimura 4:99, Gilgit 183.12, and ŚsPN3 4606r3 ulkādhāra suggests an explosion of light, like a streaking comet or meteor entering the atmosphere. “A beacon of light” renders ’od ’byin pa, literally “emitting light,” prabhākara. An alternative translation is “a bright, light-emitting comet.”
932. The “five forms of cyclic existence” are beings in the hells, pretas, animals, humans, and gods.
933. “No embracing” renders ma ’dre ba, aśleṣa. Tib ’dre is the resultant form of sre, “to mix” (voluntarily). It can be compared with sbyor, Skt yuj, which means “to join with,” in the sense of merge into. Gilgit 182v8 sattvānām aśleṣāya, “so that there is no embracing on the part of beings [of any phenomenon].” “Sanctuary” renders rten, layana, in the sense of a place that is the support (rten) when you lie down. It is derived from the root lī (“to cling to”).
934. “Nonassociating” renders ’brel ba myed pa, asaṃbandha (as a bahuvrihi, “that is not connected”).
935. “Farther shore” renders pha rol, pāra.
936. Emend D ’dra ma to ’dre ma.
937. Here “light” renders dīpa; just before, “island” rendered dvīpa.
938. “Blindness” renders Tib rab rib (Skt timira). The Skt typically refers to to a variety of eye disorders including myopia and cataracts, as well as the “vitreous floaters” (myodesopsia or muscae volitantes) that appear as spots, specks, or strings in one’s visual field.
939. “Sustaining power” renders byin gyi(s) rlabs, adhiṣṭhāna. Gilgit 183.13, ŚsPN3 4606r3 caturadhiṣṭhānapratisaṃyuktāḥ. The meaning of adhiṣṭhāna here is the “foundation” of the teaching or the practice. Bṭ1, p. 316, connects “the four sustaining powers” (byin gyi rlabs bzhi) with the four noble truths. Dīghanikāya 33 associates them with wisdom, truth, renunciation, and peace; cf. Nordrang Orgyan 2008, p. 798.
940. “Caravan leader” renders ded dpon, sārthavāha.
941. “Sole path” renders gcig la brten pa’i lam, ekāyana mārga; alternatively, the path that converges on (literally, depends on) a single point.
942. “Attached to going in the four wrong ways” renders tshul ma yin pa bzhi la zhen pa (reading grāhināṃ?); Gilgit 183r2 caturagamanagāminām; ŚsPN3 4606r5 caturagatigāmināṃ. A gati is a form of life (a way of going) (’gro ba), or a way of being (tshul).
943. “Proper” renders rigs pa. Gilgit 183r2 nyāyasya, Kimura ryasya; ŚsPN3 4606r5 nyāryasya!
944. “Pathway” renders lam (= lam brgyud), gati; below, “of the nature of” renders ngang tshul can, gatika. As in the immediately preceding statement that the bodhisattvas are like guides, where a guide shows the way to travel, here the pathway appears to be what is traveled on, something traceable, as it were. A gati, as before, is a way of going or a way of being (the -ika is rendered in Tib by can, showing possession); -gatika also means that X is a refuge. See below for yet other meanings.
945. “Without movement” renders ’gro ba myed pa; Gilgit 183v10 anāgatagatikā (“something having a way of going/a way of being that has not been attained”); Kimura 4:101, ŚsPN3 4609r5 anāgatigatikā (“something without a way of coming or a way of going”).
947. “Way of being” renders ngang tshul can, gati.
948. “Neither emerges nor does not emerge” renders dbyung ba dang myi dbyung ba myed pa, anuddhārāpratyuddhāra (Kimura 4:103)/ apratyuddhārānuddhāra (ŚsPN3 4611r7).
949. “Have a nature that does not arrive” renders ’ong ba myed pa’i ngang tshul can, anāgatigatikā (Gilgit 184r8–9). Kimura 4:103, ŚsPN3 4611r8 anāgatikā.
951. Names, designations, conventional terms, and so on are “indications” (tshul, liṅga); marks and behaviors are “signs” (mtshan ma, nimitta). They explain the “characters” (rnam pa, ākāra) by means of which something is characterized as what it is. Note, too, that in the Twenty-Five Thousand, this question begins the thirty-seventh chapter. It is rather unusual that it ends the thirty-sixth chapter here, with the answer beginning the thirty-seventh.
952. Bṭ1 does not gloss “absence of desire” and so on.
953. “Objective” renders don gyi dbang, arthavaśa (Pali atthavasa); see Edg, s.v. arthavaśa. Alternatively, MW, s.v. arthavaśa, “cause and effect.”
954. “Noncultivation” renders rnam par bsgom pa, vibhāvanā; also “not not cultivation.” In the Tibetan translations of the other long versions of the sūtra, vibhāvanā is rendered as bsgom pa rnam par ’jig pa, literally “the perishing of cultivation.”
955. Interestingly, what the gods say is in the form of a question (ji ltar) in the Twenty-Five Thousand, while here it is in the form of a statement (’di ltar).
956. “Not pass beyond” renders rnam par ma ’das pa, avyativṛtti (ŚsPN4 9741r6).
957. This follows the reading in the Twenty-Five Thousand (chos kyi dbyings gnas mnyam pa nyid), since here the Degé recension of the Hundred Thousand reads chos kyi dbyings gnas pa nyid, which must be an error.
958. “Nonconceptual” renders rnam par rtog pa myed pa, avikalpa (ŚsPN4 9747v10), “without anything that discriminates it.”
959. Gilgit 189 anayatratvena.
960. As before (Hundred Thousand ka 6b, (1.10) in both the Skt and Tib, in each of the six sets of three words the same verb is used with the same prefixes, indicating greater intensity.
962. As explained below, this refers to persons in the vehicle of the śrāvakas, persons in the vehicle of the pratyekabuddhas, and persons in the vehicle of the buddhas.
963. “Unkind” renders brlang ba, paruṣa.
964. In this and the following, as earlier (Hundred Thousand ca 250b7 ff. 17.31), the unstated verb that is expected by bskul ba (“to encourage”) has been added without parenthesis. Literally it says “should encourage others toward the first meditative concentration.”
965. This means each individual, separate level’s real nature, both the real nature of the level and a real nature over and above each individual one, or neither each individual, separate level’s real nature nor a real nature over and above each individual one.
967. This refers to a meditation on death and impermanence that involves focusing one’s attention on a skeleton or heap of bones.
968. Tib mngon par grub; Gilgit 197v2 abhinivṛtta (“ceased,” in the sense of emerged from). The Tib mngon par grub is attested as a translation of abhinivṛtti; Kimura nirvṛtta; ŚsPN4 9789v5 anabhinivṛtto bhaviṣyat. mngon par grub also renders abhinirhṛ (“clearly achieve,” “obtain,” “give rise to”).
969. Gilgit, Kimura, and ŚsPN4 vivecyamāna (“being dissuaded,” “being separated”), D snying brnyan bcug (a don ’gyur) is literally “urged an imitation of the essential point on them.”
970. These are the four forms of comportment that are listed in what follows: standing, walking, sitting, and lying down.
971. “Frustrated” renders ’khrug pa, vinaś.
972. “Social distractions” renders ’du ’dzi, ŚsPN4 9794r1saṅgaṇika.
973. “Inherent nature” renders rang bzhin, prakṛti. The word prakṛti also means the ministers or the subjects of a king.
974. The emendation of D brjod pa yin to K, N brjod pa ma yin (and, immediately following, sems pa ma yin to sems pa yin) is supported by caran na and mitrakāma (Gilgit 200r13, ŚsPN4 9794r10, Kimura 4:158–59) and the explanation at Bṭ1 pa, p. 406.
975. Emend sbyor to sbyong, ŚsPN4 9795r8 bhūtakoṭyāṃ śodhayati; cf. Bṭ1 pa, p. 410, bdud kyi las kyi mtshan ma thams cad sbyong ngo.
976. “Died” renders tshe ’phos, jātivyāvṛtta, “to reverse from a life.”
977. “Acquire” renders yongs su gzung ba, parigraha; alternatively, to “look after” (to fully take hold of it) so it is not lost or relinquished.
978. ŚsPN4 9796r7 “inexhaustible cornucopia” renders myi zad pa’i za ma tog, akṣayakaraṇḍā (“inexhaustible basket”); “oceanic seal” renders rgya mtsho’i phyag rgya, sāgaramudrā; “lotus array” renders pad mo rnam par bkod pa, padmavyūhā; and “containment” renders yongs su ’dzin pa, ādhāraṇyā. See note to Twenty-Five Thousand kha 371b (40.30) for more detailed references.
979. “That cannot be made” renders bskyed du ma mchis pa; here the Twenty-Five Thousand reads bskyod du ma mchis pa (“unshakeable”).
980. “Designation,” as in many earlier passages, renders tshig la dags/dwags, adhivacana. The sense of adhivacana is a word for something, as distinct from a word as a word.
981. “Vivid imagination” renders rtog pa, vitarka.
983. I.e., to be cultivated by those bodhisattvas who return to the world.
984. “Perfect inner placement” (nang du yang dag par ’jog pa, pratisaṃlayana (Kimura 4:170)) is glossed at Bṭ1 pa, p. 428, as “cultivation of the meditative concentrations.” Edg, s.v. pratisaṃlayana, takes it as entering into a secluded place for retreat.
985. This reading is supported by Bṭ1 pa, p. 429, but cp. Kimura 4:170–71 abhisaṃskāraḥ kalpita, which at least on the surface seems to make more sense.
986. ŚsPN4 9806v4.
987. Gilgit and ŚsPN4 both have abhāvo bhaviṣyati.
989. Gilgit, ŚsPN, Kimura, Bṭ1, Twenty-Five Thousand, and Eighteen Thousand all omit. Haribhadra (Wogihara 723, translated Sparham 3:331–32) glossing prakṛtyā[=a?]svabhāvaniruddha eva (Wogihara edits Mitra 354 to read prakṛtyā svabhāvaniruddha), says this has in mind an abhāva (“nonentity”) that might cease.
990. “Annihilated” renders rnam par bshig pa (the past tense of ’jig pa), vibhāvitā (“dehabituated”).
991. “Mental image” renders mtshan ma, nimitta, and “signlessness” renders mtshan ma med pa, animitta.
993. This translation reads ram in place of ro, based on Bṭ1 pa, p. 452, ’gyur ram.
994. ŚsPN4 9812v4 nāstika. Generally, the astika are the orthodox and the nāstika the unorthodox schools from a Brahmanical standpoint. Eighteen Thousand kha 210b (52.27) has asti and nāsti in opposition, and the following “nihilism” and “eternalism” in opposition, which makes good sense.
995. This renders sems can du smra ba based on sattvākhyā, explained by la Vallée Poussin, footnote 49 to Abhidharmakośa 1.10b, translated in Pruden 1:136 as “any dharma which denotes a life.”
996. Bṭ1, pp. 1102–3, says about the “three categories” (trirāśi, phung po gsum), “Beings in a lineage destined for perfection, destined to be wrong, or whose destiny is uncertain enter into a path and attain the results in accord with each of those separate lineages…[They are those] in a lineage that enters the ārya path; those…in a lineage that enters into mundane views; and those…not limited to one…suitable to be led anywhere.” Another explanation of them is that in the time of a buddha’s awakening, there are those whose receptivity to the teaching is certain, those whose receptivity is unpredictable (i.e., they may or may not benefit from it), and those whose nonreceptivity is certain and are sure not to benefit from it. During the period of a buddha’s teaching many in the second category can be shifted to the first. The Buddha’s observations of these categories are recounted in The Play in Full (Lalitavistara, Toh 95); see Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2013, 25.47–48. See also The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata (Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśa, Toh 147) 2.318 et seq.
997. “Dense undergrowth” renders sab sub (Skt gahana?); the Tibetan also means “concealing one’s errors.
998. “Class (rigs, varṇa) of the masses” renders dmangs rigs, śūdra.
999. “Overlord” renders bdag po, adhipa(ti).
1000. “Miraculous” renders rdzu ba pa, aupapāduka. Edg suggests “spontaneous generation”; rdzu means to present a false appearance or to present something as what it is not.
1001. “Simply used conventionally as conventional terms for things” renders chos kyi brdar…tha snyad du btags par zad do; ŚsPN4 9815r8 dharmasaṃketena satvo vā saṃsaro vā nirvāṇaṃ veditavya? vyavahriyate.
1002. “Double lengths of fine, golden-colored cotton cloth” renders gser gyi kha dog gi na bza’ phrugs su sbyar; ŚsPN4 9815v1 suvarṇapītakaṃ ca duṣyayugaṃ. Tib also renders duṣya by ras bcos pa. It is unclear whether na bza’ ’phrugs renders duṣya (the cloth), and sbyar (the putting together), or whether ’phrugs su sbyar renders yuga (“put together”). Cf. Edg, s.v. duṣya dūṣya, citing [E. J.] Thomas, renders duṣyayuga “ ‘a double piece of d[uṣya]’ (two lengths).”
1003. Bṭ1 pa, p. 461, says “they should determine” (brtag par bya, prati avekṣitavya) with special insight (vipaśyana).
1004. “Delimit” renders ris su chad pa, vyavaccheda; alternatively, “differentiate between.”
1005. ŚsPN4 9818r5 sarvākārajñatāpratilābhātyagasyāyaṃ kālaḥ could also mean “the time for not forsaking the acquiring of all-aspect omniscience,” or “the time for not acquiring and not forsaking all-aspect omniscience.”
1006. “Practice” renders rnam par spyod, vicarati; Kimura 4:194, ŚsPN4 9818r5 viharati; Eighteen Thousand kha 219b gnas pa.
1007. “Radiance” renders rgyas pa, puṣkaratā; Edg “excellence.” Tib understands puṣ + kara (“thriver”) rather than puṣka (“blue lotus”).
1008. “Imbued” renders khyad par byas nas, sphāritvā.
1009. “Supreme limit of reality” renders yang dag pa’i mtha’ dam pa, paramabhūtakoṭi.
1010. Cf. ŚsPN4 9819v2.
1011. The idea seems to be that just as there is a progression toward arhatship that goes through a series of attainments, similarly, for a bodhisattva, there is a series of attainments of merit and transcendent knowledge measured by entering into, but not realizing, different spiritual levels.
1012. ŚsPN4 9822v6 sacet punar bhagavan paryāyo yad avaivarttikasyā (=aḥ syāt?).
1013. This paragraph marks the end of the fourth chapter of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
1014. This renders Tib mngon du myi byed.
1015. Tib chos dang gnyer ba’i chos la zhugs. The Skt here appears to be dharmānudharmapratipanno, which the translation reflects.
1016. “Nonhuman” renders mi ma yin par gyur pa, amanuṣyabhūta.
1017. “Solitary” renders dben pa, (pra)vivikta; literally “separated from” something, either physical or mental.
1018. “Daub” renders bsku ba (from skud), mrakṣaṇa.
1019. “Of few words” renders ’tham pa nyung ba, mandamantra.
1021. Again, “practice” renders rnam par spyod, vicarati, in place of viharati (“live”).
1022. “Places where people gather” renders ’du ’dzir du gyur pa, saṃgaṇikāvaha, a word not here in the Skt but used at Abhisamayālaṃkāra 1:56.
1023. “Keeping to” renders yang dag par gnas, saṃsthita, likely a mistake for saṃprasṭhita, “have set out” with the aspiration, at ŚsPN4 9826r7.
1024. “Play perfectly” renders yang dag par ma gtses bar, ŚsPN4 9826r7 asaṃkrīḍita.
1025. The ’di ltar here, which renders Skt enam and refers to the subject of the previous sentence, is not translated separately into English.
1026. “Not to be dependent on others” renders dring myi ’jog, aparapratyaya.
1027. This translates D dben pas ni, GilgitC 18 viviktena; cp. C dben pa dang, Kimura 5:12 vivikte vā.
1028. “Simultaneously” renders snga phyi med pa, Wogihara 792 apūrvācaramam, ŚsPN4 9830r2 anupūrvācaramam. The idea is without regard for whether they lived in Jambudvīpa during a time in the past, present, or future.
1029. “Establish” renders rnam par gzhog. MW, s.v. prasthāpana, “give currency to.”
1030. “Come into being” renders yang dag par byung zhing; ŚsPN4 9826r7 samudāgaccan, GilgitC 22 samuda[=ā]gamya.
1031. “One should know with a definitive realization” renders rtogs par rig par bya’o, niṣṭhā tatra gantavyā; cp. Eighteen Thousand kha 237b mthar thug par ’gro ba yin.
1032. “Contingency” renders rag lus pa, adhīnatva.
1033. An easier way to render this is “ ‘This is what I will become awakened to.’ ”
1034. “Delicate” renders zhib pa, nipuṇa. Cf. Hundred Thousand nga 365b (15.16) gsal ba, “clear.” ŚsPN4 9838v10 śāntasūkṣmanipuna.
1035. “Deprived of” renders phang pa (=phangs pa) from ’phongs pa. ŚsPN4 9838v10 and GilgitC 29 both have virāgayati? (“cause a dislike for”?); Negi, s.v. ’phongs pa, citing the Bodhisattvabhūmi, gives ’dod pas phongs as the translation of icchāvighāta.
1036. Here ’di’i (“its”) does not appear to be a translation of dṛṣṭadharma (“this lifetime”).
1037. “Scorn…give rise to conceits” renders brnyas pa skyed…rlom sems su byed. ŚsPN4 9841r1, Gilgit, Kimura, and the Aṣṭa (Wogihara 811.6) only have avaman (“scorn”).
1038. Aṣṭa (Wogihara 811.19) has so ’saṃvidyamāneṣu, but the Tib here does not support the avagraha sign.
1039. “Plausible” renders tshig gzung du rung ba, ādeyavacana.
1040. Aṣṭa (Wogihara 812) “when they do not train in true reality and do not work hard at true reality.”
1041. “More important” renders mchog tu gyur pa, pradhānatara.
1042. “Reprimand” renders mtshang ’dru ba, paribhāṣaṇa.
1043. Bṭ1 pa, p. 500, has no chapter division here.
1044. ŚsPN4 9853r9 kṣīyate vā prahīyate votpadyate vā nirudhyate vā.
1045. “Experience the perceptual range” renders spyod yul la spyod pa, gocaracārin, literally “practitioners of the range” of practices.
1047. In place of ŚsPN4 9856v3 manasikārabalapariśuddhita (“purify the power of the attentions”), the translators read manasikāramalapariśuddhita (“purity the stain of the attentions”).
1048. Emend kyi to dang; cf. Wogihara 820.29.
1049. Here we have adopted the reading of the Twenty-Five Thousand (“reversible,” phyir ldog pa), which is the reading one would expect.
1050. “Obstinacy” renders tha ba, khila. Edg, s.v. khila (“harshness,” hardness of heart”).
1051. “Play the game” renders rnam par rol pas rnam par rtse ba.
1052. “Engage in the conversation” renders gtam bya ba, sāṃkhyataṃ kṛ.
1053. This is the reading in all the versions surveyed in the Pedurma but it is not supported by the Skt, or Bṭ1, p. 516, chos thams cad mi dmigs ni. ŚsPN4 9862v10–63r1 anupalambhamāneṣu sarvadharmeṣu is a better reading: “Given that all phenomena cannot be apprehended, what sort of object will there be to realize, such that, by having realized that object, they will fully awaken to unsurpassed, perfect, complete enlightenment?”
1054. “Materialize” renders mngon par sgrub, abhini[r]vartate.
1055. “Place” renders skye mched, āyatana, here used in a sense not particular to Buddhism.
1056. This renders myi ’jum myi ’gong zhing tsha chid (Hundred Thousand a 227a tsi chad pa) [=yi chad] pa dang / sgyid lugs par myi ’gyur la myi ’jigs myi sngang skrag par myi ’gyur; cf. ŚsPN4 9867v7 na saṃsīdati na viṣīdati nāvalīyate na saṃlīyate nātrasyati na saṃtrasyati na saṃtrāsam āpadyate.
1057. “Most sublime, surpassing complexion” renders ’phags pa mngon par ’phags pa’i kha dog dang ldan pa, avikrāṃtātikrāntavarṇa. Cf. Edg, s.v. atikrānta.
1058. “Candidates for buddhahood” renders sangs rgyas su ’gyur bar zhugs pa, buddhatvapratipannaka.
1059. Emend spyod to sbyong, ŚsPN4 9869r8 pariśodhaya.
1060. In the Eighteen Thousand the next chapter begins here, which makes good sense.
1061. “Am I…expounding an exposition” renders bdag gis lung bstan pas lung bstan par ’gyur, ahaṃ vyākurvaṃ vyākaromi; below, “that which procures the reality of phenomena in the Dharma” renders chos kyi gnyer ba’i chos nyid, dharmasya cānudharmatā.
1062. “He does not apprehend even the real nature (tathatā), let alone anyone who becomes a knower of the real nature (tathagata).” GilgitC 70 emends tathā eva to tathāgata; ŚsPN4 9871r8 has tathātā as the object of both verbs.
1063. Here “practice” renders the practice (rnam par spyod pa) of Subhūti and the practice (spyod pa and rnam par spyod pa) of a bodhisattva. In the Hundred Thousand in general, rnam par spyod (vicar) is an alternative to rnam par gnas (vihṛ). Here the vi- in the practice (vicar, rnam par spyod) of Subhūti suggests a slightly less perfect practice than the practice (car, spyod) of a bodhisattva. The full Tib of this phrase, “practice of the practice of the perfection of wisdom,” is shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa la spyod pa’i rnam par spyod pa.
1064. Take these “certain” practitioners as śrāvakas whose destiny is uncertain and who may or may not enter the bodhisattva’s path.
1065. “Should reach a very full understanding” renders shin tu rtogs par bya’o, supratisaṃviditena bhavitavya.
1066. “So of course” renders ci nas kyang, cf. Edg, s.v. yathāpi. The translators evidently read yathāpyudgṛhyate in place of GilgitC 75 and ŚsPN4 9873r4 yathodgṛhya.
1067. “Facilitate” renders mthun par yongs su gzung bar ’gyur, anusamparigrah.
1068. Emend D sems can to C sems.
1069. “Without activity” renders byed pa myed pa, nirīhaka; MW “inactive.”
1070. In the sense of nominal and verbal stems in Indic languages like Sanskrit.
1071. “You should have the confidence and the conviction” renders yid ches pa dang / khong du chud par bya, apparently rendering ārocayāmi and prativedayāmi, rendered in The Ten Bhūmis, 1.624, based on the Skt, “I say to you, I declare to you.” In a note to this the English translator says, “The Tibetan translates as ‘believe and aspire,’ changing from first person present to imperative.” It is unclear why the Tibetan translators rendered it in this manner. Edg, s.v. ārocayati, does not comment on the Tibetan translation.
1072. “The exhaustion of which is not known” renders zad myi shes pa, akṣaya. It is unclear whether earlier the same word is being rendered as a tatpuruṣa compound, and here, differently, as a bahuvrihi, or whether the zad (from ’dzad) requires the addition of shes (“know”) when used in this construction. It has been translated literally.
1073. The repetition of the twelve links is not in error, as will become clear below.
1074. “Careful observation of absolute renunciation” renders shin tu rnam par spang ba la rnam par lta ba; ŚsPN4 9881r4 atyantavivarjanavyavalokanā.
1075. “Purchase” renders gting, gāḍha.
1076. “Make contact with” renders reg par byed, parimāṣṭi. LC, citing the Daśabhūmika, parāmṛṣati; Edg “attached to (in an unworthy way).”
1078. “A tathāgata’s divine body made of vajra-like material” renders de bzhin gshegs pa’i sku lha rdzas kyi rdo rje las byung ba, divyaṃ vajrāmayaṃ tathāgatakāyaṃ.
1079. “Focus on” renders dmigs par byed, adhyālamb.
1080. This translation is based on the Skt versions. The Tib reads su la gcod su la gcad.
1081. Emend de na to K ngan.
1082. This follows ŚsPN4 9895v4 jāyate vā jīyate vā mriyate vā. D jīyate from jyā (“to grow old”), with ’jig (“perish”).
1083. In KPD this entire passage, found at Kimura 5:101–2, on the investigation of the twelve links of dependent origination is omitted from K, N, C, and so on, and from S Hundred Thousand pha 131a3.
1084. “Surmounting” renders thod rgal, ŚsPN4 9896v9 viṣkambhaka, Edg “escape.”
1085. “Not stabilized in meditation” renders mnyam par ma bzhag pa, asamāhita. “Meditative stabilitỷ” renders samādhi. ŚsPN4 9897r7 asamāhitacitte patati, “they fall into an uncollected mind.”
1086. “Stay” renders gnas. Skt avasthā, “stay down” in it.
1087. As below, these seven precious things (ratna) are “the precious wheel, the precious minister, the precious manager of the household (khyim bdag, gṛhapati), the precious woman (queen), the precious jewel, the precious elephant, and the precious horse.”
1088. “Holding all their weapons” renders mtshon cha thams cad thogs pa, ŚsPN4 9898r3 āyuddhasaṃparigṛhīta.
1089. In his glossary, Dan Martin says brgyad means spyo; ŚsPN4 9898r3 ākraṃyamāna (“being confronted”), perhaps a mistake for GilgitC 115 ākruśyamāna (“being shouted at”).
1090. This is, among a wheel-turning emperor’s seven precious things, the precious queen.
1092. “One is mixed” renders ’dre bar ’gyur, śleṣyate.
1093. Alternatively, if gang la, yatra is pointing to the object of the fixation, this might be rendered “because any such thing on which it might be fixated is without inherent existence.” Conze renders yatra “wherein,” leaving wiggle room for both interpretations.
1094. The translators read abhisaṃbodhum in place of abhinirhartum (“to actualize” or “to be actualized”).
1095. “Thoroughly grasp” here renders yongs su ’dzin, above rendered “acquire.” In both cases it is rendering forms of parigrah. In this context it means it does not grasp at the mental images of physical forms and so on. Alternatively, they are not included in the narrative when considered from the ultimate point of view.
1096. Bṭ1 pa, p. 570: “Take ‘full control over all phenomena’ as training with the unification of method and wisdom without attachment to any entity, by way of not apprehending anything.”
1097. “Brief summary̦” renders mdor bsdus pa, abhisaṃkṣepa; “perfection of brief summaries” renders mdor bsdus pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa, ŚsPN4 9940r1 abhisaṃkṣepapāramitā.
1099. “Giving explanations” renders lung bstan pa, vyākaraṇa. Bṭ1 pa, p. 581: “skilled in supplying the responses to others who question because of doubt.” The same word is used above in the Buddhist sense of “prophesy.”
1100. This follows K and N, which add yi ge dang; D omits. The K, N reading is supported by Bṭ1 pa, p. 581: “expert conventionally at the making of statements, and ultimately at the inexpressible meaning.”
1101. “Designation” renders lhag pa’i tshig, which is an unusual translation of adhivacana, more often rendered, e.g., tshig bla dags/dwags, meaning a word for something, not just any word.
1102. Again, these four render bhāva (“entity”), abhāva (“nonentity”), svabhāva (“essential entity,” “entity in and of itself”), and parabhāva (“dependent entity,” “entity on account of something else”).
1103. See note to the Hundred Thousand ka 91b1 (2.257, n.187). GilgitC 133 has only saṃprayukta and viprayukta; Kimura 5:109 has sayoga and viyoga and saṃprayukta and viprayukta. At ŚsPN4 9943r1–2 the first pair of saṃyoga and visaṃyoga is perhaps a mistake for sayoga (here rendered ’du ba) and viyoga (’bral ba).
1104. This renders ldan pa.
1105. Bṭ1 pa, p. 583: “expert in the three realms…expert in the three realms as, ultimately, nonentities.”
1106. Cf. Hundred Thousand ka 49a7–b1 (2.39). Here “name” is perhaps the immediately preceding condition, and “name and form” the causal condition. At Bṭ1, p. 732, the “aspects” are the conventional and the ultimate, and “defining characteristics of all conditioned phenomena and unconditioned phenomena.” Note that this line is missing from the corresponding section of the Twenty-Five Thousand.
1107. “Quick” renders myur ba, āśu, in the sense of immediate; below, “fast” renders mgyogs po, javana, in the sense of moving swiftly.
1108. “Practiced in” renders spyad pa, cīrṇa.
1109. “Mass” renders khams, dhātu; cf. Edg, s.v. dhātu 6, sattvadhātu.
1110. ŚsPN4 9949v2 prajñaptirūpa.
1111. “Subtraction” renders dbri ba, utkṣepa; “addition” renders bsnan pa, prakṣepa.
1112. Alternatively, ’du byed, saṃskāra (“conditioned thing”) means “formative predisposition.” That it arises and ceases makes clear that a “conditioning” (mngon par ’du bya ba, abhisaṃskāra) is anything in a manifest state when it has come about through causes and conditions. Ultimately, of course, it is not to be found.
1113. “Experiencer of visually compounded sensory contact” renders mig gi ’dus te reg pa can, ŚsPN4 9955v2 cakṣusaṃsparśin.
1114. K, N, C, S, and ŚsPN4 9956r7 omit this section, as does the Twenty-Five Thousand.
1115. “Experiencer of visually compounded sensory contact” renders mig gi ’dus te reg pa can, ŚsPN4 9955v2 cakṣusaṃsparśin.
1116. “Determining factor” renders brtsan, in the sense of an overpowering force.
1117. “Aspect” renders rnam pa. The translators read nānākāra in place of nānākaraṇa (“what makes them different”), which is better.
1118. In the Twenty-Five Thousand (51.175), this is negated, in which case this would read “through this all have not been abandoned.” But the Tib in the Hundred Thousand lacks the negation here, and so the intended sense might be to distinguish the three types of omniscience in terms of different afflicted mental states that each one abandons.
1119. Understand “the unconditioned” here as the cessation of afflicted mental states, of which there are many categorizations.
1120. A non-returner, for instance, is categorized based on the unconditioned cessation of afflicted mental states, as well as all the mundane (laukika) afflicted mental states that motivate action ripening as rebirth in the realm of desire.
1121. “Make the distinction” renders rab tu ’byed, prabhāvati; it means does it give designations to them.
1122. “Taking speech as the standard” renders tshig tshad mar byas shing, vacanaṃ pramāṇīkṛtya; Kimura 5:126 lokavyavahāra (“ordinary conventional language”).
1123. Cf. Bṭ3, 5.1161: “Alternatively, construe the word pāra (‘farthest limit’) with real nature, because it is the farthest limit of everything. The wisdom that has gone into the farthest limit, has reached the real nature, is said to be perfection (pāramitā).”
1124. Alternatively, pha rol tu phyin pa’i dam pa, paramapārami(tā), “farther shore that is the farthest” of all phenomena.
1125. GilgitC 1:151 gatā gacchanti gamiṣyanti.
1126. This translation emends D byed to K, N phyed based on ŚsPN4 9966r10 api tu khalu punaḥ subhūte paramanayo ’nayā sarvadharmāṇāṃ bhinnaḥ prajñāpāramitayā teṣu sarvadharmeṣu saṃsāro nopalabdhas.
1127. “Gone to the other side” renders pha rol tu phyin pa (“perfection”), deriving it from pāram itā where itā means “gone” or “understood.”
1128. “Meaning” renders don, artha. In Skt it is in the locative case (arthe), suggesting “for the purpose of” or “for the sake of.”
1129. “Mastery” renders yongs su rtog pa, paricaya.
1130. “Appear” renders skyes, an alternative rendering of utpādād (vā).
1131. “Inferior class” renders shul gyi rgyun (“continuum of traces”), GilgitC 157 hīnagati (“deficient form of life”).
1132. “Just like just that” renders de kho na bzhin, yathā tathā, and “real nature” renders tathatā (literally, “the state of being just that”); “tathāgata” renders de bzhin gshegs pa (“one who knows just that”).
1133. “Candidate for enlightenment” renders byang chub la zhugs pa, bodhipratipannaka. These are at the highest stage of the path of the bodhisattvas, just before attaining enlightenment.
1134. “Composite” renders ’dus pa, sāṃyogika.
1135. “The wisdom endowed with the single instant” renders skad cig gcig dang ldan pa’i shes rab, GilgitC 164 ekakṣaṇasamāyuktā prajñā; cf. ŚsPN4 9975v8 ekalakṣaṇasamāyuktā, “endowed with the single defining characteristic.”
1136. A bodhisattva is “a hero in pursuit of enlightenment.”
1137. “Conduct” and “practice” both render spyod, car.
1138. Here “confidences that inspire speech” renders spobs pa, pratibhāna (in this translation usually rendered “inspired eloquence”). These confidences are listed earlier, at ca 23a (15.123). Cf. ka 377a (5.226), and ga 194.a (9.70) for the following practices of yi ge, akṣara (rendered “letter” or “syllable”).
1139. “Genuine reality” renders yang dag pa’i don, bhūtārtha; sangs rgyas, rendered buddha, means “awakened” or “enlightened.”
1140. “Genuine Dharma” renders yang dag pa’i chos, bhūtadharma; alternatively, “genuine attribute” or “genuine phenomenon.”
1142. The translators read āśraya, (“foundational basis”) that they render lus (“body”) in the sense of the foundation for a life. A different reading is āśaya, “intention.”
1143. GilgitC 172 śrāvakaiś ca ye buddhayānasya varṇāṃ (“and śrāvakas who teach the excellence of the Buddha Vehicle”) is better.
1144. Twenty-Five Thousand omits this chapter heading.
1145. Here “the essential nature” renders svabhāva (“own being” or “own essence”) and “nonentity” renders abhāva (“the absence of being” or “without an essence”).
1146. ŚsPN4 9989r4 na hi subhūte abhāvenābhāvaḥ śakyam abhisaṃboddhuṃ (“a nonentity cannot be fully awakened to through a nonentity”). In the following answers, in place of impersonal śakyam, Kimura 5:150 has śakyaḥ, making the passive construction clear.
1147. “Will this not inexorably entail” renders gcig du myi ’gyur ram, tan mā haiva…bhāviṣyati.
1148. “Exists, it is not nonexistent” renders yod myed pa ma yin, asti; yod myed ma yin would mean “neither existent nor nonexistent.”
1149. Both Gilgit and ŚsP read variously aprapañcyan/ān; Kimura consistently has aprapañcan, irregular formations of a present participle from a causal form of pac meaning “to spread,” in the nominative case. Alternatively, it might mean “that should not be conceptually elaborated.” All of the earlier avoidances of conceptual elaboration would then be the objects about which the bodhisattvas should avoid conceptual elaboration.
1150. That is, the fruit of having entered the stream.
1152. The expression ’phags pa’i chos dang ’dul ba is repeated for emphasis. However, Kimura 5:158, line 22, suggests that Subhūti is asking about the extent of both the Dharma of the noble ones and that which is not of the noble ones (anāryadharamavinaya).
1153. That is, in the perfection of wisdom.
1154. These eleven knowledges are found earlier at vols. ka 39b (2.10) and ga 187a (9.32), where they have “nondual” (advaya) in place of “subsequent” (anvaya).
1155. Rendered literally, this, a translation of ŚsPN4/2 0014v5, says, “[Thinking] ‘I am this’ about an entity, they are attached to the two extremes.”
1156. Cp. Kimura 5:166 yāvat subhūte sarvasaṃjñino dvayaṃ, yāvad asarvasaṃjñino ’dvayaṃ (the avagraha sign is the editor’s choice). ŚsPN4/2 0014v5–6 (partially corrupt) yā ca [=yāvat] subhūte sarvasaṃjñībhāvac[=ś]cāsaṃjñī sarvam etad dvayam.
1157. ŚsPN4/2 0014v6 sarvasaṃjñānām amanasikāro ’dvayam.
1158. Alternatively, “the different types of knowledge” (shes pa rnam pa tha dad pa=vividhajñāna?) is not a general category, but a term for “knowledge for performing various miracles” (ṛddhividhijñāna, rdzu ’phrul gyi bya ba shes pa), the missing knowledge from the set of five extrasensory powers.
1160. K, N, and so on; D rang gi dngos po yod pa (svabhāva, “their own essential entity”) is a different way of saying ngo bo nyid yod pa (svabhāva), perhaps an earlier translation overlooked by an editor, or a gloss incorporated into the text.
1161. This marks the beginning of the sixth chapter of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.
1162. “Setting out” here renders ’jug pa, prasthāna; earlier, “progress” rendered nan tan du bgyi ba, pratipat.
1163. The word lam (“path”) appears to have been added by the Tib translator.
1164. “Even a speck” renders rdul tsam yang, ŚsPN4/2 0022v2 vāhāyadaścapi.
1165. “Have a material reward” renders zang zing dang bcas pa, sāmiṣa.
1166. “Independent” renders bhujiṣya or abhujiṣya. Here it is rendered mthu dang ldan pa, below (352a, 61.97) rang dbang yod pa and (403b, 62.15) dbang du gyur pa. The idea is that it is not like a discipline enforced on prisoners in jail.
1167. “Utterly complete” renders shin tu rdzogs pa, susamātta. The sense is a code of discipline that covers all the necessary points.
1169. Kimura VI: p. 12, line 22, reads duḥkhākṣayaś for rgya chung (“feeble”).
1170. “Lodging” renders pho phrang (reading ālaya? for āsana), not a palace, but a building like a dormitory. The next word, yo byad, perhaps means other requirements such as medicine, a begging bowl, and so on. It is not in the list at Kimura 6–8:13 or ŚsPN4/2 0030v6.
1171. That is, those maturations.
1172. “Immaculate” renders gos pa myed pa, anupalipta (“unblemished”).
1173. This paragraph marks the end of the sixth abhisamaya.