The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines
Chapter 12: Elimination of Views
Toh 10
Degé Kangyur, vol. 29 (shes phyin, khri brgyad, ka), folios 1.a–300.a; vol. 30 (shes phyin, khri brgyad, kha), folios 1.a–304.a; vol. 31 (shes phyin, khri brgyad, ga), folios 1.a–206.a
- Jinamitra
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé Dé
Imprint
Translated by Gareth Sparham
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2022
Current version v 1.1.0 (2024)
Generated by 84000 Reading Room v2.25.1
84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone.
This work is provided under the protection of a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution - Non-commercial - No-derivatives) 3.0 copyright. It may be copied or printed for fair use, but only with full attribution, and not for commercial advantage or personal compensation. For full details, see the Creative Commons license.
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.
Text Body
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines
Chapter 12: Elimination of Views
Then venerable Śāriputra said to the Lord, “Lord, I too am confident in my readiness to speak the sense in which bodhisattvas are said to be ‘great beings.’ ”
“Śāriputra,” replied the Lord, “be confident in your readiness to explain the sense in which bodhisattvas are said to be great beings.”
Śāriputra then explained, “Lord, they reveal the Dharma to beings to eliminate the view of a self and, similarly, the view of a being, a living being, a person, one who lives, an individual, one born of Manu, a child of Manu, one who does, one who makes someone else do, a motivator, one who motivates, one who feels, one who makes someone else feel, one who knows, and one who sees. And by way of not apprehending anything they reveal the Dharma to beings to eliminate the view of annihilation, the view of permanence, the view of existence, and the view [F.119.b] of nonexistence; the view of aggregates, the view of constituents, the view of sense fields, the view of isolation, and the view of dependent origination; and the view of the perfections, the view of the dharmas on the side of awakening, the view of the powers and fearlessnesses, the view of the distinct attributes of a buddha, the view of bringing beings to maturity, the view of the purification of a buddhafield, the view of awakening, the view of the Buddha, the view of the Dharma, the view of the Saṅgha, the view of turning the wheel of the Dharma, and the view of complete nirvāṇa. It is in this sense bodhisattvas are said to be great beings.”
Then venerable Subhūti asked venerable Śāriputra, “What causes bodhisattva great beings to have a view about form, and to have a view about feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness, up to to have a view about the distinct attributes of a buddha?”
“Venerable Subhūti,” replied Śāriputra, “bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom without skill in means apprehend form, and by way of apprehending it produce a view about it. Similarly, they apprehend feeling … perception … volitional factors … and consciousness, and by way of apprehending it produce a view about it, up to they apprehend the distinct attributes of a buddha, and by way of apprehending them produce a view about them. That, venerable Subhūti, causes bodhisattva great beings to have a view about form, up to have a view about the distinct attributes of a buddha, whereas bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom with skillful means reveal the Dharma by way of not apprehending anything, [F.120.a] to eliminate those views.”
Then venerable Subhūti said to the Lord, “Lord, I too am confident in my readiness to speak the sense in which bodhisattvas are said to be great beings.”
“Subhūti, be confident in your readiness to speak!” replied the Lord.
Subhūti then explained, “Lord, because they are unattached even to that unequaled thought of awakening without outflows, a thought equal to the unequaled, a thought not shared in common with any śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas, in that sense bodhisattvas are said to be great beings. And why? Because that thought of all-knowing is a thought that is without outflows and does not belong in the three realms221—and even to that thought of all-knowing that is without outflows and does not belong they are unattached. That is why they are counted as great beings.”222
Then venerable Śāriputra asked venerable Subhūti, “Venerable Subhūti, what is the thought of bodhisattva great beings that is equal to the unequaled, a thought not shared in common with any śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas?”
“Venerable Śāriputra,” replied Subhūti, “here after the production of the first thought of awakening they do not see either the production or stopping of any dharma at all—they do not see its decrease, increase, coming, going, defilement, or purification. Venerable Śāriputra, that thought in which there is no production, no stopping, no decrease, no increase, no coming, no going, no defilement, and no purification—in [F.120.b] which there is no śrāvaka thought, no pratyekabuddha thought, no bodhisattva thought, and no perfectly complete buddha thought—that, Venerable Śāriputra, is the thought of bodhisattva great beings that is equal to the unequaled, a thought not shared in common with any śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas.”
Śāriputra then said, “Venerable Subhūti, you said, ‘Even to that thought of all-knowing that is without outflows and does not belong they are unattached.’ Venerable Subhūti, would not form, then, also be unattached? Would not feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness also be unattached?”
“Venerable Śāriputra,” replied Subhūti, “form is also unattached. Feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness are also unattached. The thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, the powers, the fearlessnesses, the detailed and thorough knowledges, up to the distinct attributes of a buddha are also unattached.”
Śāriputra then said, “Venerable Subhūti, you said, ‘That thought of all-knowing is without outflows and does not belong in the three realms.’ Venerable Subhūti, would not the thought of ordinary foolish beings, then, because it is empty of a basic nature, also be without outflows and not belong? Would not the śrāvakas’ and pratyekabuddhas’ thought, and the thought of lord buddhas, then, because they are empty of a basic nature, also be without outflows and not belong?”
Śāriputra then asked, “Venerable Subhūti, would not form, because it is empty of a basic nature, also be without outflows and not belong? [F.121.a] Would not feeling, perception, volitional factors, and consciousness, because they are empty of a basic nature, also be without outflows and not belong?”
Śāriputra then asked, “Venerable Subhūti, would not the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four detailed and thorough knowledges, up to the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha, because they are empty of a basic nature, also be without outflows and not belong?”
“Exactly so, Venerable Śāriputra,” replied Subhūti. “The thought of ordinary foolish beings, because it is empty of a basic nature, is without outflows and does not belong. All śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha thought, and the thought of lord buddhas, because it is empty of a basic nature, is also without outflows and does not belong. Form, because it is empty of a basic nature, also is without outflows and does not belong, up to consciousness, because it is empty of a basic nature, is also without outflows and does not belong. The thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses, the four detailed and thorough knowledges, up to the eighteen distinct attributes of a buddha, because they are empty of a basic nature, are also without outflows and do not belong.”
Śāriputra then said, “Venerable Subhūti, you said ‘unattached even to that thought because it is no thought.’223 Venerable Subhūti, would not no-form, then, also be unattached to form?224 Would not no-feeling also be unattached to feeling? Would not no-perception also be unattached to perception? Would not no-volitional factors also be unattached to volitional factors? And would not no-consciousness [F.121.b] also be unattached to consciousness?”
Śāriputra then asked, “Venerable Subhūti, would not no-thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, then, also be unattached to the thirty-seven dharmas on the side of awakening, up to would not no-distinct attributes of a buddha also be unattached to the distinct attributes of a buddha?”
“Exactly so, Venerable Śāriputra,” replied Subhūti. “It is exactly as you say. No-form is unattached to form. No-feeling … no-perception … no-volitional factors … and no-consciousness is also unattached to consciousness. No-constituents … no-sense fields … no-dependent originations … no-dharmas on the side of awakening … no-powers … no-fearlessnesses … no-detailed and thorough knowledges … up to and no-distinct attributes of a buddha are unattached to the distinct attributes of a buddha.
“Śāriputra, bodhisattva great beings practicing the perfection of wisdom like that do not apprehend all dharmas, whereby they do not falsely project and do not settle down on reality, even with that thought of awakening equal to the unequaled, a thought not shared in common with any śrāvakas or pratyekabuddhas. Therefore, bodhisattvas are said to be great beings.
This was the twelfth chapter, “Elimination of Views,” of “The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines.”