The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines
Chapter 15: Meditative Stabilization
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 1.1.4 (2025)
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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.
Text Body
The Perfection of Wisdom in Eighteen Thousand Lines
Chapter 15: Meditative Stabilization
Then venerable Subhūti inquired of the Lord, “Lord, what is the Great Vehicle of bodhisattva great beings? Lord, to just what extent should bodhisattva great beings be known to have set out in the Great Vehicle?251 Where252 will the Great Vehicle have set out? Where will the Great Vehicle stand?253 Who will go forth in the Great Vehicle?”
Subhūti having said asked this, the Lord said to him, “Subhūti, in regard to what you have asked—‘Lord, what is the Great Vehicle of bodhisattva great beings?—Subhūti, the Great Vehicle of bodhisattva great beings is this: the six perfections. And what are the six? They are the perfection of giving, perfection of morality, perfection of patience, perfection of perseverance, [F.142.b] perfection of concentration, and perfection of wisdom.
“What is the perfection of giving? Here, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings with the thought of awakening connected with the knowledge of all aspects cause the giving254 of inner and outer things as gifts, and, having made those wholesome roots into something shared in common by all beings, by way of not apprehending anything grow them into unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening. That is the bodhisattva great beings’ perfection of giving.”
“Lord, what is the bodhisattva great beings’ perfection of morality?” asked Subhūti.
The Lord said, “Here, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings with the thought of awakening connected with the knowledge of all aspects by way of not apprehending anything personally take up and pursue the ten wholesome actions and cause other beings as well to take up the ten wholesome actions, to enter into and be established in them. That is the bodhisattva great beings’ untarnished perfection of morality.”
“Lord, what is the bodhisattva great beings’ perfection of patience?” asked Subhūti.
The Lord said, “Here, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings with the thought of awakening connected with the knowledge of all aspects, personally in possession of complete patience, cause others as well to be patient, and that by way of not apprehending anything. That is the bodhisattva great beings’ perfection of patience.”
“Lord, what is the bodhisattva great beings’ [F.143.a] perfection of perseverance?” asked Subhūti.
The Lord said, “Here, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings with the thought of awakening connected with the knowledge of all aspects do not personally forsake persevering in the five perfections, and cause others as well to persevere in the five perfections, and that by way of not apprehending anything. That is the bodhisattva great beings’ perfection of perseverance.”
“Lord, what is the bodhisattva great beings’ perfection of concentration?” asked Subhūti.
The Lord said, “Here, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings with the thought of awakening connected with the knowledge of all aspects, with skillful means personally become absorbed in concentration, and, without taking birth through its power, cause others to take up concentration as well, and that by way of not apprehending anything. That is the bodhisattva great beings’ perfection of concentration.”
“Lord, what is the bodhisattva great beings’ perfection of wisdom?”
The Lord said, “Here, Subhūti, bodhisattva great beings with the thought of awakening connected with the knowledge of all aspects by way of not apprehending anything personally do not settle down on all dharmas, and they analytically understand the nature of all dharmas. They also cause others as well not to settle down on all dharmas, and to analytically understand the nature all dharmas. That is the bodhisattva [F.143.b] great beings’ perfection of wisdom. [B11]
“That, Subhūti, is the Great Vehicle of bodhisattva great beings.
“Furthermore, Subhūti, the Great Vehicle of bodhisattva great beings is this: inner emptiness, outer emptiness, inner and outer emptiness, the emptiness of emptiness, great emptiness, the emptiness of ultimate reality, the emptiness of the compounded, the emptiness of the uncompounded, the emptiness of what transcends limits, the emptiness of no beginning and no end, the emptiness of nonrepudiation, the emptiness of a basic nature, the emptiness of all dharmas, the emptiness of its own mark, the emptiness of not apprehending, the emptiness of a nonexistent thing, the emptiness of an intrinsic nature, and the emptiness that is the nonexistence of an intrinsic nature.
“What is inner emptiness? It is the emptiness of inner dharmas: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and thinking mind. There, eyes are empty of eyes because they are neither unmoved255 nor destroyed. And why? Because that is their basic nature. Ears are empty of ears because they are neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is their basic nature. The nose is empty of the nose because it is neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is its basic nature. The tongue is empty of the tongue because it is neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is its basic nature. The body is empty of the body because it is neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is its basic nature. The thinking mind is empty of the thinking mind because it is neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? [F.144.a] Because that is its basic nature.
“What is outer emptiness? It is the emptiness of outer dharmas: a form, a sound, a smell, a taste, a feeling, and a dharma. There, a form is empty of a form because it is neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is its basic nature. Similarly, a sound … a smell … a taste … a feeling … and a dharma is empty of a dharma because it is neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is its basic nature.
“That is called outer emptiness.
“What is inner and outer emptiness? The six outer sense fields and the six inner sense fields are the outer and inner dharmas.
“What are inner dharmas empty of outer dharmas? The inner eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and thinking mind are empty of an outer form, sound, smell, taste, feeling, and dharma because they are neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is their basic nature. Outer forms, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings, and dharmas are empty of the inner eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and thinking mind because they are neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is their basic nature.
“That is called inner and outer emptiness.
“What is the emptiness of emptiness? The emptiness of that emptiness that is the emptiness of all dharmas is empty, because it is neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is its basic nature.
“That is called the emptiness of emptiness.
“What is great emptiness? [F.144.b] The eastern direction is empty of the eastern direction, the southern direction empty of the southern direction, the western direction empty of the western direction, and the northern direction empty of the northern direction because they are neither unmoved nor destroyed. The above direction is empty of the above direction, and the below direction is empty of the below direction. Similarly, the intermediate directions are empty of the intermediate directions. And why? Because that is their basic nature.
“That is called great emptiness.
“What is the emptiness of ultimate reality? Ultimate reality is said to be nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is also empty of nirvāṇa because it is neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is its basic nature.
“That is called the emptiness of ultimate reality.
“What is the emptiness of the compounded? There the compounded is said to be the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. The desire realm is empty of the desire realm, the form realm is empty of the form realm, and the formless realm is empty of the formless because they are neither unmoved nor destroyed. And why? Because that is their basic nature.
“That is called the emptiness of the compounded.