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Table of Contents

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Summary

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The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines is among the most important scriptures underlying both the “vast” and the “profound” approaches to Buddhist thought and practice. Known as the “middle-length” version, being the second longest of the three long Perfection of Wisdom sūtras, it fills three volumes of the Kangyur. Like the two other long sūtras, it records the major teaching on the perfection of wisdom given by the Buddha Śākyamuni on Vulture Peak, detailing all aspects of the path to enlightenment while at the same time emphasizing how bodhisattvas must put them into practice without taking them‍—or any aspects of enlightenment itself‍—as having even the slightest true existence.

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Acknowledgements

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Translation by the Padmakara Translation Group. A complete draft by Gyurme Dorje was first edited by Charles Hastings, then revised and further edited by John Canti. The introduction was written by John Canti. We are grateful for the advice and help received from Gareth Sparham, Greg Seton, and Nathaniel Rich.

This translation is dedicated to the memory of our late colleague, long-time friend, and vajra brother Gyurme Dorje (1950–2020), who worked assiduously on this translation in his final years and into the very last months of his life. We would also like to express our gratitude to his wife, Xiaohong, for the extraordinary support she gave him on so many levels.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.


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The generous sponsorship of Kris Yao and Xiang-Jen Yao, which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.

Text Body

The Translation
The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines
45.

Chapter 45

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{Ki.V: 1} Then the Blessed One said to the venerable Subhūti, “Subhūti, if bodhisattva great beings, even in their dreams, do not have thoughts of longing for the level of the śrāvakas or the level of the pratyekabuddhas, and do not think that these [levels] are advantageous‍—and if they do not actualize anything, regarding all phenomena as like a dream, and regarding them like an echo, a reflection, a mirage, and a phantom‍—these, Subhūti, should be known as the irreversible defining characteristics of an irreversible bodhisattva.

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“Moreover, Subhūti, if bodhisattva great beings, even in their dreams, see the tathāgata, arhat, completely awakened Buddha teaching the Dharma with an entourage of many hundreds, an entourage of many thousands, an entourage of many hundred thousands, an entourage of many ten millions, an entourage of many billions, an entourage of many ten billions, an entourage of many trillions, or an entourage of many hundred billion trillions, and surrounded and revered by many monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen, gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas‍—and if, having listened to that Dharma, [F.15.a] they are seen entering into and abiding in accordance with the Dharma, the meaning of which is to be known, and the attributes of which are to be tended, or entering into it at an appropriate time and engaging with its attributes that are to be tended‍—these, Subhūti, should also be known as the irreversible defining characteristics of an irreversible bodhisattva.

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“Moreover, Subhūti, if bodhisattva great beings, even in their dreams, see the tathāgata, arhat, completely awakened Buddha, elevated in the air and teaching the Dharma to a community of monks, endowed with the thirty-two major marks of a great person, with an aureole of light extending a full arm span, demonstrating many miraculous abilities and powers, conjuring many emanations, and performing through those very emanations the deeds of the buddhas in other world systems, these, Subhūti, should also be known as the irreversible defining characteristics of an irreversible bodhisattva. {Ki.V: 2}

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“Moreover, Subhūti, when bodhisattva great beings, even in their dreams, see the destruction of a town, the destruction of a city, a conflagration, or ferocious wild animals; or see their head being cut off; or, apart from that, see terrifying, unbearable, and frightening phenomena; or see suffering, discomfort, and agitation; or see those who are hungry and thirsty; or see the death of their father, the death of their mother, the death of their brother, the death of their sister, the death of their friend, or the death of their relative, if they do not grieve, are not terrified, and do not fear, and on awakening from that dream if they think, ‘Alas! These three realms are all like a dream. Once I have attained consummate buddhahood in unsurpassed, complete enlightenment, I will teach that all the phenomena of the three realms are like a dream,’ [F.15.b] then, Subhūti, this, too, should be known as the irreversible defining characteristic of an irreversible bodhisattva.

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“Moreover, Subhūti, you may ask how one should know that, when irreversible bodhisattva great beings have attained consummate buddhahood in unsurpassed, complete enlightenment, in that buddhafield the three lower realms in their entirety will be completely nonexistent in all respects. When bodhisattva great beings see in their dreams beings who are denizens of the hells, or see beings of the animal realm, or beings of the world of Yama, if they then recollect such things and after recollecting them think, ‘Once I have attained consummate buddhahood in unsurpassed, complete enlightenment, I will act in such a way that in that buddhafield the three lower realms in their entirety will be completely nonexistent in all respects. Why? Because the dreaming and waking states are not two. They are indivisible,’ then, Subhūti, this, too, should be known as the irreversible defining characteristic of an irreversible bodhisattva.