The Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-Five Thousand Lines
Chapter 46
Toh 9
Degé Kangyur, vol. 26 (shes phyin, nyi khri, ka), folios 1.b–382.a; vol. 27 (shes phyin, nyi khri, kha), folios 1.b–393.a; and vol. 28 (shes phyin, nyi khri, ga), folios 1.b–381.a
Imprint
Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2023
Current version v 1.1.12 (2024)
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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.
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Table of Contents
Summary
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.
Acknowledgements
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.
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
Chapter 46
Then, Śakra, mighty lord of the gods, said to the Blessed One, [F.31.a] “Blessed Lord, the perfection of wisdom, owing to its extreme voidness, is profound; it is hard to see, hard to realize, inscrutable, not within the perceptual range of ideation, at peace, subtle, and delicate. It is to be realized through learning and awareness. Blessed Lord, those beings who hear, take up, uphold, recite, and master this profound perfection of wisdom, and are earnestly intent on the real nature, and who offer no opportunity for other phenomena, including mind and mental states, [to intrude] until they have attained consummate buddhahood in unsurpassed, complete enlightenment, are not endowed with inferior roots of virtue.”
“Kauśika, it is so! It is so,” replied the Blessed One. “Those beings who hear, take up, uphold, recite, and master this profound perfection of wisdom, and are earnestly intent on the real nature, and who offer no opportunity for other phenomena, including mind and mental states, [to intrude] until they have attained consummate buddhahood in unsurpassed, complete enlightenment, are not endowed with inferior roots of virtue. Kauśika, if all the beings of Jambudvīpa, as many as there are, {Ki.V: 20} were endowed with the paths of the ten virtuous actions, and endowed with the four meditative concentrations, the four immeasurable attitudes, the four formless absorptions, and the five extrasensory powers, and if there were a noble son or noble daughter who held, maintained, recite, and mastered this perfection of wisdom, and after holding, maintaining, reciting, and mastering it, were to be earnestly intent upon the real nature, in that case, Kauśika, the roots of virtuous action of the former would come nowhere near even a hundredth part of this root of virtue [of that son or noble daughter]. Nor would they be accepted as even a thousandth part, [F.31.b] a hundred thousandth part, a hundred billion trillionth part, or any number, fraction, categorization, comparison, or comparable quality!”
Thereupon, a certain monk said to Śakra, mighty lord of the gods, “Kauśika, all those beings of Jambudvīpa who are endowed with the paths of the ten virtuous actions, and endowed with the four meditative concentrations, the four immeasurable attitudes, the four formless absorptions, and the five extrasensory powers, will be outshone by those noble sons or noble daughters who hold, maintain, recite, and master this profound perfection of wisdom, focusing their attention correctly on it, and who are earnestly intent on the real nature, offering no opportunity for other phenomena, including mind and mental states, [to intrude] until they have attained consummate buddhahood in unsurpassed, complete enlightenment.”
Śakra, mighty lord of the gods, replied to that monk, “If, O monk, all those beings of Jambudvīpa who are endowed with the paths of the ten virtuous actions, and endowed with the four meditative concentrations, the four immeasurable attitudes, the