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Short Summary of the Sūtra

This provides the shortest possible summary of each chapter, in one line.

Chapter I — The Practice of the Knowledge of All Modes

Bodhisattva mahāsattvas realise suchness through PW and cut off views of own-being, and go forth on the Great Vehicle to liberate all beings, but ultimately there are no bodhisattvas, PW to realise, or beings to save.

Chapter II — Śakra

In suchness there is no attachment to views of aggregates, path, or three times: dharmas are infinite.

Chapter III — Reverence for the Receptacle of the Perfections, which holds Immeasurable Good Qualities

Benefits from practicing and worshipping PW are endless and greater than worshiping stūpas. 

Chapter IV — The Proclamation of Qualities

PW is the source of all buddhas and the true relic, as all buddhas come from it.

Chapter V — The Revolution of Merit

Merit from PW is greatest when teaching it, it isn’t annihilationism.

Chapter VI — Dedication and Jubilation

Rejoice in the qualities of awakening and dedicate them to buddhahood without a sign.

Chapter VII — Hell

Bad friends who mislead people from PW will be born in hells.

Chapter VIII — Purity

PW is completely pure and neither increases nor decreases.

Chapter IX — Praise

PW is just a name, but it’s non-dual and hearing it frees from suffering.

Chapter X — Proclamation of the Qualities of Bearing in Mind

Best to teach PW to irreversible bodhisattvas, don’t tremble & don’t mentally construct the path.

Chapter XI — Mara's Deeds

Māra’s deeds are laziness in student or teacher towards learning PW. Prefer PW to other sūtras.

Chapter XII — Showing the World

Treat PW as a mother, and see world and minds as empty, suchness, and inherently pure.

Chapter XIII — Unthinkable

PW is beyond all qualities and is as unthinkable as space.

Chapter XIV — Similes

Practicing PW allows one to be reborn as a human and not fall to the lower vehicles.

Chapter XV — Gods

PW is practiced through the signless and Buddhas teach it through non-teaching.

Chapter XVI — Suchness

The Buddha, suchness, and all dharmas are identical and non-dual. Nothing to attain. One is a Buddha. But all is uncovered through longing for and practicing PW.

Chapter XVII — Attributes, Tokens, and Signs of Irreversibility

An irreversible bodhisattva knows their irreversibility and aren’t tempted away by Māra. 

Chapter XVIII — Emptiness

Merit of bodhisattva practice is suchness; practicing PW for a day better than any other deed.

Chapter XIX — The Goddess of the Ganges

Samsara is identical with nirvāṇa, conventional suffering can be used as a tool for awakening. 

Chapter XX — Discussion of Skill in Means

Bodhisattvas’ skilful means is abstaining from entering nirvāṇa until buddhahood. They know irreversibility from signs in dreams and development of powers.

Chapter XXI — Māra's Deeds

Māra may deceive bodhisattvas about their past into having pride, or practicing in isolation. 

Chapter XXII — The Good Friends

Six perfections are the good friends, PW is key, and bodhisattvas see all as pure.

Chapter XXIII — Śakra

One practicing PW is superior to all beings and devas will approach and protect them.

Chapter XXIV — Conceit

Māra makes bodhisattvas quarrel with others, they should instead repent and never have malice.

Chapter XXV — Training

Bodhisattvas train by non-grasping, and attain conventional purity in buddhahood; they’re few.

Chapter XXVI — Like Illusion

An illusion (Bodhisattvas) cannot know an illusion (PW), but they continue on conventionally.

Chapter XXVII — The Core

Training in the unsubstantial, one cannot lose heart, there’s nothing in which you can lose heart.

Chapter XXVIII — Avakīrṇakusuma

One shouldn’t practice in any fixed notion, PW in book form is not PW.

Chapter XXIX — Approaches

Bodhisattvas should approach PW through non-conceptualisation.

Chapter XXX — Sadāprarudita

Sadāprarudita is very dedicated to learning PW and seeing buddhas, so he seeks Dharmodgata.

Chapter XXXI — Dharmodgata

Dharmodgata teaches Sadāprarudita buddhas neither come nor go anywhere, they’re suchness.

Chapter XXXII — Entrusting

Sadāprarudita thus practiced and never was parted from buddhas; Ānanda is entrusted with PW.

Detailed Summary

Overview Key:

Chapter numbers are in [square brackets]

Bold Colour Titles are Venerable Huifeng’s Chiasmic Classification

Bold Black Titles are Abhisamayālaṅkārāloka’s (AA) Three Groups Classification

    Bold Black Italic Titles are AA’s Eight Categories which fit into the Three Groups

        Black Italic Titles are AA’s Seventy Points, some of which are not precisely divided here or are included only in the notes.

A1 Authorisation of Subhūti, Definitions of Bodhisattva and Mahāsattva, Tale of Śākyamuni Buddha’s Past Life

1. The Three Knowledges (Knowledges as parts of the path: reverse order is for inspiration)

    1. The Knowledge of all Aspects (10 points) (realisations/practices exclusive to buddhas)

[1] The sūtra begins by introducing the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva (great being because they aim to liberate a great mass of beings) as the being who, relying on the cutting off of the view of own-being of both self and other phenomena, realizing suchness, with no attachments, goes forth on the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna) armed with the great armour, for the liberation of all beings. They do not enter nirvāṇa midway, and are not afraid when they hear the teachings of the Perfection of Wisdom. However, ultimately, there are no bodhisattvas, beings to save, perfection of wisdom, path, or nirvāṇa.

This point in the commentary is subdivided into ten points, they are too fine to put into this outline, but the themes can be clearly seen when one reads the chapter, even without the commentary: 1. Thought of Awakening, 2. Instruction, 3. Aids to Penetration, 4. Lineage or Source of Progress, 5. Objective Support, 6. Dedication, 7. Progress of Putting on the Armour, 8. Progress of Setting Out, 9. Equipment, 10. Going Forth. 

    2. The Knowledge of all Paths (11 points) (realisations/practices common to buddhas a bodhisattvas)

        1. Limbs of the Knowledge of the Paths

[2] It is then emphasised that in suchness there is no attachment to the views of aggregates, or the

path...

        2. Knowledge of Paths common to Śrāvakas

        3. Knowledge of Paths common to Pratyekabuddhas

... and all things are without beginning, middle and end, and thus infinite. The Buddha’s bodhisattva career starting with Dīpaṅkara’s prediction is an example.

B1 Worldly Benefits and Merit from the Perfection of Wisdom

        4. Path of Seeing and Great Advantage

[3] Moreover, the benefits from practicing the Perfection of Wisdom are endless: ... 5. What the Path of Development Does

... both practical (protection) and liberative, fundamentally more so than worshipping stūpas.

        6. Resolute Faith 

[4] It is then pointed out that the Perfection of Wisdom is the source of all Buddhas, and the object one is really worshipping if one is worshipping the relics of the Buddha. The other perfections are fundamentally dedicated to it.

        7. Praise, Eulogy, and Glorification

[5] The merit from the Perfection of Wisdom is greatest when teaching it to others, and encouraging other Bodhisattvas to train in it to full awakening: it is thus the greatest gift. The counterfeit Perfection of Wisdom, however, is annihilationism.

C1 Dedication, Rejoicing, and Merit

        8. Turning Over

        9. Rejoicing

[6] A bodhisattva should rejoice in all the qualities of awakening and dedicate the merit of them to the attainment of buddhahood but without perceiving any sign/basis.

D1 Hell and Bad Friends

        10. Glorification of the Marks of Consummation

[7] One encounters the Perfection of Wisdom as a result of honouring and questioning the Buddhas in past lives, and it leads to all-knowledge without perceiving beings or nirvāṇa. However, those who are bad friends and mislead others, rejecting the Perfection of Wisdom, will be born in the hells for an immeasurable period.

E1 Bodhisattvas’ Qualities, Favoured

        11. Absolute Purity

[8] It is difficult for Bodhisattvas to come to have confidence in the Perfection of Wisdom due to its purity, and seeing its purity one is non-attached ...

Seven subsidiary points on Absolute Purity are firstly, five contaminated aspects of the Path of Meditation: 1. Eclipsed by Light, 2. Definite Object, 3. Inclusion, 4. Nature, and 5. Activity. Then there are two additional points that make up the uncontaminated Path of Meditation. 

    3. All-Knowledge (Realisations common to four vehicles, teaching via skilful means)

... but it is neither increased nor decreased through being taught, as Maitreya so taught it in the

past.

2. The Four Practices (Realisations required by the bodhisattva on the path to buddhahood)

    4. Full Awakening to All Aspects (11 Points) (Using aspects of 3 knowledges to practice building up on the first four paths)

        1. Aspects (“Modes”)

[9] The Perfection of Wisdom is merely a name without dualistic qualities—does not proceed/recede, is unproduced and isolated—but when beings hear it, they’ll be free from worldly suffering.

        2. Endeavours

[10] Those who practice it planted their roots under previous Buddhas—but it is best to teach it to those who are irreversible and won’t doubt it. If one doesn’t tremble at its teaching, one is near to it. Don’t mentally construct the path and focus on practice.

        3. Qualities

It will appear on all continents and if you search for it, it will be found within one or two lives, along with other sūtras.

F1 Māra’s Deeds, Maṇi Jewels

[10 cont.] Avoid Māra’s obstructions. 

        4. Faults

[11] Whenever one is dissuaded from or prevented from learning the Perfection of Wisdom, or a teacher from teaching it, this should be viewed as the deeds of Māra. One should also prefer the sūtras that nourish the Perfection of Wisdom: not doing so is like looking of maṇi jewels in puddles rather than the ocean.

G1 Perfection of Wisdom as the Mother; Deep Marks; Empty

        5. Marks

[12] The Perfection of Wisdom is the mother of all Buddhas, therefore the Buddhas care for her as a month by studying and spreading her. The entire world (marks) are all empty and identical to suchness—including the minds of all beings, thus they are inherently pure. All are thus truly viewed in non-viewing.

H1 Spiritual Rebirth

[13] The Perfection of Wisdom is beyond all qualities and calculations, like space. It is the non- attachment or settling down in anything, and is the way through which the whole path works, like a minister on behalf of a king. [14] Practicing it successfully, one becomes a human, and not asking questions in the past one cannot understand it now—if a bodhisattva doesn’t rely on it, he may fall back to the lower vehicles. [15] Relying on good friends who teach the Perfection of Wisdom, the bodhisattva trains in signless suchness and non-trembling, and the buddhas teach it through non- demonstration.

I1 Suchness, Spiritual Realisations, Emptiness

        6. Aids to Emancipation

[16] The Buddha, suchness, and all dharmas are identical and non-dual—knowing this is buddhahood. One is born after the image of the buddha/suchness. Yet there’s no one to win awakening and no three vehicles.

        7. Aids to Penetration

All is uncovered through longing for and practicing the Perfection of Wisdom.

H2 Attributes and Tokens of Irreversibility

        8. The Community of Irreversible Bodhisattvas

[17] Irreversible bodhisattvas don’t doubt their irreversibility or the Dharma, they will have pure conduct, and will not be tempted away from the Mahāyāna, recognising Māra and his deeds.

G2 Empty; Deep Stations; Goddess of the Ganges

[18] The deep stations of a bodhisattva are the same as suchness and their merit is empty. Attending to it for one day is better than the greatest of deeds without it. All deeds of a bodhisattva are thus equal to suchness and don’t increase or decrease.

        9. The Identity of Saṃsāra and Nirvāṇa

[19] Awakening is conditioned conventionally, but ultimately, there is no support for it. The experience of misfortunes can be reinterpreted by a bodhisattva as practices helping with awakening.

        10. The Purity of the Buddha-field

The Goddess of the Ganges becomes committed to this and will become the Buddha Suvarṇapuṣpa after training with Akṣobhya Buddha.

F2 Māra’s Deeds, Maṇi Jewels

        11. Training in Skilful Means

[20] A bodhisattva engages in skilful means by training in emptiness without realising the reality- limit, which would render full-nirvāṇa, due to their vow of the non-abandonment of all beings. They continue without abandoning, without depending on anything, and continually developing the perfections...

    5. Culmination Realisation (8 Points) (Accumulating realisations on the path, from the 2nd to 4th path)

        1. Its Signs (12) (Path of Preparation (points 1-4))

... They can be known as irreversible when they display signs in their dreams, and in other powers like putting out fires or exorcising ghosts with utterances of truth.

D2(1) Good Friends; Māra; Conceit

[21] In addition, while bodhisattvas may be deceived by Māra into thinking that they have powers or had lofty experiences in the past, becoming conceited as a result. Similarly, bodhisattvas may be deceived by Māra into believing detachment is practicing in isolation rather than practicing the Perfection of Wisdom. A bodhisattva should instead honour good friends, which is another sign. [22] The six perfections are the good friends, but Wisdom is the key to the others. All things are empty and thus pure, only through mental proliferation are they impure. The last sign is that one is close to Buddhahood through seeing all dharmas as pure...

E2 Superior Position of the Bodhisattva

        2. The Increase (16 stages)

... The bodhisattva recalls the Perfection of Wisdom constantly, practices in emptiness, without perceiving beings or the Perfection of Wisdom as increasing or decreasing, or as truly existing. [23] A bodhisattva practicing and propagating the Perfection of Wisdom is superior in position in to all beings, including bodhisattvas without it, and all the devas will approach and protect him.

D2(2) Good Friends; Māra; Conceit

[24] Bodhisattvas who don’t train properly in PW are those who are open to Māra’s influence, especially if they quarrel with other bodhisattvas. But those who repent and resolve never to give rise to malice, and who consider all other bodhisattvas as their teacher will not have to struggle against quarrels for aeons.

B2(1) Advantages; Merit of the Perfection of Wisdom

[25] A bodhisattva trains in all-knowledge by training in the qualities of suchness, without grasping onto any of those qualities as inherently existing: but continues on, achieving conventional purity in Buddhahood. Bodhisattvas training in PW are few in quantity compared to all other classes of beings. The merit from practicing PW is greater than that from anywhere else. Bodhisattvas train and learn the qualities of śrāvakas in order to teach them, but they are able to do so without falling to the Śrāvakayāna, and are thus worthy of gifts from all beings.

C2 Jubilation; Turning Over; Merit

        3. Steadying

[26] Bodhisattvas surpass all, let alone buddhas, who do not turn back out of compassion. 

B2(2) Advantages; Merit of the Perfection of Wisdom

        4. Mental Composure

The merit of rejoicing in bodhisattvas’ arising bodhicitta is measureless ...

        5. Path of Seeing

[26 cont.] and the benefits are this worldly, otherworldly, and buddhahood. An illusion (bodhisattva) cannot know full awakening (illusion) and their thought of awakening is also illusion. This is doing what is hard, and yet there is no one doing the hard thing which also does not exist, they act without such discrimination like puppets, etc., due to the non-discrimination of PW. [27] Bodhisattvas train in something unsubstantial but don’t lose heart because there are no dharmas that can lose heart or make them lose heart. Devas will protect them. Buddhas and bodhisattvas in other worlds praise those in this and vice versa. [28] All monks in the Buddha’s assembly will become buddhas called Avakīrṇakusuma. The Buddha transmits PW to Ānanda. If he were to forget PW it would be the greatest slight to the Buddha. It should be transmitted, practiced, and worshipped. But one should not train in any fixed notion, just as a vision of Akṣobhya is made to arise and cease. PW is unbounded and inexhaustible, so PW in book form is not really PW. ...

A2 Subhūti’s Exhortation for Sadāprarudita Story; Definition of Tathatā and Tathāgata; Sadāprarudita’s Declaration from Dharmodgata; Ānanda’s Authorisation

        6. Path of Meditation

... PW is consummated through reflecting on the non-extinction of the skandhas and the links of dependent origination. It is beneficial to reflect on how the Buddhas possess PW.

        7. Unimpeded Concentration

        8. Sixteen Errors

[29] Bodhisattvas should approach PW through non-conceptualisation ...

    6. Serial Realisation (Serial realisations that are attained from the 1st to 4th path, including the 6 perfections)

1. Perfection of Generosity

2. Perfection of Discipline

3. Perfection of Patience

4. Perfection of Diligence

5. Perfection of Meditation

6. Perfection of Wisdom

7. Recollection of the Buddha

8. Recollection of the Dharma

9. Recollection of the Sangha

10. Recollection of the Right Conduct

11. Recollection of Giving

12. Recollection of the Divine State

13. The True Nature of Phenomena

... and approach its resounding declarations through the roaring of a lion. ...

    7. Instant Realisation (Final realisations that bring about Buddhahood)

        1. With regard to all dharmas without outflows and without karma result

        2. With regard to all dharmas without outflows with karma result

        3. The single instantaneous reunion which sees all dharmas as devoid of marks

        4. The single instantaneous reunion which sees the mark of non-duality in all dharmas

... The skandhas’ qualities are the same as those of PW. ... 

3. The Dharma Body

    8. Full Awakening to the Dharma Body (All that is gained upon buddhahood and the Buddha bodies)

        1. The substantial body (Own-Being Body (Svābhāvikakāya)

        2. The enjoyment body

        3. The transformation body

        4. The work of the Dharma Body by means of the Transformation body-in general

        5. The Functions of the Dharma Body

... Bodhisattvas practicing in this way will not find it hard to become buddhas.

[30] In the past, Sadāprarudita seeks PW and a voice tells him to go east. He then is told by visions of the Buddhas to seek Dharmodgata in the city Gandhavatī, but wants to know from whence the Buddhas came and where they went. Arriving there he has nothing to offer, so tries to sell himself. Māra deafens people to him so he cannot sell himself. But Śakra appears in disguise and offers to buy his blood, heart, and marrow. After agreeing and beginning to dissect himself, a merchant’s daughter offers to use her riches to help him. Then Śakra restores Sadāprarudita and disappears. After arriving and paying homage to Dharmodgata, he asks him from whence the Buddhas came and where they went. [31] Dharmodgata teaches that Tathāgatas neither come nor go anywhere, as they are suchness, which cannot so come or go. Sadāprarudita then rises in the air and offers himself as a servant, the girl and her maidens to likewise. Dharmodgata accepts and then returns the offering, so he gets merit. Then after entering a samādhi for seven years, and after Sadāprarudita and the others remained standing to wait for seven years, Dharmodgata exited and taught PW. Sadāprarudita then enters millions of samādhis on the topics Dharmodgata taught. [32] Sadāprarudita saw countless buddhas in his samādhis and in his future lives he was never deprived of the buddhas.

    Ānanda is entrusted with the sūtra and instructed to copy it and worship it in the form of a book. So long as PW exists, that long one knows the Buddha is demonstrating the Dharma.