Explanations of Selected Passages from the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra

Original text of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Fascicle Twenty-Five: 佛告须菩提，如是如是。若菩萨摩诃萨行二相者。无阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。若分别作二分者。无阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。若不二不分别诸法。则是阿耨多罗三藐三菩提。菩提是不二相不坏相。须菩提。菩萨摩诃萨阿耨多罗三藐三菩提亦如是。非取中行。非舍中行。所谓色中行。乃至一切种智中行。

Explanation: The Buddha said to Subhūti: It is so, it is indeed so. If a bodhisattva mahāsattva has the mark of duality in mind—when seeing dharmas, still seeing their worldly marks, and not seeing that all worldly marks are in fact the essential, fundamental mark of bodhi, the mark of bodhi—then he cannot realize that all dharmas are tathatā, and therefore cannot accomplish anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

If, when seeing all dharmas, one can see the non-dual mark of the dharmas, the mark of bodhi, the mark of tathāgatagarbha, then one can accomplish anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Bodhi itself, the substance of tathāgatagarbha, has no mark of duality, no worldly mark, and no mark of destruction. If the mind can accord with such bodhi, then one can accomplish anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Subhūti, the practice of bodhi accomplished by a bodhisattva mahāsattva should also be like this: neither grasping at dharmas nor abandoning dharmas—toward dharmas, neither grasping nor rejecting, neither welcoming nor resisting—contemplating all dharmas as the dharma-mark of bodhi, which neither arises nor ceases, neither increases nor decreases, without the mark of duality and without the mark of difference. Cultivate yourself within all material form (rūpa), contemplating in just this way; throughout the entire practice of the wisdom of all aspects (sarvākārajñatā), you must engage in contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) in this manner; only then can you ultimately accomplish anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.