Chapter V

The Counterfeit and the True Perfection of Wisdom

When a Bodhisattva [falsely] reveals form, perception, feeling, will,
Or thought as impermanent [claiming that they are destroyed], -
In the counterfeit [perfection of wisdom] he courses, considering not wisely;
Because the learned never effect the destruction of a dharma.
Wherein of form, of feeling, or perception,
Or consciousness, or will there is no apprehension:
By the method of emptiness and non-production [he] cognizes all dharmas.
This is the practice of wisdom, the foremost perfection.

Perfect Wisdom Greater Than Any Other Spiritual Gift

If someone would discipline in Arhatship as many beings
As there are in fields equal to the sands of the river Ganges:
And if someone else, having copied this perfection of wisdom,
Would give the book to another being, - his would be the more distinguished merit.

For what reason? The supreme Teachers, trained in this,
Make all dharmas intelligible in this emptiness.
When they have learned that the Disciples speedily experience their own kind of emancipation,
Others experience Pratyekabuddha-enlightenment, others again the Buddha-enlightenment.

Importance of the Thought of Enlightenment

Where there is no sprout, there can in the world be no tree.
How can therein be the production of branches, leaves, fruits or flowers?
Without the aspiration for enlightenment there is no possibility of a Jina in the world.
How then could Sakra, Brahma, fruit and disciples manifest themselves?

When the orb of the sun sends forth a multitude of light,
Then beings exert themselves in doing their work:
So, when the thought of enlightenment has come into being for the sake of knowing the world,
Through its cognition all the dharmas of quality are assembled.

If there were no Chief of the Serpents in his Anavatapta [Lake],
How could there be here in Jambudvipa a flowing along of the rivers?
And if there were no rivers, fruits and flowers could not possibly be,
And there would also be no manifold jewels in the oceans.

So, if there were no thought of enlightenment, how could there be
The flowing along of the cognition of the Tathagata in all these worlds?
And if there is no cognition, there can be no growth of the virtues,
No enlightenment, nor the oceanlike dharmas of the Buddha.

The Sun and the Firefly

If all the light-emitting animals everywhere in this world
Would, for the purpose of illumination, shed light:
One single ray, issued from the orb of the sun, outshines them all,
And infinitesimal would be all the luster of the hosts of light-emitting animals.