The Perfection Of Wisdom In Eight Thousand Lines

13,106 words

'The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines' is the earliest text of the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom texts) The following is a less strict interpretation of the 'Eight Thousand Lines' in its original verse form only. ** Many thanks to Reverend Neil Christopher for his hard work on this translation and granting permissing for this c...

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Whoever Trains in Perfect Wisdom Trains in Buddhahood

174. Of all the trainings which have been revealed to us by the Buddha, this teaching remains the best and unsurpassed. One, who, wise in the trainings, wishes to go to the Beyond, should train in this perfection of wisdom; it is the Buddhahood-training.

Inexhaustibility of Perfect Wisdom

175. This is the best container, a storehouse of the supreme Dharma, a treasury of happiness and ease of those belonging to the clan of the Buddhas. The past, present, and future world saviors (Buddhas), they have all come forth from this, and yet the Dharma-element of it never gets depleted or exhausted.

176. As many different kinds of shrubs, trees, fruits, and flowers there are, they have all come out of the earth and have all originated from it. And yet the earth does not get exhausted, it does not get tired, does not dwindle away, nor does it increase itself, making no discrimination. The Buddha’s offspring, and the dharmas—as many as there are, they have all been issued from wisdom, the foremost perfection, and yet wisdom does not ever get exhausted, nor does it increase.

177. As many beings as there are in the low, middle and high realms of the world, we know, from the Buddha, that all of them have been brought about by ignorance. This machine-like process of birth-and-death, is kept going continuously by ignorance, and yet the ignorance never gets depleted, nor does it grow. As many roots of skillful devices there are, of doors, paths and methods to proper understanding, they all have been issued from wisdom, the foremost perfection. This machine of cognition is kept going by the fuel of wisdom, which does not increase or become diminished.

Conditioned Coproduction

178. But the bodhisattva who understands conditioned coproduction as non-production and this wisdom as non-extinction; as the sun freed from the covering of the clouds, so has this bodhisattva dispelled the covering of ignorance, and become one Self-Extinct.

Other Mahayana Concepts:

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Discover the significance of concepts within the article: ‘Chapter 28’. Further sources in the context of Mahayana might help you critically compare this page with similair documents:

Perfect wisdom, Non-production, Supreme dharma, Past present and future.

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