Explanation of Selected Passages from the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra

Original text of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā Sūtra, Scroll 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 his mind, then when seeing dharmas he still sees their worldly marks, and does not see that all worldly marks are the essential, fundamental mark of bodhi — the mark of bodhi. He cannot realize that all dharmas are true suchness, and therefore cannot attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

If, when seeing all dharmas, one can see their non-dual mark — the mark of bodhi, the mark of the tathāgatagarbha — then one can attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. Bodhi itself, the substance of the 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 attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Subhūti, the bodhisattva mahāsattva's attainment of the practice of bodhi 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, with no mark of duality and no mark of difference. Cultivate yourself within all material forms, contemplating in this way; throughout the entire practice of the wisdom of the varieties of paths and omniscience, practice contemplation in this way, and only then can you ultimately attain anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi.