The Perfection of Wisdom Literature: Suryagarbha and the Perfection of Wisdom (Suryagarbha­prajna­paramita)

Introduction:

The prajnaparamita, or Perfection of Wisdom, literature is central to the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It lays the foundations for the profound view of emptiness that guides the Mahayana’s soteriological views. In this text the Buddha dialogues with a bodhisattva known as Suryagarbha, who wants to know about how one can merge “skillful means” with the “perfection of wisdom,” which is a central question that any Mahayana practitioner should ask themselves. The Buddha answers him in both prose and verse, and lays out a comprehensive vision of what a bodhisattva who is skilled in engaging with the world and in the perfection of wisdom looks like. All of this is packed into about one page of writing, and so it is extremely concise and to the point. This is the beauty and power of the short prajnaparamita literature, which are excellent tools for contemplative reading and meditating on the word.

Note: This text assumes that the reader is already well acquainted with key ideas of Buddhist doctrine, and so can be confusing for novices, even with commentary. As such, if you are new to reading Buddhist primary literature, I'd highly recommend reading my introduction to the Buddhist path before diving into the primary literature. This is called "Entering Upon the Path" and can be accessed here. Thank you!

The Sutra Text:

The bodhisattva Suryagarbha asked the Buddha, “How, O Blessed One, should a bodhisattva who is skilled in means train in the perfection of wisdom?”

The Buddha replied, “There is a meditative stability that is skilled in means called ‘the sun.’ Bodhisattvas should train in it and its seven aspects as follows: First, just as the sun ripens a sprout, the bodhisattva’s sun-like meditative stability ripens the sprout of awakening in sentient beings. Second, just as the sun never diminishes or dissipates, the compassion of the bodhisattva’s meditative stability acts equally for all sentient beings. Third, just as the sun burns dust, the bodhisattva’s wisdom of insight burns the dust of the defilements. Fourth, just as the sun melts ice, the bodhisattva’s meditative stability, the antidote endowed with experiential insight, melts the ice-like defilements. Fifth, just as the sun dispels darkness, the bodhisattva’s discriminating vision dispels the darkness of grasped objects and grasping subjects. Sixth, just as the sun revolves around the four continents, the bodhisattva’s perfect activity liberates beings from the worldly torrents of suffering. Seventh, just as the sun warms everything equally, the means that is the bodhisattva’s perfect conduct, which gladdens all sentient beings, is like that act of warming.”

“Furthermore, bodhisattvas should train in the perfection of wisdom. They should train in the fact that all phenomena are without inherent existence, are conceptless, are totally devoid of all concepts, are nonentities, are devoid of all entities, are that which is uncontaminated, are that which is devoid of all contamination, and are empty in their essential nature.”

The Buddha continued, “Bodhisattvas should train in the meaning of reality, the realm of phenomena, the real nature, the very limit of reality, the unmistaken real nature, the one and only real nature, the truth, and thusness.”

“Bodhisattvas should also train in the fact that all phenomena are without ideas of conditioning and arising. They should train in the fact that all phenomena are naturally pure. They should know that all phenomena, such as form and so on, are naturally empty; they should know that they are void in their essential nature.”

“Someone who takes up the Perfection of Wisdom sutra will purify karmic obscurations, the accumulation of merit will arise, they will come to possess an immeasurable accumulation of insight, and they will come to possess great wisdom, virtue, and mental discipline. Bodhisattvas should also train in the perfection of wisdom.”

At that point, the Blessed One recited this verse:

“Exertion in erudition and the holy Dharma,

Having loving kindness for all sentient beings,

Possessing the armor of perseverance,

Devotion to the purposes of self and others,

Exertion in cultivating meditative concentration and stability,

Being without perceptions of self and sentient beings,

Practicing like the previous children of the victors‍, the bodhisattvas—

The wise unmistakably train thus.”

(Original translation obtainable from: https://84000.co/translation/toh26)

Practical Commentary on the Sutra Text:

“The bodhisattva Suryagarbha asked the Buddha, ‘How, O Blessed One, should a bodhisattva who is skilled in means train in the perfection of wisdom?’”

In the framework of the “six perfections,” to be “skilled in means” is to be skilled in the first five perfections (generosity, virtue, forbearance, diligence, and meditation). These five perfections are referred to as “skillful means” because they're the means by which we can directly skillfully, effectively, and meaningfully cultivate wholesome spiritual development for ourselves and those around us. And so when someone is said to be using “skillful means,” or is described as being “skilled in means,” this is meant to show that the person is properly practicing the first five perfections, and so they are skillful in their approach to sharing the bright light of the Dharma with others, and are skillful in their day to day practices of the Buddhist path. However, a common teaching in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism is the idea that we must develop both “skillful means and wisdom,” which is where the perfection of wisdom comes into play.

The perfection of wisdom is the sixth and final perfection, and is what ultimately consummates the other five and brings them all to their fullest flowering. The perfection of wisdom represents a pure experiential insight into the profound view of universal emptiness, which constitutes a fundamental transformation in the way that one views the nature of themselves, other people, and the world at large (please see my introduction to the Buddhist Path HERE for a full explanation of the meaning and importance of emptiness).

The idea, then, is that through the use of skillful means (i.e. the first five perfections) one can gradually develop and perfect their wisdom (i.e. the sixth perfection), which, in a self-nourishing feedback loop, helps to bolster and improve one's skillful means in return, and so on. This is the internal network of cause and effect that leads to enlightenment.

And so Suryagarbha is asking the Buddha how a student can begin to really deepen their wisdom – their experiential insight into the true nature of things – once they've become skilled in the first five perfections that focus moreso on pro-social behaviors and attitudes than on the fundamental transformation of the mind at its roots.

“The Buddha replied, “There is a meditative stability that is skilled in means called ‘the sun.’ Bodhisattvas should train in it and its seven aspects as follows:”

The wording here can be confusing but the takeaway is this: the Buddha knows of a cultivated and stabilized state of mind that properly embodies skillful means (i.e. the first five perfections/ideals) that we can engage with in order to train toward the perfection of wisdom. Furthermore, this higher, enlightened state of mind apparently has seven salient aspects that require our attention and development. All of this will revolve around the metaphor of the sun, which is typical of Buddhist imagery which focuses on radiance, luminosity, brightness, and warmth; qualities that the Buddha viewed the enlightened mind as possessing.

"First, just as the sun ripens a sprout, the bodhisattva’s sun-like meditative stability ripens the sprout of awakening in sentient beings."

The enlightened activities of the bodhisattva, with their stabilized and clear mind, should help to nourish and cultivate the minds of others, uplifting and edifying them through skillful engagement and service. When we radiate altruism and embody the perfections, we nourish the latent qualities of buddha-nature that all beings possess. This helps to establish the fundamental aspiration and orientation of the entire spiritual enterprise: if the wellbeing of others is not being improved first and foremost, then we are already on the wrong path. Shifting our mindset from self-centeredness to other-centeredness is the key that unlocks the full potential of the Buddhist path.

"Second, just as the sun never diminishes or dissipates, the compassion of the bodhisattva’s meditative stability acts equally for all sentient beings."

The compassionate bodhisattva should also embody the quality of impartiality while serving others; and so not only serving those who they find agreeable and pleasurable, but all people at all times in all places, in part by acknowledging the intrinsic capacity for goodness and enlightenment that all beings possess. This quality of profound impartiality is one of the four “divine attitudes” or “immeasurables” of Buddhism, which act as the primary prosocial qualities of mind that constitute the enlightened altruism of a Buddha. These four divine attitudes are loving-kindness, compassion, confelicity, and impartiality. The first three are often viewed as being easier to cultivate, and impartiality is oftentimes viewed as being the hardest, and so it receives special attention here by the Buddha. If we are selective with our compassion and our altruism, then it can quickly become an egoistic tool for serving our own wants and desires through others. Without the expansive openness of impartiality, our altruism can very easily devolve into a form of self-serving bias toward those who give us what we want, whether it is positive feelings or explicit reciprocation, or etc. A bodhisattva, on the other hand, with a bodhi-mind directed towards genuine enlightenment for the sake of all others, shares their radiant compassion with all beings, regardless of how they are treated or what they receive in return.

These first two aspects of “the meditative stability called the Sun” are crucial to developing the perfection of wisdom because they focus primarily on developing the virtuous, unguilty, karmically wholesome mind necessary to settle into deep meditative absorption, so as to begin seeing the world with more clarity and less turbulence. The path of the Buddha focuses firstly on ethical behavior, as these coarse, macro-scale actions of mind, speech, and body are disproportionately impactful to the overall state of the mind. They are easier to rein in and discipline than the more subtle and subconscious elements of the mind that underlie them, and purifying the way we explicitly and outwardly treat others builds the foundations for a successful meditative practice.

"Third, just as the sun burns dust, the bodhisattva’s wisdom of insight burns the dust of the defilements. Fourth, just as the sun melts ice, the bodhisattva’s meditative stability, the antidote endowed with experiential insight, melts the ice-like defilements."

These two lines go together, and focus on the idea of purifying the “defilements” from oneself. These defilements are: worldly attachments, egocentrism, and confusion. Confusion acts as the root defilement of the unenlightened mind, the fundamental spiritual distortion that gives rise to worldly attachments and an egocentric mind. This confusion refers to misunderstanding the true nature of things and viewing them as being inherently self-existent and concretely reified. This is the delusion that drives the machinations of samsara, and displacing it with wisdom and insight is the primary project of Buddhist spirituality. When we misunderstand the true nature of our reality we form harmful, unwholesome worldly attachments to things, distort our minds with self-grasping and ego-fixation, and fundamentally mishandle and mistreat the whole of lived experience. This is the spiritual disease that the Buddha’s entire dispensation is focused on curing. His antidote is experiential insight and wisdom into the true nature of things: the profound view of emptiness. All of this takes quite a bit of additional explaining for someone who is brand new to Buddhist thought, and would expand this commentary beyond the point of usefulness; therefore, for a deeper dive into this topic, please refer to my post outlining the fundamentals of “Entering Upon the Buddhist path” HERE.

The first two aspects of “the sun” focused on disciplining the way we treat others, so that we can begin to stabilize and purify the mind at its most offensive and most outward-facing levels. These two lines then begin to shift the focus to the ebbs and flows of our minds themselves, in terms of how we actually view the nature of things to be. This will be expanded upon in the next line.

"Fifth, just as the sun dispels darkness, the bodhisattva’s discriminating vision dispels the darkness of grasped objects and grasping subjects."

This line consummates the two previous lines, by explicating what “wisdom” and “experiential insight” entails. The perfection of wisdom is attained through developing the profound view of universal emptiness, the understanding that all phenomena are devoid of an intrinsic self-existent essence or existentially fixed core. The enlightened, discriminating vision of the bodhisattva sees through the illusory trap of viewing objects and minds/subjects as being objectively self-existent entities that are capable of being absolutely grasped, or of carrying out this absolute grasping. There are no truly self-existent objects to grasp – there are only ephemeral and transient manifestations of ongoing physical processes that contain no concrete core to attach ourselves to. There are likewise no truly self-existent subjects who can perform any absolute grasping – there are only ephemeral and transient manifestations of ongoing mental processes that contain no concrete essence to attach things to. And so the profound view of universal emptiness, which is cultivated through a purified vision of the way things truly are, brings the bodhisattva to a state wherein they can transcend completely the samsaric cycles of feverish desire, grasping, inevitable loss through impermanence, and unhappiness.

"Sixth, just as the sun revolves around the four continents, the bodhisattva’s perfect activity liberates beings from the worldly torrents of suffering. Seventh, just as the sun warms everything equally, the means that is the bodhisattva’s perfect conduct, which gladdens all sentient beings, is like that act of warming.”

These last two lines bring us back to the fundamental aspiration of the bodhisattva: bodhi-mind. Bodhi-mind is the warmhearted aspiration to cultivate the mind towards awakening for the benefit of all other beings. It is important to keep in mind that when going through any of these abstruse and complex philosophical issues, the underlying reason that we are doing this is to become better agents of change for other people so as to bring about the betterment of their welfare. As practicing Buddhists, then, we're not seeking to deconstruct these philosophical abstractions for the intellectual stimulation and gratification that these conceptual puzzles might bring us, but instead we are engaging in this deep process of self-cultivation so that we might improve ourselves and our capacity to bring happiness, inner-peace, and ultimate freedom to other sentient beings. When studying and reading, it is very easy to get lost in the conceptual weeds and lose sight of this foundational motivating intention. And so we really want to strive to keep that aspiration of bodhi-mind front and center no matter how deeply we dive into any of these complex philosophical issues. This is because none of them mean anything, and none of them will do what we want them to do, unless we are putting them into service for the sake of other people. These lines help us to ground the teaching within that aspiration toward altruistic awakening. Every single thing that we read or see within the buddhadharma is really about ethics – about how we should be in life – and if we are not building upon an ethic of other-centeredness then we are missing the point.

“Furthermore, bodhisattvas should train in the perfection of wisdom. They should train in the fact that all phenomena are without inherent existence, are conceptless, are totally devoid of all concepts, are nonentities, are devoid of all entities, are that which is uncontaminated, are that which is devoid of all contamination, and are empty in their essential nature."

Here, the Buddha moves on from talking about the seven aspects of the “meditative stability called ‘the sun,’” to talking more directly about the perfection of wisdom itself. As stated already, the perfection of wisdom is attained by cultivating the profound view of universal emptiness. What this amounts to in practical terms is replacing the instinctive-but-false view of reification with the understanding that all phenomena are devoid of a permanent, inherently self-existent essence or existential core. All phenomena are an ongoing flux of dynamic processes, and not fixed, essentialized entities. This is the core idea of Mahayana Buddhism, and getting to the bottom of it is absolutely necessary to understanding the Buddha’s worldview.

Firstly, the Buddha states that all phenomena are without inherent existence, because all phenomena are existentially reliant upon a complex network of causes and conditions that extend far beyond themselves. Our existence isn’t manifested from within, through some type of absolute essence, our existence is a conditional result of interacting processes and conditions that are both transient and non-essentialized. The Buddha then goes on to say that phenomena are “conceptless” and “devoid of all concepts,” which means that all of the imaginative ideas and concepts that we subjectively project onto phenomena are just that – they are our own mental projections and are not intrinsic aspects of the phenomena themselves. When we mistakenly view phenomena as being reified, concrete, and stable, these are our own mistaken ideas, and not properties of the phenomena in and of themselves. The Buddha then says that all phenomena are “nonentities” and “devoid of all entities” which is just stating the reality of emptiness – that phenomena are not fixed or formed through an inherent “entity” within. The Buddha then talks about “contamination” which is traditionally used to refer to our mental projections, similar to the idea of phenomena being “conceptless.” The conceptual contaminations that we pollute phenomena with are in fact not actually possessed by the phenomena of the world – these are false ideas of non-emptiness that we imaginatively contaminate the empty world with. All of these things are different ways to say that all phenomena are ultimately characterized by emptiness, and that understanding this universal emptiness is the perfection of wisdom.

"The Buddha continued, “Bodhisattvas should train in the meaning of reality, the realm of phenomena, the real nature, the very limit of reality, the unmistaken real nature, the one and only real nature, the truth, and thusness.”"

In this segment of the teaching, the Buddha is telling us that the perfection of wisdom is cultivated through direct engagement with reality itself. The perfection of wisdom must be consummated with experiential insight and direct encounters with the true emptiness of phenomena. Our views cannot remain merely nominal, intellectual, and theoretical; they must be made robust and transformative through the power of direct experience. If we restrict our understanding of emptiness to our imagination and our linguistic explanations, then we will be missing a key aspect of Buddhist practice, namely, meditative experience. And so the Buddha exhorts us to engage with the realm of phenomena – with the nature of lived experience itself. By focusing our awareness on the limit of reality – to the true nature of things that our false concepts attempt to push beyond – we can develop the perfection of wisdom. “Thusness” is what we experience at this point of clarified awareness – the true emptiness of things undistorted by our false preconceptions and unwarranted conceptual projections.

“Bodhisattvas should also train in the fact that all phenomena are without ideas of conditioning and arising. They should train in the fact that all phenomena are naturally pure. They should know that all phenomena, such as form and so on, are naturally empty; they should know that they are void in their essential nature.”

Being without “ideas of conditioning” is simply another way to phrase the notion that phenomena do not actually possess or contain any of the mental constructions that we conjure up in our minds. These are all just ways that we conventionally construct and understand our human experiences of phenomena, but the phenomena themselves cannot be said to contain any of these things from their own side. Any of the qualities or conditions of an experience are constructions of the mind; an apple is experienced as being red, but that condition of “redness” is not a pre-existing quality that we stumble upon and take-up from the world as-is. That “redness” is a mental sensation that our minds generate and project onto the apple for the sake of organizing and cohering our sensory inputs.

Being “without ideas of arising” is a rephrasing of the idea that no phenomena actually come into concrete, absolute, existentially fixed existence, because everything is impermanent and in constant flux. No self-existent entities arise, because there is no such thing as a self-existent entity.

All phenomena are naturally pure, being free from the conceptual contaminations that we imagine and project onto them. This is identical to the idea of being uncontaminated, which we saw above.

The Buddha then states again that all phenomena are naturally empty and void in their essential nature, meaning that they are all existentially contingent and conditionally dependent. All things are empty of independent, intrinsic existence. We all rely upon things outside of ourselves, and thus nothing exists inherently from itself.

“Someone who takes up the Perfection of Wisdom sutra will purify karmic obscurations, the accumulation of merit will arise, they will come to possess an immeasurable accumulation of insight, and they will come to possess great wisdom, virtue, and mental discipline. Bodhisattvas should also train in the perfection of wisdom.”

In this section we see an extremely condensed outline of the entire practice of the Mahayana path. The ultimate goal of the Mahayana path is to serve the welfare of others through enlightened activity. This enlightened activity requires us to first purify the mind of negative karma – which is the negative habitual conditioning and harmful mental imprints that we generate within ourselves when we think, speak, and act in unwholesome ways infused with spiritual confusion. The perfection of wisdom is essential to this goal, as our ignorance of the truth of emptiness is a fundamental driver of samsaric living. Displacing this primordial confusion with the profound view of emptiness is therefore vital.

Next up, the Buddha talks about the two accumulations (merit and insight) and three higher trainings (virtuous conduct, mental discipline, and liberating wisdom) which constitute the core contents of the path itself.

The two accumulations: These are the two qualities of mind that are meant to be cultivated and developed (i.e. “accumulated” within oneself) by engaging in the Mahayana Buddhist practices. “Merit” is essentially synonymous with positive karma – a spiritual depth of mind infused with wholesome habitual energies that is oriented towards enlightened service to others. To “accumulate merit,” then, is to develop and deepen the spiritual wholesomeness of this state of bodhi-mind. “Insight” in this context is referring to experiential insight into the true nature of lived experience – the profound view of universal emptiness. To “accumulate” insight is to properly engage in the analytical meditative practices of the Mahayana vehicle, which is meant to impart insight into the profound emptiness of all phenomena.

The three higher trainings: These are the formal traditional practices of the Mahayana vehicle that are meant to lead one toward enlightenment. Virtuous conduct focuses primarily on changing the way we treat and view others by cultivating wholesome, virtuous behavior. Mental discipline focuses primarily on transforming the mind into a stabilized mind that is free from inattentive wandering, pathological emotions, and afflictive thoughts. Liberating wisdom focuses primarily on uprooting the fundamental spiritual confusion that lies at the root of samsara – the false view of reification/essentialism – and replacing it with the profound view of universal emptiness. This is referred to as “liberating” because it is meant to fundamentally free us from the shackles of cyclical samsara. Focusing on the welfare of others, purifying the mind, committing to the primary practical trainings, and developing the profound view of emptiness with respect to all things. This is the essence of Buddhist living.

All of this takes quite a bit of additional explaining for someone who is brand new to Buddhist thought, and would expand this commentary beyond the point of usefulness; therefore, for a deeper dive into this topic, please refer to my post outlining the fundamentals of “Progressing Along the Path” HERE.

"At that point, the Blessed One recited this verse:

“Exertion in erudition and the holy Dharma,

Having loving kindness for all sentient beings,

Possessing the armor of perseverance,

Devotion to the purposes of self and others,

Exertion in cultivating meditative concentration and stability,

Being without perceptions of self and sentient beings,

Practicing like the previous children of the victors‍, the bodhisattvas—

The wise unmistakably train thus.”"

“Being without perceptions of self and sentient beings” is a reference to the profound view of universal emptiness. When the view of emptiness is truly and deeply internalized, the bodhisattva no longer views neither the “self” nor “other sentient beings” as being truly self-existent entities. They are not viewed as being reified, concretized, or essentialized; they are not viewed as being phenomena possessing an independent self-existent essence. Instead, they are viewed as being the flux of conditions and causes that they actually are – they are all dynamic processes, not concrete, existentially fixed entities.

Beyond that, this verse is a great point of reference for any practitioner of the Indo-Tibetan tradition. Again, the Buddha helps to keep us focused on the main aspects of the path: deep contemplative study, an other-centered way of living, the profound view of emptiness, enthusiastic commitment to the proper path, and following the guidance of the Masters who came before us. These things will get you very far in your practice if you commit to them.