Seng Zhao's comments

Seng-chao says, “The first part ends here.”

Seng-chao says, “Upon meeting a buddha or a sage, to believe is not difficult. To believe when the Way has disappeared, that is most remarkable.”

Seng-chao says, “The king here is the mind, which uses the sword of wisdom to cut through the body of delusion and passion.” Seng-chao was Kumarajiva’s most prominent disciple and the author of the first Chinese commentary to this sutra. Later, as he himself awaited the executioner’s blade, he wrote this final gatha: “The fivefold body doesn’t exist / the four elements all are empty / my head waits below a bright blade / suddenly a gust of spring wind blows.”

Seng-chao says, “If your mind is limited, your merit will be slight. If your thoughts are boundless, your merit will be great.”

Seng-chao says, “This part of the sutra explains the emptiness of the bodhisattva. Hence, it says below that there is nothing that goes in search of enlightenment. For the person who travels this path is empty.”

Seng-chao says, “The Sage’s mind is hard to fathom, though we can try by means of deductions. He obtained this prophecy because he was not attached to appearances. In something that lacks appearance, there is nothing that one can obtain.”

Seng-chao says, “Although a great bell is impressive, it makes no sound unless it is rung. Nor does a sage respond in isolation.”

Seng-chao says, “Wisdom is the chief of the ten thousand virtues, and charity is the foremost of the myriad practices.”

Seng-chao says, “Thoughts of charity that begrudge nothing is what is meant by giving. If no object remains, what is there to begrudge? Giving is the first of the six perfections, and sensations are the basis from which dharmas arise.”

Seng-chao says, “From this we know that non-attachment to all things is correct and attachment to anything is wrong.”