須菩提 若三千大千世界中 所有諸須彌山王 如是等七寶聚 有人持用布施 若人以此般若波羅蜜經 乃至四句偈等 受持讀誦 為他人說 於前福德 百分不及一 百千萬億分 乃至算數譬喻所不能及
xū pú tí ruò sān qiān dà qiān shì jiè zhōng suǒ yǒu zhū xū mí shān wáng rú shì děng qī bǎo jù yǒu rén chí yòng bù shī ruò rén yǐ cǐ bō rě bō luó mì jīng nǎi zhì sì jù jì děng shòu chí dú sòng wèi tā rén shuō yú qián fú dé bǎi fēn bù jí yī bǎi qiān wàn yì fēn nǎi zhì suàn shù pì yù suǒ bù néng jí
Key Message
No pile of material treasure, however vast, can compare to the merit of transmitting even a single verse of prajñā wisdom. Wisdom and merit are not rivals — wisdom is of an entirely different order.
▸Section 24 presents the sharpest contrast yet between material merit and the merit of wisdom-transmission.
Section 24 presents the sharpest contrast yet between material merit and the merit of wisdom-transmission. The Buddha posits that if all the Mount Sumeru-sized accumulations of the seven treasures across the entire three-thousand-great-thousandfold world were offered as a gift, the merit would be staggering. Yet, he declares, if someone receives, upholds, recites, and expounds to others even a single verse of four lines (sìjùjì 四句偈) from this Prajñāpāramitā scripture, the merit from the latter surpasses the former by one hundredth — by one hundred-thousandth — to a degree that no number or analogy can express. The contrast between fú (福, merit accumulated through material generosity) and zhì (智, wisdom) is the heart of this section. Material merit is finite; the insight of prajñā, transmitted even in a fragment, reaches across time, liberates minds, and participates in the very basis of all Buddhas' awakening.