The Large Sutra … Chapter 2, Offering Bowls
Translated by Kumārajīva, Sengrui, et al in Yao Qin times, 384-417 CE
175 The buddha said to Shariputra: If bodhisattvas, great beings, coursing in perfect wisdom are able to make merit like this, at that time the kings of the four heavens will be immensely happy, and think: We should make offerings of our bowls to the buddha, just as the former god kings offered their bowls to the buddha. 176 And all of the gods of the thirty-three heavens—and so forth, to the gods in the heaven of magical enjoyments created by others were happy and thought: We should serve and make offerings to the bodhisattvas, diminish the asura class, and augment the populations of gods. In the great trichiliocosm the deva-kings of the four heavens—and so forth, to the highest gods, were all immensely happy, and thought: We should ask those bodhisattvas to turn the dharma wheel.
177 Shariputra, while the bodhisattvas, great beings, course in perfect wisdom while promoting the six perfections, each son or daughter of good family is filled with joy and says to themselves: For that person we should be a father, mother, wife, kinfolk, good friend.
178 Thereupon, the four divine kings—and so forth, to the highest gods, were immensely happy. They said to themselves: We should create skillful means that will enable the bodhisattvas to separate from sexual desires, and from the initial resolve onward, to remain chaste, to have nothing to do with sensual desires—since to embrace the five desires is to block birth in Brahman's Heaven, let alone full enlightenment. Upon this basis, Shariputra, bodhisattvas, great beings, who cut off sexual desire and leave home, deserve to win full enlightenment; it's not by not cutting off desires.
179 Shariputra said to the buddha: Lord, is it normal that bodhisattvas, great beings, have a father, mother, wife, kinfolk, good friends?
The buddha said to Shariputra: Some bodhisattvas, great beings, have a father, mother, wife, kinfolk, good friends. Some bodhisattvas, from the initial resolve onward, sever sexual desires, live a chaste life—and so forth, to win full enlightenment, while not indulging in sensual desires. Some bodhisattvas on the basis of the power of skillful-means, having experienced the five desires, leave home and win full enlightenment.
180 For example, take a magician or a magician's apprentice well-versed in magic, who conjures up the five desires, and plays together with them. What do you think? Is that person really embracing these five desires?
Shariputra: No, indeed, O Lord.
The buddha said to Shariputra: So it is with bodhisattvas, great beings who, thanks to the power of skillful means, conjure up the five desires and experience pleasure within them in order to mature living beings. These bodhisattvas, great beings, are not polluted by desires, for in sundry circumstances they disparage the five desires as aflame, filthy, destructive, and hostile. On this basis, Shariputra, you should understand it is for the sake of living beings that bodhisattvas embrace the five desires.
181 Shariputra said to the buddha: How should bodhisattvas, great beings, course in perfect wisdom?
The buddha said to Shariputra: Bodhisattvas, great beings, while coursing in perfect wisdom, do not review bodhisattvas, do not review even the name bodhisattva, do not review perfect wisdom, nor do they review themselves coursing in perfect wisdom, nor do they review themselves not coursing in perfect wisdom.
On what basis? A bodhisattva, and the name bodhisattva are empty of own-being. In emptiness there is no form, no feelings, perceptions, impulses, or consciousness; furthermore, apart from form there is no emptiness, and apart from feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness there is no emptiness. Whatever is form that is emptiness; whatever is emptiness that is form. Whatever is emptiness that is feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness, and whatever is feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness, that is emptiness.
On what basis? Shariputra, On the basis of the mere existence of a name, you assume it's bodhi. On the basis of the mere existence of a name, you assume it's a bodhisattva. On the basis of the mere existence of a name, you assume it's emptiness. For what reason? Because the true essential nature of every dharma has not been born, has not been extinguished, has not been defiled, has not been purified.
Bodhisattvas, great beings, who course like this, review neither birth, nor extinction, and review neither defilement, nor purity.
On what basis? Names are something created from a conflux of causes and conditions in a karmic matrix, spoken as merely provisional appellations that differentiate memories and perceptions. This is the basis upon which bodhisattvas, great beings, while coursing in perfect wisdom do not review any names, and based on not reviewing are not attached to anything.
I am now experimenting with translating the five skandhas or 'heaps' into which the early Buddhists deconstructed the self into non-plurals. E.g., a form, a feeling, a perception, an impulse, consciousness.
This works in the context of applied practice or where that is being laid out in the sutra text.
BTW, I'm still translating the 25kpp. I am on chapter 26. (64 to go!)