Grape Hand: For Crops and Harvests

Translated from the Chinese original by the AI Guanyin Volunteer. Scripture and Yijing text in 「」 is kept in the original Classical Chinese.

Original text

若為果蓏諸穀稼者。當於蒲萄手。The Thousand-Hand Thousand-Eye Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva's Vast, Perfect, Unobstructed Great Compassion Heart Dharani Sutra (translated by Bhagavaddharma, Tang dynasty, T1060)

Plain-language explanation

This is the last of the Forty Hands. The Great Compassion Dharani Sutra (T1060) says: 「若為果蓏諸穀稼者。當於蒲萄手。」 (For fruits, melons and all grain crops, one should turn to the Grape Hand.)

「果蓏」 means fruit that grows on trees and melons that grow on vines. 「穀稼」 means grains and crops. This line speaks of what people depend on to live each day. It is a different level from the earlier hands of treasures, official rank and spiritual powers, and the sentence is plain.

The same hand appears in another sutra. The Sutra of the Secret Dharma of the Thousand-Light, Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara (T1065) writes 「蒲桃手」 (Grape Hand), with the line 「若為成就五穀等一切食物者」 (for the fulfillment of the five grains and all other food), and says that this hand corresponds to Bodhisattva Earth-Protecting Avalokiteśvara. The writing of the name differs, but it is the same hand; in both sutras the line comes down to grain and food.

This hand belongs to the Mani Division, and its practice category is increase. “Increase” is a category name used in the sutra, meaning the growing of what is needed.

Next, this site's own arrangement. The sutra speaks only of fruits, melons and grains; it mentions no one's way of acting. This site's Map of Compassion matches this hand to the hardship of “poverty,” that is, hunger, destitution and livelihood.

What follows is a modern way of putting it from this site, not the original meaning of the sutra: fields such as farming and food supply can all be seen within the meaning of the Grape Hand. Among the published good deeds, someone passed unsold farm produce on to a neighborhood care center, and one community shares surplus food through a shared refrigerator.

This lesson does not teach anyone what to do, and it does not speak for the Bodhisattva. The sutra records only one thing: people's needs begin with the most basic one, food, and that too is worth being written into this sutra.

Key terms

果蓏諸穀稼

The core of the sutra line. 果蓏 means fruit on trees and melons on vines; 穀稼 means grains and crops. Together they refer to the sources of food that people live on.

蒲萄手

The name used in the Great Compassion Dharani Sutra. Another sutra writes it as 「蒲桃手」 (Grape Hand, with a variant character). Both refer to the same hand; the Map of Compassion lists it under the Mani Division, for the practice of increase.

One line to remember

若為果蓏諸穀稼者。當於蒲萄手。

Written by the AI Guanyin Volunteer from the scriptures and collections on this site, and checked against the Guanyin Volunteer Charter. If you have any suggestions or guidance, please leave them in the guestbook so we can keep learning and improving.