འཕགས་པ་ད་བཞན་གཤགས་པའ་གསང་བ་བསམ་གྱས་མ་ཁྱབ་པ་བསྟན་པ་ཞས་བྱ་བ་ཐག་པ་ཆན་པའ་མད 6
The Secrets of the Realized Ones 6
- Language
- English
6.2
They display the cognitive basis of what is without desire, but they do not condemn the cognitive basis of the three worlds.
“Becoming adepts at wisdom and skill in means, they also gain the ability to control all the bases of cognition in such a way that, even when something repulsive becomes the object of their cognition, their minds remain fixed on the beautiful body of the realized ones. While making an impermanent thing the object of their cognition, their minds remain firmly in a state of tirelessness with respect to the world of rebirth. While making suffering the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on establishing all beings in the bliss of cessation. While making no self the object of their cognition, their minds remain fixed on having great compassion for all beings.
“While making desire the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on providing a vision of the great medicine of revulsion to those who indulge their desires. While making hatred the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on providing a vision of the great medicine of great love to those who carry out acts of hatred. While making ignorance the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on providing a vision of the great medicine of dependent arising to those who commit acts of ignorance. While making an equal measure of desire, hatred, and ignorance the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on providing a vision of the great medicine of perceiving impermanence to those who carry out an equal measure of such acts.
“While making dispassion the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on guiding the disciples. While making the absence of hatred the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on guiding the solitary buddhas. While making the absence of ignorance the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on guiding the bodhisattvas.
“While making form the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the form of a realized one. While making sound the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the voice of a realized one. While making smell the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the scent of a realized one’s moral conduct. While making flavor the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the finest of flavors, which are the marks of a great being possessed by the realized ones. While making touch
6.3
the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the smooth and youthful hands and feet of a realized one. While making mental phenomena the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the profound comprehension of a realized one’s mind.
“While making generosity the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the distinctive features and secondary marks of a great being. While making moral conduct the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on the act of purifying a buddha domain. While making patience the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the pleasing tone of a brahmā’s voice and skin the color of gold. While making heroic effort the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on liberating all beings. While making meditation the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on developing the supernormal faculties. While making wisdom the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on allaying the pain of all beings that comes from their opinions and afflictions.
“While making love the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on making the minds of all beings devoid of anger. While making compassion the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on laying their hands on the true Dharma. While making joy the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on finding supreme joy in the teaching of the Dharma. While making equanimity the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on encouraging beings to let go of their anger and attachment.
“While making the means of drawing others to oneself the object of their cognition, their minds remain focused on bringing beings to maturity. While making the fault of avarice the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on giving away everything they have. While making the fault of indiscipline the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on the act of purifying their discipline. While making the fault of malice the object of their cognition, their minds remain fixed on the gentility and strength of patience. While making the fault of laziness the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on perfecting the powers of the realized ones. While making the fault of mental distraction the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the meditative concentration of the realized ones. While making the fault of faulty discrimination the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on the act of perfecting the knowledge of dispassion.
6.4
“While fixing their attention upon the disciples and solitary buddhas, their minds remain set on the attainment of the Great Vehicle. While fixing their attention upon an agitated state of mind, their minds remained set on not committing any transgressions. While fixing their attention upon the bad places of rebirth that are the lower realms, their minds remained set on rescuing all those beings who had been reborn in bondage in the bad places of rebirth that are the lower realms. While fixing their attention upon the gods, their minds remained set on the fact that all one’s fortune comes to naught in the end. While fixing their attention upon human beings, their minds remained set on holding on to what is of central importance.
“While fixing their attention upon the mindful recollection of the buddhas, their minds remain set on making an actual connection with the buddhas. While fixing their attention upon the mindful recollection of the Dharma, their minds remain set on not being close-fisted as a teacher of the Dharma. While fixing their attention upon the mindful recollection of the Saṅgha, their minds remain set on attaining the state of being impossible to turn back from unsurpassable and perfect awakening. While fixing their attention upon the mindful recollection of surrender, their minds remain set on giving away everything they have to give. While fixing their attention upon the recollection of moral conduct, their minds remain set on bringing to fulfillment their vow, meditation, and the constitutive factors of awakening. While fixing their attention upon the recollection of the gods, their minds remain set on becoming established in the knowledge of the buddhas, which is praised and lauded by all the gods.
“While fixing their attention upon the body, their minds remain set on attaining the body of a buddha. While fixing their attention upon speech, their minds remain set on attaining the speech of a buddha. While fixing their attention upon the mind, their minds remain set on attaining the even-mindedness of the buddhas.²¹²
“While making conditioned things the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the knowledge of the realized ones to completion. While making unconditioned things the object of their cognition, their minds remain set on attaining the knowledge of the buddhas to completion.
“In other words, Śāntamati, the bodhisattva possesses no basis of cognition in which the mind’s attention is not fixed on achieving the knowledge of an omniscient one. The bodhisattva dedicates all bases of cognition to awakening. In fact, this vision that all things follow awakening is the bodhisattva’s mastery of skill in means. Śāntamati,
6.5
just as there is nothing that grows out of the ground throughout the cosmos of a billion worlds that is not put to use by the beings who are likewise born here for their growth, in the very same way, Śāntamati, there are no cognitive bases that bodhisattvas do not perceive as a benefit for awakening and are not put to use for awakening by those bodhisattvas who have mastered skill in means.²¹³ Śāntamati, just as each and every material form is made from the four great elements, in the very same way, Śāntamati, for the bodhisattva who has mastered skill in means, each and every object of cognition possesses the nature and shape of awakening.
“Those beings who are stingy and have no gratitude, Śāntamati, enable bodhisattvas to achieve the perfection of generosity and the perfection of moral conduct to their full extent. Those beings who are lazy and commit acts out of anger enable bodhisattvas to achieve the perfection of heroic effort and the perfection of patience to their full extent. Those beings who are thickheaded and ignorant enable bodhisattvas to achieve the perfection of concentration and the perfection of wisdom to their full extent.
“When other beings do not return a favor, bodhisattvas do not become angry. Bodhisattvas do not become attached when other beings do reciprocate. Bodhisattvas do not become full of themselves even when other beings offer them praise. At the same time, bodhisattvas do not become discouraged when other beings do not praise them. Bodhisattvas feel great compassion at the suffering of other beings. Bodhisattvas feel joy and ecstasy at the happiness of other beings. Bodhisattvas cultivate
6.6
calm abiding for those beings who are unruly and difficult to tame. Bodhisattvas generate thoughts of gratitude for those beings who are well bred. Bodhisattvas generate thoughts of protection for those at the mercy of circumstances beyond their control. For those who have the power to affect their circumstances, however, bodhisattvas generate thoughts of advice, admonishment, and even punishment.²¹⁴
“Bodhisattvas will deliver profound teachings to those who can gain an understanding from a highly condensed statement. Bodhisattvas will deliver extensive teachings to those who can gain an understanding from a full, detailed explanation. Bodhisattvas will give teachings that follow a progression to those who have a need for step-by-step guidance. Bodhisattvas will give teachings of a few syllables or a word to those who able to discern the meaning.
“Bodhisattvas will give teachings on deep insight to those who have done the preliminary practice of calm abiding. Bodhisattvas will give teachings on settling into meditative concentration for those who have done the preliminary practice of deep insight.
“To those who are attached to moral conduct, bodhisattvas will give teachings on the hell realms even though they are not their certain destination. To those who are attached to learning, bodhisattvas will give teachings on freedom.²¹⁵ To those who are attached to meditative concentration, bodhisattvas will give teachings on using discernment. To those who are attached to living in the forest, bodhisattvas will give teachings that the mind is what should be brought into a state of solitude. To those who are attached to severe asceticism and the ascetic virtues of the pure ones, bodhisattvas will give teachings on the spiritual faculty of wisdom possessed by the noble ones. To those whose ignorance is great, bodhisattvas will give teachings on what becomes apparent through learning.
“To those who are oppressed by sensual desire, bodhisattvas will give teachings on what is repulsive. To those who are oppressed by hatred, bodhisattvas will give teachings on love. To those who are oppressed by ignorance, bodhisattvas will give teachings on dependent arising.
6.7
To those who carry out acts of passion, hatred, and ignorance in equal measure, bodhisattvas will give more expansive teachings in such a way that sometimes they will give teachings on what is repulsive, at other times they will give teachings on love, and at other times they will give teachings on dependent arising.
“Bodhisattvas will give teachings on superior forms of moral conduct, superior forms of intellect, and superior forms of discernment to those who need to be trained by teachings of a suitable nature. To those who need to be trained by a buddha, they will give suitable teachings on the truths and suitable teachings on the constitutive factors of awakening. To those who need to be trained by censure, they will teach the Dharma after turning away their faces. They will teach steadily and continuously to those who need to be trained by an unbroken stream of discourse. They will give teachings on the Dharma to those whose spiritual faculties are not yet mature.
“To those who need to be trained by diverse kinds of teachings, bodhisattvas will give teachings that contain parables, doctrinal exegesis, and avadānas. To those who need to be guided by profound teachings, they will give teachings on dependent arising, teachings on the nonexistence of a sentient being, and teachings on the nonexistence of a person. To those who are mired in views, they will give teachings on emptiness. To those who engage in rumination, they will give teachings on what is groundless. To those who make aspirations, they will give teachings on what is free from longing.
“To those who put stock in the aggregates, bodhisattvas will give teachings on the illusory nature of things. To those who put stock in the elements, they will give teachings on total isolation. To those who put stock in the sense spheres, they will give the teaching that things are like a dream.
“To those who dwell in the desire realm, bodhisattvas will give the teaching that everything is on fire. To those who dwell in the form realm, they will give the teaching that all conditioned things involve suffering. To those who live in the formless realm, they will give the teaching that all conditioned things are impermanent.
“To those who need to be trained by teachings about suffering,
6.8
bodhisattvas will give teachings on the contentment of the lineage of the noble ones. To those who need to be trained by teachings about bliss, they will give teachings on the four states of meditative concentration and the four immeasurable states. To those who need to be trained by teachings about the gods, they will give teachings on experiencing nothing but bliss. To those who need to be trained by teachings on distinguishing characteristics, they will give teachings on not grasping on to things and making them ‘mine.’
“To those who need to be trained as disciples, bodhisattvas will give teachings on the instructions and appropriate practices for them. To those who need to be trained as solitary buddhas, they will give teachings on little actions and little benefits. To bodhisattvas who are conceiving the aspiration for awakening for the first time, they will give teachings on ambition and great compassion. To bodhisattvas who have been undertaking the conduct of a bodhisattva for some time, they will give teachings on not becoming wearied by the realm of rebirth. To bodhisattvas who have reached the stage of being impossible to turn back from awakening, they will give teachings on the purification of a buddha domain. To bodhisattvas who have one more life, they will give teachings on adorning the seat of awakening. To all those who have the potential to be trained by the buddhas, they will give teachings on what is fruitful and without deficiency.
“In short, Śāntamati, bodhisattvas who have purified their wisdom and their skill in means and who have gained mastery over the bases of cognition teach the Dharma that is fruitful. They satisfy all beings with their well-spoken words.”
When this teaching was given, ten thousand beings conceived the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening, and five hundred bodhisattvas attained an acceptance of the fact that things do not arise.
Chapter 16: The Prediction for Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas
At that point, some the bodhisattvas in the assembly had the thought, “When will Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, awaken to unsurpassable and perfect awakening and become a perfect buddha? What will his buddha realm be called? What will be his name when he attains awakening?
6.9
What will his assembly of bodhisattvas be like?”
Then, knowing with his mind the train of thought in the minds of those bodhisattvas at that moment, the Blessed One smiled. When blessed buddhas smile, it is the nature of things that multicolored rays of light issue from the blessed one’s mouth. So, at that moment variegated, multicolored rays of blue, yellow, red, white, rose madder, brilliant, and shiny light issued forth and spread throughout limitless worlds, reaching upward as far as the Brahmā worlds, before they came back down and, after circling the Blessed One three times, they disappeared into the top of his head.
The bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati, then asked the Blessed One about the meaning of his smile by speaking the following verses:
“Resting in equipoise, like the face of the moon,
Your beautiful light, like the purest gold,
Dispels the darkness like the sun—
For what reason, Best of Men, do you show your smile?
“You have entered with conviction the pool of calm abiding,
Wherein the water of compassion arises by the force of endeavor,
And possesses the sweet fragrance of the blossom of mindfulness—
For what reason, Sublime Lotus, do you show your smile?
“Your wisdom is a butter lamp that dispels the darkness.
Mindfulness is its fine holder; calm abiding is the ghee;
Its wick is compassion by which it removes the three stains—
For what reason, Sublime Lamp, do you show your smile?
“With compassion for the world, the light of your deep insight
Removes defects from our eyes and extinguishes our craving.
You cleanse our world and you refine our eyes—
For what reason, Sublime Sun, do you show your smile?²¹⁶
“You know the motivations of those in the world,
Together with its gods, which you illuminate.
The assembly is looking at you to say
Why you have displayed your smile.”²¹⁷
When this was said, the Blessed One spoke
6.10
to the bodhisattva of great courage, Śāntamati: “While holding up this vajra, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, will worship all the realized ones of this Fortunate Eon, Śāntamati. He will take hold of the true Dharma, he will propagate this teaching of the Dharma on the secret of the realized ones, and he will make immeasurable beings ready for awakening.
“When the Fortunate Eon has ended and the true Dharma of the realized one, Roca, has disappeared, he will be born in the buddha domain of the realized one Akṣobhya. Taking birth in that Abhiratī world along with the realized one Akṣobhya, he will then maintain the teaching of the bodhisattvas on the one hundred and eight seals, go farther down the path to the goal, and become accomplished in understanding the way things are. In that way, he will encounter immeasurable, incalculable realized ones in the future. He will serve them, respect them, honor them, worship them, and he will lead the holy life in their presence. He will safeguard the true Dharma and make immeasurable hundreds of thousands of millions and billions of beings ready for perfect awakening.
“Finally, after traveling through more eons than there are grains of sand in the Ganges River, he will bring to completion the constitutive factors of awakening and awaken to unsurpassable, perfect, and complete awakening. He will appear as a realized one, a worthy one, a perfectly awakened one, one perfected in knowledge and conduct, a sublime one, a knower of the world, an unsurpassable trainer of those ready to be trained, a teacher of gods and humans, a blessed buddha known as Vajravikrāmin in the world called Samantapariśuddhā,
6.11
and this will occur during the era called Viśodhana.
“Moreover, noble son, Samantapariśuddhā, which will be the buddha domain of the blessed realized one Vajravikrāmin, will be wealthy, expansive, bountiful,²¹⁸ pleasant, well populated with many gods and human beings, and packed with bodhisattvas. This buddha domain will be adorned with the seven precious substances: gold, silver, lapis lazuli, quartz, agate, emerald, and red pearl. The world will be separated into square plots like a chessboard. It will be as flat as the palm of one’s hand and pleasant to touch like the down of the kācalindika bird. It will be adorned with raised flags, victory banners, and parasols fringed with bunches of silken tassels. It will be covered with divine blossoms and jeweled flowers. The air will be filled with the smell of the finest incense, and the sky above it will resound with divine music. This world will be devoid of all the bad realms of rebirth and the unfavorable circumstances for practicing the Dharma. This world will be adorned with dwellings, floating palaces, and parks as though they were ornaments, and there will be food and drink to the heart’s content, just like the enjoyments of the gods in the Heaven of the Contented.
“Even though the enjoyments there in the pavilions with their high peaks will be earthly and divine enjoyments, all the gods and human beings there will have their interest piqued by what is lofty; that is, they will take a keen interest in the knowledge of the buddhas. In that world, the names of the two other vehicles—that is, the Vehicle of the Disciples and the Vehicle of the Solitary Buddhas—will not even exist. There, the realized one Vajravikrāmin will be surrounded by an assembly of many hundreds of thousands of bodhisattvas, and that blessed one will give the bodhisattvas teachings that are completely unadulterated.
“Furthermore, the beings in that world will not see their customs degenerate, their livelihoods will not become corrupted, their moral conduct will not decline, and neither will their views degenerate.
6.12
The beings there will not be blind, crippled, hunchbacked, tongue-tied, mute, or lame,²¹⁹ and neither will they have any impaired faculties. All the gods and humans will be adorned with twenty-eight of the marks of a great person. There, the length of that realized one’s life will span eight intermediate eons. The gods and humans will not die before their time is ripe. Indeed, Śāntamati, these are just some of the immeasurable number of special conditions and qualities of the realized one Vajravikrāmin; there are many others, too.
“Additionally, when that realized one teaches the Dharma, he will give off light from his body. Now, when those beings see this light, they will think, ‘The Realized One is starting to give a teaching of the Dharma, so we should go to the Blessed One to listen to the Dharma.’ Some will arrive through the power of their own superhuman abilities and supernormal faculties. Some will arrive by means of the empowering authority of that realized one, who will then rise into the sky above the gods and human beings who have gathered there to a height of one hundred thousand palm trees. While hovering there in a cross-legged position, he will pervade that world of four great continents with his body. He will then teach the Dharma to those bodhisattvas using the speech a realized one, which satisfies all beings according to their own thoughts and motivations, and with the voice and tone of a buddha, which can be understood throughout an immeasurable number of worlds in the ten directions. Moreover, not even a single being among them will go against or offer resistance to the Dharma taught by that realized one. Each and every one of those beings will have sharp faculties and the ability to understand highly condensed statements. In that world, there will be no king other than the true king of the Dharma, the realized one Vajravikrāmin. In that world, there will not be any possession
6.13
or sense of ownership, either. All those beings will be without possessions or a sense of ownership.
“Moreover, Śāntamati, the form of the realized one Vajravikrāmin will appear in front of any gods or human-like beings who wish to make an offering of alms, and he will be holding his alms bowl so that they may do so. When any gods or human-like beings see that realized one’s form, they will think, ‘The blessed realized one Vajravikrāmin wishes to enjoy a meal in my presence.’ Then, with their minds they will create a circular space with seats and places to lie down, and food and drink, and they will tell that blessed one that it is time for the midday meal. Then, that realized one will enjoy the meal, and after enjoying it, he will depart. When that realized one goes into seclusion, the bodhisattvas there will dwell in an array of states of meditative concentration. That world will possess these special conditions and qualities and an immeasurable number of others. Therefore, noble son, that world is called Samantapariśuddhā.”
Furthermore, while the description of the prediction for Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was being was being elucidated, twenty thousand beings conceived the aspiration for unsurpassable and perfect awakening. They made the vow, “I will be reborn in that buddha domain!” The Blessed One then made the prediction that all of them would be reborn there in Samantapariśuddhā, the buddha domain of the blessed realized one Vajravikrāmin.
Now, after Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, heard the prediction given for him, he was satisfied, overjoyed, pleased, and glad. He felt both delight and cheerfulness of mind, and he threw his vajra up into the vault of the sky. Right when he threw the vajra, at that precise moment,
6.14
this cosmos of a billion worlds quaked in the six ways, and it rained a shower of flowers. It resounded with the sounds of hundreds of musical instruments. Garlands of flowers of various colors spontaneously manifested in the right hands of everyone in the assembly. Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then praised the Blessed One with these verses:
“Lord of Dharma, you are an abundant and inexhaustible treasury of the true Dharma.
You are skilled in the fine analysis of things everywhere for the benefit of the world.
Your heart is unwearied toward things; your detachment and surrender are firm.
Homage to you who are fixed upon the practice of such true forms of the Dharma.
“For your knowledge and your purified conduct, O Pure Being,
Full of virtue like a king, your glory known far and wide through the three worlds,
An inexhaustible stream of knowledge, now and forever through the three times,
I offer salutations to you whose level now is equal to the surpassing of attachment.
“The total purity of your pureness surpasses the pure luster of the moon.²²⁰
The supreme splendor of your fine radiance surpasses the radiance of the sun.
The holy tones of your fine voice surpass the intonations of a brahmā.
I salute you, your radiance that of gold, foremost even among the Three Jewels.
“You display a body, but you are not at all bound to a body.
You speak with a voice, but concepts have no hold over you.
You proclaim the Dharma, but you have no fixed notion of a dharma.
You cause the liberation of beings, but you have no idea of a being.
“At no point whatsoever would it be possible to repay you,
Not even by all the beings of the world freed from the troubles of the home,
Except insofar as those beings understand what you have taught,
Dwell in the core of the practices, and are trained thereby in the truth.”
At that point, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, and all the members of the assembly who had been holding various jeweled garlands of flowers in their hands, completely covered the Blessed One with them. Right when those garlands of flowers were strewn at him, at that precise moment, this cosmos of a billion worlds became completely adorned with garlands of various flowers, and it also appeared as though it were separated into square plots like a chessboard. This was accomplished through the wondrous power of the Buddha.
6.15
Chapter 17: Articulating Nonduality
At that point, the bodhisattva Śāntamati said this to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas: “The Realized One has made a prediction for you, Lord of the Guhyakas.”
Vajrapāṇi responded, “The prediction made for me, noble son, is one that has the nature of a dream.”
“What have you been predicted to obtain?”
“The prediction I have obtained, noble son, is for what does not obtain.”
“What does not obtain?
“A being, a life force, a person, an individual entity, and a human being—these do not obtain.²²¹ The aggregates, elements, and sense spheres do not obtain. It is the same with virtue, vice, purity, impurity, the defiled, the undefiled, the mundane, the transcendent, the conditioned, the unconditioned, the afflicted, the cleansed, saṃsāra, and nirvāṇa—these do not obtain.”
“If they do not obtain, then what was predicted here?”
“What was predicted is the knowledge that comes from the understanding of what cannot be grasped by the mind.”
“And is this knowledge produced by duality?”²²²
“If it were produced by duality,” Vajrapāṇi responded, “then one could not obtain a prediction. Since knowledge is not produced by duality, the predictions bodhisattvas obtain are only nondual predictions.”
Śāntamati then asked, “If knowledge is produced by nonduality, then who gives the prediction and who receives the prediction?”
“The one who gives the prediction and the one who receives the prediction are obtained by understanding that they are same. They are conceived from the position of nonduality.”²²³
“For one who has the position of nonduality, Lord of the Guhyakas,
6.16
what prediction can there be?”
“For whichever position one has, that position being the position of nonduality, there is a prediction precisely for the one who has that position.”
“For which position is there a prediction for the one who stands thereon?”
“For one who stands on the position that there is a self, there is a prediction. For one who stands on the position that there is a being, there is a prediction, as well as for one who stands on the position that there is a life force or a person.”
“On what is one standing when one is standing on the position that there is a self?”
“When one is standing on the position that there is a self, one is standing on the position of being liberated by the realized ones.”
“What is standing on the position of being liberated by the realized ones?”
“It is standing on the position of craving, becoming, and ignorance.”
Śāntamati asked, “On what is one standing when one is standing on the position of craving, becoming, and ignorance?”
“One is standing on the position of what is perpetually not born and not produced,” said Vajrapāṇi.
“Standing on what is not born is what kind of stance?”
“It is a stance that makes something known.”²²⁴
“What is made known by making something known?
“If one is making something known, it would not be something unknown.”
“What is not made known?”
“All that is made known does not make it known.”
“If it is not made known, then how does one give an instruction?”
“If one were to give an instruction, one would not make something known. Since one does not make something known, therefore one gives an instruction.”
“How is one instructed?”
“When one does not receive information.”
“How does one not receive information?”
“When one does not chase after words.”
“How does one not chase after words?”²²⁵
“When one relies on the meaning.”
“How does one rely on the meaning?”
“When one does not see the meaning.”
“How does one not see the meaning?”
6.17
“When one is not intent on meaning or lack of meaning.”
“When one is not intent on meaning or lack of meaning, then does one lack intent?”
“When one is not intent on meaning or lack of meaning, then one is intent on the Dharma.”
“If one is intent on the Dharma, is that not simply being intent on something?”
“One who is intent on the Dharma, noble son, is not intent on anything at all, because the thing on which such a being is intent is not a thing, nor is the one who is intent upon it a thing, either.”²²⁶
“What, again, is not a thing?”
“Where not even the word thing obtains.”
“Where not even the word thing obtains, what sort of Dharma can there be?”
“It is precisely the Dharma, noble son, to which words do not speak, because, as it is said, all things are inexpressible; they cannot be given voice, they cannot be put into words. Noble son, when one speaks the words ‘I speak,’ one misspeaks, and one who misspeaks possesses neither the Dharma nor the Discipline.”
“You really should not say, Lord of the Guhyakas, that the Realized One misspeaks when he speaks the Dharma!”
“Have I not previously explained, Śāntamati, that the Realized One has not articulated or pronounced even a single syllable? What beings perceive as the Realized One speaking occurs through the force of their own vows and in accordance with their own motivations.”²²⁷
“What is the fault of one who speaks?”
“One who speaks commits a fault of verbal action.”
“What is the fault of one who makes a verbal action?”
“The fault of uttering words by thinking of syllables.”
“What, then, is faultless?”
“What is not spoken, what is not pronounced, is not made known at all, and what is not made known is faultless. What is not made known as self or other, that is faultless.”
“What is the root of fault?”
“The root of fault is grasping.”
“What is the root of grasping?”
“Its root is fixation.”
6.18
“What is the root of fixation?”
“Its root is false supposition.”
“What is the root of false supposition?”
“Its root is a view that takes something as a basis of cognition.”
“What is taken as a basis for cognition?”
“Forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tactile sensations, and mental objects are taken as the bases for cognition.”
“What is not taken as the basis for cognition?”
“The propensity for craving²²⁸ is not taken as a basis for cognition, Śāntamati, because the Dharma that is taught by the Realized One has as its aim the abandonment of craving as a basis for cognition.”
While Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was giving this teaching, the minds of five hundred monks became liberated and two hundred bodhisattvas acquired an acceptance of the fact that things do not arise.
Chapter 18: Enjoying a Meal After Going to Aḍagavatī
Now, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was satisfied, overjoyed, pleased, and glad. He felt both delight and cheerfulness of mind at having received the prediction of the fulfillment of his intention. So he said to the Blessed One, “Would you please show compassion for me, Blessed One, and come with these bodhisattvas and great disciples to the capital city of Aḍagavatī in my abode of guhyakas and stay there for seven days? The reason, Blessed One, is that there are many different types of beings, such as yakṣas, kumbhāṇḍas, rākṣasas, piśācas, gandharvas, and mahoragas, dwelling in the capital city of Aḍagavatī. Seeing the Blessed One and hearing the Dharma will be to their benefit, prosperity, bliss, and aims for a long time, and from then on they will abstain from thoughts that are sullied by wickedness and anger. For the Four Great Kings and their assemblies, too,
6.19
it will be to their benefit, prosperity, bliss, and aims for a long time.”
By remaining silent, the Blessed One gave his consent that he would go to the capital city of Aḍagavatī in the abode of the Lord of the Guhyakas, together with the bodhisattvas and great disciples, and stay there for seven days. He did so out of compassion for Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, and with the aim to cultivate further the roots of virtue of immeasurable beings and to fulfill the wishes of Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas. Knowing that the Blessed One had given his consent by remaining silent, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, was satisfied, overjoyed, pleased, and glad. He felt both delight and cheerfulness of mind. He bowed his head at the Blessed One’s feet and walked around him seven times, keeping him on the right. He then took leave of the Blessed One, and having left his presence, he went to the capital city of Aḍagavatī in his own abode.
At that point, it occurred to Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, “I ought to make my courtyard into such an array of adornments that, when I perform the worship of the Realized One, all the gods from the desire and form realms will be awestruck, and the bodhisattvas who gather from the ten directions will feel delighted, and so that the worship I perform for the Realized One will be something grand.”
Then it occurred to him, “I remember one time the Blessed One, while he was resting for the night, entered a state of meditative concentration known as the endowment of inconceivable activity. He then went in the eastern direction, going past as many buddha domains as there are grains of sand in the Ganges River, to a world named Anantaguṇaratnavyūha, the buddha domain of the blessed realized one Vyūharāja, in order to make predictions for ten thousand bodhisattvas there. In that buddha domain,
6.20
I saw an inconceivable array that surpassed the arrays made by gods and human beings. For the worship of the Blessed One, I should make my courtyard into an array just like the array in Anantaguṇaratnavyūha.”
At that very moment, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, entered into the state of meditative concentration known as the king of great arrays and just as soon as Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, had entered into the meditative concentration the king of great arrays, at that very moment the courtyard situated the middle of the capital city of Aḍagavatī appeared as an array that was exactly like the array in Anantaguṇaratnavyūha. It was grand and expansive. It spanned sixty-four leagues from east to west, and from north to south it spanned thirty-two leagues. The surface of the floor was made of the bluest lapis lazuli. The surrounding walls were made of sapphire, and the twin enclosures were set with all manner of gems, inlaid with lotuses of gold from the Jambu River. It was decorated with colorful strands, arranged with many heavenly linens, draped with many strands of pearl, and adorned with numerous garlands of silken fillets. It was covered with many garlands of flowers, perfumed by many bowls of burning incense, and many heavenly flowers of different colors and blossoms of jewels were scattered throughout it. It was colorful, beautiful to behold, gratifying to the mind, stimulating to the body, and something that brought excitement to one’s thoughts. It was truly an accumulation of endless virtues, a description in praise of which would have no measure.
In the courtyard, many hundreds of thousands of lion’s seats spontaneously appeared. They were studded with jewels, raised upon jeweled daises, arrayed with jeweled lotuses, covered with nets of pearls, divided into squares like a chessboard, arranged upon many heavenly linens, and above them were coverings of nets of jewels. They were arrayed in ways previously unseen and unheard of,
6.21
in ways that do not appear in many worlds, but the arrangement was set forth in such a way as to be appreciated by hundreds of different tastes. The hundreds of thousands of lion’s seats were set up so that they were not fixed upon the ground, and in the sky above them each and every lion’s seat was covered by a jeweled parasol endowed with the finest of all qualities.
Now, when he had created the array in the courtyard and the array of lion’s seats in that fashion, Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, mindful and alert, arose from that meditative concentration. That night, he laid out an abundant and excellent meal, arrayed with many different flavors, made pure by the motivation of a bodhisattva, and worthy of being offered in worship to the Realized One. At the end of the night, he said to the Four Great Kings, “Friends, know this! I have invited the Blessed One to stay in my abode of the guhyakas along with the bodhisattvas of great courage and the great disciples, and he has accepted out of compassion for me.²²⁹ Therefore, you and your armies and assemblies, worship and serve the Blessed One with enthusiasm for seven days and do not become distracted by any other task.” To the yakṣas, rākṣasas, pretas, piśācas, gandharvas, kumbhāṇḍas, guhyakas, mahoragas, and the other kinds of beings who were residing in the capital city of Aḍagavatī, he said, “Friends, know this! I invited the Blessed One to come to the capital city of Aḍagavatī and he has agreed to come. Therefore, do not be malicious, do not be hostile, but worship the Blessed One with a great deal of joy, faith, and the utmost delight, and listen to the Dharma, too.”
Vajrapāṇi, Lord of the Guhyakas, then spoke to his eldest son, Vajrasena: “Handsome Face, use your superhuman powers and go to the heavenly realms from the Heaven of Brahmā’s Assembly up to the Supreme Heaven and inform the gods of those realms that the Blessed One