Shikshasamuccaya 113
English (machine translation) 113
- Language
- English
113.1
Thus indeed, the bodhisattva, giving himself to be a servant, with a mind directed towards humble thoughts regarding supplicants, with a thought firmly resolved upon being a floor-covering, engaged in the reflection of bearing all suffering like the earth, committed with an untiring mind to attending upon all sentient beings, steadfast amid the misdeeds of foolish folk, of an enduring and forbearing nature, unattached, intent on the roots of wholesome virtue, unwearied in his service to all world-systems, completely relinquishing ears and nose to the supplicants who have approached, with a mind born noble in the family of the Tathāgatas acquired through bodhisattva conduct, set forth in the dwelling of mindfulness of all bodhisattvas, looking upon all the three worlds as unsubstantial […], his mental continuity not attached to his own body, dwelling in the homeless recollection of all Buddha-Dharmas, intending to extract what is essential from the unsubstantial body; thus indeed, the bodhisattva, when asked for his tongue, having seated that supplicant upon an auspicious lion-throne worthy of a king, addresses him with affectionate kindness, vast in its hospitable courtesy; seen with an unmarred mind, with an uninjured mind, with an unhurt mind, magnanimous, with a mind […] born in the lineage of the Buddhas, with a mental continuity unagitated, possessing the strength of great might, with a mind unattached to the body, with a mind whose words are free from grasping, having placed his knees on the ground, having [drawn forth] the tongue from his own mouth, having placed his entire body at the disposal of the supplicant, releasing speech that is affectionate, gentle, loving, and accompanied by kindness: ‘Take my tongue and do with it whatever you wish. Act so that you become pleased, glad-minded, inwardly overjoyed, delighted, and full of joy and gladness.’ Thus, relinquishing his head, entering supreme gnosis, the head at the summit of all dharmas, the head of protecting all sentient beings, awakening […]
113.2
attaining, desiring the peerless gnosis, the paramount head of the entire world, aspiring to attain the king of gnosis, the head of all directions, wishing to bring to completion the supreme headship over the mastery of all dharmas, with a thought pervaded by delighting boundless supplicants. Thus indeed, the bodhisattva, relinquishing his hands and feet to supplicants, through conduct beneficial with the applied hand of faith, with hands outstretched in the lion-like valorous giving of a bodhisattva, by relinquishing his hands and feet with delight in complete renunciation, through the movement of the soles of his feet in great stability, through resolve upon the bodhisattva conduct, through being unharmed by painful sensations, through the power of serene trust in generosity, endowed with the vow of the immaculate arousal of the mind, with an unsevered, unbroken, and unimpaired perception of the body whose Dharma-body consists of gnosis free from active afflictions, with a mind that is not base, with a thought strengthened and sustained by virtuous friends opposed to all works of Māra, whose sole departure is the relinquishment praised by all bodhisattvas. Thus indeed, the bodhisattva, offering his own body and giving blood to supplicants, with an overjoyed awakening mind, with a mind desiring the bodhisattva conduct, with a mind whose feelings are unfathomable, with a mind sought by all supplicants, with a mind free of hatred toward all recipients, entered upon the practice of relinquishment of all bodhisattvas, with an irreversible calm of delight, with a mind having no regard for his own body, giving blood from his own body, his thought set forth on the Mahāyāna, the sphere of gnosis, his mind undefeated in the Mahāyāna, joyful in mind, content in mind, glad in mind, joyful-hearted, loving in mind, happy in mind, serene in mind, overjoyed with rising delight and gladness, relinquishing marrow and flesh from his own body to supplicants, addressing those supplicants with noble relinquishment and with words desired by the supplicants:
113.3
‘May you gentlemen take marrow and flesh from my body as you desire, through a mind of relinquishment that increases equal delight, with a great root of wholesome virtue cultivated by the host of wise bodhisattvas, purified of the stains of the world, with a preeminent resolute intention, with undertakings of great generosity acquired through equality with all bodhisattvas, with material gifts desired in the minds of all supplicants without regret, without expectation regarding the condition of the ripening of actions, facing all world-systems without turning away, through worship in the adorned arrangements of all buddha-fields, facing the entire world with compassionate protection, facing the awakening of all Buddhas, through the practice of the Ten Powers […], facing all bodhisattvas of the past, future, and present through attendance upon a single root of wholesome virtue, roaring the bull-like lion’s roar facing all forms of fearlessness, with the gnosis of equality across all three times facing the three times, facing […] worlds through the bodhisattva’s aspiration with the resolve of eons reaching the furthest limit, with an untiring arousal of the mind facing fearlessness, the bodhisattva, relinquishing his own heart to supplicants, his mind trained under the power of generosity, his mind bringing about the perfections, his mind well-established and unshakeable in the generosity of all bodhisattvas, his mind honoring all supplicants through his firm resolve, purifying his resolute intention.
113.4
Undertaking the great vow that is the cause of maturing all sentient beings, dwelling in the bodhisattva's conduct, gathering the accumulation for omniscience, not abandoning his aspiration, when relinquishing his liver, kidneys, and lungs to suitors here, looking with a gaze that is serene toward the suitors, with eyes displaying serene delight, with affection dedicated to the bodhisattva [path], with uninterrupted mental application, with generosity, with a mind well-observant of extracting the essence from an unessential body, with the mental application of mindfulness of the body that ends in the cremation ground, observing the body as food for wolves, jackals, and dogs, by means of devotion to others mentally produced, through the impermanence of the body, with a discarded body, with the intention of making food for others—engaged in such mental application to the Dharma, gazing unblinkingly at those suitors, the bodhisattva produces this thought: 'Whether I give this suitor the intestines, liver, kidneys, and lungs from this body or do not give them, at the end of the exhaustion of life it is not eternal; its culmination is the cremation ground.' With his mental continuum thus gladdened by such mental application, with such knowledge of the Dharma, with a disposition established in the perception of [them as] virtuous friends upon seeing the suitors, desiring to extract the essence from an unessential body, out of love for the Dharma, when relinquishing the flesh of his nails, he dedicates that root of wholesome virtue. Having thus made the renunciation of his embodiment;
Linked texts (1)
- Śikṣāsamuccaya — Śāntideva, Sanskrit