འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱ་རྩ་བའ་རྒྱད 381

381

Chapter 52

At that time the great being, Bodhisattva Śāntamati, who was sitting in the midst of that great gathering, got up from his seat, bowed to each of the buddhas, and stood in the middle of the assembly. Having circumambulated the blessed Śākyamuni three times clockwise, he bowed at his feet and, looking in the direction of Vajrapāṇi, the great general of the yakṣa army, said:

“You are exceedingly cruel,²⁵⁸³ Vajrapāṇi, in that you teach mantra methods that are harmful to all sentient beings, or serve to obtain sensual pleasures. It is not proper, O son of the victorious ones, for the bodhisattvas, the great beings, to act like this because bodhisattvas, great beings, are endowed with great compassion and practice bodhisattva conduct. Practicing benevolence for the sake of all beings, they do not cast off the fetters of existence.²⁵⁸⁴

“Moreover, O son of the victorious ones, the venerable tathāgatas, the fully realized buddhas, having all sentient beings in mind, do not²⁵⁸⁵ give Dharma instructions on how to harm beings.²⁵⁸⁶ Since they possess great compassion, they adopt the attitude of benevolence toward all beings.”

The great being Bodhisattva Vajrapāṇi replied to Bodhisattva Śāntamati, “Śāntamati! A bodhisattva should indeed train to be this way and should adopt such an attitude. What you now say and teach, all the buddhas and the bodhisattvas of great power teach. I will explain it, too, speaking from the perspective of the absolute truth.

“The ultimate Dharma is taught