大乘入道次第 1.16

1.16

Fifth, in clarifying its superior benefits, a verse in the Mahāsaṃnipāta-sūtra states: "If one joyfully takes pleasure in generating the bodhimind, / One can thus cut off evil states of existence. / One can open the right path for humans and devas, / And can close the eight perilous conditions and the treacherous tracks. / Having all faculties complete, neither blind nor deaf, / All this is due to generating bodhi with a sincere mind." Another verse states: "One is able to see all the World-Honoured Ones of the ten directions, / And able to hear the unexcelled flavor of amṛta. / If one can generate bodhi with a sincere mind, / One can therefore shatter doubt and arrogance, / Attain mastery with immeasurable wisdom, / And explain the dharmadhātu to sentient beings." The Avataṃsaka-sūtra states: "If anyone generates the bodhimind, then he does not sever any of the Buddha-seeds, he purifies all Buddha-lands, he accomplishes all sentient beings, he completely penetrates all Dharma-nature, and he causes all realms of sentient beings to attain peace and stability." The "Bodhisattvabhūmi" of the Yogācārabhūmi says: "The wholesome dharmas subsumed by a bodhisattva who has generated the mind have two kinds of excellence: first, the cause; second, the fruit. This means that the wholesome dharmas subsumed are all the cause capable of realizing unexcelled, perfect awakening; and the unexcelled that is subsumed is this fruit. They are already superior to those of the two vehicles, not to mention all other worldly causes and fruits." It also says: "A bodhisattva who has generated the mind has two superior benefits: first, once he has initially generated the mind, he is an object of veneration and a field of merit for sentient beings, whom all sentient beings should make offerings to, and he also acts as the father and mother of all sentient beings; second, generating the mind can immediately subsume merit free from affliction and harm. Because the bodhisattva accomplishes such merit free from affliction and harm, he receives protection that doubles the protection of a wheel-turning king. Because he receives protection from such guardians, whether sleeping, waking, or swooning, no demons, humans, non-humans, and the like can disturb or harm him. Furthermore, when this bodhisattva takes rebirth in subsequent lives, because he is held and sustained by such merit, he has little illness or no illness, and is not touched by prolonged, severe sickness. He constantly benefits sentient beings without fatigue or loss."