釋迦譜 1.445

1.445

At that time, by the power of his loving-kindness, the Bodhisattva, having subdued Māra on the night of the seventh day of the second month, emitted great radiance. He then entered absorption and contemplated the true reality. Being sovereign in dhyāna-concentration among all dharmas, he knew completely all the good and evil performed in the past, births from this [life] into that, parents and relatives, poverty and wealth, high and low station, length of lifespan, and names and surnames, all with total clarity. Thereupon, he gave rise to great compassion for sentient beings and thought to himself: 'All sentient beings are without a savior; they transmigrate through the five paths without knowing the way of escape. All is illusory and false, devoid of reality, yet within it they perversely give rise to suffering and pleasure.' He engaged in such contemplation until the end of the middle of the night.

The Ruiying benqi jing says: On that day, in the first watch of the night, he attained the first vijjā. He knew his own past lives—the innumerable kalpas through which his spirit had passed, successively receiving countlessly many bodies; he recognized and knew them all. When the second watch arrived, he attained the second vijjā. He completely knew the thoughts in the minds of sentient beings, their good and evil deeds, their calamities and blessings, and the destinies to which they were bound in birth and death. When the third watch arrived, he attained the third vijjā. His contaminants were exhausted and his fetters unloosed; he knew of himself the methods of transformation through the four bases of psychic power, mindfulness, vigor, concentration of desire, concentration of thought, and concentration of precepts that he had long practiced in the past. What he wished came to pass according to his will without further need of thought. His body could fly; he could divide his single body into a hundred, a thousand, or innumerable millions, and reunite them into one; he could penetrate the earth, pass through stone walls, appear from one direction, submerge diving down and emerge looking up—just like waves on water, he could emerge from within water, tread upon water, and walk in empty space without his body sinking or falling. He could sit and lie in midair like soaring birds in flight; standing, he could reach the heavens; with his hand, he stroked the sun and moon; surging upward, he stood level up to the Brahmā realm with total mastery. His eyes could see completely; his ears could hear thoroughly; his mind foresaw all devas, humans, dragons, ghosts, spirits, and creeping and wriggling creatures—their bodily actions, speech, and mental intentions; their words and what their minds desired and thought, he saw, heard, and knew them all. Those with lust and those without lust; those with anger and those without anger; those with delusion and those without delusion; those with craving and those without craving; those with great aspirations and practices and those without great aspirations and practices; those with internal and external practices and those without internal and external practices; those mindful of good and those not mindful of good; those with one-pointed mind and those without one-pointed mind; those with minds set on liberation and those without minds set on liberation—he knew them all.

The Bodhisattva observed the five paths: heaven, humanity, hells, animals, and ghosts and spirits. The parents, brothers, wives, and children of their former lives, their internal and external surnames and names, he distinguished one by one. The events of one life, ten lives, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million, and innumerable lifetimes; up to the collapse and destruction of the world across a kalpa into empty desolation, and the beginning of a kalpa's formation when living beings and objects arise—he was able to know across ten kalpas, a hundred kalpas, and even thousands of millions of innumerable kalpas. Their internal and external surnames and names, clothing and food, suffering and pleasure, length of lifespan, dying here and being born there, and the destinies to which they successively traveled; from the very beginning, all the bodies they had experienced, their birth, growth, old age, and end, the beauty and ugliness of their physical appearance, whether wise or foolish, their suffering and joy throughout the entire triple realm, he distinguished and knew them all. He saw the spirits of human beings, each following their own actions to be born into the five paths: some falling into hell, some falling among animals, some becoming ghosts and spirits, some being born in the heavens, or some entering human forms. There were those born into noble, wealthy, and joyous households, and those born into vile, poor, and lowly households. He knew that sentient beings, deluded by the five aggregates, obscure themselves: first, material form; second, sensation; third, conception; fourth, volition; fifth, consciousness. They all habituate themselves to the five desires: the eye craves sights, the ear craves sounds, the nose craves fragrances, the tongue craves flavors, and the body craves smooth touch. Dragged along by craving and desire, confused by wealth and sensual beauty, they hope for ease and pleasure. From this arise all roots of evil; from evil comes suffering. If one can sever habitual craving, not follow a lustful mind, and undertake the practice of the Eightfold Path even to the breadth of a hair, then in the end suffering will be extinguished—just as when there is no firewood, there is also no fire. This is called the unconditioned path of crossing over the world.

The Bodhisattva knew of himself that he had already abandoned the roots of evil; free from lust, anger, and delusion, birth and death were already eliminated; the roots and seeds were entirely severed, leaving no sprouts or shoots. What was to be done had already been accomplished; his wisdom was already complete. When the morning star appeared, he had a sudden great awakening. He attained the unexcelled, correct, and true path, becoming the Most Perfectly Awakened One. He obtained the eighteen dharmas of a buddha, possessed the ten spiritual powers, and the four grounds of fearlessness.