菩薩從兜術天降神母胎說廣普經 6

English (machine translation) 6

Language: English

6.1

Translated by the Śramaṇa Zhu Fonian of Liangzhou under the Yao Qin

At that time, in the assembly there was a bodhisattva named Wisdom-Purified, who distinguished emptiness, unbornness, old age, sickness, and death, those with much lust, anger, and delusion, and those with little lust, anger, and delusion. Distinguishing the three grades of sentient beings, [he considered] among the equal divisions, which affliction is the heaviest? That which is called the heaviest is wrong view. Wisdom-Purified Bodhisattva then arose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt with his right knee on the ground, knelt upright with palms joined, and said to the Buddha: "The Tathāgata, the Unattached One, the Fully and Completely Awakened One, knows all and sees all: past, future, and the present; all manner of crawling, breathing beings and humanity; the mental dharmas conceived by their minds, the words spoken by their mouths, the good and evil actions performed by their bodies; the profound prohibitive rules, the deportment and precepts, knowing what is much and what is little, what is heavy and what is light. Now what I ask is neither empty nor non-empty, neither existent nor non-existent, neither existent-empty nor existent-existent: among the three categories of sentient beings, which are light and which are heavy? Which have retribution in the present life, which in the next birth, and which in subsequent rebirths? What is the cessation of perception and sensation? What is nirvāṇa? What is [nirvāṇa] without remainder?"

6.4

The Buddha told Wisdom-Purified Bodhisattva: "Excellent, excellent! Well asked is this question! Compassionately benefiting all beings in many ways, you are able to inquire about the Dharma of equality before the Buddha. Return to your seat; I shall explain the meaning of the phrases for you, in chapters of beginning, middle, and end, how black karma receives black retribution and white karma receives white retribution, distinguishing each and every one to let you know."

6.5

Then the Bhagavat spoke a verse, saying:

6.6

"Just as when a person plants a fruit tree, / If the seed is bitter, the fruit is also bitter; / Committing misdeeds brings dark retribution, / Enduring suffering for counts of kalpas. / Planting what is sweet yields sweet fruit, / And in return one receives sweet fruit retribution; / Fragrant, pure, extremely sweet and delicious, / One receives pure and white retribution. / Just as when a person is in a pool of water, / It is clear and transparent inside and out; / Free of wind, dust, and defilement, / Fragrant and sweet, one attains refreshing coolness. / Any sentient being who beholds it / Rejoices and cannot bear to leave; / The pure practice of the Buddha path / Is no different from that. / Sentient beings of dark retribution / Fall into the hardships of the three destinies; / Going up and down with the swift current, / Drifting through places of distress and calamity. / The torment and suffering at that time / Is borne alone, with no one to take one's place; / Cracking bones and penetrating marrow and brain, / The boiling and cooking are beyond measure. / Having already reached the Hell of No Rescue, / The mind awakens and seeks liberation; / Yet obscured by ignorance, / One does not see the light of wisdom. / Just as when a traveler loses the way, / Mistaking the south for the north; / All day long his mind is unawakened, / And though he hears, he does not believe. / Bearing severe pain and distress from sins, / Virulent pain afflicts his body; / Long afterward, though the sin has ended, / He is loathed and despised by the people of the world. / His physical body is foul-smelling and ugly, / Like a pig wallowing in a deep cesspool; / Tossing and turning, he enters the boiling caldrons, / Dying and then being reborn again; / Originally created by foolish ignorance, / The retributions received follow like an echo and a shadow. / Good and evil are both equal, / Equally distributed according to the nature of sentient beings; / Impartial and without partisanship, / Yet practices indeed have high and low. / Keeping precepts leads to birth among devas and humans, / But without giving, merit is most meager; / Fearing to be seen when taking food by the handful, / Ashamed, they do not expose themselves. / Though they have a host of heavenly maidens, / Their music is not harmonious or refined; / From time to time they go out to stroll and sightsee, / Fearing to encounter wondrous devas. / If precepts and giving are both complete, / Amṛta, clothing, and food arrive; / Surrounded before and behind by music and performers, / Like the moon shining among the stars, / Only occasionally going out to stroll and sightsee, / Their retinue is naturally majestic, / And heavenly music spontaneously plays. / This arises from the human realm, / Where precepts and giving were both complete; / Retributions of merit follow like shadows. / Though devas enjoy blessings, / They also have the hardships of kalpa numbers; / When their lives are about to end, / Only then do they realize the phenomenon of decline and decay. / Good thoughts gradually grow faint, / And they must take birth once again; / Revolving within the five destinies, / Passing through countless kalpas. / When the retributions of good and evil are faced, / They do not spare the noble, honorable, or lowly; / The one among them who could pull himself out alone / Is like me, Śākyamuni."

6.7

At that time, when the Bhagavat had finished speaking these verses, among the great assembly, seventy-seven thousand kotis of nayutas of devas and humans all resolved their minds upon the unsurpassable, true, and correct path. At that time, the Bhagavat said to Wisdom Purity Bodhisattva: "A great bodhisattva mahāsattva bound to one last birth, born through skillful means in a lowly household, wishing to demonstrate the eradication of the fetters of ignorance, remained in the womb for ten months; when the day of birth came, he appeared without hands or feet. Seeing him, the parents thought he was a ghost and abandoned him in the wilderness, allowing no one to see him. Why? The bodhisattva used skillful manifestation wishing to let his foolish parents and kin behold the light of the path. Several months later, the mother again became pregnant. After a full ten months, she gave birth to a boy, handsome and extraordinarily graceful, rare in the world; yet he was born by day and died at night. The parents wailed, beat their breasts, and faced heaven: 'Mountain gods, tree gods, why do you have no pity on us? First we gave birth to a son without hands and feet, whom we cast away in the wilderness. Now we have given birth to a son peerlessly handsome, like a heavenly spirit, yet now he was born by day and died at night! Our hearts and livers are broken—what can we do now?' After several more months passed, the mother conceived again. After a full ten months, she gave birth to a boy with three heads, eight feet, four eyes, and eight arms. Those who saw him had their hair stand on end. The parents and kin abandoned him and wanted to leave; the bodhisattva manifested his skillful powers so that they could not leave. The parents asked: 'Are you a deva? Or are you a nāga, ghost or spirit, asura, gandharva, garuḍa, kiṃnara, mahoraga, human, or non-human?'" At that time, the newborn boy replied to his parents in verse, saying:

6.8

"‘I am neither a deva, yakṣa, ghost, / Asura, nor garuḍa; / To eliminate ignorance and darkness for my mother, / I was born through skillful means in my parents' home. / The former child without hands or feet / Was also my body; / The one born in the morning and dead by evening / Was the unsurpassable honored one of the eighth stage. / Now I have received this physical form / With three heads and eight hands and feet; / Why do you abandon me and leave, / Heading directly toward the gates of hell? / Hell is replete with all sufferings, / With eighteen boiling caldrons; / Each and every boiling caldron / Is enclosed by sixteen compartments; / Enduring suffering for immeasurable kalpas, / Seeking escape is extremely difficult. / Parents are foolish and deluded people, / Not recognizing the true nature of phenomena; / Holding wrong views, you pray at spirit shrines, / Thinking you will thereby escape suffering and calamity; / Just like when a fire blazes fiercely, / Adding dry firewood and grass / Burns away the roots of goodness; / Seeking to extinguish it is also exceedingly difficult. / Now I restore my body, / Manifesting my original, handsome form; / With a firm mind in the root of the path, / I cultivate the three penetrating knowledges; / From asaṃkhyeya kalpas past, / I vowed to ferry across those who have not crossed over. / Guarding precepts without losing my vows, / I have taken birth in parents' homes, / Relinquishing body and life throughout past and present, / In numbers like fine dust motes. / Wherever I have passed through, / None have not received blessing and protection; / The various kinds of beings / Each have different traces of conduct. / Some should be delivered with joy, / Others transformed through dread and fear; / In accordance with the thoughts of those sentient beings, / I cause what their hearts desire to be fulfilled. / The illnesses of sentient beings are not of a single kind; / I administer to them the medicine of amṛta; / Directing them to enter the discipline of the path, / I do not allow them to enter deviant tracks. / Devas receive the joy of blessings; / Amṛta brings the joy of eliminating illness; / Not violating the sacred teachings brings joy; / Liberation brings the joy of nirvāṇa.’"

6.9

"At that time, when the bodhisattva spoke these verses, the parents, the clan, and all who had assembled resolved their minds upon the unsurpassable, equal deliverance."

6.10

Bodhisattva Garbhastha Sūtra, Chapter 21: Ascetic Practices

6.11

At that time, among the assembled bodhisattvas, devas, nāgas, ghosts and spirits, asuras, gandharvas, garuḍas, mahoragas, kiṃnaras, humans, non-humans, those in training, those beyond training, and the fourfold assembly—bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās—the Tathāgata observed and knew what was in the minds of all sentient beings: "They wish for the Tathāgata to explain the ultimate accomplishment of immeasurable ascetic practices, and with what initial resolution he attained the Buddha path." Knowing their minds, the Buddha immediately expounded his original, diligent ascetic practices. The Buddha told the gathered bodhisattva mahāsattvas: "Listen to the true characteristic of phenomena that I preach. The path is neither attained by means of mundane conventions, nor is it attained apart from mundane conventions; it does not come from the true path, nor is it apart from the true path. Why? The white is wondrous within the dark, the path is wondrous within the mundane, and the sweet surpasses the bitter and pleasant. Why is this? Formerly, when I studied the path, with direct faith and without doubt, I became the King of the Sun and Moon. The sun palace was fifty-one yojanas in length and breadth; the moon palace was forty-nine yojanas in length and breadth. The sun emitted one hundred and ten million rays of light, and the moon emitted one hundred million rays of light. When I was the Sun and Moon Deva King, I thought it was permanent, imperishable, and indestructible; passing through lands as numerous as the sands of billions of Ganges rivers, I acted as the Sun Deva King and acted as the Moon Deva King, yet when my life ended, only then did I realize it was not real, not true. Later, as my lifespan progressively decreased, I became the chief minister of the sun and moon named Vogara, whose palace was twenty-five yojanas in length and breadth. Next, I again became Bṛhaspati, whose palace was twenty yojanas in length and breadth. Next, I again became Aṅgāraka, whose palace was nineteen yojanas in length and breadth. Next, I again became Śukra, whose palace was nineteen yojanas in length and breadth. Next, I again became Śani, whose palace was fifteen yojanas in length and breadth. These five ministers attended the left and right of the sun and moon. For countless hundreds of thousands of kalpas, I was these five planets; when my lifespan ended, I fell, and as this was also not real, my lifespan progressively decreased.

6.12

"I was once the Kṛttikā nakṣatra, with six companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Rohiṇī nakṣatra, with five associates, having a measure of forty-five degrees. I was once the Mṛgaśīrṣa nakṣatra, with three associates, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Ārdrā nakṣatra, alone by myself, having a measure of fifteen degrees. I was once the Punarvasu nakṣatra, with two associates, having a measure of forty-five degrees. I was once the Puṣya nakṣatra, with three associates, having a measure of forty degrees. I was once the Āśleṣā nakṣatra, with four associates, having a measure of fifteen degrees. Bodhisattvas, you should know that these seven nakṣatras stand in the east. I was once the Maghā nakṣatra, with five associates, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Pūrvaphālgunī nakṣatra, with two companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Uttaraphālgunī nakṣatra, with two companions, having a measure of thirty-five degrees. I was once the Hasta nakṣatra, with five companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Citrā nakṣatra, alone by myself, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Svātī nakṣatra, also alone by myself, having a measure of fifteen degrees. I was once the Viśākhā nakṣatra, with two companions, having a measure of thirty-five degrees. Bodhisattvas, you should know that these seven nakṣatras stand in the south. I was once the Anurādhā nakṣatra, with four companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Jyeṣṭhā nakṣatra, with three companions, having a measure of fifteen degrees. I was once the Mūla nakṣatra, with three companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Pūrvāṣāḍhā nakṣatra, with four companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Uttarāṣāḍhā nakṣatra, with four companions, having a measure of thirty-five degrees. I was once the Abhijit nakṣatra, with three companions, having a measure of sixteen degrees. I was once the Śravaṇā nakṣatra, with three companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. Bodhisattvas, you should know that these seven nakṣatras stand in the west. I was once the Śatabhiṣaj nakṣatra, with four companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Pūrvabhādrapadā nakṣatra, alone by myself, having a measure of fifteen degrees. I was once the Uttarabhādrapadā nakṣatra, with two associates, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Revatī nakṣatra, with two companions, having a measure of thirty-five degrees. I was once the Aśvinī nakṣatra, with two companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Bharaṇī nakṣatra, with two companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. I was once the Kṛttikā-associated nakṣatra, with three companions, having a measure of thirty degrees. Bodhisattvas, you should know that these seven nakṣatras stand in the north."

6.13

"Throughout countless asaṃkhyeya kalpas, I was at times a king of the sun and moon, and at times a ministering counselor. Circling around in transmigration, my corporeal frame decayed and perished, without the real path. Later, arriving in the human realm, I was at times a wheel-turning sage king, or a minor regional king, or an elder or householder, seeking the pure path and presuming it to be the truth; yet these were all vain practices that did not accord with the real path. In the past, once entering the mountains to seek the path, I saw five thousand ascetics pursuing their studies, all gathered together in one place. Some balanced on one leg with palms joined, turning their bodies along with the sun. Some worshipped the moon with palms joined, turning their bodies along with the moon. Some lay upon thorns or consumed sand and stones. Some maintained the precepts of owls, oxen, horses, or deer. Some hurled themselves from mountaintops into deep chasms. Some clasped rocks and sank themselves into deep waters. Some scorched themselves with five fires, seeking birth in the Brahmā Heaven. Some dismembered their limbs to seek where the spirit resided. Some uncovered the crowns of their heads to light lamps with their brains to make offerings to the gods. Some cast their bodies into boiling oil and butter. Some slaughtered immeasurable sentient beings on the right bank of a river, while on the left bank burning incense so that the deceased beings might all attain rebirth in heaven. Some thought to themselves, 'While I am still alive, let me first deliver my parents,' whereupon they threw their parents into fire, chanting that they be born in the Brahmā Heaven. Some ate cow dung or wild fruits; some ate once every seven days; and some at times did not eat at all, their corporeal frames dried and shriveled. Some wove tree leaves into clothing; some strung together human skulls for clothing, or used skulls as eating vessels. Some swallowed sharp needles, or pierced their hearts to hold the mind and make it abide. Some assembled in one place, cutting open one another's bellies to wash the intestines and remove impurities, chanting that they be born in the Brahmā Heaven. In the past, my austerities were beyond count. Practicing the path for six years beneath the king of trees, I ate a single hemp seed and a single grain of rice each day. Blue doves and flying sparrows nested upon the crown of my head; vipers and serpents wound about my body; cowherds and hunters pelted me with tiles and stones; at times they struck and pierced me, harming my physical body; and at times they prodded my abdomen, even to the navel, with a staff. Suffering these hundreds, thousands, and ten thousands of agonies, I did not consider them suffering. Why is that? Because at that time I presumed this was the path, yet it was truly not the real path.

6.14

"Then in the open sky there was a deva who joined his palms and said to the Bodhisattva: 'The power of patience is supreme; it shatters the defilements. Now that you are on the verge of attaining Buddhahood, take care not to turn back!' The past Buddhas and Bhagavats, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, were not like the Bodhisattva in fasting to seek the path. Moved by the celestial spirit, the daughter of the Sujātā family was made to offer milk rice, after eating which his energy and strength were fully restored. For seven days he contemplated and subdued Māra's hordes. When Brahmā descended to make his entreaty, he attained Buddhahood and broadly propagated the great Dharma. This may be called the real path, than which nothing surpasses nirvāṇa. Nirvāṇa is free of birth, aging, illness, and death. Such were the austerities that I experienced in the past."

6.15

At that time, the bodhisattvas gathered in the assembly exclaimed that it was unprecedented, and they all generated the mind directed toward the unsurpassed, equal path.

6.16

Bodhisattva Garbhastha Sūtra: Chapter Twenty-Two: The Harmony of the Four Paths

6.17

At that time, there was a bodhisattva in the assembly named Samantaprabha, whose spiritual wisdom was thoroughly penetrating, who abided in non-retrogression, and whose mind of vast vows could not be undermined. Praised by the Buddhas—not just one or two, but up to Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges—his merits were immeasurable; his accumulated practices were fearless; and he constantly roamed through immeasurable Buddha worlds. He had eight fellow practitioners: the first was named Bodhisattva Samyagdṛṣṭi, the second Bodhisattva Rjumati, the third Bodhisattva Bahulakṣaṇa, the fourth Bodhisattva Saṃkocavikoca, the fifth Bodhisattva Vimukta, the sixth Bodhisattva Bandhavimukta, the seventh Bodhisattva Samanujña, and the eighth Bodhisattva Labdhapraṇidhāna. For countless kalpas they had already abided on the final ground and attained non-retrogression. At that time, Bodhisattva Samantaprabha said to the Buddha: "How do bodhisattva-mahāsattvas enter the four paths without precedence and succeed in attaining the path of unsurpassed, equal, and perfect awakening? Here, a bodhisattva contemplates day and night, seeing desires as like fire; thoughts, perceptions, and conceptualizations are exhausted, as are the dharmas of inverted practice. Seeing the dharma of the first benefit, he is conferred the state of an anāgāmin, directly in that heavenly palace obtaining the clear realization of the path. Thus, before long, at times a bodhisattva, while on the ground of the higher divisions, looks down upon the desire realm as like a mass of foam, severs the three fetters, distances himself from the three evil destinies, and is without being in the midst of being. Or there is a bodhisattva who has attained the faculties and powers, is established in sovereign resolve, shatters being, extinguishes non-being, is without the four immeasurables, equates self and other, is without perception of a self, is neither past, future, nor present, and is also not equally and perfectly awakened. How do these sentient beings differ with respect to the unsurpassed path?"

6.18

The Buddha said: "Excellent is this question! I shall distinguish it in detail for you. What is the bodhisattva's cause-and-condition of cause-and-condition? Why is it called the cause-and-condition of cause-and-condition? It is like the bracelets on two arms striking against each other; hence it is called the cause-and-condition of cause-and-condition. To receive and accept transformation by following the voice of another's teaching—this is called a śrāvaka. Having neither teacher nor [acquired] wisdom, not depending on this or that—hence one is called an awakened Buddha. Furthermore, bodhisattva-mahāsattvas confer predictions upon one another regarding this path and that path; abiding in realization and non-realization, they circulate through the five destinies—this is called awakening. Yet they also do not see awakening, nor do they see non-awakening; being neither one nor two, this is the entrance into non-duality. Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, whose past habitual practices are exhausted and who fully understand the pratyekabuddha [path], with their defilements forever exhausted with remainder and without remainder—this is the entrance into non-duality. Regarding sentient beings with equanimity, fully understanding impermanence, that the body is not my possession, and that inside and outside are completely empty—this is the entrance into non-duality. The Buddha's grace spreads far and wide, immeasurably and boundlessly; by means of the path of suffering and accumulation, one attains the unconditioned—this is the entrance into non-duality. Great benevolence and the four immeasurables cover all beings, enabling deluded and confused sentient beings to arrive at the truth—this is the entrance into non-duality."

6.19

At that time, the Bhagavat spoke verses, saying:

6.20

"Śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas / Are nominal designations, sounds and names; / Like that great master of battle, / One is supreme only when conquering the enemy. / The Buddha has no equal, / Walking alone as the Venerable of the three realms; / Taming the mind to subdue Māra's hosts, / Through the power of patience reaching nirvāṇa. / Revolving in the suffering of birth and death, / Life is like a spark struck from a flint; / Passing through hundreds of millions, / Seeking release without end. / The Buddha originally had no title or name; / He accords with what people revere. / Arhats and pratyekabuddhas / Are fundamentally one, without duality. / Just as that Dīpaṅkara Buddha / Conferred upon me the unsurpassed prediction: / After ninety-one [kalpas], / In this Bhadrakalpa, / The fourth, most supreme Venerable, / Will be named Śākyamuni. / In a world boiling over with the five turbidities, / People are unfilial to parents, / Murder arhats, / And do not uphold the teachings of the two honored ones. / The places through which I have passed / Were not just one or two paths; / Amid the afflictions of the six destinies, / I passed through numbers beyond count. / Not sleeping in the initial, middle, or final [watches], / I walked in meditation and cultivated the virtuous path; / With a reverent mind awakened to self-realization, / I departed from attachment to the three realms of existence. / The vows practiced by past Buddhas / I did not abandon to take parinirvāṇa; / A single body and a single consciousness-spirit / Are no different from oneself. / Through several kalpas of toil and suffering, / The mind and spirit rotted and decayed; / Because it was for others and not for oneself, / One succeeded in attaining the Buddha path. / I am the omniscient one, / Universally teaching those who are untaught; / With penetrating wisdom unattached to anything, / A single sound dispels perplexity. / In three lives a srotāpanna / Can attain the unconditioned path; / How much more so the foremost one / Will attain Buddhahood without any doubt. / All my disciples now, / Both trainees and non-trainees, / Through the four immeasurables rescue from suffering; / There is no arising, nor is there birth and death. / Fundamentally arising from conceptual thought, / It also ceases through conceptual thought; / Not born from my conceptual thought, / Nor ceasing from my conceptual thought. / Practice originally has its own roots, / Rushing along in more than one direction; / When the roots are severed, there is no conceptual thought, / Nor is there any further root-thought."

6.21

When the Bhagavat spoke these verses, twelve nayutas of sentient beings all generated the mind directed toward the unsurpassed, equal path.

6.22

Bodhisattva Garbhastha Sūtra: Chapter Twenty-Three: Mind

6.23

At that time, there was a bodhisattva in the assembly named Mūlapadma, whose generous giving was unimpeded and whose practice of the four immeasurable minds was steadfast and hard to undermine. In advancing, stopping, walking, and coming, he never lost his deportment and propriety. For countless kalpas he had constantly cultivated pure conduct and his dhyāna meditation was undistracted. Distinguishing good and evil, he observed sentient beings, fully knowing whether their minds had lust, anger, and delusion or lacked lust, anger, and delusion, whether in great measure or small. He roamed through Buddha lands, making offerings to and serving Buddhas and Bhagavats. Through skillful means he manifested impermanence, non-self, the absence of a body, the absence of life, and the absence of a person; knowing when to act when action was appropriate, and knowing when to abide when abiding was appropriate, he took pity on all beings. At that time, Bodhisattva Mūlapadma rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt with his right knee on the ground, joined his palms, and said to the Buddha: "Excellent, Bhagavat! Where does the mind reside when tending toward the four paths? Is there mind, or is there no mind? Is the mind a fruit, or is it not a fruit? Is the mind resistant or non-resistant? Is the mind visible or invisible? Is the mind past, future, or present, or is it not past, future, or present? Is the mind a dharma of the ṛṣis, or is it not a dharma of the ṛṣis? Is the mind a conditioned dharma, or is it an unconditioned dharma? Is the mind a contaminated dharma or an uncontaminated dharma? In the retribution of the three dharmas, where does the mind reside? Does the mind reside in black-black retribution? Does the mind reside in white-white retribution? Does the mind reside in neither-black-nor-white, neither-white-nor-black retribution? Does the mind reside in the dharmas of non-coarse practice or in the dharmas of fine practice?"

6.24

At that time, the Bhagavat told Bodhisattva Mūlapadma: "Excellent, excellent, Bodhisattva Mūlapadma! The meaning that you inquire about takes pity on all beings, uncovering and transforming the dharmas of mind, thought, and consciousness for sentient beings, and manifesting light for those who are in blindness and darkness. Now listen closely, listen closely, and reflect upon it well!"

6.25

At that time, the Bhagavat spoke verses, saying:

6.26

“The Supreme Victor is peerless,
Pure and without blemish or stain;
His eyes are clear as the lotus flower,
Unsoiled by dust and defilement.
Abiding in the conditioned phenomena of the world,
Beings fall into the distress of the three realms of existence;
‘Self’ is empty and ‘other’ is likewise absent,
The mind is tranquil, devoid of mental consciousness.
Just as water takes the shape of its vessel,
Conforming to the form of that which precedes it,
The past is not inherently existent;
In the present, with wholesome and unwholesome deeds,
Phenomena are destined for destruction in the future—
This mind is not an inherently abiding mind.
The bodhisattva practices great compassion,
And likewise manifests encounter and non-encounter;
Washing away the sickness of defilement and stain,
He securely abides on the ultimate path.
Humans are obscured by five coverings,
Causing obstruction to their minds;
Just as when the sun shines over the world,
There are constantly five things that obscure it.
Asuras, smoke, fog, and dust
Block the faculties and the gateway of phenomena;
The mind is inherently neither good nor bad,
Being shaped according to the deeds performed.
Quenched, empty, and without phenomena,
It is like a branch broken by an excess of fruit;
Just as with the plantain tree,
Leaf after leaf is empty and devoid of reality.
The four great elements compose the human body;
Seeking the mind, no faculty of mind is found.
The mind is said to be in the past, future, or present,
Yet in past, future, and present, there is no mind;
Analyzing the phenomena of the conscious mind,
Seeking reality, nothing at all exists.
The phenomenon of mind has no form or appearance;
It cannot be said: ‘This is the mind.’
The mind thinks of manifold matters,
Arising and ceasing without interruption;
Thinking back upon wholesome and unwholesome matters,
In the future one will surely receive retribution.
In the present, actions reach completion;
They are created by the mind, not made by another.
In a single instant of thought, with ninety billion [moments],
There are wholesome and unwholesome actions;
What is created in a single thought
Cannot be eliminated to the end;
How much more so for the wholesome and unwholesome actions
Created over months, days, and kalpas!
The wise protect their bodies,
Firm and unwavering;
Like that convicted criminal
Carrying a full bowl of oil:
If he spills a single drop of oil,
His crime will lead straight to execution;
To his left and right various entertainers perform,
Yet in fear of death he looks neither way.
The bodhisattva cultivates pure contemplation,
Holding his intent firm as a vajra;
Against praise, blame, and vexation,
His mind remains unwavering.
Understanding emptiness, he fundamentally seeks purity,
Without self, other, or the interval between;
Through the phenomena of tathatā and the four truths,
He advances toward the gate of nirvāṇa.
The actions fundamentally performed by oneself
Bind the very root of the body;
Not even a master calculator and his disciples
Could ever measure them.
For countless hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas,
With the body one pays back the retribution for sin;
Taking the forms of elephants, horses, and the six kinds of livestock,
Humans alone are excluded from this sequence.
Even when attaining a human body,
One may be deaf, blind, mute, or hunched;
When a Buddha appears to illuminate the world,
In the borderlands one does not see the Buddha.
Afflictions boil like five cauldrons;
In pure evil, one never hears of goodness;
Perverted and heterodox teachings flourish,
While the true nature and the middle way decline.
For countless kalpas,
I maintained my practice like the bowl of oil;
Loving my body, I protected myself,
Leading it to the place of fearlessness.
When the ninety-six varieties of heterodox teachings arose,
They were like seeing fireflies in the night;
When the Buddha-sun illuminates the world,
It dispels all darkness and gloom.
A Buddha appearing in the world is joy for humanity;
A physician appearing is joy for the sick;
Treasure appearing is joy for the poor;
Attaining Buddhahood is the joy of nirvāṇa;
Austere practice and patient endurance are joy;
My non-attachment to form is joy;
Giving in the face of stinginess and greed is joy;
Upholding precepts without infraction is joy;
Receiving the holy teachings face-to-face is joy;
Contemplation in dhyāna-concentration is joy;
The equality of existence and non-existence is joy;
Encountering what is difficult to meet is joy.
The hells and the eight difficulties are suffering;
Being without salvation is the foremost suffering;
A seed rotting away is suffering;
A sprout failing to mature is suffering;
Being born in heaven and then falling into sin is suffering;
Right view turning into perversion is suffering;
Nanda and Upananda
Coiling around Mount Sumeru is suffering;
The blazing fire at the destruction of a kalpa is suffering;
Regret in the heart while seeking the Buddha is suffering.
With one practice heading toward one path,
With single-mindedness the intention does not waver;
With one body cultivating the virtue of the Way,
In the end one becomes a single jewel.
Cultivating the One, never departing from the One;
Upright and solemn, one discerns the One;
Guarding the One, never departing from the One—
Therefore it is named the ‘Solitary Single Step.’”

6.27

When the Bhagavat spoke these verses, sixteen nayutas of sentient beings first entered upon the tracks of the Path, removed dust and defilement, attained the purity of the Dharma eye, and, through non-attachment, entered the samādhi of emptiness.

6.28

Bodhisattva Garbhastha Sūtra, Chapter 24: Focused Intent

6.29

At that time, in the assembly there was a bodhisattva named Upholder of Emptiness (持空), endowed with the major and minor marks, who had entered the four Dharma gates. Foremost in eloquence, he cultivated and maintained Buddha fields. In each and every Buddha field, he left behind his body to teach and transform beings, manifesting birth and manifesting extinction according to the capacities of beings. The sounds of his speech held both sweetness and bitterness; speaking of the past, he knew the future, and understood the present with clarity. When asked one thing by another, he responded with ten thousand billion, with meanings so profound they were difficult to fathom. At that time, Bodhisattva Upholder of Emptiness rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt with his right knee on the ground, and said to the Buddha: “How do bodhisattvas deliver suffering sentient beings?”

6.30

The Buddha said to Bodhisattva Upholder of Emptiness: “They are able to cause sentient beings to hear the sounds of suffering. The ascetic bodhisattva severs suffering and extinguishes suffering, yet does not perceive the root of suffering. On the single path he traces suffering, seeing that it arises from affection and love; the knots of affection and love bind fast the human heart. Treating them with medicine through the twenty-eight practices, without any source, the root of suffering is extinguished over accumulated practices and successive kalpas, only to arise again. Sentient beings of wrong views declare this to be the true Way. Entering progressively into the pure samādhi of focused intent, pure and unblemished, free from ‘that’ and ‘this’, the conscious mind is awakened and temporarily attains focused intent, thinking: ‘Excellent is my gain! No peace or joy surpasses this!’ The knots of the conscious mind are gradually untied at that time, and they think this is the true Way; yet this is not genuine reality. Why is that? False and deceptive teachings are not the original practice of the Buddhas. What was practiced by the Buddhas of old was genuine reality; the genuine reality of the Dharma practiced neither by myself nor by past Buddhas consists in four inconceivable things. What are the four? Bodhisattva Upholder of Intent is able to cause the Buddha fields of a trichiliocosm to become completely made of the seven treasures, and then return again as before; this is the first inconceivable thing. Just as I today dwell in my mother’s womb, reaching and gathering immeasurable asaṃkhyeya sentient beings, delivering those not yet delivered, causing those who have not arrived to arrive, and purifying defilements to reach stainlessness; this is the second inconceivable thing. My original vow was to ensure the delivery of suffering beings to the place devoid of suffering, such that if a single suffering being is not delivered, I would never attain nirvāṇa; this is the third inconceivable thing. The Buddha’s body is immeasurable, not to be contained by the eastern, western, southern, or northern directions; solitary and without companion, its self-nature is the emptiness of phenomena. He contemplates and differentiates sentient beings, and contemplates his own nature: this is good, this is ugly; this is pure, this is impure; this is earth, water, fire, and wind; this is mine, this is not mine; this is suffering, this is not suffering; this is pleasure, this is not pleasure; this is permanent, this is impermanent; this is the present world, this is the future world; performing meritorious deeds one receives merit, performing sinful deeds one receives retribution for sin.”

6.31

At that time the Bhagavat spoke these verses:

6.32

“The body is like ash, earth, and dung,
Formed by the combination of the four great elements;
Without the adornment of wind and water,
The earth elements separate from one another;
Fire is extinguished in an instant,
And consciousness has no place to abide.
The accumulation of manifold sins is the root of suffering;
This is created by consciousness.
Now I know the root of consciousness:
I cast you off and have no more to do with you.
The five colors—dark, yellow, and patterned silks—
Corrupt and ruin the minds of people;
Like a person’s inhalation and exhalation,
The conditioned phenomena do not linger long.
Understanding impermanence and suffering,
There is neither self, other, nor the interval between;
With a single sound responding to ten thousand billion,
He makes manifest the supreme teaching.
With an impermanent, painful, and empty body,
He clearly understands the characteristics of all phenomena;
Once returned, he abides in the six purities,
Comprehending emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness.
He understands that the body is not his own possession;
Like the Buddha, he teaches and transforms the multitudes.
Leaving the body behind, the conscious mind departs;
If the Buddha did not possess such spiritual power,
How could he divide his body to teach?
According with their prior retribution of sin and merit,
He causes each to fulfill their vows,
Receiving retribution now and not hereafter.
The present is also like this:
The sin of killing father and mother
Both appears and does not appear,
Just like the bounce of a struck ball.
That which is tainted by mental consciousness
May be contrary or may transform into repentance;
With a single intent directed toward purity,
He becomes the great unconditioned guide.
Discarding the body and abandoning worldly burdens,
Phenomena are originally devoid of causes and conditions;
Their retribution is like an echo or a shadow,
Existing as it were, yet not existing.
Those with wrong views call it real,
Entangled in the net of delusion;
From darkness they re-enter darkness,
Failing to distinguish pure, white phenomena.
Precepts and patience have five practices;
Fearless, one has nothing to dread.
The power of samādhi shakes the great trichiliocosm,
Subduing Māra as if deploying troops.
Among people seeking the unsurpassed Way,
Some regress and some advance;
Like rivers flowing toward the great ocean,
Many set out, but few arrive.
Meeting with the conditions of great compassion,
Through skillful means one crosses to the other shore;
The Buddha is the All-Knowing One,
Unstained and unattached.
Originally I practiced austere deeds,
Renouncing kingdom, city, wife, and child;
Except for parents, teachers, and elders,
I did not spare body or life.
Like a person traveling in the wilderness,
Parched and in need of broth and water,
Encountering a river, spring, pool, or well,
He relieves himself, free from thirst.
When people receive a body of the four great elements,
There are fixed and unfixed places;
How much more so, as consciousness is without good or evil,
Receiving retribution, consciousness is distinct and clear.
In the hall of the seven treasures of upholding precepts,
There are millions of heavenly maidens;
They entertain themselves with celestial music,
From thought to thought free of sorrowful ideas.
The Buddha’s power of all-knowledge
Pervasively moistens all people;
First advancing with the five supernatural powers,
They are naturally moistened by the Dharma of amṛta.
Praising the meaning of the four verses,
Without before, after, or the interval between;
Phenomena are flaming, blazing phenomena,
Their Dharma-nature penetrating inside and out.
Just as in what I originally created,
Bound by the defilement of attachment,
Transmigrating through the five realms of existence,
I took them to be my rooms and halls.
The light of striking stone in the heavenly realm
Can never be completely investigated;
A blind turtle meeting a hole in floating wood
May still happen upon it from time to time;
Once a human loses the root of life,
In hundreds of millions of kalpas it is hard to regain it again.
The ocean water is deep and vast,
Three hundred and thirty-six [yojanas];
If a single needle is cast into the ocean,
Searching for it, it can still be found;
Yet once a human body and life are lost,
To regain them is harder than this.
A person who upholds the Vinaya and observes precepts
Is rarely encountered in the world;
In hundreds of thousands of millions of kalpas,
A Buddha is like the udumbara flower.
Sentient beings with the conditions
Receive transformation in the Buddha’s Way;
Severing and extinguishing defilements and fetters,
Forever exhausted, free from ideation and attachment.”

6.33

When the Buddha spoke these verses, twelve nayutas of sentient beings had their faculties of faith firmly established without deviation, and all generated the aspiration for unsurpassed, true, and correct enlightenment.

6.34

Bodhisattva Garbhastha Sūtra, Chapter 25: Light and Shadow

6.35

At that time, from within his mother's womb, the Bhagavat extensively expounded the inconceivable Mahāyāna; about to enter parinirvāṇa, he displayed the spiritual power of light and shadow, causing all those in the assembly to become of a single color, identical to the golden color of the Buddha without any differentiation. The devas, nāgas, spirits, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, humans, non-humans, and the fourfold assembly of bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās—whether approaching the fruits or having attained them—were all caused to become of the same color, wishing to hear the Tathāgata's samādhi of light and shadow, establish merit, obtain unhindered liberation, fourfold wisdom of eloquence, swift responsiveness, the cessation of perception and sensation, and that which is to be delivered. Bearing the heavy burden for humankind, walking, standing, sitting, and lying down without losing deportment in accordance with the Dharma of the Buddhas, he constantly expounded suffering, accumulation, cessation, and the path, guiding sentient beings to enter the four smṛtyupasthānas, the perfection of Dharma, the severance of thought, the awakening factors and powers, the lion's fearlessness, the noble eightfold path, emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. At that time, there was a bodhisattva in the assembly named Worthy Light (賢光), who arose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, knelt with his right knee on the ground, joined his palms with fingers clasped, and addressed the Buddha, saying: “Tathāgata, Arhat, Samyaksambuddha, Vidyācaraṇasaṃpanna, Sugata, Lokavid, Anuttara, Puruṣadamyasārathi, Śāstādevamanuṣyāṇām, Buddha, Bhagavat! You emit this light that pervasively illuminates the trichiliocosm; does what is transformed by this light transform like the Buddha or not? The Buddha’s powers and virtues are neither one nor two, and what is touched by the light is inexhaustible. What is the difference between these two virtuous activities? We pray only that the Bhagavat resolve our doubts and perplexities, so that those who do not yet believe may forever be free of skepticism.”

6.36

At that time, the Bhagavat said to the bodhisattva Bhadraprabhā: "What you have asked about are all the divine powers of the Tathāgata. Why is this? The Tathāgata's divine light delivers sentient beings without any obstruction. Reaching from Jambudvīpa up to the Vṛhatphala Heaven, the light shines far and wide, expounding the six perfections without limit: giving, keeping the precepts, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. Just like the Buddha's divine mouth delivering sentient beings without [distinction of] that or this, it rescues and delivers countless asaṃkhyeyas of sentient beings, all covered and shielded by the cool shade of the Buddha's light."

6.37

At that time, within the light there was a spontaneous sound, which spoke in verse, saying:

6.38

"The countless Buddhas of the past, / none failed to radiate light;
Each and every light / expounded the limitless six perfections.
Precepts, patience, and the gates of liberation, / taking joy in the Dharma to delight oneself;
First expounding the three samādhis of emptiness, / thereby gradually bringing the Path to fruition.
For people of equalized three poisons, / there is no bondage and no attachment;
The knots of affliction, forty-eight, / without any helpless gate of sin.
Places traversed / are not for those who do not genuinely practice the Path;
The joy-gate of the three live [realms], / the footprints of the divine man are precious.
Where the Supreme One has passed, / one can reach the shore of the unconditioned;
Establishing practice without regression, / with the majesty of fearless divine power.
The deliverance reached by the divine light / is not merely hundreds of billions of times [greater];
Just as that single light / is divided into the number of fine dust motes.
Each mote becomes many lands, / countless and beyond reckoning;
The Buddha's power cannot be exhausted, / neither existing nor non-existing.
A single light expounds the Dharma, / delivering asaṃkhyeyas;
The dharmakāya is naturally empty, / pure in internal and external conduct;
The eighty-four thousand afflictions / do not arouse distraction in the concentrated mind.
Formerly, in my ninety-second [kalpa], / the number of kalpas difficult to exhaust,
I sat upright beneath the king of trees, / practicing the Path without turning back midway;
Humans, devas, and asura spirits / urged me and asked of me the meaning;
The divine light reached far to deliver, / liberating countless beings.
The past Buddha Śikhin / left light behind to instruct and transform;
Those able to enter within that light / extinguished the afflictions of the three poisons.
The next Buddha, the revered Vipaśyin, / was immeasurable in divine virtue;
He also left behind bright light / to rescue and deliver suffering people.
Kanakamuni, / the Venerable One who uniquely excelled the three realms,
Is now at the Mountain of the Ṛṣis, / his light and shadow brilliantly manifest.
Krakucchanda, the Deva among Devas, / unattached and undefiled,
Entered nirvāṇa in tranquil cessation, / leaving light behind to transform beings.
Kāśyapa, the Original Non-Existent Venerable One, / delivered an immeasurable number;
Also through the virtue of his light, / he caused those not yet delivered to be delivered.
I, Śākyamuni, / expound the Dharma while residing in the womb;
The body is here, but the light is there, / filling all Buddha-lands.
This is not something people of minor rank / are able to fathom;
Only a Buddha can measure a Buddha, / their merits having no distinction.
All the Buddhas of the future / will likewise transform beings through light;
To sentient beings who can presently be delivered, / light appears first, and then the Dharma."

6.39

When the Bhagavat had spoken these verses, among the assembly seventeen billion sentient beings, hearing the Buddha speak of the divine virtue of this light, all gave rise to the mind of supreme, equal deliverance.

6.40

Fascicle Six of the Bodhisattva Garbhastha Sūtra

Linked texts (1)

菩薩從兜術天降神母胎說廣普經 — Classical Chinese