The Flower Ornament Scripture

by Thomas Cleary

  The exceedingly profound ocean of virtues of wisdom

  Appears in innumerable lands throughout the ten directions,

  Its light shining everywhere, turning the wheel of the teaching

  In accord with what the various sentient beings need to see.

  The ocean of lands of the ten directions is inconceivable:

  Buddha has purified them all, over immeasurable eons;

  In order to edify beings and cause them to mature

  He appears in all lands.

  The Buddha’s realm is most profound, inconceivable;

  He shows it to all beings, letting them enter:

  But their minds like the petty and are attached to existents,

  So they cannot understand what the Buddha has realized.

  If any have pure faith and unshakable minds

  And are always able to associate with good teachers,

  All the Buddhas will give their power

  So they can enter enlightened knowledge.

  Beyond flattery and deception, hearts pure,

  Always gladly kind and compassionate, of joyful natures,

  Determination broad and great, faith profound:

  Such people, hearing this teaching, are glad.

  Dwelling on the ground of universally good vows,

  Cultivating the pure ways of enlightening beings,

  Regarding the cosmos like space:

  These people can know the Buddha’s sphere.

  Such enlightening beings gain true benefit

  Seeing the Buddha’s mystical powers;

  None who practice other paths can know:

  Only those of universally good practice can understand.

  Sentient beings are infinite

  Yet Buddha guards them all in his thoughts;

  Teaching the truth, reaching all:

  The power of Vairocana’s realm.

  All lands are in my body

  And so are the Buddhas living there;

  Watch my pores,

  And I will show you the Buddha’s realm.

  The practice and vows of Universally Good are boundless;

  I have already fully cultivated them.

  The vast body of the realm of the universal eye

  Is the Buddha’s sphere: listen clearly.

  Then the great enlightening being Universally Good said to the great masses, “O Children of Buddha, there are ten things about the world oceans which the Buddhas of past, present, and future have explained, do explain, and will explain. What are these ten? They are the causes and conditions of the origination of the world oceans, the bases of the world oceans, the forms of the world oceans, the substances and natures of the world oceans, the adornments of the world oceans, the purity of the world oceans, the appearance of Buddhas in the world oceans, the eons of subsistence of the world oceans, the differences in changes over the ages of the world oceans, and the aspects of the world oceans that have no differences. If expressed in brief there are these ten things, but if they are fully expounded, there are as many as atoms in an ocean of worlds, which the Buddhas of past, present, and future have, do, and will explain.

  “Children of Buddha, if explained in brief, there are ten kinds of causes and conditions by which all oceans of worlds have been formed, are formed, and will be formed. What are the ten? They are: because of the Buddhas’ mystical powers, because they must be so by natural law, because of the acts of all sentient beings, because of what is realized by all enlightening beings developing omniscience, because of the roots of goodness accumulated by both enlightening beings and all sentient beings, because of the power of the vows of enlightening beings purifying lands, because enlightening beings have accomplished practical undertakings without regressing, because of the enlightening beings’ freedom of pure resolve, because of the independent power flowing from the roots of goodness of all enlightened ones and the moment of enlightenment of all Buddhas, and because of the independent power of the vows of the Universally Good. This is a summary explanation of ten kinds of causes; if I were to explain in full, there are as many as atoms in an ocean of worlds.”

  Then the great enlightening being Universally Good, in order to reiterate the meaning of what he had said, receiving the power of the Buddha, looked over the ten directions and spoke these verses:

  The boundless ocean of myriad lands explained

  Vairocana Buddha has all beautifully purified.

  The World Honored One’s realm is inconceivable;

  Such are his knowledge, wisdom, and mystic powers.

  Enlightening beings cultivate the practice of oceans of vows,

  Universally adapting to the inclinations of sentient beings.

  The mentalities of sentient beings are boundless;

  The enlightening beings’ lands extend throughout all ten directions.

  Enlightening beings aim for omniscience,

  Diligently cultivating various spiritual powers,

  Generating oceans of infinite vows,

  Developing vast, expansive lands.

  Cultivating oceans of practices, without bound,

  They enter the realm of buddhahood, also infinite;

  In order to purify the lands in the ten directions,

  They spend countless eons in each land.

  Sentient beings are muddled by afflictions,

  Their conceptions and inclinations are not the same;

  According to their mental states they perform inconceivably many acts,

  Thereby forming the oceans of all lands.

  The treasury of adornments of the lands of Buddha-children

  Is made of jewels of undefiled light;

  This depends on a mind of vast resolute faith.

  Their dwelling places in all quarters are all like this.

  Enlightening beings can cultivate the universally good practice,

  Traveling paths as numerous as atomic particles in the cosmos,

  In each atom revealing countless lands

  Pure and vast as space.

  They manifest mystic powers equal in extent to space

  And go to enlightenment sites where the Buddhas are;

  Upon their lotus seats they reveal many forms,

  In each and every body containing all lands.

  In a single instant they reveal past, present, and future,

  Where all oceans of lands are formed.

  Buddha, by appropriate techniques, enters them all:

  This is what Vairocana has purified.

  Then the enlightening being Universally Good said to the congregation, “O Children of Buddha, each of the oceans of worlds has bases of support as numerous as atoms in an ocean of worlds. That is to say, they may rest on all adornments, or in space, or on the lights of all jewels, or on the lights of all Buddhas, or on the lights of the colors of all jewels, or on the voices of all Buddhas, or on illusory actions, or on thunderbolt bearers in the form of powerful titans, or on the bodies of all the leaders of the worlds, or on the bodies of all enlightening beings, or on the ocean of all different embellishments produced by the power of the vows of the universally good enlightening beings. The oceans of worlds have such bases as these, as many as atoms in an ocean of worlds.” Then, in order to reiterate the meaning of this, Universally Good, receiving the power of the Buddha, surveyed the ten directions and said in verse,

  All the various lands there are

  Filling space in the ten directions

  Sustained by Buddha’s mystic power

  Appear in all places, so all can see.

  There are some varieties of lands

  All made of undefiled jewels,

  Pure gems, the most exquisite,

  Radiating everywhere oceans of light.

  Then there are lands of pure light

  Which rest in the realm of space;

  Some are in oceans of jewels,

  Some rest in mines of light.

  Buddha, in the midst of this ocean of groups,

  Expounds teachings, al
l skillful and subtle;

  The realm of the Buddhas is boundlessly vast:

  Beings who see it are gladdened at heart.

  Some are embellished with precious stones

  Shaped like flower lamps in vast arrays,

  Their clouds of fragrant flame-light blazing with color,

  Covered with webs of jewel lights.

  Some lands have no boundaries;

  They rest in the deep, immense lotus sea,

  Broad, pure, unique among worlds,

  Because they’re adorned by Buddhas’ goodness.

  Some world-oceans revolve,

  Stabilized by Buddha’s power;

  Enlightening beings are everywhere there,

  Always seeing immeasurably vast treasures.

  Some rest in thunderbolt hands,

  Some on celestial leaders’ bodies;

  The supremely honored Vairocana

  Is always here actively teaching.

  Some rest evenly on jewel trees,

  Or likewise on clouds of fragrant flames;

  Some rest on great bodies of water,

  Some in the ocean of indestructible diamond.

  Some rest on thunderbolt banners,

  Some are in flower seas;

  Vast mystic powers all-pervading,

  Vairocana here can appear.

  Some long, some short, there are innumerable kinds;

  Different too are the rings they form.

  Their stores of beautiful adornments are extraordinary:

  Only the purified and cultivated can see.

  Thus each of them are different,

  But all rest on the ocean of vows.

  Some lands are always in space,

  With Buddhas like clouds filling them.

  Some hang upside-down in space,

  Sometimes existing, sometimes not;

  Some lands are extremely pure,

  Resting in enlightening beings’ precious crowns.

  The great spiritual powers of the Buddhas everywhere

  All are seen herein;

  The voices of the Buddhas fill them all,

  Produced by the power of deeds.

  Some lands fill the universe,

  Pure, undefiled, arising from mind,

  Like reflections, illusions, boundlessly vast,

  Each different, like in Indra’s net.

  Some show stores of various adornments

  Set up in empty space.

  Realms of actions are inconceivable:

  Buddha’s power reveals them for all to see.

  Inside the particles of each land

  Constantly revealing the Buddha-lands,

  Their numbers infinite, equal to beings:

  Such is the action of the Universally Good.

  In order to fully develop beings

  He cultivated practice here for infinite eons,

  Producing great miraculous displays

  Extending everywhere through the cosmos.

  In each atom of the lands of the cosmos

  Rest the vast oceans of worlds;

  Clouds of Buddhas equally cover them all,

  Filling every place.

  Like the free action in one atom

  So it is in all atoms;

  All the great occult powers of Buddhas and enlightening beings

  Vairocana can cause to appear.

  All the vast lands

  Are like reflections, illusions, or flames:

  Nowhere is their origin seen,

  Nor where they go or whence they came.

  Disintegration and formation recur in cycles

  Without pause, in the midst of space;

  All depends on pure vows

  Sustained by the vast power of action.

  Then the enlightening being Universally Good said further to the great congregation, “Children of Buddha, the oceans of worlds have various different forms and characteristics. That is to say, some are round, some square, some neither round nor square. There are infinite distinctions. Some are shaped like whirlpools, some like mountains of flames, some like trees, some like flowers, some like palaces, some like living creatures, some like Buddhas. There are as many forms such as these as there are atoms in an ocean of worlds.”

  Then, to review this point, Universally Good, imbued with the power of the Buddha, looked over the ten directions and said,

  The oceans of lands are variously different:

  Various adornments, various supports;

  Different forms, all beautiful, pervade the ten directions:

  You should together all observe them.

  Some are round, some are square,

  Some triangular, some octagonal;

  Gemstone-wheel shaped, lotus blossoms, and so on:

  All are different, according to deeds.

  Some have arrays of pure flames,

  Mixed with gold, most rarely fine,

  All doors open, with no resistance:

  This is from deeds broadminded and pure.

  The store of boundless differences of the oceans of worlds

  Is like clouds draped in the sky,

  Jewel discs spread on the ground in wonderful arrays,

  The lights of the Buddhas shining therein.

  All lands, distinctions of mind,

  Appear reflected in various lights;

  In these oceans of worlds

  Buddhas each manifest mystical powers.

  Some lands are dirty, some are pure;

  Pleasant or painful, each is different.

  This comes from the inconceivable ocean of acts:

  Cyclic phenomena are always like this.

  Inside a single hair pore, inconceivable lands

  With various bases, many as atoms:

  In each of them a universal illuminator

  Expounds the truth in the midst of the crowd.

  In a single atom, great and small lands,

  Variously different, as numerous as atoms;

  Level, high and low, each is different:

  Buddha goes to all to operate the teaching.

  The lands manifested in a single atom

  Are all the occult power of the original vow:

  According to the various differences in inclination of mind

  All can be made, in the midst of space.

  In all atoms of all lands

  Buddha enters, each and every one,

  Producing miracle displays for sentient beings:

  Such is the way of Vairocana.

  Then the enlightening being Universally Good also said to the great assembly, “Children of Buddha, know that the oceans of worlds have various substances. Some have bodies of arrays of all jewels, some are of various ornaments made of all precious substances, some are of lights of all jewels, some are of lights of various colors, some are of lights of various adornments, some are composed of Buddhas’ powers, some are of characteristics of fine gems, some are made of miraculous displays of Buddhas, some are of jewel sun discs, some are of extremely minute, fine jewels, some are made of radiance of all jewels, some are of various fragrances, some are made of crowns of precious flowers, some are of all jewel reflections, some are made of what is manifested by all adornments, some are made of an instant of mind manifesting the whole cosmos, some are made of jewels in the forms of enlightening beings, some are made of jewel flower pistils, some are made of the spoken sounds of the Buddhas.” Then, to repeat this, Universally Good surveyed the ten directions by the Buddha’s power and said,

  There are some oceans of worlds

  Compounded of jewels,

  Solid and unbreakable,

  Resting on precious lotus blossoms.

  Some are pure light beams

  Of unknowable origin;

  These arrays of all light beams

  Rest in empty space.

  Some are made of pure light

  And also rest on light rays

  Embellished with clouds of light

  Where enlightening beings roam.

 
There are some oceans of lands

  Born of the power of vows,

  Existing like reflections:

  They can’t be grasped or explained.

  Some are made of precious stones

  Emitting sunlike light;

  Discs of pearls adorn the ground,

  And enlightening beings abound.

  Some lands are made of jewel flames,

  Covered with clouds of flames,

  The radiance of the jewels superb;

  All comes from results of acts.

  Some are born of subtle forms,

  With various features adorning the ground,

  Like crowns holding all jewels;

  These come from the Buddha’s work.

  Some are born from the ocean of minds,

  Existing according to what the minds understand.

  Like illusions, they have no locus:

  All are mental constructions.

  Some are made of the precious light

  Of the Buddha’s aura;

  All the Buddhas appear therein,

  Each producing miracles.

  Some universally good enlightening beings

  Produce various oceans of lands,

  Adorned by the power of their vows,

  All exceptionally sublime.

  Then the enlightening being Universally Good also said to the great congregation, “Know that the oceans of worlds have various adornments. Some are adorned by all ornaments producing beautiful clouds, some by explanations of the virtues of all enlightening beings, some by explanations of the rewards of actions of all sentient beings, some by revelations of the ocean of vows of all enlightening beings, some by representations of the images of all Buddhas of past, present, and future, some by the spheres of occult powers revealing boundless eons in a single moment, some by production of all buddha-bodies, some by production of fragrant clouds of all jewels, some by radiant lights showing the wonderful things in all enlightenment scenes, some by illustration of the practices and vows of all universally good ones. There are as many such adornments as atoms in an ocean of worlds.”