The Flower Ornament Scripture
Page 47
No mean and no duality,
And not even any nonduality:
All in the worlds is void—
This is the vision of the Buddhas.
People with no awakened understanding
Buddha makes abide in the truth.
All things have no abode—
Understanding this, one sees one’s own body
Is not a body, yet said to be so;
Is not born yet manifests birth:
No body and no view—
This is the unexcelled Buddha-body.
Thus has True Wisdom explained
The nature of Buddhas’ subtle teaching;
Any who hear this teaching
Will attain the pure eye.
Then the enlightening being Stable Wisdom, empowered by the Buddha, looked over the ten directions and said in verse,
How grand, the Great Light,
The vigorous Unsurpassed Hero,
Who appears in the world
To help the confused.
The Buddha observes all beings
With a heart of great compassion,
Seeing them in the three realms of existence
Suffering over and over.
Except for the Truly Enlightened,
The honored Guide, full of virtue,
There is none who can rescue
All human and heavenly beings.
If the Buddhas and enlightening beings
Did not appear in the world,
There would not be a single creature
Who could have peace and ease.
The Buddha, rightly awakened,
As well as the sages and saints,
Appear in the world,
Able to bestow happiness on beings.
If someone sees the Buddha,
That is gaining great benefit;
Hearing the name Buddha and developing faith
Is a monument in the world.
We see the World Honored Ones
And consider it a great boon;
Hearing such a wonderful teaching,
We all shall attain enlightenment.
The enlightening beings, in the past,
By the spiritual power of Buddha,
Attained the pure eye of wisdom
And perceived the realms of the Buddhas.
Now we see Vairocana
And grow doubly in pure faith.
Buddha’s knowledge is boundless
And cannot be fully explained.
Even if the enlightening beings
Such as Supreme Wisdom, and I, Stable Wisdom,
Were to speak for countless eons,
We could not tell it all.
BOOK FIFTEEN
The Ten Abodes
THEN THE ENLIGHTENING BEING Truth Wisdom, empowered by the Buddha, entered into the concentration of infinite techniques of enlightening beings; by the power of concentration there appeared before him Buddhas as numerous as atoms in a thousand buddha-fields from each of the ten directions beyond as many worlds as atoms in a thousand buddha-fields: all of those Buddhas had the same name, Truth Wisdom. They said to the enlightening being Truth Wisdom, “Excellent! Excellent, good man, that you are able to enter this enlightening being’s concentration of infinite techniques. Good man, in each of the ten directions as many Buddhas as atoms in a thousand buddha-fields all together empower you with their spiritual force, and this is also the spiritual power of the force of Vairocana Buddha’s ancient vows, as well as the power of the roots of goodness you have cultivated, whereby you enter this concentration, allowing you to expound the teaching, for growth in enlightened knowledge, to enter deeply into the realm of reality, to comprehend well the worlds of sentient beings, to be unhindered in whatever is entered into, to be unobstructed in all activities, to attain incomparable skill in means, to enter the essence of omniscience, to be aware of all things, to know all faculties, to be able to hold and expound all the teachings; that is to say, bringing forth the ten abodes of enlightening beings. Good man, you should receive the spiritual power of the Buddhas and expound this teaching.”
Then the Buddhas gave the enlightening being Truth Wisdom unhindered knowledge, unattached knowledge, unbroken knowledge, knowledge free from ignorance, unvarying knowledge, knowledge without loss, immeasurable knowledge, unexcelled knowledge, unremitting knowledge, and knowledge that cannot be taken away. Why? Because the power of this concentration is naturally this way in principle.
Now the Buddhas all extended their right hands and rubbed Truth Wisdom’s head; then the enlightening being Truth Wisdom emerged from concentration and declared to the enlightening beings, “Children of Buddhas, the abode of enlightening beings is vast, as vast as the space of the cosmos. Enlightening beings dwell in the house of the Buddhas of past, present, and future. The abodes of enlightening beings I shall now explain. Buddha-children, there are ten kinds of abodes of enlightening beings, which the past, future, and present Buddhas have explained, will explain, and do explain. What are the ten? They are the abode of initial determination; the abode of preparing the ground; the abode of practice action; the abode of noble birth; the abode of fulfillment of skill in means; the abode of the correct state of mind; the abode of nonregression; the abode of youthful nature; the abode of prince of the teaching; the abode of coronation. These are called the ten abodes of enlightening beings, expounded by the Buddhas of past, future, and present.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode of initial determination? The enlightening beings, seeing the magnificence of the Buddhas, which people like to see, rarely encountered, having great power; or seeing their spiritual powers, or hearing predictions of enlightenment, or listening to their teachings and instructions, or seeing sentient beings suffering severe pains, or hearing the far-reaching teaching of enlightenment of the Buddhas, develop the determination for enlightenment, to seek omniscience. The enlightening beings arouse determination with ten difficult-to-attain objectives: the knowledge of what is so and what is not; knowledge of consequences of good and bad actions; knowledge of superiority and inferiority of faculties; knowledge of the differences of various understandings; knowledge of the differences of various realms; knowledge of where all paths lead; knowledge of all meditations, liberations, and concentrations; knowledge of past lives; clairvoyance; knowledge of the universal end of indulgence for all time. Here the enlightening beings should encourage and study ten things: diligently making offerings to the Buddhas; gladly remaining in the world; guiding worldly people to reject evil deeds; always carrying on instruction by means of the most sublime teaching; praising the unexcelled teaching; learning the virtues of buddhahood; being born in the presence of Buddhas and always being received into their company; expediently expounding tranquil concentration; extolling detachment from the cycle of birth and death; being a refuge for suffering beings. What is the reason? To cause enlightening beings’ minds to broaden in the Buddha’s teaching and to be able to understand whatever teaching they hear without depending on another’s instruction.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode of preparing the ground? Here the enlightening beings develop ten attitudes toward all living beings: altruism; compassion; wish to give happiness; wish to give security; pity; care; protecting; identification; considering them as teachers; considering them as guides. Here the enlightening beings should encourage and study ten things: study and learning; uncluttered tranquility; association with the wise; gentle, pleasing speech; speech appropriate to the occasion; fearlessness; understanding; acting in accord with the teaching; avoiding folly and delusion; stability. What is the reason? To cause enlightening beings to increase great compassion toward sentient beings, and to immediately understand whatever teachings they hear without relying on the instruction of another.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode of practice? Here enlightening beings contemplate all things through ten practices: observing that all things are impermanent, all things are painful, all things are empty, all things are selfless, all
things have no creation, all things are flavorless, all things do not correspond to the names, all things have no locus, all things are apart from discrimination, all things lack stable solidity. Here the enlightening beings should encourage and study ten things: observing the realms of sentient beings, the realms of phenomena and principles, and the realms of the world; observing the elements of earth, water, fire, and air; observing the realms of desire, form, and formlessness. What is the reason? To cause enlightening beings’ knowledge to be perfectly clear, so they can immediately understand any teaching they hear without depending on the instruction of another.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode of noble birth? Here the enlightening beings are born from the wise teaching and perfect ten things: never regressing from the presence of the Buddhas; profoundly engendering pure faith; carefully examining things; thoroughly knowing living beings, lands, worlds, actions, consequences, birth and death, and nirvana. Here the enlightening beings should encourage and study ten things: knowing all past, future, and present Buddhas’ teachings; practicing and accumulating all past, future, and present Buddhas’ teachings; fulfilling all past, future, and present Buddhas’ teachings; and knowing that all Buddhas are equal. What is the reason? To cause progress in equanimity in respect to past, present, and future, and to be able to understand any teaching heard without relying on the instruction of another.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode of fulfilling skill in means? Here the roots of goodness cultivated by the enlightening beings are all to save all sentient beings, to benefit all sentient beings, to cause all sentient beings to be free from calamities and difficulties, to cause all sentient beings to leave the miseries of birth and death, to cause all sentient beings to develop pure faith, to cause all sentient beings to be harmonized and pacified, to cause all sentient beings to experience nirvana. Here the enlightening beings should encourage and learn ten things: to know sentient beings are boundless, to know sentient beings are infinite, to know sentient beings are countless, to know sentient beings are inconceivable, to know sentient beings’ infinite forms, to know sentient beings are immeasurable, to know sentient beings are empty, to know sentient beings create nothing, to know sentient beings possess nothing, to know sentient beings have no identity. What is the reason? To cause the mind to increase in mastery and have no attachments, and to immediately understand any teaching heard without depending on the instruction of another.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode of the correct state of mind? Here the enlightening being’s mind is steady and unwavering even when hearing these ten things: hearing the Buddha praised or reviled, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching; hearing the teaching praised or reviled, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching; hearing enlightening beings praised or reviled, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching; hearing the practices of enlightening beings praised or reviled, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching; hearing it said that living beings are finite or infinite, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching; hearing it said that sentient beings are defiled or undefiled, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching; hearing it said that sentient beings are easy to liberate or difficult to liberate, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching; hearing it said that there is becoming or disintegration of the universe, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching; hearing it said that the universe exists or does not exist, the mind is steady and unwavering in regard to the Buddha’s teaching. Here the enlightening being should study and encourage the study of ten things: that all things are signless; all things are insubstantial; all things cannot be cultivated; all things have no existence; all things have no true reality; all things are empty; all things lack inherent nature; all things are like illusions; all things are like dreams; all things have no discrimination. What is the reason? To cause the mind to progress further to attain nonregressing acceptance of the nonorigination of things, and immediately understand whatever teaching is heard, without depending on the instruction of another.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode of nonregression? Here the enlightening being remains firm and doesn’t regress even when hearing these ten things: hearing that Buddhas do or do not exist, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing that truth exists or does not exist, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing that enlightening beings do or do not exist, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing that enlightening beings’ practices do or do not exist, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing that enlightening beings do or do not attain emancipation through their practices, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing that there were or were not Buddhas in the past, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing that there will or will not be Buddhas in the future, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing there are or are not Buddhas in the present, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing that a Buddha’s knowledge is finite or infinite, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching; hearing that past, present, and future are uniform or not uniform, the mind does not regress in the Buddha’s teaching. Here the enlightening being should encourage and study ten far-reaching principles: explaining one is many; explaining many are one; literary expression according with meaning; meaning according with literary expression; nonexistence is existence; existence is nonexistence; formless is form; form is formlessness; nature is natureless; naturelessness is nature. What is the reason? To progress further, to be able to gain emancipation from all things, to understand any teaching without relying on another’s instruction.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode of youthful nature? Here the enlightening being abides in ten kinds of activity: physically acting without error; verbally acting without error; mentally acting without error; being born at will; knowing the various desires of sentient beings; knowing the various understandings of sentient beings; knowing the various realms of sentient beings; knowing the various activities of sentient beings; knowing the becoming and decay of the world; going anywhere freely by psychic projection. Here the enlightening being should encourage and study ten kinds of things: knowing all buddha-lands; activating all buddha-lands, maintaining all buddha-lands; observing all buddha-lands; visiting all buddha-lands; traveling in countless worlds; receiving innumerable teachings of Buddhas; manifesting a body with freedom to metamorphose; producing a far-reaching, universal voice; serving and providing for countless Buddhas in a single instant. What is the reason? To advance in skillfulness in applying teachings, to be able to understand any teaching without depending on another’s instructions.
“What is the enlightening beings’ abode as the prince of the teaching? Here enlightening beings know ten things well: they know how sentient beings are born; they know the origin of afflictions; they know the continuation of habit energy; they know what techniques are to be employed; they know innumerable teachings; they understand all modes of dignified behavior; they know the differentiations of the world; they know past and future events; they know how to explain conventional truth; they know how to explain ultimate truth. Here the enlightening beings should study and encourage the study of ten things: the skills proper to a king of the teaching; the regulations and manners proper to a king of the teaching; the abode of a king of the teaching; that which a king of the teaching enters into; the contemplations proper to a king of the teaching; the coronation of a king of the teaching; the power and sustenance of a king of the teaching; the fearlessness of a king of the teaching; the repose of a king of the teaching; the praise of a king of the teaching. What is the reason? To promote progress in nonobstruction of mind, to understand any teaching spontaneously without relying on the instruction of another.
“What
is the enlightening beings’ abode of coronation? Here the enlightening being perfects ten kinds of knowledge: shaking countless worlds; illuminating countless worlds; supporting countless worlds; traveling to countless worlds; purifying countless worlds; teaching countless sentient beings; observing countless sentient beings; knowing the faculties of countless sentient beings; causing countless sentient beings to strive to enter enlightenment; causing countless sentient beings to be harmonized and pacified. This enlightening being’s body and physical activities, various manifestations of spiritual powers, past, future, and present knowledge, development of a buddha-land, state of mind, and realm of knowledge are all unknowable: even an enlightening being in the station of prince of the teaching cannot know them. Here the enlightening being should promote and study ten kinds of knowledge proper to Buddhas: knowledge of past, present, and future; knowledge of enlightening teachings; knowledge of the harmony of the universe; knowledge of the boundlessness of the universe; knowledge filling all worlds; knowledge illumining all worlds; knowledge supporting all worlds; knowledge of all sentient beings; knowledge of all things; knowledge of the infinite Buddhas. What is the reason? To increase in knowledge of all particulars and all means of liberation and spontaneously understand any teaching without depending on the instruction of another.”
Then, due to the spiritual power of the Buddha, in each of the ten directions as many worlds as atoms in ten thousand buddha-lands quaked in six ways; there rained celestial flowers, celestial incense powder, celestial garlands, celestial perfumes, celestial jewel raiment, celestial jewel clouds, celestial ornaments; celestial music spontaneously played, with radiant lights and exquisite sounds. As in this world on the peak of Mt. Sumeru, in the palace of King Indra, the ten abodes were expounded and supernatural manifestations appeared, so also did the same thing transpire in all worlds. And due to the spiritual power of the Buddha, in the ten directions, past as many worlds as atoms in ten thousand buddha-lands, there were as many enlightening beings as atoms in ten buddha-lands who came here, filling the ten directions, and said these words: “Excellent, excellent! O Child of Buddha, you have explained this teaching well. We too all have the same name, Truth Wisdom, and the lands we come from are all called Truth Cloud, and the Buddhas in those lands are all named Sublime Truth. In the presence of our Buddhas we too expound the ten abodes, and the congregations and followings, the words and phrases, the doctrines and principles, are all like this, with no addition or omission. Receiving spiritual power from the Buddha, we have come into this assembly to be witnesses for you. As it is in this assembly, so it is in all the worlds there are in the ten directions.”